Lebanon #3: IN CELEBRATION OF SIMPLY BEING TOGETHER
NESSL WOMEN’S CONFERENCE Part 2
By Lois Andrews, Lisa Culpepper, and Nancy Fox, Outreach trustees
Thursday is outing day, with a lovely lunch out. This year, due to the heat, we waited until later afternoon and went up higher into the mountains near a ski area. Some women rowed on a man-made lake, while others chatted lakeside. The women were treated to a beautiful dinner al fresco with a view of both mountains and ocean. One of Lebanon’s famous musicians was enjoying dinner in the same restaurant, and we hope he enjoyed the entertainment provided by the women (who are unable to restrain themselves from singing and dancing when together). Samia, leading the music with her darbuka (Middle Eastern hand drum), turned out to be a relative of his!
Some glimpses into the ladies’ stories (we will not use full names for privacy):
*All three of us have now attended three women’s conferences and yet continue to be inspired by the active ministries these ladies have in and through their congregations. G__, shared with us about how she and four other Christian ladies began in 2015 to reach out to women who’d been displaced by the Syrian war and landed in Damascus with nothing and no employable skills. From this personal ministry grew Hook and Thread, a small business that teaches traditional needlework skills and then finds markets to sell their beautiful products outside Syria. This ministry of helping the women resettle in their new city continues. G__ is also busy with the “Sunday School” ministry, which involves 315 children and 32 youth leaders and meets in multiple sections for a couple of hours each on Thursdays and Fridays. This ministry is so vital because children are the future of the church. But G__ has a visa for Germany, where her son lives, and is on her way to visit him. She has to stay in Germany long enough to establish residency there so can get a visa to visit her children and grandchildren in the U.S. She doesn’t want to leave her ministry, even temporarily, but is forced to.
*Nearly every family is now separated, with adult children scattered around the world. Parents’ hearts are broken because they cannot see their children, miss their weddings, and cannot hold or even meet their grandchildren, and the young adults are often isolated and lonely. Those young people who have stayed in Syria or Lebanon feel stuck with no future and have sky-high rates of depression. Oh, the broken-hearted mothers!
*We prayed (and continue to pray) with a concerned mother whose son is determined to reach the U.S. border and request asylum. As she shared her grave concern for his safety, he had only made it to Costa Rica and still had a long way to travel the dangerous path through Central America. We await more progress reports.
*We chatted easily with a young teacher from Fairouzeh who had won the lottery to move to enter the process of applying for a visa to come to the U.S. Next stop – an interview, followed by many more hoops to jump. She was eager to practice English with us!
*Imagine running any kind of business without consistent electricity. S__ had a very successful dress shop, but was forced to close because no sewing could be done with only about 10 minutes of electrical power in each six hours. She changed her hairstyle because she couldn’t blow it dry. Yet, she maintains a joyful presence and strong leadership in her church and each annual conference.
*(from Lisa) I traveled to Lebanon with two 50-pound bags of medicines and a 20-pound backpack. I was so happy to unload this weight and return home with a lighter load. This is our hope for the many women who attended the conference carrying heavy burdens of loss and pain. H__ came with a heavy, anguished heart; she shared with me that her mother was blind and that she had lost two children in late pregnancy. Upon her third pregnancy, she prayed, "God, you will name my child." Afterward, she had a dream or vision in which God said, "Name your son Asher."
"This is a Hebrew name," she told me, "so I was not sure my husband would agree, but he did." H__ went on to tell me that her younger brother had been killed by a sniper and another brother was sent to the U.S. at age 14 to escape the violence. Unfortunately, this brother rebelled, ran away from his U.S. family, and began living on the street. "Finally,” she said, “he was rescued by a Christian and adopted by a church community which provided him with a home and an education. My brother is now a lawyer and his son is a professional baseball player in the U.S.!” She finished the conversation with, "God is Good. We are poor now." H__ is a woman of faith who is grateful for God's goodness and mercy and asks us to shoulder the burden of poverty with her. We pray for strength and the mercy of a lighter load.
The women bear their own and others’ burdens gracefully. The Synod is rich with and intentionally builds strong female leadership, both pastoral and lay. The Synod has a strong new program of leadership training for younger women, and we witnessed the fruit of this. Synod leaders invited groups from The Outreach Foundation to join the training conference in future years!
I (Nancy) was honored to assist in serving communion in the closing worship service. Saturday morning’s activities were abbreviated and moved earlier to enable the ladies to head for the border or home before the worst heat of the day. Our farewells were rushed and sad – but full of gratitude for the sweet fellowship we shared and hopes to stay in touch and meet again.
