Trips Blog

by Paul Arveson and Nancy Fox

As forecasts predicted, we awoke Thursday to a driving rainstorm in Alexandria that extended throughout Egypt. The President had proactively closed schools, government offices, banks, etc., for two days all over Egypt, which is not built for rain. Roads were washed out, ceilings and walls collapsed, water and electricity were knocked out. We were simply inconvenienced as our plans changed and instead of being able to visit and see the sites and meet some of the members, the pastors came to present to us at our hotel. Finding a private, quiet place to gather was not easy. Initially, they sent us to the bar, though that caused our Egyptian friends great discomfort.

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by Kathy Arveson

After breakfast on Wednesday, we left Cairo, heading for Alexandria. We took the desert highway and were amazed by the beautiful new suspension bridge that has significantly reduced travel time. Around 11 a.m. we visited the Macarios Coptic monastery and had a private tour with “Abuna” (Father) Mercurios. The Macarios monastery was founded in the 4th century and has been in continuous operation. It now has 160 monks and 300 acres of land. The monks raise date palms, vegetables, rice, mangoes, fish, and cattle to sustain the monastery. We toured the original chapels, cells, and rectory, viewing relics, art, and icons from various periods. The monastery is very strong in scripture knowledge and prayer, and we found Abuna Mercurios to be welcoming and informative.

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by Ken Tolley

Tuesday morning presented us with the exciting opportunity to make a trip (too brief!) to the Bible Society of Egypt (BSOE) where we met with General Director Ramez Atallah, Administrator Lois Naguib, and others. BSOE provides the Bible in Arabic and recordings, children’s books, videos and other presentations of the Christian scripture not just for all Protestants, but also for Coptic Orthodox and Catholics in Egypt.

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by Pam Bowman

We left Cairo early, heading East to the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in Ismailia (on the Suez Canal) for the 10:30 service. Our friend Dr. Tharwat Wahba, head of the Mission Department at Cairo Seminary and leader of the Pastoral and Outreach Ministries Council (POMC) of the Synod of the Nile, joined us as a guest preacher. It was a special day for him as he would be with two pastors he has trained in mission. Traffic was congested—Sunday is the first day of the workweek here, and we were 15 minutes later for worship! Two simultaneous translators sat behind our group to unobtrusively help us follow Tharwat’s sermon based on Luke 4, Jesus’ sermon in which he made his own mission clear: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.”

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by Nancy Fox

In the wee hours of this morning, the Egypt spring 2020 team had finally all arrived in Egypt. Paul, Kathy and I are from National Presbyterian Church in Washington, Pam from Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church, New Jersey, and Ken from First Pres Charleston, West Virginia. Sometimes, little things like flying internationally can feel like moving mountains, if there is any little complication - such as an international virus threat, for example. But we trust the Lord has called us here and we are all practicing caution, foregoing the traditional Egyptian greeting - hugs and kisses on both cheeks - in favor of elbow or fist bumps. Sad.

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