Friends and Family -- I depart on Tuesday for Egypt. I plan to blog again this year. Thanks to everyone who's given me such great feedback throughout the year. I ask for prayers for traveling mercies as I depart and I also ask for prayers for Hans who will not be traveling with me this year. It will be hard to leave tomorrow. More from Ma'adi [View Full Entry]

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Friends and Blog Readers, I just got word that Mina, the baby who's baptism we were privileged to witness and share with all of you, is in the hospital in Assiut, Egypt tonight. What I didn't tell you in my blog initially was that Mina was born with a hole in his heart and with asthma. Health in Egypt is not what it is here and so Mina will very likely die. When I spoke to my friend Kadry this evening he said, "I think he is dying tonight." Please pray for Mina as well as for his mother, Kadry's sister [View Full Entry]

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Just to let you all know that we arrived home safely about 11 pm on Saturday night. Our flights were uneventful and everything went very smoothly. Al Hamdu Lillah! Many, many thanks to all of you who have followed along on my time in Egypt. I will continue to keep this blog open for my future time in Egypt, but I will be posting on a less frequent basis. I can't wait to speak with you all in person and to share more of my experiences. What you have read here is just a capsule of what has been an amazing [View Full Entry]

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Contrary to what you might think, life in Egypt, like life in many places, is not all that exciting. Day in and day out, life is often just the same routine over and over. We were reminded of this on Wednesday night when we spent our last night in Amshoul with the Habib family on the roof. As we talked to Hala, Nagat and Osama, (Kadry’s twin sisters and his twin brother) we got a new sense that life in a village in Upper Egypt is the same day after day after day. It’s what makes young men willing to take [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I experienced what it is to be cared for by others when you are sick. I’ll spare you all the details, but let you know that I had a mild case of heat stroke for which I was finally treated last night with IV’s to restore my fluids. Rest assured that I am feeling infinitely better today. As I waited yesterday for what I thought was a case of the flu to pass, I was attended to, waited on and cared for like a most beloved guest. Hala checked on me every 15 minutes to make sure there was nothing [View Full Entry]

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It will come as no surprise to any of you that every day in Egypt is a good day for me - usually a great day. Yesterday was no exception. What made yesterday a great day was not a special excursion in the morning or lunch with the bishop. What made yesterday a great day was the ordinariness of the day. In the afternoon Kadry’s mom and sisters taught me how to make tagglia - and amazing tomato and onion sauce that we’ve had with fish and last night had with dove - and how to make Egyptian rice. I now [View Full Entry]

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5:54 am If you a light morning sleeper like me, you are apt to be woken up each morning in Amshool by the sound of the animals waking for the day. I first heard the roosters around 4:30 but now there is a full chorus surrounding me. The donkeys are also waking up early this morning so their brays are added to the chorus. I write early on Monday morning from my new favorite place in Egypt - another rooftop - this one at Kadry’s parents home. Every night after we have eaten dinner and done any neighborhood visiting that we’ve [View Full Entry]

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For the last month, as well as all of my time in Egypt last year, I enjoyed living in Maadi. It’s a beautiful part of Cairo that is very westernized. I have always known that the way we live in Maadi is not how most Egyptians live, and while I have seen glimpses of real Egyptian life, it is not until now that I have actually experienced it first hand. The village of Amshool is “real” Egypt, which is to say, “rural” Egypt. The roads are dirt paths that wind between houses. They are wide enough for walkers and bicycles and [View Full Entry]

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July 11, 1:18 p.m., Amshool, Egypt First things first. We are safely arrived in Upper Egypt. We left seminary with a group of 5 students at 5:45 Friday morning and took the Metro to Ramses Station in Central Cairo where we caught the 7 a.m. train south. Last night was the hottest and most humid night so far which was miserable for sleeping, but probably good preparation for the next week. Even early in the morning we were drenched in sweat by the time we arrived at the train. Thankfully Kadry understands that we are soft Westerners and booked us first [View Full Entry]

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Today was the last day of classes in the summer English course. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. You have read about some of my struggles at times but what you don't hear about is every marvelous experience that I have had. And there have been many -- more than I can count. I'm so very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this program and I'm hopeful (more so than I was a few weeks ago) of being invited to return next year. As I told my students today, I believe that in some way [View Full Entry]

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