Since it was New Year's Eve, the usual dinner was postponed until later in the evening for a spectacular banquet with all kinds of meats and cheeses and delicacies and desserts.
Read More
We spent most of the day in Coptic Cairo. Centered around Mar Girgis church (St. George's), this is Cairo's Old City and is where many of its historical churches are.
Read MoreToday was spent with our friends, but that didn't mean that we didn't get our share of sight-seeing in.
Read More
Today we did one thing: the Egypt Museum.
Read MoreOur resting place for the time we are here is Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.
Read MoreSeems appropriate somehow to leave the troubled land of Palestine/Israel after Christmas with a little jaunt to Egypt, as Mary and Joseph saw fit to do.
Read MoreChristmas morning also means worship.
Read More
Greeting everyone with Merry Christmas was a wonderful gift to us.
Read MoreMarthame managed to infect the laptop with a particularly nasty virus, one which arrives when the computer is dropped on the marble floor.
Read More
Roswell Presbyterian Church, one of our supporting congregations, sponsored a Christmas party for the children.
Read MoreBaba and Mama Noel were on their way to the hall in Zababdeh to distribute gifts to the children!
Read MoreMarthame then headed off with the Christian men of the village to greet the sheikh of Zababdeh in recognition of 'Eid al-Fitir.
Read MoreToday is much the same as yesterday - no telephone, no internet; we feel so cut-off from the world.
Read MoreThe whole time we were there, we could hear the sound of various weapons swirling around the area - tanks, airplanes, etc. But life was calm in the hills.
Read MoreOur friend, who recently had a baby, offered us a traditional beverage called qurfe, made of walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar.
Read MoreThere is something relaxing about being out in the mountains, though the symbolism of finding a dying olive tree wasn't lost on us.
Read MoreWe have also been watching the film biography of Ghandi, a compelling telling of his life.
Read MoreToday did bring good news, as Elizabeth successfully defended her Master's Thesis!
Read MoreAt the end, the men left the church, carrying the body to the graveyard for the burial.
Read MoreThe church bell rang as classes were dismissed today, marking the death of someone in the parish.
Read More