Your Comments or Questions

Just a quick note. I'd love to here from you, and so if you want to shoot me an email at the end of every post there is a picture of a little envelope. If you click it you can comment on the the last post or just right me a little note. My email is ballarina_babe16@hotmail.com.

Hope to here from you.

Faith to Walk on Water

(photo: view from our appartment in Alexandria)

We arrived back in Cairo yesterday, after a long car ride through the dessert. Last week was a good week, but tiring. We had three people join our team, Heather who is a Canadian and here in Egypt about one more month, and two Egyptians, Ehob, and Shaddi. Ehob is our translator, and Shaddi is Ehob's best friend who is learning english. We made some really good connections at some churches we visited, and we also spent some time in prayer. This week we are going to visit an orphanage from wednesday to friday, and then maybe head back to Alexandria next week and help out in an english speaking church. We really like Alexandria, the air is much cleaner there and the Mediterranean Sea is very beautiful. It going to be nice going back.

As for me I am learning alot. Fear is something that I have been dealing with for a while now. Even at home in Canada it is something I've struggled with. Being afraid to fail, and also being afraid of what people would think of me if I did fail. Then being here in Egypt a whole new area of fears came up such as not fealing secure or safe, and being unsure of how much danger we are in. God has been patiently teaching me though. I'm learning how pray and trust that God has heard that prayer and will keep me safe. Praying with trust is a faith builder I think. It really makes you rely on God more. God has also been giving me scripture sometimes through people and sometimes in my devotions that I can rest in. God has given us so many promises. He is always with us, he tells us to not be afraid, he also assures us that he will provide us with strength to get through any situation we are in if we rely on him. I came to this Trek program wanting to have my faith built, and I think God is really doing that. Yesterday while we were praying I had a picture of rain falling between two really high sky scrapers, and I really felt like God was just raining down his refreshing living water on each one of us on our team. God is soo good. Yesterday I was talking to my family on MSN and just saying how I never realized how much you can feel prayer out here. I don't think I would survive if people weren't praying for me and my team. Prayer sustains us.

Some prayer requests:

• God to give us patience with the Egyptian culture. Being efficient is not a priority here, relationships are, and sometimes that frusterates us as a team.



• For God to really soften our hearts towards the Egyptian people, and to start to understand the culture here a little more clearly.



• For safety for Sharalin and I especially. Being a North American girls here makes us vulnerable to be taken advantage of in the eyes of this culture because we aren't familiar with what's appropriate and what isn't and how to deal with that. (ei: a man who is not a friend touching our arm is very inappropriate, and letting him do that sends a bad message)



• For me to keep learning how to trust God, and to grow in my faith while I'm here.
  

I'll leave you with some more pictures from this week, and update again as soon as I can.

(Streets in Alexandia at night)

(a Mosaic Wall)

Sitting on the Sea Shore

Greetings for Alexandria, Egypt
I'm in an internet Cafe in little shop with about 6 computers overlooking the Mediteranian Sea.
I don't have alot of time to write but I thought I'd just update you on how I'm doing personally. I have really felt your prayer this last week and a half. I've been able to get through my spell of culture shock and fear and God is now giving me a heart for the people here in Egypt. I can already feel it is going to be hard to leave. Our team has been visiting churches and doing dramas and singing. I'm learning alot of arabic, and making a fool out of myself doing it, but it's a good way to build relationship because there is alot of laughter.
The culture here is very different. For Example yesterday we stayed but to about 2 or 3 am and got up at about noon. we ate lunch at 3 30pm and supper at 11 pm and then went shopping until 12 30. It's alot of fun but for someone who is a morning person a little hard to get used to. I tried a few new things as in being Sugar cane juice and guyava juice. The juice is very good. thick but good. Anyway I'll update more with pictures when I get back to Cairo hopefully on Satruday.

Ma Selema (Peace out in gangster american translation)

Is that a ... Camel?

A helen was a helen. Greetings from Egypt! Well we've had a couple of interesting days. We are mostly just getting to know the Culture a little better at this time. Yesterday I was sick (in a runny sort of way if you know what I mean), because I ate a falafal. They were very tasty but aparently Egyptians react to them too. So for a whole day the team basically just hung low and slept partly getting over Jet lag and partly to just get better. Today we had the opportunity to go and see the Pyramids! They are pretty amazing when your standing at the base. They are huge! It took 9000 people a year over 30 years to build one. We also were able to ride CAMELS! Yup, thats right Salton, Jeff, Andrea, Mom and Dad. I have a picture that beats your shorts in the snow anyday (www.saskatchewanism.blogspot.com). But I sure do have a sore bottom because of it. They are very bouncy! Anyway we are leaving to go to Alexandria for the next 5 days for sure, and maybe 10 if they find somewhere for us to serve. Everything is always very up in the air. As for dealing with all the change and different culture traits, I am struggling a bit. So prayer for letting go of my fear, and anxiety, as well as just being able to trust God and know that he will be with me where ever I go. (Joshua 1:9) Well I'll leave you with some pictures. I hope you enjoy them. We certainly had a blast!

World Wide Adventures

March 6 2007 Egypt Team left the airport in Vancouver flew 10 hours to Amsterdam, where we had an 8 hour lay over. We went and caught a train into down town Amsterdam and explored the city streets. All the buildings are made out of brick and are quite tall and all the window frames are painted white. We explored little narrow streets with cafes, coffee shops and many clothing stores. We then sat down for a cup of really strong coffee to wake us up, because on Canadian time it was 4 a.m. and we didn't really sleep on the plane. After this we went back to the airport and most of us camped out on the floor and slept as much as we could. Then we took a 4 hour flight to Cairo Egypt. We flew in at about 2 a.m. and were through customs at about 4 a.m. and were only home in bed at about 5 30 a.m Egypt time. The next day we slept in until about 4 in the afternoon and two hours later were on an adventure in the Cairo traffic, to our first destination where we worked with about 100 arabic children. We only found we would be doing this about 1 hour before so it was quite a loud, energetic, and unprepared experience. The next day we did some drama's for some colllege age people in the morning and evening, and in the afternoon we were able to explore Cairo with some Egyptians. It was alot of fun. The culture is very different here, and I think it's safe to say some of my team mates and I are experiencing some culture shock. I miss home alot, but I know I am supposed to be here! So if you could pray for the team and dealing with this new culture, we would really appreciate it. I'll leave you with some pictures now of Amsterdam, Holland, and Cairo, Egypt.

Waiting and Waiting

I just thought I'd write a little note. My team and I are just sitting around waiting to leave for the airport. If you could keep my team and I in your prayers for the next few days while we are traveling, we would all appreciate it.

Hopefully I can post some Pictures when I get to Egypt!