Lebanon: Day Nine - House of Hope: Part Three

by Julie Burgess, for the team

...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

How did it get to be Friday already? Now nearing the end of the women’s conference, the hour for good-byes is not far away. What this means is that the rate of picture taking increases among us so we can capture that one last special moment of hugs and smiles before we part in tears. If our cameras measured the photos in hundreds per day, we will probably be in the thousands by later this evening!

How special it is when sisters in Christ gather to share their faith, their hope, and their love.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 27, 2018

Lebanon: Day Eight - I Am Waiting for My Children

by Evangeline Paschal, for the team

“We don’t call it a crisis, because a crisis usually lasts just a short time.”

A woman from Mhardeh is sharing with us her story of how hope has figured in her life. Standing before all of us during our morning worship period, she explains that life has presented her with many hardships since she married a few years ago. First, her new husband suffered serious health problems. And now she lives in an area of Syria, north of Hama, that has seen heavy fighting. Her house has been hit twice during the fighting, and just last week there was an explosion that destroyed 65 houses in her town. Her family is afraid to leave, though, because they worry that if they do their home will be confiscated, and they will have nothing to return to. For this sister, just attending this conference is an expression of hope.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 27, 2018

Lebanon: Day Seven - Houses of Hope: Part Two

by Sheryl Wood, for the team

Hello, here is Sheryl again to fill you in on what is happening under the skies of Lebanon. I must admit that I was flat on my back for about two days. I only share that with you not for sympathy but to continue to show you why you must make the trip with me. You may say I simply can’t go. What if I get sick? I am here to tell you prayer upon prayer goes up for you as very patiently all human needs are cared for and you get well, just as if you were at home. I was delighted to open one eye to check on my condition and find I was back in the ball game and up to bat for a home run.

Before I began to actually engage with the beautiful multitude of faces that awaited our little team, we walked across the courtyard and sat on the steps of the Cedar House and had our devotion together. Marilyn suggested that we begin by praying with our eyes open. It was not my first time praying with my eyes open, but I cannot recommend it highly enough. God spoke through our eyes as we prayed.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 25, 2018

Lebanon: Day Six - Houses of Hope: Part One

by Julie Burgess, for the team

Marilyn gathered our little team at the front of the conference center for the morning worship portion of the daily schedule. Sweet Elias Jabbour, now assigned as pastor to the congregation in Yazdieh, Syria, and his beautiful wife Petra, lead worship each morning so beautifully in word and song. Marilyn was doing a reflection for the group on hope, which is this year’s theme. You read about it yesterday. The theme verse is Psalm 71:5, but she took us two verses farther into the text.

“I have become a sign to many...”

As Christians, followers of Jesus, we do have this hope. It is not the wish kind of hope: I hope I get a close parking space. I hope I get into the university I want. I hope the cancer goes away. No, this hope is not about circumstance, but the assurance that a gracious God has already written the end of our story and accompanies us along the journey.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 24, 2018

Lebanon: Day Five - After the Clouds, There is Always Sun

by Evangeline Paschal, for the team

Just yesterday, a young Syrian seminarian named George read this passage in Arabic as the scripture reading for the Sunday service at the Presbyterian church in Deir Mimas, a small mountain village in the far reaches of southern Lebanon, just a few miles from the border with Israel. Less than twenty-four hours later, I thought of this passage again as we joined our Syrian and Lebanese sisters in kicking off the annual women’s conference at the Dhour Shweir Evangelical Conference Center. We are more than three hours away from Deir Mimas in another mountain town northeast of Beirut. The National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon owns this retreat center, which began in the nineteenth century as a Presbyterian mission run by physician and pastor William Carslaw and his family. During Lebanon’s civil war (1975-90), it was commandeered by militias fighting in the area, but after the war our host Reverend Najla Kassab and the NESSL patiently brought the center back to life, and it now regularly hosts Christian conferences and retreats.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 23, 2018

Lebanon: Day Four - Roads and Boundaries

by Julie Burgess, for the team

It is the Sabbath, the Lord’s day, and one of the joys of traveling to be with the church in the world is the gathering with brothers and sisters to celebrate and worship together. Language barriers don’t have to be a problem: hymn tunes are recognizable and if we don’t know the Arabic, we can sing the English snippets we know or create whole new hymns. We can confess in any language. And we stretch out our hands to receive the benediction. We were made to worship and to glorify our Lord, and that is what we set out to do on this Sabbath day.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 23, 2018

Lebanon: Day Three - Life Abundant

by Sheryl Wood, for the team

Upon hitting the morning air with Evangeline and Marilyn at 6:30, we set out on our morning constitutional upon the campus of the American University of Beirut. It was a typical walk except for the fact we were walking down the serpentine hill where the Mediterranean Sea lapped along the shores. There was an occasional gaggle of cats tussling along our path, but other than that the campus was still. The students were out for their most needed breaks. The quiet walk was broken as Marilyn read the plaque on the walls of the 1866 building. It read,” I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”

I knew what lay ahead in my day. I was going to a church that housed a school for the children of refugees from Syria.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 21, 2018

Lebanon: Day Two - The Circle of Life

by Evangeline Paschal for the team

“Take care of your talents, because they belong to God.”

Izdihar Kassis is speaking to a room full of twenty-two Syrian refugee mothers with their infants in tow. They have come to this monthly meeting to gather diapers, formula, and handmade crocheted dolls for their babies. Fifteen women were expected but once word spread, others eagerly joined walking from nearby refugees camps, some accompanied by their other children. Izdihar does not want to turn anyone away, and fortunately there is enough to go around today.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 20, 2018

Lebanon: Day One - Commencement

by Julie Burgess, for the team

The simplest definition for the word commencement is the start of something new, which seems counter-intuitive as I tend to think of commencement as the end of something. We graduate from high school or college (or even kindergarten nowadays) and we celebrate commencement. We’re done! School is over! No more teachers, no more books... you know how the old rhyme goes. But of course commencement is not about the end of something, but the beginning of the new thing: first grade, college, life.

Today, our first full day traveling with The Outreach Foundation, we found ourselves climbing up 105 steps to visit one of the six schools for Syrian refugee students run by the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL).

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 19, 2018

Faithful Women on the Road: Lebanon

by Marilyn Borst, The Outreach Foundation's Associate Director for Partnership Development

I have returned to Lebanon for the 30th time and will soon be joined by a team of three women from Virginia, Nebraska and Washington, D.C! In the days ahead, we will meet with partners whose ministries with refugees from Syria are bringing hope and healing in Christ’s name. Grateful that Julie Burgess will return along with two wonderful "new women": Sheryl Wood and Evangeline Paschal. Late on Sunday, we will head to the Women's Conference at Dhour Shweir, sponsored by the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon. We will be gathered, once again, for a week with 100+ sisters from the Presbyterian churches of Syria and Lebanon.

Lebanon 2018The Outreach FoundationJuly 18, 2018

Ethiopia Blog 12: Gambella

by Frank Dimmock
*written on Wednesday June 20 (World Refugee Day) from Kinshasa (DRC)

Today is a day where the world should remember and recognize the plight of more than 65 million people globally displaced from their homes.1 Many are refugees fleeing violence and war, others are seeking asylum, but contrary to popular belief, over 58 million are being hosted in neighboring developing countries. In June 2017 I was enroute to Ethiopia on World Refugee Day. During the past two weeks I have been privileged to spend more time with many South Sudanese refugees from six camps in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia. Their situation is fragile as food and water rations are limited, schools and teachers are inadequate to meet the needs, and there is growing pressure on available firewood and fuel. In spite of the growing demands, the UN agencies and Ethiopian government are trying their best to provide for basic needs and a secure environment. They pray daily for peace in South Sudan and the opportunity to rebuild their homeland.

Ethiopia 2018The Outreach FoundationJune 20, 2018

Ethiopia Blog 11: Saturday

by Frank Dimmock

Wonderful day for visits to six preschools in two refugee camps (Tierkidi and Nguenyiel) and two adult learning centers. Most of the preschools have hundreds of children and too few teachers. Many of the teachers are volunteers without curriculum and materials. The Outreach Foundation has provided funds for plastic sheets to cover classrooms, blackboards and tables and will continue to support the preschools. Children comprise the majority of the population in the camps – they are everywhere!

Ethiopia 2018The Outreach FoundationJune 16, 2018

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