CAIRO TRIP LOG - 2008

These notes are coming form the group "on the fly" with little time to check the details. So please do not quote them or assume that all details are accurate. Some will need major correction after the group is able to reflect on their experience. We will post them as received (newest at the top).

Back in New Wilmington

Hi all,

I'm writing from home tonight...trying my best to stay up at least until 10 pm. We arrived back in Pittsburgh last night right on time. Amazingly long day without any major delays. The trip started early....the plan was to sleep until 1:30 AM then get up and meet the bus to the airport by 2:15 AM.
(Friday morning Cairo time.) A couple of us decided to stay up in an effort to try and make the transition back to PA time as quickly as possible. Not a bad plan...just exhausting.

I decided to hop in the shower at 1:15 so I would feel somewhat refreshed to start the trip. Then things went crazy for an hour or so: I'm not sure how long I was in the shower before I realized when I opened my eyes that the bathroom was dark. We lost power in our little corner of the world. It looked as if some emergency power kicked on nearby because I was able to see enough to dig my headlamp (flashlight) out of my luggage, get dressed and start getting the luggage ready to go. We laughed about how lucky we were it didn't happen in 15 minuets or so when we would be taking luggage down to the bus by way of the elevator. The power came back on within the half hour. A little crazy but it took the edge off of us having to start the day so early.

You could tell folks were ready to get going...by 2:00 PM everyone had their luggage in the lobby and we were waiting for the bus to arrive. Right on time, 2:15 AM it pulled into the seminary parking areal. Just as we were about to throw the final bag on the bus the security guard came to me asking for the room keys and his tip. Not a biggie....not knowing quite what to do with the keys we left them in the rooms...Mark, from Lisbon, Ohio volunteered to go upstairs for the keys and everyone crawled onto the bus.
We waited a bit and no Mark. Wondering why he didn't come back I decided I better go look for him. When I went to the elevator I realized we had a problem. Mark was stuck in the elevator. That's right, he didn't make it up to the first floor before the system quit on him between the ground and first floors. All we could do was laugh. Mark called Brice (our wonderful ETSC representative) to come down and help.

We had just talked to Brice at 1:00 AM and said our final (we thought) goodbyes. Apparently he was awake when the power went off and had just fallen asleep. About the time I found Mark here comes Brice down the stairs in his pjs. I'm sure he was dreaming about how he would not have to put up with the Shenango folks anymore. Actually, I'm including Brice on this email...he was great to work with.

The next problem was how in the world do we get Mark out of the elevator.
It's not like we could call the elevator repair man at 2 AM and have him show up in 10 minutes and set Mark free. Thank goodness for Brice, he knew to go around the corner of the seminary building and got three young guys up from a sound sleep who would hopefully know what to do. It was actually funny watching them come running....one putting his shirt on, another in his bare feet, never stopping to ask questions....(they don't speak English and I couldn't understand their Arabic if I had to)....up the stairs they went to see what they could do to remedy the problem. We would see the guys everyday....they seem to have many jobs around the seminary: working in the kitchen, cleaning rooms, and now elevator repair. For awhile things weren't
looking good...they couldn't get the elevator started. By this time our
guide, Rami, who was assigned the task of taking us to the airport was beginning to wonder what we were going to do about Mark....I didn't do a survey of our group but I'm guessing there was no way we were going to miss our flight...with or without him. Then finally they went to the top floor, pulled on some pulleys and inched (literally) Mark up to the second floor and he was free. Mark and I laughed about the elevator all the way to the airport.

We made our plane in Cairo with plenty of time to spare...arrived in Frankfurt just in time to walk to customs, go through a couple security check points and get on our next plane. A couple of us arrived after they started loading the plane. After a bit of a delay in Frankfurt after we were already on the plane we took off for Chicago. Apparently we would arrive in Chicago about an hour late. Again, no problem we had a 4 hour layover scheduled. In Chicago Dave from Tennessee flew home and Gretchen from Indiana headed for Indianapolis. We arrived in Pittsburgh right on time....and made it back to New Wilmington at 8:30 PM. Not bad for a 25 hour trip.

Now that we are home I look back on the trip to Egypt and am filled with gratitude. We were blessed to visit this holy land, meet faithful leaders in the church, treated to generous hospitality by everyone, and met by God at every turn. I want to thank Brice Rogers, a PCUSA Volunteer in Mission, who works for ETSC as their International Coordinator. He did an outstanding job coordinating our trip working with our tour company, and putting up with our list of questions and requests.

In addition one has to thank Ken Bailey for his encouragement and insight in helping us provide an outstanding opportunity for pastors to experience the holiness of Egypt. Ken and other missionaries like him set the stage for the Evangelical (Presbyterian Church) to make an impact on Egypt. I would also like to thank David Dawson for his willingness to keep our planning on task and giving us the freedom to make it happen. And finally I'm grateful for Westminster College and the opportunity I have to serve God as part of the staff. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take this adventure and make it happen. And last, but not least I am/we are grateful to God for being with us. We began and ended most days with worship/devotions and this morning I found myself missing the experience.

Until next time....

Peace like a river,
Jim

Jim Mohr's Last e-Mail from Egypt

Well, this is it. In roughly 7 1/2 hours we will head to the airport for our trip home. If you are wondering just what time will that
be..2:15 AM Cairo time which will be 7:15 New Wilmington time. Boy do we have a fun 20 hours or so ahead of us. Our first flight leaves Cairo at 5:15 AM (Cairo time) and flies for 4 1/2 hours to Frankfurt, Germany. We have a nice 2 hour layover in Frankfurt before getting on our next flight to Chicago.(Just enough wiggle room, we hope.) Then it is on to Chicago..9 1/2 hour trip. This portion of the trip will be during the New Wilmington sleeping hours..so I'm hoping to start getting back on EST. Once we arrive in Chicago we have a 4 hour layover and then it's on to Pittsburgh. We arrive in Pittsburg about 7:00 PM on
Friday.

I write to you filled with joy as well as mixed feelings. We have had a terrific experience in Egypt. I'm not sure we will ever think like an Egyptian but we will have a better understanding of this culture. As has been the case everyday has been filled with highlights.

After a bit of a delay at the airport we flew south to the beautiful city of Luxor. It is said that Luxor is considered Egypt's second most popular attraction next to the pyramids, I can see why. Situated right on the Nile River this small city has so much to offer one who is
interested in ancient history.

We had an excellent Coptic Christian Guide named Saad who holds two Masters Degrees in Egyptology. The first evening we experienced Karnak Temple with its Great Temple, large pillars with hieroglyphs, obelisks (think Washington Monument only smaller with hieroglyphics on the sides), ram headed sphinxes, and statues of Ramses II. After 3 cold hours (it rained in Luxor for the first time in 12 years the day we arrived.although not raining it was cool and windy.) we moved over to Luxor Temple. Which interestingly enough is connected to Karnak Temple by a road lined with Spinx, many of which are buried under houses? Even though Luxor Temple is smaller it is still very impressive. The ruins of this area date back to 2050 BC. Can you imagine that???I'll never talk about a house in the US as being old again. (That's probably a
lie.)

After all of this folks were cold so we headed off to the hotel. What a joy it was to sleep in a comfortable bed, sit on the balcony and look at the Nile River, and sharing a moment of reflection as the days of our trip wind down.

Yesterday morning I rose early enough to watch the day light begin to dawn upon the Nile. Facing the West the sun was coming up behind the hotel.which was pretty neat because I could watch the sun begin to change the colors of the mountains in the distance. For those who are rich and famous.or just rich you can take an early morning hot air balloon ride over the Nile valley. At one point there were 7 balloons in the air. I don't know about you but my idea of a hot air balloon would be the Mohr family and the balloon driver..they were able to fit 20 people in each balloon.a little crowded for me.

Then it was off to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.
We had wondered where they were located on the West Bank of the Nile because we couldn't see them. It turns out the Valley of the Queens is behind that distant mountain I watched the sun rise on. By the way..the ancients worshipped the Sun God Ra..I guess I watched Ra rise as the sun hit the mountain peak. Both are burial sights for Kings and Queens of Egypt..as you can imagine by the titles. At the Valley of the Queens we walked down stairs and then a ramp into three different tombs. All of the antiquities have been removed.mostly by grave robbers. There are a lot of items found in the tombs at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. At the Valley of the Queens we had the opportunity to enter King Tut's tomb.
Only one from our group paid the extra $80 lbs. to enter. The walls still tell the stories of the Kings through the hieroglyphics; carvings that at one time were brilliantly painted. We heard the stories of each site before entering as tour guides are not allowed to enter the tombs with the tourists. This is a good thing because it would take forever.
The crowds at these sights were amazing. We found the Valley of the Kings on the other side of the Mountain..it is thought that the two are connected by tunnels.not yet found. This is the sight of numerous tombs. This place is one to put on your list of places to visit.pretty amazing.

Our afternoon was pretty much spent eating..two big meals in 3 hours.
Needless to say we were pretty full for our plane ride back. Before we made our way back to Cairo we had a chance to take a carriage ride through the streets of Luxor. It was a wonderful way to see the highs and lows of this community. Our group really enjoyed stopping by a coffee shop. Everywhere we have traveled we have seen men sitting around smoking a shisha. What is it? It is a Middle Eastern water pipe that uses water, coals, and tobacco to provide an opportunity to smoke.
Often times men would share the same shisha. Not my thing.although some in our group really got into the experience.

This brings me to today. Our time in Egypt has come to a close today with us having the opportunity to meet with several members of the faculty of ETSC, a friend of Joe Hopkins, Dr. Istranophelous, former General Secretary of the Synod of the Nile and presently an advocate for new church development in the Synod. He loves the church, is committed to Sudanese students having the opportunity to come to Cairo to seminary, and all around enjoyable man to be with. Then we met briefly with 3 Sudanese students and heard about their journey through the time of war in the Sudan as well as their call to ministry.

We leave Cairo and Egypt with a new appreciation for the Church of Jesus Christ in the Arabic world. There is so much for us to know and learn from the people of this land. It has been our honor to be a part of this trip and all of us are eternally grateful for the faculty, staff and students of ETSC. In addition we can't say enough about the work of Brice Rogers, the International Coordinator for the Seminary. He is serving as a Volunteer in Mission through the PCUSA. Along with Mr.
Wageeh from the seminary have helped make this trip happen. In addition we are grateful for the wisdom of Dr. Ken Bailey and missionaries like him who worked tirelessly in the Middle East in order to see Christianity grow. The seeds they planted over the past 150 years continue to grow in Egypt.

See you soon..we leave for the airport in 2 hours and 15 min.

So long from Egypt!

Peace like a river,

Jim

Message #5 from Bob

Dear Loved ones,
This will be my final letter from Egypt. After 17 days in this ancient country we will be flying home tomorrow. We leave for the airport at 2:15am for a 5:15am flight to Frankfort. After several hours there we fly to Chicago. Only an hour or two in Chicago before we fly to Pittsburgh, arriving at 6:30pm on Friday evening, local time. Flight times plus a 7-hour time difference will make this a 20-hour experience, plus going and coming home from airports.

I wish that I felt better than I have been today. Half of our group has been coughing -- a deep, resonating cough. We sound like a traveling tuberculosis ward. In my case, I was sick in mid-December, had a bout again between Christmas and New Years, and regretfully brought this respiratory bug to Egypt. It has not gotten any better, and today I feel like my bronchial tubes and sinus cavities must be crawling with angry microbes. I've consumed more than a liter of water today before the flight, and I'm not much of a water-drinker. One of the top things to do upon returning home will be to get in touch with my doctor and try again to shake this thing.

We have had a great ending to this awesome experience. Thanks to Dave Dawson and Ken Bailey for inspiring such a trip, and working through the details so it all came together. Friends and colleagues, should this opportunity be made to come to Egypt for an immersion into an ancient land steeped in Coptic and Christian landmarks, but surrounded by a 90% Moslem culture, jump on it. All 13 in the group agree that among the many highlights of our experience has been the 7 lectures by seminary faculty. Dave Hunt today observed that as interesting as all the "places" we have been, the better thing is meeting all the "people" we have met. Another commented upon the new relationships that have been formed and in some cases will continue. People here at the seminary are bold in saying that we are giving to them every bit as much as we are receiving. They really need the encouragement to be strong as a small minority within a small minority of Christians within a Moslem land. We, in turn, marvel at their tremendous faith.

We've had the perfect ending to our time here in Egypt. On Tuesday we flew to Luxor (a one-hour flight to the south). We left the seminary by bus at 8:00 (an earlier than usual start) but waited a half-hour for our guide to catch up with us. At the airport we arrived in plenty of time for the 10:00 flight. Regretfully, the smog and fog was as thick as pea soup, and our plane was late in arriving. Thus, we were delayed an hour in taking off. We arrived in Luxor about 12:30, met our guide, and went to lunch. It was probably 2:00 before we actually started to see Luxor, and the sun goes down by 5:45. Our guide gave us a great tour of the huge Karnak temple, and then the smaller Luxor temple. These are more than 3500 years old, and are filled with huge columns, obelisks, and hieroglyphics. Overwhelming!

We had hoped to watch the Sound and Light show at the Karnak temple, but the weather was so cold, we opted not to do this. Too bad. Under other conditions, we would have been sitting under a full moon on a balmy evening to watch a very impressive show. (We did fly back to Cairo under a clear sky and full moon, and we'll start our journey out of Cairo under that same beautiful moon.)

We checked into our 5-star hotel for dinner and the night. Posh living. We could watch CNN or the movie Ghostbusters, or Antwone Fisher, or another movie with Robert DiNero and Jane Fonda. Or just sleep!

We expected Luxor to be warmer and sunny. Our first day was colder than Cairo. Our well-informed and easy-to-understand guide told us that it had rained in Luxor the day before -- the first time in 12 years!! He also said that Egypt's weather the past several weeks has been abnormally cold. (The day before we left for Luxor, the air in Cairo was muggy, getting very smoggy, and it actually sprinkled a bit. When we returned to Cairo we learned that it had rained pretty hard the day we flew to Luxor, which of course cleared up the smog and humidity.)

Day #2 in Luxor was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky (compared to a completely overcast sky the day before). We had a marvelous breakfast at our hotel before heading out by bus for the nearby (across the Nile) Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. These are the burial sites of dozens of ancient Egypt's kings. All sarcophagii, mummies, and artifacts have been removed (frequently to the Cairo Museum), but we walked into 3 of the many tombs carved into the sandstone mountain. One was shorter than the other, but the first two tunnels were about the length of a football field, about 12' high and 12' wide. All surfaces were covered with drawings and hierglyphic figures. You can't imagine how impressive these things are!

The Valley of the Queens is considerably smaller and less developed. Our bus dropped us off at the banks of the Nile and we took a 5-minute ferry across to have lunch. After lunch we all took a 2-hour horse-drawn carriage ride around Luxor (including many spots off the main drag). We stopped for beverages at one of the many "coffee houses," and smoked a shisha. (That's the Middle East water pipe that is tall, elegant, and involves small coals and filtering smoke through water.) On to another place for dinner before going by bus to the airport and departure back to Cairo. This one-hour flight was on time and easy.

Thursday (today) we spent the morning beginning with a devotional time which I led. Then we were to meet with the president of the seminary. Unfortunately, he began having blood pressure problems two days ago (for the first time) so was unable to come. We met with other faculty and staff for a memorable time to reflect on our experiences here. Some of us spent an hour with Dr. Istanophelous -- enjoyable and educational. He is a good friend of Joe Hopkins, and the former General Secretary of the Synod of the Nile (which is the Egyptian collection of Presbyterian Churches). I bowed out of meeting with the rest of the Sudenese students here at the seminary in order to go back to my room and try to get some sleep (which I did not).

It's about 6:30 pm here. I need to organize my stuff and get it all packed for departure in 5 1/2 hours. We have dinner and a final debriefing time with Jim Mohr's leadership. (Jim has been a fantastic group leader for us.)

I look forward to seeing many of you in a couple of days. Thanks for your patience to read through these lengthy letters.

Over and out,
Bob McCreight

It's Monday evening in Cairo (we're 7 hours ahead of you). Dinner (as usual) will be at 8:30 this evening (sometimes it's at 9:00), so I have some time between the return of our outing today and the evening debriefing at 7:30.

It's been awhile since I last wrote. (I think that was Wednesday). On Thursday we had a good lecture on the history of Islam and it's relationship with Christianity. Then our Shenango group met with a Sudanese student at the seminary whose education is being underwritten by a church in Ellwood City. He and a friend talked about Christianity in the Sudan. We also spoke with the Dean of Nile Theological College about that institution which we support; he is here at an annual gathering of the 16 presidents and deans of the theological schools in the Middle East.

In the afternoon we toured the Egyptian Museum, housing an extensive collection of everything more than 200 years old in Egypt. The complete collection of the stuff found in King Tut's tomb back in 1922 was fabulous. It filled a space considerably larger than all the floorspace of the New Wilmington Church. Just unbelieveable!

That evening we attended the Sound and Light show at the pyramids / Sphinx. I was underwhelmed. When we disembarked the bus about half an hour before the show began it felt mild. By the time the show started the cool breeze had picked up and the temperature had dropped, so I was colder than I wanted to be.

Friday morning we had our usual morning devotional time, followed by an interesting lecture about the Geo-political nature of the Middle East. Very interesting. The room in which we meet for lectures is always cold. (We have heaters in our dorm rooms, but otherwise buildings tend NOT to be heated; the cement and stone magnifies the cold.) So, between the devotions and the lecture, we were in the classroom from 9:45 to 1:15. I was quite cold.

Lunch was 2:30. Fortunately there was nothing scheduled for the rest of the day. I crawled into bed fully clothed after turning the room heater to it's highest setting. Above me was the cloth bedspread and two heavy wool blankets. I was still shaking.

I stayed in bed like this (skipping dinner) until 3:30 the next morning. By then my back hurt so much from the bed that I could no longer find any position that was bearable. (A suggestion to future groups coming here: consider bringing an air mattress.) I find the bed extremely uncomfortable, even with a comforter folded under me. I now have 2 comforters folded under me, and that is better. But every morning I wake up feeling like someone has been beating upon my back.

Now, "back" to my story. I awoke at 3:30 (still shivering, but miserably uncomfortable in any position.) Since the beds creak with every movement, by this time my roommate is awake and wonders if I've converted to Islam. I am on my knees bending forward in a tight ball to try to find some relief. No better. I got out of bed and sat in a chair for an hour and a half. Then I tried lying on my side back in bed, and found that I could get some sleep. At 8:00 on Friday morning I got up and felt 90% better. My aching back takes an hour or two each day to improve.

We all are going through one kind of medical problem or another. About 6 or 7 of us form an ongoing choir of deep coughing and / or sneezing. One of our team was pretty much out of commission for 3 or 4 days. Others report sore throats or other minor problems.

On Saturday we went on a bus outing to Memphis (the first capital of ancient Egypt) to see some artifacts and the first Egyptian pyramid.

Sunday was unique for us, for arrangements had been made to split into 4 groups and each group travel to an Egyptian congregation for worship. I went with a group of 5 (plus driver plus traveling security guard plus a seminary student) to an awesome church in Alexandria (a solid 3-hour drive NW of Cairo). We arrived for a late lunch along the Mediterranean, a walk along the water and castle, and a visit to a huge underground cemetary dating back to the Greek / Roman era.

Alexandria is a large city of nearly 4 million people, and finding our church was a challenge. We arrived at 5:45 pm in plenty of time to talk with the senior pastor before the 7:00 worship service. Since I was the preacher for this service, I also met in advance with the translator -- who did an extremely capable job. She is the Syrian wife of the newly-arrived associate pastor for youth (they came last November). She gave me a running translation of all that was being said during the worship service, which was very nice.

There are 150 to 200 families in this congregation -- one of 7 in Alexandria. The singing was spirited, and the people were extremely hospitable to us. I have found the Egyptians to be very gracious people.

The service was over about 8:30. Then we were given a tour of the church (which originally was a theater). They have a remarkably impressive mission which involves producing, and training others to produce, first-class audio / visual media to the Arabic world. (It is a serious offense to proselytize a Moslem in Egypt; Moslems who convert to Christianity experience their family disowning them, the loss of a legal identity, and very possibly physical harm. However, 80% of the Christians in Egypt do not attend worship. So there is a huge target for evangelism for the Christian community.)

We toured the three floors of this media facility, which uses state of the art equipment for taping, dubbing, etc. They have classroom space and dorm rooms / kitchen / laundry facility for 25 at a time (which rivals any Ramada Inn I've ever seen) to come and learn here for 3 weeks to several months. They teach people how to create their own websites. These Christians can then return to their own places and implement their training to accomplish their own mission objectives. It's amazing!!

The church also does a good job with follow-up, overseen by the other associate pastor for evangelism. They track and follow up on any visitor to the church and anyone who contacts the media center via the internet. To do this they have a staff of two part-time workers.

We didn't leave the church until an hour and a half after the service ended, and many people continued to stay and talk with friends. Since by now it is 10:00 and we still face a 3-hour drive home, we decided to skip dinner. We got back to the seminary a few minutes before 1:00 am, about 5 minutes before another group returned from Minia (4 hours drive to the south). Tonight at the debriefing time we will share our Sunday experiences.

Today, Monday, we drove through the garbage dump part of the city to visit the Moquattom Church. Chrisians have a corner on the trash in Cairo ( city of 19 million) because Moslems do not collect trash. Christians sort through the mounds of debris and salvage much of it for its value. Can you imagine that!

This "Cave Church" had more than a dozen huge and beautiful carved figures in the high limestone walls. (If you've beento Stone Mountain in Georgia, you have an idea of what I'm talking about. It's just unbelieveable. This church started in 1986, and was expanded again in 1994. There are actually 2 huge amphitheaters cut into the limestone and servicing the Christian garbage collectors andanyone else. The outdoor one has 70 rows of seating, and I'm guessing about 50 or more people could sit in a row. This outdoor seating handles 14,000 worshippers every Tuesday during the summer. (We have just a few more than that many Presbyterians in Shenango Presbytery!) The indoor church (tho smaller, but somewhat enclosed against chilly weather) has 7000 to 8000 attenders every Tuesday night in the winter.

The afternoon was spent at the Bible Society of Egypt. This organization (125 years old) has a fantastic new building (2 years old) 6 stories high. On the second floor they are creating a kind of diarama for children to see/hear how the ancient scriptures were hand-copied and collected into the bible. They re-visit a room like the Qumran caves and each one (16 at a time) finds a scroll hidden in a mini-cave in the wall. They go to the next room and print passages of scripture onto their found scroll (which already has some Greek on it). The last room is like a rocket ship with personal computers which allow the kids to report back what they have just learned. There is also two or three short videos on wall-mounted screens to teach the kids. It will be done in about two months. I'd love to come back and try it out. Two groups of 16 can go thru this experience every 45 minutes. We then met with the head of the bible society and learned about the publishing and distribution of Arabic scriptures to children and others. (Remember, it's a serious offense to proselytize, so handing out free literature would close them down in a minute.) So they have to walk a fine line of making bibles and audio-visuals appealing and available and inexpensive (sometimes free), while covering their own costs.

We had a little bit of rain again this afternoon. Not much, but enough to make the marble sidewalks hazardous.

All for now. Tomorrow we leave for Luxor by plane for two days. Back Wednesday evening. Thursday is our final day, with very little planned, so I hope to get one last email letter off to you before we fly home on Friday morning.
Bob

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

It's hard for us to imagine that we are less than 1 week from completing our stay in Egypt. As you can tell from all of the information I have been sending back this has been a jam packed experience. We have a couple guys that are feeling the effects of the Egyptian cuisine; others who are just plain exhausted, and still others running on adrenaline.
David Hunt really has felt the struggle the past few days. As a matter of fact he was so bad he missed the Egyptian Museum yesterday. We are grateful for your prayers.

Here are my notes they are not necessarily written to you.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting with Ishmiael Kanani who serves the church in the Sudan as the Academic Dean of Nile Theological College. He co-signed the Shenango Presbytery Partnership with the Sudan with David Dawson. His extends his gratitude to the churches of Shenango for help and contributions over the years. Along with Redstone Presbytery we have helped open a new Bible School in the Nuba Mountains.
The Nile Theological College is doing well these days. They hope to graduate 38 from their English speaking program. The have 98 students enrolled as of December. Last January the opened a "Diploma Program"
for lay people that enables a working person to attend classes from 4 -
7 pm and graduate in 2 years. They realized the need to teach Arabic to their students as well as English. There are 15 faculty members, mostly from other universities with only 7 serving full-time.
We discussed the need for Arabic reference books in their library. At present they have 30,000 English books. The Arabic books can only be purchased in the Middle East (Arab speaking countries). We have a commitment to purchase books. We have worked out a plan for this in that we need to send the money to Cairo. Beginning next week the Cairo Book Sale begins with many book publishers coming to Cairo to participate in this sale. It lasts several weeks. If the money is available Ishmiael will be returning to Cairo on Feb. 11, and will be glad to begin purchasing books. The books will then be taken to Sudan by students and faculty traveling back and forth. One other option is to have them shipped from Cairo. Apparently Ishmiael has a contact to do this.

We also met with Musa, a master's degree student at ETSC, who is supported by one of the churches in Shenango Presbytery. Musa is a top student who in his previous life was an attorney. Hearing the call of God he has left his family to travel to Cairo for study. He was nominated by The Nile Theological College with the hope that he will return to teach on their faculty. Rich has interviewed Musa and hopes to bring a report back to the Presbytery.

Ishamiael shared with us a few needs for NTC. 1. Prayers are needed for the faculty and staff as they strive to be faithful. 2. They are in need of trained faculty especially in the area of biblical theology.
3. They are seeking scholarships for their students. The cost to support a student at NTC is approximately $2,000 per year. Here's a
possible project for one of our churches. 3. They need to upgrade
their computer technology in order for their students to be successful.
4. They are looking for visiting professors to teach January terms.
There is a 3 week commitment needed.

This was a good visit. We have some good pictures to share.

Peace like a river,
Jim

Additional Thoughts on the Trip Back To Cairo

When I started writing today I realized that at the end of yesterday's note I suggested our trip back from Sinai was uneventful which for the most part it was. But that doesn't mean we stopped learning. As often happens Sobhy, our guide, began the day giving us our cultural update for the day. On this day we learned about Bedouins and the custom of Muslim women wearing a vale. I think both are quite interesting topic so in order to remember what was said I thought I better write it down.
Then it occurred to me that some of you may be interested as well.

The Bedouins who live in this part of the world inhabit the desert and mountain lands. In many ways they are thought of as 4th class citizens, having no status in society. They live by their own set of rules, hierarchy, and speak Arabic with their own dialect and don't want the government invading their space. We met several of them who served as our camel guides and found them to be friendly and speak English well enough to communicate. Here's a bit about them:

1. Bedouins use everything around them: camel hair, meat, and milk. We learned that a 1 - 4 year old camel tastes like lamb, 4-8 beef, and older is not good. They use tin, rocks, paper and anything else they can find for shelter.

2. Many of them are always on the move. We would often see a lonely camel walking in the mountains or in the desert. Those that do live in a community seem to be extremely poor and live near areas where there is
limited among the few trees that exist in this area of the world.

3. They work for tourism groups: camel guiding, ferrying people into the desert in jeeps, leading camping excursions.

4. They grow herbs for medicines and spice shops.

5. They grow drugs that often end up on the streets of Cairo..

Islamic Women
This is a very patriarchal society with the men being very powerful.
For the most part Islamic women in Cairo wear traditional clothing.
They often wear long dresses with vales. There are two types of head
coverings: Nikab, (also called a burqa or abaya) which seems to be mostly black, gray or even blue (I have not noticed other colors) and covers everything except the eyes. It seems that when a woman wears this she is also dressed in the same dark, dull color. The other is called Hijab which is a scarf over the head that covers all of the woman's hair so you can see her face. Nothing in Islam law talks about women shouldn't be attractive for men.but that's what the head coverings are designed for. I believe I heard him say that 80 - 90 % of the women wear a Hijab and 2 - 3 % wear the Nikab. I'm sure there is a lot more to this that I didn't pick up..hope you find this interesting. I do know that in other countries they have different types of laws governing the wearing of head coverings. I believe Iran is going through something like this at this time.

One exciting thing we did on this leg of the trip was stop at the Nunnery at Ferran, which by the way is located in the Valley of Wadi Feran. The nunnery is connected to St. Catherine's Monastery at Mt.
Sinai. It is located at the sight of Rephidim in Exodus 17:8-13 where the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites. You might recall the story of Moses ordering Joshua to select some men and fight. Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill (which is where to old Nunnery was
located) with Moses and when Moses held up his hands the battle would go Joshua's way. When he put down his hands the Amalekites had the upper hand. Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under Moses and held up his
hands and Joshua won the battle.

That's it for this one.

Peace like a river,
Jim

Message #3 from Bob

Hello Again,
We're just back from a three-day excursion to the Sinai peninsula where we had the marvelous opportunity to ascend Mt. Sinai! We rode most of the way on camels (an hour and 20 minutes) for 5 miles; then walked / climbed up at least 700 steps to the top. We watched the sun set, then reversed the trip in the gathering darkness, then the full darkness. The trip back down (all on foot) took us a little more than 3 hours, that in part because of some people with heart conditions. Earlier that day we visited St. Catherine's Monastery dating back to the fourth century and which contains probably the largest collection of early Christian manuscripts. We didn't get in to see any of that (nor did the other several thousand tourists that day) but we did walk through the church. I've seen a lot of old and very old churches, but this has to be the most beautiful one I've every seen!

To get to the Sinai we drove 80 east from Cairo to the Suez Canal. Our guide told us there would be glass panels as we drove under the canal so that we could see the fish. That turned out to be a big fish story. The Sinai is vast desert, much like you'd expect to see in Arizona or other places out west. As we neared our destination at Mt. Sinai, the very rugged mountains became especially beautiful. With the fading sun the landscape turned an amazingly bright yellow as the sky became filled with reds and purples. Breath-taking.

While there, the sky was bluer than I ever remember seeing it. The spectacular mountains against the blue, blue sky is a memory I will always treasure.

The Sinai appears to be desolate, but provides some oil for Egypt as well as manganese, copper, and turquoise. Increasingly there is some vacation opportunity there as well.

I've been making a list of interesting tid-bits to educate you about life in Egypt. So, here goes:

We arrived two days after Christmas, so have seen Christmas trees in the churches, billboards with Santa Claus (who looks different from ours) and the phrase "Merry Christmas" (remember, we're in a Moslem country!), and even heard some Christmas music on two occasions.

It rained our first full day here. Nothing exceptional by our standards, except that Cairo receives only about 5 days per year of precipitation. The rain did not interfere with our activities, but did leave puddles for several days afterward.

It's generally colder here than I expected. Not outside, so much, unless there is a strong breeze, but inside. Rooms here are not heated, and with lots of cement and stone, the buildings stay cold. Our dorm rooms have an electric heater, so we're always comfortable there.

There's lots of marble used in construction, including our dorm building. Remember all those steps I spoke about in my first letter? They're all marble! Entire floors are marble. It's very attractive and very common to see.

No one in Egypt has heard of skim milk. Almost every breakfast we are served a small box of corn flakes and a container of milk. The outside of the milk container indicates that it is "Full Cream" inside. Others in the group suggest that this means that it is 4% milk instead of 2% or 3%. All I can say is that it tastes very creamy.

Our guide speaks English pretty well (along with Arabic and Italian) but some words and phrases come out kind of interesting. To get our attention he will often say "my friend" or "my dear." Other words need some translation. "Suez Canal" sounds like "Swiss Canal." "St. Catherine's" sounds like "sandcastles." "Monastery" sounds like "moNAStry."

He will get us moving by saying "Yala, Yala," which means "let's go." Like Pavlovian dogs, we have been trained to respond "Meshi, meshi," which means "OK."

Gas prices are enviable here in the land of great smog and no emissions controls. A gallon costs less than a dollar. The bus we travel in runs on diesel fuel, which is about 14 cents per liter.

Paper towels are an extremely rare commodity here. For some enterpreneurial type, send truck loads of paper towels to Egypt and you'll "clean up" -- if you catch my drift. At meals there are boxes of kleenex tissues on the tables to serve as napkins. Usually the public restrooms are monitored by a man or woman who collects one pound (about 18 cents) and gives you a few pieces of toilet paper. Only on one occasion have we seen anything like a paper towel dispenser.

President Bush came to Egypt today, but with the minimal information we are getting about world events, I think the meeting took place somewhere in the Sinai peninsula. Safe-guarding any dignitary in Cairo would be a nightmare. For the past several days there has also been a meeting of the presidents of all the theological schools in the Middle East here at the seminary where we are staying. Tomorrow we will meet the president of Nile Theological College -- which will mean something to many readers of this epistle.

Several of you have responded to my letters, and I'm always glad to hear from you. Know that we are well and being well-cared-for. The trip is exceptional. Tho Americans are generally not admired by Egyptians any longer, we are treated with great hospitality by the native seminary students and anyone who has direct contact with us.

Tomorrow we will have a morning lecture, visit the Egyptian Museum, and take in the Sound and Light Show back at the pyramids in Giza which we saw on our first full day in Egypt.

Check your email inbox for the latest breaking news.
Bob McCreight

Hi all,

I'm going to do my best to send an update from Monday...for some reason
I couldn't get it to send before we left for Mt. Sinai. It's Wednesday
here so I'll be working on the past couple of days and send it later tonight or tomorrow morning.

We continue having a whirlwind experience. The weather the past two days has been wonderful.light jacket weather. So far so good on folks not feeling well. One fellow had a bit of a problem yesterday but is back at it today. Not a one of us wants to miss a thing.

Let me begin by bringing you up-to-date on our trip to CEOSS a couple days ago. CEOSS stands for Coptic Evangelism Organization for Social Services. Dave Dawson, Executive Presbyter of Shenango Presbytery sent me some additional information from what I sent the other day that makes our stop there even more interesting. Dave wrote: " FYI - Sam Habib (has since died) wasthe director and he along with the Grand Mufti in Cairo (sort of the top theological authority in the Muslim world) came together to receive honorary doctorates when Oscar was here. It was a really big event. Oscar also went to Cairo to confer the degree on Mrs.
Mabarak." Thanks Dave. By the way in addition to discovering that Westminster had conferred a degree on Sam Habib I also found that Muskingum College (Jill and I both attended there as did Bob McCreight who is on the trip) also gave him an honorary degree. Let's hear if for PCUSA colleges. It is in places like CEOSS that evangelism is happening as they reach out to people of all faiths. It was good to see what the 500 Christian employees of CEOSS are doing in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Yesterday was filled with information overload..actually it wasn't too much it wasn't enough. We met with three ETSC faculty members who each presented information about the culture, the history of the Presbyterian presence in Egypt, their own faith. First up was a young professor, Dr.
Samuel Rozfy Ibrahim who spoke on the topic of Urbanization and Globalization in Egypt. Wow, where do I begin. The people of Egypt are suffering as the result of several items: high birth rates, family violence, migration from the villages to the city, and refugees from places like Sudan (2 million), Palestine (70,000) and Iraq (150,000).
All except the Iraqis are coming to Cairo very poor. Wealthy Iraqis come with a plan to start businesses, get jobs, and make money. Most were wealthy when they arrived. This is pushing the cost of housing very high compared to Egyptian standards. The average cost for an apartment is $1000 lbs or $250 USD. Doesn't sound like much except Samuel told us that the average wage in Egypt is $2.00 per day. We are not sure if this is the goverment figure or the figure of those who provide need to the city. We learned that 25% of the nation lives in Cairo. Again, you cannot imagine the traffic and people walking everywhere.

We heard about the good work being done in the Schools of the Synod of the Nile. There are 15 schools, (I believe I heard him say that all were started by the PCUSA.) that still exist in Egypt. "Still exist" is a key phrase as my memory has it that there once were many more?
Currently there are 20,000 children being educated in these schools.
This may surprise you but 8,000 are Protestant Christians, 6,000 are Orthodox Christian children, and 12,000 are Muslim. The good news is children of many faiths are learning together. When something like this happens the children will learn to love one another and this will hopefully make a difference, as they get older.

Next, we met Professor Tharwt who took us through an Introduction to the History of the Evangelical/Presbyterian Church in Egypt. We found ourselves going back to the early 1900's which was good because now a lot of what we have been reading and hearing has begun to make sense. He spoke of the early mission boats that were like floating seminaries, Christian education programs run by Willis McGill (from Newand he work of Ken Bailey (also from New Wilmington) who did great work helping start schools and working to train pastors. By the way, for those of you who know Ken we saw a picture of him in which he looked like he might be in his mid-30's. Professor Tharwt is working on his dissertation and hopes to put his work from the early mission years into a book. He may be a potential speaker at a New Wilmington Mission Conference in the years ahead. His English was excellent.

Our final speaker, and maybe the most forceful one was Wageeh Mikhail who took us through Biblical Inerpretation and the Context of the Middle East. Wageeh has been helpful in planning our trip so it was good for our group to finally meet him. By the way, as many members of the staff at ETSC are he is indebted to Dr. Bailey for his influence on his life, work, and ministry. Our conversations helped us understand the need to interpret the scriptures through the eyes, ears, voices, minds, and lives of Arab speaking Christians. An Arab's interpretation of the Bible is the closest thing we have to understanding its original meaning. Even today they live part of the Biblical world. As Dr.
Bailey has said, "The faithful and genuine witness to the life, tradition, and interpretation of scripture" comes from the Arabic texts.

With each speaker our conversations after the lecture were probably more meaningful. We would often talk about Christian Islamic relations and heard things like: "Islam is more than a religion it is a power. Those who are in can't get out. If you do get out and become Christian you will be at least shunned by family and friends or even killed. There is no such thing as a liberal Muslim. Economic hardship is what is moving people to Islam. When there is a war, less people are converted to Islam because more money is being spent on fighting the war. America should be concerned about the growth of Islam. The United States should never constitute a particular religion become the religion of the country. Islam is getting weaker in the Middle East. Islam may be facing a crisis in the Middle East. There are now 20 Christian Channels broadcasting in Arabic 24 hours a day. (The broadcasts are coming from Europe and the Islamic community can't stop it."

I'm running out of time so let me quickly share a couple more items. We went on the subway tonight to St. John's Episcopal Church. What a cultural experience. While there, I had the sensation that Tom Williamson's brother was there. Guess what, he was along with this two children. (I knew coming here, that he lives in Cairo so it was good to see him.) We are going to try to get together again before we leave.

That's it.I must run.

Love to all,
Jim

Peace like a river,
Jim

Message #2 from Bob McCreight:

Life continues to be good in Egypt. One in our group (DF) came down with Tut's Trot today and sat out our activities from mid-day on. The rest are doing well.

Yesterday we visited CEOSS (Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services) and learned of the many and impressive things this Presbyterian-started organization does to help to make positve changes in society. Briefly, they provide micro loans (especially to women) to help them create a source of income. They help groups of people (Christian and Moslem) to work within the system to address an identified need and work to correct that need. They work with rural villages to develop safer water systems and educational opportunities. It started with a Presbyterian female missionary who worked to raise the level of literacy in rural villages, and through that saw the need to work in other ways as well. Annual budget is about 10 million US dollars. Typically projects are monitored for 3-7 years.

This morning we had 3 great lectures by 3 different seminary faculty. One on Urbanization and Globalization. A second on the history of Christian mission work in Egypt, and the third on the need to use Arabic / Coptic / Syriac sources to study the scriptures (since this is the culture that the scriptures came out of).

After lunch we took the train through much of the city to attend an Episcopal service of worship. Interesting experience to get there and to worship. We walked down many streets and passed many vendors of all sorts. One that caught my eye was a book seller with many books on display. Somehow my eye jumped to a book titled Pediatric Endocrinology. There has to be a hot market for that one!

On to other trivial things: we are staying in a highrise dorm building. There are 3 buildings on the campus: the administration bldg with classrooms; a building with a nice library on the first 2 floors and faculty apartments on the upper 3; and this highrise dorm. We walk up a dozen steps to get into the building, and the dining hall is on the first floor. Our rooms are on the first floor. To get there you walk up to the third landing (which is 79 steps), or take the elevator and push "1" for first floor. (Do you want me to explain that again?)

Most meals are at the seminary, but we've had a few out in the busy world. I mentioned calamari the first day; the next day I had pigeon and chicken. Meals at the seminary are always plentiful with fresh vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley), beans, soups, and meat. Always peta bread with every meal as well as a bottle of water at our place. Dessert consists of fruit. We're eating healthy!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to Old Cairo (with some Roman ruins) and the Cairo Museum. In the evening we worship at some church here in Cairo. (Worship seems to be in the evening, not Sunday morning.) The Episcopal Church this evening hosts 9 other congregations each week to use the building for their worship (like Sudanese, Japanese, Egyptian Episcopal, Korean, etc.)

On Monday we leave for a 3-day outing to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery at the base. This will include an ascent of Mt. Sinai, and I believe, some camel riding. So, I'll be back Wednesday night and hope to write again on Thursday.

Over and out.
Bob

A Message from Bob McCreight:

To my family and close friends,
This will be the first of several emails I hope to send to you from Egypt, where I will be traveling with a group of 12 others (9 of whom are clergy) as an immersion experience into a radically different culture and faith system. After the first 2 days, it's proving to be wonderful.

Most of the group were to fly from Pittsburgh to Chicago to
Frankfort on Sunday, Jan 6. We all got to Pittsburgh airport to learn that because of fog the flight to Chicago had been cancelled. (Exceptionally warm weather created fog that just wouldn't go away; temperature on Sunday was 65 degrees!)
After several hours plans were made to fly 26 hours later to Wash DC to Frankfort to Cairo. Long story short, we arrived in Cairo at 3:30 am on Wednesday morning (after spending about 8 hours in Frankfort during a lay-over by having a bus drive us to Heidelberg for a tour and dinner, then a tour of Frankfort).

Arrived Cairo at 3:30. Arrived at the Evangelical Presbyterian
Seminary (our home away from home) about 4:30. Slept for a couple hours -- at least I did, tho some didn't sleep much -- before breakfast at 8:30 and our first big day. (In addition to jet lag, we also deal with NUMEROUS barking dogs outside the dorm -- a police training center -- and the 5:30 Moslem call to prayer (which seems to begin as early as 4:30 with some additional calls to prayer). Fortunately, I sleep well -- tho the student housing bed is VERY hard.

Our first day we were taken by bus to visit a large mosque. On to lunch (fish, calamari, french fries, rice, and lots of dips for the peta bread). We drove past the Mena House Hotel where I stayed for several
nights back in April, 1967), which I learned was built as a palace only
a stones throw from the 6 pyramids of Giza. After going through a
security screening, we mounted camels (all 13 of us) and took a
45-minute camel ride beyond the pyramids so we could look back on all
six in a panoramic view. It was a great experience! Lots of pictures.

Then on to see the Sphinx nearby. All this brought back many
memories, and it was interesting to see the changes in that immediate
area. All this on my mother's birthday! (She was there in April, '67
also.)

In the evening we listened to a pretty good lecture, but almost all
of us struggled to stay awake because our bodies were screaming at us to
get some sleep. Then we ate dinner at 8:30 -- which is our normal
time to eat the evening meal.

Day 2 we were up for breakfast at 8:00 am. Into the bus to ride 2
hours south of Cairo to visit a drug rehabilitation center. Sounds
dull, but all of us agree this has to be the most meaningful experience
we might imagine. Can't tell it all, but a man studying at the seminary
where we are staying (and who also was studying psychiatry) was led by
God to realize that he needed to do something to help people who become
addicted to heroin. This was in 1989. Long story. He started, and had
immediate success. In 1990 a Christian family gave him land in a desert
region (tho populated) where there is now a thriving community that
rehabilitates addicts. Many pay for their treatment, but this community
now has 7500 olive trees to produce income, as well as a clothing
recycle center to add to the income. There are 13 sites now (all owned
and operated by the local Presbyterian larger community) which serves
more than 500 people annually. They have a 90% "cure" rgraduate the 3-6 month program. Generally, those who graduate become
active in reaching other addicts. Just phenomenal!

After lunch we visited two monasteries: a Coptic one dating back
to the fourth century and the other a Syrian monastery dating from the
8th century. They were only several miles from the drug rehap site.

Back to the seminary in the dark, and in time for dinner at 8:30.
At 9:30 we gathered for a de-briefing of the day, and came together
nicely as a group. It's now 11:30 pm on Thursday, which is 4:30 pm in
PA. (For those slow at math, there is a 7-hour time difference.)

I'll hope to write again in a day or two. The seminary has a nice
computer lab with about 20 computers, but being available when the lab
is open can be a trick.

Love and good wishes to all,
Bob

A Message from Jim Mohr:

Hey all,

Now that I have had a moment or two to think and type I'm sending this your way hoping it makes sense. I've tried to include some insights from others on the trip.

As some of you know there are 13 in our group. Our schedule had 11 of us departing Pittsburgh on Sunday connecting with two others in Chicago before finishing the journey. All good plans have skip a beat here and there....well, this one started right away. Our flight out of Pittsburgh was canceled due to fog in Chicago. We were fortunate to have a United Airlines worker, Bev, who arranged for re-ticketing on Sunday before I left the airport. She was a blessing. So, the Pittsburgh 11 headed back home to sleep in our own beds. The other two made it to Chicago and headed on to Egypt on their own. By the way, they arrived without any issues other, than spending a scheduled 13 hours in the Frankfurt Airport.

So, Monday afternoon we again met up at Pittsburgh Airport to head east.
We got in the air on time...flying not through Chicago but through Washington DC/Dulles. Then it was on to Frankfurt over night. Of course we had a slight delay of an hour or so before flying out of DC. Somehow we arrived in Frankfurk only 15 min. late. The goal was for us to immediately leave the airport to board a bus for a tour to Heidelberg, Germany. We got right through coustoms and were on our way...we thought.

Lucky for us we ran into Herb Goetz's secretary's daughter. Herb is the pastor at the Plane Grove Church over toward Grove City. She is an employee of the airport and apparently was waiting for us, which turned out to be a wonderful things. We needed to get E-Tickets for the Cairo portion of our trip and she encouraged us to do it before we left the airport. Man...was that a good call....it turns out they did not have 5 of us in the computer system. Alls well that ends well on this one....she pushed the airlines to take care of it and they did after an hour or so of running back and forth between two different airlines.

Then it was off to Heidelberg, one of the most beautiful cities in Germany.
The weather was beautiful, we toured the castle, and then walked down a couple hundred steps to the city below. After walking around a bit we split up for dinner. A few folks found a Korean place while the rest us ended up eating kraut and sausage in a Germany place. We all agreed we would go back if we ever have the chance. By ther way, it was here I learned that OSU lost...I'm so disappointed. I had a chance to watch the first quarter before leaving for Frankfurt. We had a great bus driver/guide who took us into Frankfurt before we went back to the airport. What an incredible city...like a mini-Manhattan.

Our arrival in Cairo was a 3:45 AM. Amazingly we only lost one bag. (It arrived at 5:30 AM the next morning.) Our first impression was that this must be a place were people don't sleep. There were cars on the streets and people walking around. It was a good way to begin our immersion into a culture that is so different than anything most of us have experienced.
After finding the Evanglical Theological Seminary of Cairo, our home away from home for the next 15 days we tried settling in and going to bed. We needed to be up and ready for breakfast at 8:15 AM. I tried laying down at 5:30 or so and the dogs in the Police Training Facility located right behind our building began howling. At first I couldn't make out the noise and then I realized it was actually the dogs howling at the sound of the morning calls for prayer coming from the mosque located near the seminary. After trying to sleep I remembered I had gotten ear plugs so I put them in and drifted off. By the way, the beds are a little firm...most folks are struggling...I'm fortunate in that i have two mattresses...although my room was cold. "Poor me."

After getting up for breakfast we headed out in our 19 passenger (very small tour bus) to visit the Mohammed Ali Mosque. I believe it is the largest in Cario. It was a place you don't go to ever day so it was filled with wonder for me. At the end of our visit we stood in the court yard of the mosque that overlooks the city and could see poverty in the houses and the people wandering the streets. This is just a first impression...we'll see. Oh, one other amazing thing was you could see the pyramids at Giza far off in the distance. After the mosque we started the long journey out to Giza.

We made two stops, the first was lunch: sea bass, calamari, shrimp, french fries, rice, and lots of dips for the peta bread. I'm trying everything.
Then we stopped for a few minutes at a cotton store. Egyptian cotton is very nice...we learned how they wear scarfs around their necks and on their heads. Then it was on to see the 6 pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. It was kind of interesting they made us stop our bus to go through security before heading on to our parking place.

The pyramids are much bigger than I imagined. Some of the rocks have to be 10 feet high. We took some pictures and then got on camels and took a 45-minute ride out into the Sahari desert so we could look back on all six in a panoramic view. It was a great experience! Lots of pictures. Having done all of this I forgot about seeing the Sphinx...it was located down over the hill. By the way, we have a great guide named Ibraham who has a real gift for gab. If half of what he is telling us is true he is amazing. On the way back we stopped and learned about how papyrus was made...something they did not know until just a few years ago.

As you can imagine by now most of us have had just a few hours sleep over the past 48 hours so we are dog tired. We came back to ETSC for dinner and a lecture. By the way, dinner is schedule for 8:30 PM. Dinner went well...I only feel asleep on my plate two times. The tough part was staying awake during the lecture. I'm not sure any of us could tell you everything that was said. To top it off it was done through an interpretor so it added to the event.

Before going to bed the second night I discovered I had a heater in the room....great for drowing out the sound of the dogs and the minaret prayer calls. Actually, the calls to prayer come 5 times each day. I must be getting used to them because I don't hear them as much now. By the way, inspite of the heater...my room is still cold. "Poor me."

Yesterday was out of this world for a couple reasons. After a 2 hours bus ride into the desert south of Cairo we visited a drug rehabilitation center owned by the largest Evangelical church in Cairo. It was a powerful testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit at work while at the sametime giving us another glimps of the problems the Egyptian people face. Our visit was powerful for many reasons most of all it hit home for some in our group. Bob McCreight wrote about the experience this way, "Can't tell it all, but a man studying at the seminary where we are staying (and who also was studying psychiatry) was led by God to realize that he needed to do something to help people who become addicted to heroin. This was in 1989.
Long story. He started, and had immediate success. In 1990 a Christian family gave him land in a desert region (tho populated) where there is now a thriving community that rehabilitates addicts. Many pay for their treatment, but this community now has 7500 olive trees to produce income, as well as a clothing recycle center to add to the income. There are 13 sites now (all owned and operated by the local Presbyterian larger community) which serves more than 500 people annually. They have a 90% "cure" rate of those who graduate the 3-6 month program. Generally, those who graduate become active in reaching other addicts. Just phenomenal!"

Then it was on to lunch where some ate pigeon. Having eaten pigeon when I was in college I must say I passed on the little bird with a million bones.
Then we headed for an amazing step back in time (as if we weren't already
there) as we visited two Coptic Monasteries. At the first, a Coptic one dating back to the fourth century, Nicodemus, our monk guide took us through the facility. All I can say it's hard to imagine that life style. At one point the Coptic Pope was forced to live a the facility under house arrest.
The other monastery was located right next store...it was Syrian and dates back to the 8th century. This day ended with a long trip back to the seminary. The traffic was slow...slow...slow.

Actually, I don't think I've mentioned traffic yet. There seems to be only one rule. If there is an opening go for it. Three lanes of traffic travel on a road marked for two lanes. Horns are always honking as cars and trucks speed by. It is crazy out there....The only other place I have been like this is Mexico City. The amazing thing is we have only seen one wreck, actually we pulled into to a parking lot right after it happened. A truck went air borne (we didn't see it...just came upon it as people were running to try and pull the doors open), broke off a tree...about 10 feet up, hit another tree and came to rest betwen them both. Keep us in prayer as we travel.

We had a powerful closing devotion for the evening that summed up the day.
By the way, we finally had time to enjoy Jill's famous banana bread. Boy was it nice....thanks. We were joined by a missionary named Roger, I'm sorry I can't recall his last name, who helped us interpret some of what we have seen so far. I think we are being immersed into this culture.

Day three was fairly light...thank goodness some in the group are really feeling wiped out. We had an excellent lecture this morning on Old and New Testament Christianity in Egypt that led to discussions about Christian Moslem relations. I'm sure we will talk about this often. He shared an interesting fact about the Islamic religion as we talked about the rise of Islam in the US. He shared that those who become involved in politics are taught not to share their real intentions until they get into power. He shared that the United States should be causious as it opens its doors to more and more moslems. He said that in the 1940's (I think) Egypt was a Christian nation. Today there are only 10 percent and anyone who might consider becoming a Christian, if moslem, would be jailed or perhaps killed for changing religions.

We took a walk around our neighborhood. It's amazing to be in a culture where it's pretty obvious you are an outsider. There is a meat market at the end of the street that has hole carved beef hanging out in front of his meat market. A guy on the corner sells everykind of peanut you can think about eating. There's a mosque and an Orthodox Church just around the corner as well as two or three schools. Wow, I almost forgot, the Police Dog Training facility.

This afternoon we visited CEOSS. I'll write more abou this later so that I don't mess up its name. It was started long ago by a man that interestingly enought Westminster College gave an honorary doctorate to in 1999. I took a picture of his degree which is hanging in teh CEOSS Museum. I don't have my notes or I could tell you more. What I do remember is that they are a PCUSA church related facility started by a $30,000 gift from Presbyterian Women in an effort to start a literacy program. Today, they are still doing amazing things to help people in the area of literacy, making small business loans, fighting for the rights of women and children. There are many street children living in Cairo....Children that have no where to call home mainly because of poverty issues. They were celebrating the fact that just last week they re-united 8 children with their families after a couple years of living on the streets.

Oh by the way, remember my cold room...today I discovered the sliding glass doors were reversed and they were not closed. "Lucky me!" I'll be warmer as I try to sleep tonight.

Well, that's it for this report.

Grace and Peace to all of you,
Jim