April 13, 2003

Fr. Firas, Fr. Aktham, and Marthame.

We worshiped this morning at the Latin Church of Visitation, Marthame leading along with Fr. Aktham, Fr. Firas, and an Italian priest who has been staying in town this past week. He has been living and serving the church in Tunisia for the past forty years, and therefore speaks Tunisian Arabic with an Italian accent.

After worship there, we went to the Greek Orthodox Church to see Fr. Thomas. A priest in Canada searching the web had come across the church in Tubas via our webpage, and contacted us trying to track down a baptismal certificate. It's good to be able to demonstrate concrete results from our internet work.

We had lunch with a woman in the village who has adopted us as her own, at first because her son is a friend of ours living in Chicago. Now, it's because she enjoys our company (the feeling is mutual) and we help provide a diversion. Our language, in particular, is a source of much amusement.