Egypt #8: "Want a Date?"
“Want a Date?”
For the team, by John Daniel
First Presbyterian Church, Mooresville, NC
We started our penultimate day in Egypt with the pre-dawn call to get us moving. Leaving the Hotel Basma we headed for the Aswan International Airport where Mourad continued to find the path of least resistance. Luckily, for those of us over five foot eight we boarded the opposite of Air Italia, a new Egyptian Air A320 with lots of legroom.
Almost immediately upon landing we dropped our luggage back at Le Passage and headed to the pyramids where we ran our phone batteries down taking photos of structures that were there hundreds of years before Abraham trekked to Egypt with his wife Sarah. Five daring adventurers even embarked on a camel caravan ride. Lunch was at a fine restaurant called The Pyramids Lounge which had a spectacular view of the desert and pyramids, fine lemon mint drinks, and ICE CREAM.
For the evening we divided into two teams enabling us to visit two more churches somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the middle of who knows where Cairo.
The first team went to El Marg Church where we met with Pastor Heny Karam and members of his congregation. After the meeting in the fellowship hall, we went upstairs to the sanctuary only to find that a “praise and worship” rock concert had broken out with loud, but wonderful music sung by an absolutely overflowing crowd filling the seats and hanging from the balconies. Jason Sentas preached and Eriny translated from Mark 3 about the families of Jesus: his earthly family of his mother and brothers, and his eternal family of all those who heard him, followed him, modeled him, and worshiped him. Following the message, we had more singing, gifts to the church staff, and selfies with young girls and boys. Then the most interesting thing happened. We were asked to lay hands and pray to the needs of different folks. Casey Woods really took to the moment praying for and with those who sought to get support for their needs. I think we took the default position of favor because Morgan “the Magnet” Sentas was in the other group.
The second group traveled to Gebel El Asfar, a rather poor community without a single paved road. The group met with Pastor Samuel before joining the youth for an evening of worship and games. Pastor Samuel shared a brief history of Gebel El Asfar, recounting the faithful work of Pastor Jimmy who began ministry in the community, planted the church, purchased land for the church, and finally began to build the physical church building. The church now looks forward to finishing their new sanctuary, maybe even by Christmas, so that they can continue to reach their community with the gospel message. We then joined the gathering youth for some joyful singing and a message from Kimmy Briggs about the invitation to tell Jesus our whole stories, and when we do, we will be sent into a new future with messages of belovedness and peace. Following worship, they joined the youth for a rowdy game of hot potato and random Bible trivia.
It was my feeling that in this city of nearly 22 million, there are so many that live here, but there are a precious few that are alive here. Alive for Jesus Christ “Loving God, Loving People, and Making Disciples.
*Those wondering about the title of this blog will have to join Marilyn in her next trip to Egypt.
