Blank Stare

I know there are more things to update.. we have been in Tel Aviv and the posts have been far and few between. I'm not sure if it is because I have lost the motivation to blog because it means I have less time enjoying the here and now (with only a few days left) or it's the lack of ability to process. It's been a trying time In Tel Aviv but a great one. Just today we went to a hope home sort of place. It is in the slum of Tel Aviv and is a safe house for prostitutes and drug addicts. The guys that runs it (David) is originally from the states but with a hard past and a strong calling on his life he moved to Israel and impact those on the streets. He started with just some thermoses full of hot tea and heart to love on the those unloved and that quickly moved into opening a safe home. We donated bags of clothes and sat with him and chatted about how he got to where he is now and what his life looks like now. I didn't take any images because there were woman in the home and it's just a respect thing at that point. When we first walked down the stairs the woman we eating their breakfast. One of the woman sat there with one hand trying to bring the pasta to her mouth and the other hand was placed upon her throat as if she had to force herself to eat. It was tough being there but it was evident the Lord was leading David and this home.

Within the last few days we have been overwhelmed with the love the community has been giving us. Last night went over to dinner at Stav's house (Robert's friend from a few years ago). They met on the bus when Robert was lost, the Lord has a reason for everything. There we were four years later having dinner at her apartment in Israel. It was so much fun. By far my favorite part of Israel so far.. maybe... it was for sure epic. We met Stav and Maayan - both very legit woman and very inspiring. There choke more people we met but those two girls sort of stuck with me/my heart. They prepared an amazing dinner both traditional dishes and just amazing salads. We sat on the couch and talked for hours. We picked their brains about Israel and more history that we didn't know. It was good to begin to have a better understanding of the place we were. It was hard to hear most of it but it was a reality check that this place isn't as peaceful as it may seem as you walk the streets. The girls shared so much about everything - I'm still trying to realize and soak it all in. Today Maayan and Stav took us to that safe home and after that we just cruised. Jazz, Viktor and Re and I were sitting at this corner stand and I picked up a newspaper. The headlines were about two American hikers in their late forties that were stabbed to death. One survived and the other was found today in the woods. They were attacked by terrorist by a large bread knife. The act was out of no provoke and the woman who lived to tell the story said the two Arab men approached them and asked for water, the two woman were worried with this interaction and turned back to town and on their way back they were attacked. This was just outside of Jerusalem. With all of this said, it's hitting us a little harder that though we feel safe and secure, though we feel like their is peace - there is not. There is definitely not. Stav and Maayan opened up the reality and the paper today put it closer to home.

So that concludes my bank stare ... in attempt to process but not being able to. Though my day started with the sunrise over the city as we surfed the tiny wind swell of the Mediterranean Sea. A session always cleans my shoulders of any weight and worry I am carrying around. One more day and we are on our way back home. Tonight we are taking a few of our surf kids out to dinner, we are all stoked and ready to bless this little family we have in Israel.

What have I missed telling you about

Welp we are living in Tel Aviv and it's crazy how much of a drastic change this is from any other place we have been. The last two days I'll just update in one post. We have been hanging out with Avi a bit (Robert's friend from last year) and just working on strengthening that relationship. We have cruised the town with him and just had as much time with him as possible. Robert and he bond super well and have had some good one on one time as well. Inbar is our girl at the Surf Club we have hit it off with and we are focusing on spending time with her and trying our best to start a solid friendship with her. We met a little girl today named Noa (seems like the little ripper of the crew), I'm stoked to get to kick it with her tomorrow and maybe even get to surf with her. Us girls got to surf today - which for me was well needed. I started to get salty I wasn't salty. This stop is a change of pace for sure. It's slow and self motivated in our days (nice change) but a change that is a challenge. The cool thing is it allows us to cruise with people we wouldn't normally get to. Like a lot of the crew we meet living in a hostel. I met this woman today at the surf club (Beth). She used to live in the states but has raised her kids here for the last nine years. She was so stoked on Surfing The Nations and wants her boy to do our summer challenge. I just sat outside and got to talk with her because of the flexibility of this part of our trip it has allowed talks like this. It's really honestly a refreshing change. God has used us in ways we haven't expected and it's amazing to see the diversity in each stop on this trip. Three days until we fly home and it's starting to hit me. The little culture shocks from Egypt to here are already getting me -- so I'm sure going home will bring some culture shocks too.

The crack that will start the cavern.

I lean against the cold cement wall trying to collect my thoughts, trying to process so I can fully reveal what this trip has meant. It's hard to clear my mind when all I hear are words floating from one side of the room to the other. It's hard to concentrate when there is always someone five feet from you, no room to be alone, no time to breathe. I try my best to block it all out and come with a blank slate ready to be filled with words, emotions, thoughts, and heart. I'll begin to write, begin to expose the depth of this trip. It may take me hours, days, it may not be ready until I get home but at least I will have started.

I feel as if my time in Jerusalem is the heaviest on my heart right now. It was an odd array of days for me. My body was shutting down, my heart was burdened, my mind racing and my knees brought to the cold stone in prayer the Lord would use me as we traveled his Holy Land. As a team we have regularly had at least an hour of quiet time each day followed by an hours of bible study. We have been studying in this book called The Secrets Of The Vine and it has challenged me to analyze the vine of my life and the fruit it produces. Thus it's challenging me to till the earth with calloused hands and open my eyes to the fruit the Lord reveals. And that is what brought my to my knees in prayer I will be used. Our mission is to live love as Jesus did. And to live out this mission on the same streets he walked is still an aspect I'm having troubles fully grasping. We continuously pray for divine appointments within our day and try to live with love our pouring unto our neighbors. With this lifestyle the Lord has revealed to us relationship after relationship. The stories I mention in my prior posts are merely cracks that open into caverns with stories and hours spent with these wonderful people. We awake every morning with the intention to impact others and spread the love of our Father as we do our day to day plans. We are always ready and excited to change our day if it means we get to pour of love onto someone else. As my body heals, so does my heart and I know it will take a while until my mind settles from this trip - so for now these words are all I can produce. Maybe tomorrow will bring new light and more time to share. For this too is only the crack that will start the cavern.

Tel Aviv we are here!

Day two and we have rocked the town. I finally am on a normal schedule and the trip is just about over. I woke up at 6:30 -- my first normal wake up time this whole time and walked down stairs and got a few pieces of toast and a cup of coffee. It was almost like I was at home. Ha. After breakfast it was quiet time on the water front, a little uke jam session, journaling and reading. We also hit up Aroma for a hot drink and I got a dirty chai -- the baristas were excited at this new drink and Renee came an hour later and they told her they had a new drink. She laughed and said was this girl blond that told you? Ha it was me! Than from there it was time for beach cruise bikes. We cruised the entire day on beach cruisers. We went to go see our family at the surf school and the surf dropped to nothing so every one was drinking tea (love it). From there it was off the flea market. The flea market was pretty good and this whole day a guy from the boys room cruised with us. It was fun to just love on this kid and become friends with a stranger that just wants friends. After the market we cruised back and saw the sun set on the pier. Robert (our new friend) cruised with us to dinner and even hung around for our bible study where we got to pray for him and with him. I know it was a new thing for him so it was a total God thing that he was open enough to ask for prayer and chill while we just talked about Jesus. Loved it.

Tel Aviv I'm coming for you

First day in Tel Aviv. Gosh I’m almost all the way updated. Tel Aviv was a fresh of breath air and our mission here is as it has been this entire trip - relational lifestyle with Jesus love you can’t deny. Once we were here it was sort of just settling into our new hostel. This hostel was like living in a five star hotel compared to anything else we have stayed in. It’s epic. Love it. And I got my first hot shower of the entire trip on this day. We met the surf school folks and had some tea with them, super stoked to get to know them better! The boys ended up surfing but I opted to be smart about my kidney infection and remember I’m not super healthy -- thus no surfing on day one. The girls just cruised and figured out parts of the town while the sunset and the night put us to rest. The first night here I got to skype Micah (it was her birthday back on states time zone). It was so good to get to talk to her on her Birthday -- I miss that girl. It really was a day of skyping for me because Jerusalem = not much communication. I got to talk to Mom and Dad (and Maddy) and Tiff and Steph (and Koala bear). Gah I love home and all the people that make it home to me… whether in Cannon Beach, Eugene or Hawaii!

Last day in Jerusalem

Last day in Jerusalem and first day on medication for my kidney infection. I decided that I wasn’t going to lay low and miss out on anything. We were off to the Dead Sea and Jericho - how could I miss that because of a dumb infection. Off we went! We floated in the dead sea -- crazy crazy feeling and played in the mud, collected sea salt and layed in the sun. From there we went to Jericho and took a candela over the walls that fell. It was a quick trip out of the city and than be were back. We ran into Steven on the street and took him to pizza. It has been so cool to see how God has woven this friendship together with Steven. He ended up cruising with us the entire day and went to tea with us after for Renee’s testimony. Oh man that tea shop was epic, it was the oldest bakery in the old city (around 300 years old). It was an epic coffee shop, a killer testimony and amazing to have Steven there to see truly the way we live our lives for Christ through living a missionary lifestyle every day through loving like our Father did.

Bethlehem and the ER

Day four and we are rocking Jerusalem. The storm really hit last night but this day was full of rain. It was pouring. I mean pouring. We had hope for snow, they were saying it might snow and let me tell you it was cold enough too but nope we woke up to rain. We ran over to the Dome of the Rock after a good time at our new coffee stop Aroma. The Dome of the Rock was closed but still beautiful to walk around. We ran back home in the rain and got a taxi to take us to Bethlehem. I’m not sure what I expected but it wasn’t what I saw. I guess I expected a small little farmer town and we came across a mini city. But non the less we were in Bethlehem during the Christmas season, listening to Christmas tunes and saying hearing the wishes of Merry Christmas for the first time. We were having so much fun but at the same time I was being hit with a lot of pain. We walked the wall that divides the Palestinians from the Israelis. I’m not totally sure about the complete history of that wall but I know it’s gnarly and there is a lot of graffiti on the wall that exposes the oppression and jail that wall represents upon the Palestinians. We went into this church that was super crazy huge and it’s the place that they think Jesus was laid in the manger. Again with seeing a place that has turned into a place of worshop, a place of rituals and less of a place of remembrance of our savior. But it also was really cool to think that I was in the town that Jesus was born, who cares about the specific spot. And as we walked to the Milk Grotto we saw the sunset. And that hit me. Seeing the sunset in Bethlehem, the same sort of sunset Mary and Joseph may have seen as they came into the town looking for room for their child. ☺ We found some cpic scarfs in Bethlehem and after that called it a night. Again with admitting the pain of being sick hit me really hard this day. I tried to suck it up through because well we were in Bethlehem after all… and even though we walked all day long, I couldn’t do it much more. I was excited to find the bus station and get home. We got home and went to Aroma again and that is where I just couldn’t do it any more. I felt like my kidney was going to explode and there was no hope for breathing, taking any breath deep or shallow was killer. So there I found myself in the ER. Yup the Israeli ER it was. After being ripped off for the taxi and the first place being closed - Robert and I were checking in to the hospital. I was admitted, charged thousands of shekels, poked with the wrong needles, poked with the right needles, blood drawn, tests drawn and I had a kidney infection. Robert and I got some good bonding in while we waited for the test results and the mention of bathroom rating... Robert gave the hospital bathroom and 4 - that gives you an insight to what I was dealing with (lowest rating so far on the trip!) From there it was paying for another taxi and back to the hostel. That night was a little taste of torture. I shivered all night, couldn’t sleep, and was in so much pain I couldn’t lay on my back, my side, my head… it all hurt. All I could do was pray I fell asleep from fatigue and finally I did!

Day Three in J. Town

Alright now we are on to day three. Maybe this day will be more bullet points than detailed…We woke up (surprise!) and off to falafel (surprise again!). We grabbed Abdul to run with us for the day and he was totally game. We were off to the Holocaust Museum for the day. I’m not sure I can even begin to write about that. It was so intense. We were there for a good few hours trying to soak everything up. It was so hard to see the pictures, read the stories, see the videos, hear the testimonies and see the shoes.clothes.books.belongings of the refugees. And something that hit me hard to seeing Shindler’s List -- his actual list. A tough time being there for sure but really impactful. After the museum we froze outside and played rock soccer while we waited for the bus. Than it was back to the old city where we cruised than went to a bible study. It was so cool. It was in an old church and we met this young couple from Michigan that is there for a few more months - Steven and Catherine. We totally hit it off and after bible study we ent to their hours for tea and cookies. It was cool to see the inside of an old city apartment and to openly talk about what Surfing The Nations is all about and just pour into this couple. We stayed there for a long time and than called it a night. I know this couple will be with us for a long time now, I’m stoked to see what God will be doing in their life - they have a great story and amazing hearts.

Day Two

Day two in Jerusalem and now starting to settle in a little more. We woke up early and decided we would find a fun place to have our quiet time. Jazz and Renee and I jetted around until we found a place we thought was fitting and we stumbled across the Church of The Holy Seplicur (one of the places they think Jesus was buried). It was crazy - can’t wait to show you pictures. After quiet time, which was epic. I was reading though the gospels and it is so much more alive when you can go, oh I’ve been there!

From quiet time it was breakfast and off to the Garden Tomb. There we went into the tomb where they think he also could have been buried. It was honestly too much for me to take in all at once. I’m not even sure I fully grasp all that I have seen. We saw the top of skull mt. (where they think Jesus was crucified). Again with the whole not being able to process the reality of this all. Also it’s hard to see these places turned into a tourist trap, or like the place they assume he was crucified is littered with power lines and below it is a bus station. We went back into the garden and had a team communion. It was so good to just sit and pray and take communion together as a team in remembrance of not where we were but what had happened. No matter if it was in this exact spot, what matters is the fact it happened and what all of that really means. After we had our time of communion we walked up the Mt. of Olives. A storm had moved in and it was crazy windy but we walked to the top of that thing! We walked through the gardens at the bottom Garden of Gethsemane. Yup that’s right we were there. Where they believe is the place he sweat blood and prayed. After being completely blown away by our surroundings we went to process everything at this little teashop on the side of the mountain. Then it was time to go back through the lion’s gate and off to walk the Via Del Arosa. That is the path that Jesus walked on the way to be crucified. Along the way there are marks of the times he fell and he story of his torture. It was hard to really believe that I walked the path he walked but again whether it was those exact roads or not, it is more of the action than the location. But it definitely has a knew impact having seen the roads, the rocks, the crowds, the hills, the difficulty I had walking it with slippers and a backpack - let alone sandals and a cross. Again it was off to find a tea place to process and relax, we did - it was a fancy place and we felt like kings. The bathroom was a rating of about a 6.8 (yup we rate bathrooms!). It became a team game on this trip.. for many reasons.. Than after tea we decided to get lost in the old city. Being in the old city of Jerusalem still is rocking my world thinking about. We walked to the wailing wall. A wall where people go to pray and the Jews in the world believe that where ever they pray they go to the wall first than up to heaven. It’s an odd mix between Letters to Juliet and a prayer place. There are letters stuck in all the cracks of the wall and as we stand there to pray, there stands the man sweeping up all of the written prayers into a rubbish bin. That night the fireworks went off over the Dome of the Rock. The night was blustery, cold and wonderful. We wandered around, had dinner and found ourselves at the synagogue in the Jewish quarter. We were not aloud to go in because we were girls and at that time only men could enter, so we continued our wandering. On our trip walking around we me this guy Jason. We ended up walking around the city for two hours with him as he told us all about everything we passed. It was pretty cool. More than pretty cool - we were all amazed by his wealth of knowledge and his willingness to tour us around the entire city. As we were walking and talking, getting to know each other, telling him our story and why we were there, sharing Jesus with him and just loving on him we met up with this other guy - Adbul. He was from London and heard us speaking English and ran to our side. He joined us on our trek and ended up seeing him a few more days after that. We walked around each quarter of the city. While we were walking we found this cave that was used the night before for Hanukkah that was lit up completely with candles - it was beautiful. Once we were finished with the tour we went home and crashed. What a day!

Jerusalem

It’s time to head to our next destination, Jerusalem! We all are ready by seven, on the side of the road waiting for our driver and stoked to get into a new place. Our driver pulls up and we all realize there is not enough room in the van for all of our bags. Long story short we end up having to get a taxi just for our bags and than a van for us. We asked our driver about the “illegal” once we thought we had and he assured us he was illegal and that he would have gone to jail if he was caught. He said they are common but not too common and we are lucky we didn’t get in an accident because he would not have had insurance either. Ha it just made the story 10 times better. The trip to the border wasn’t too long and before we knew it we were unloading those dang bags again. By this time I had started to have a hatred towards these heavy bags. So there we are dropped off at the Israeli border but the thing is the taxi isn’t aloud to go through the check mark so we had to sit and wait for the boys to go back with the van, meet up with the taxi, puts the bags in the van and than come to us with the rest of the luggage. We finally get through this border crossing, it took the longest and cost the most. We even had to pay for our luggage on this bus that transported us about oh five minutes away from the check point, it was lame. But what was more lame was that after they loaded the entire bus they had us all get off. For no reason. Then get back on. Fun game they had us play. So I thought that the Isreali boarder was slow, nothing compared to the border once we got to our destination. Arabic people and lines do not mix, it’s more of a who can shove harder. So we shoved hard and than got our passports stamped and we were off. Jumped in a sweet van and headed off to the Old City of Jerusalem. Once we go to the old city we just sat outside and sat on top of the luggage until Emily and Robert found our hostel. Robert came out and told us that he feels as if we should stay at the cheaper place. One to give our team some room to travel with less stress and two because he feels as if it would a great place to be a light. We all prayed about it and totally felt like it was the place to be. So we trekked all of our gear through the old city (rough go) and to our hostel. Us girls stayed in a room with two other Korean girls, it was our first dorm set hostel. It was pretty fun. The hostel was crazy janky but it was all good. The way it was set up we had to walk through the old man’s living quarters to go in and out. So every morning he was sound asleep snoring as we set out for the day. That night was just full of cruising, buying candy on the street corner and getting good crepes from a man up the street, George. We than met Nick the dentist as we ate our cavity filling treat. The Lord just has blown my mind away with the way of intentional relationships we have created with any one we meet, from the crepe man to the shisha man on top of the camel. After we had our sweet treats we went into a place to have tea and listen to Viktor’s testimony. I’m a big fan of testimony talks and even bigger fan when there is tea involved.

Petra!

Ha wow I can’t believe I didn’t flip out not writing down all of these crazy adventures. So day two of Amman we hit Petra. But before Petra we went out for a bite to eat and on our way to find some food we ran into this elderly man, Mustafa. Mustafa was a poor man that had not seen his family in 11 years. His two sons live in Palestine and they will not let him in through the border. His story just killed me and not until our time in Jerusalem will I completely understand his pain. But as he asked us for money for food we asked him to join us for lunch. He did and we got to love on him more and just talk with him, slip an extra falafel in his jacket as well as a track. It was a hard but moving start to our day and it totally just set this trend for our day of divine appointments with those that were in need. After our time with Mustafa it was Petra. I honestly had not heard much of Petra but the good ol fact that Indiana Jones was filmed there. So we got in the car with our driver (the owner who had his birthday the prior day). I knew sort of what it looked like but nothing beyond that. When we got there it blew my mind. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. I just took and took and took. I’m sure once I look through all of my images I will be overwhelmed with pictures of rocks but the history of this place, the age of the carvings and the patience it took - woah. We just walarked through the cannals and walls that towered over us and Robert and I were talking about wanting to hook up with this guy he met last year. He was telling me that he worked at this tea shop just a few 100 yards ahead and as soon as he said that he looked up and there he was atop a camel. He needed to do some more work and than was wanting us to sit and have tea with him. So we went down to see more of Petra and we all shoved our bags full of toys and clothes to bless the little kids and shop owners as we walked through. We decided instead of them selling us stuff we would give them toys and clothes. On our last leg we went up to the top of this rock/carving and on the way up we stopped to talk to a woman who sat in her booth. We just talked with her and made friends and as our friendship became more comfortable we asked what this book said. We told her it’s in Arabic so we can’t understand it, she grabbed it…. Read a few pages and told us it is the story of Jesus. We said well we couldn’t read it because it’s in Arabic would you like it? She kept it! It was pretty cool and she also gave us all a free magnet from her stand. I know it doesn’t seem like much but it was so cool to see God work in her so fast. She was pretty ridged at first and after talking with her, blessing her with clothes, giving her a track, and just loving on her. She blessed us with what she had. On our way up we also started to make friends with a little girl. We gave her a purse and Robert took out some bubbles and coloring crayons and colored with her. She was so adorable ☺ While this was all going on Viktor was hanging out with this boy that had a donkey. It was pretty cool to see their connection and how much fun they were having together. The boy really wanted Viktor to ride his donkey on the way down… but Viktor was honestly petrified to do it. But with some coxing he finally jumped on. And again with just seeing how with love and friendship this boy was so blessed. And the way he could bless Viktor back was to use what he had. I was just honestly loving the interaction with the locals we had and I didn’t want it to stop and well it didn’t. We than met up with Roberts friend for some tea. We sat in a tea shop in Petra and just hung out. I also didn’t know people still live down there. He really wanted us to go hang out in his cave but we were on a time limit and we couldn’t --- bummer. But non the less it was fun to talk with him and just love on him. We hung out for a short bit and than he needed to go because their were tourist waiting for him at the top and as we left we went to pay for the tea and the shop owner said don’t worry he is my cousin, no need to pay. We were being blessed all over the place. Than once we walked down the road a bit there he was again and had us jump on his camels on the ride up for free. Yeah no big deal I rode a camel through the towering rocks of Petra. Ha. But honestly the day was all about loving on the locals and sharing our hearts the way Jesus would.

On the way home we were all super crazy tired and the way back to Amman is pretty barren. I could handle it I had to pee. So yup I had our driver stop on the side of the road. Than at our next stop the boys sat in the car praying for Bountry Bars while Renee was inside buying two bags of them. Okay yeah it sounds dumb and maybe a little childish to pray for candy bards but it just rocks me when the Lord is faithful in the small things, in the silly things and in the things you think don’t matter. From candy bars to providing a starving man lunch - the Lord’s hand is in it. The sunset behind us and our day in Petra was complete, once our ride was over we were back in action. We got back, changed our Jordanian money into shekels for Israel, went out to the juice stand I had become to love and than called it quits for the night. This was our last night in the hostel and than it was going to be off to Jerusalem.

Amman number 1

Okay so day in Amman was crazy fun. Let’s see how detailed I can get with each update. Hopefully I don’t lose motivation and can rock them all out. First day in Amman and we hit the town for adventure. We cruised and found these ruins that Robert was telling us about. But as we walked away he whispers to me.. don’t tell everyone because I don’t want to keep looking but these are not them. Ha. So we start to walk away, we enjoy a nice cold soda on the side of the road and as we walk down the hill Rennee sees an old Grandma. And if Re sees an old Grandma you know she will run to her and start talking and that is just what she did. PTL she did because than we snaked our way through their house, side alleys and roof tops to pop out on the ruins of Hercules. Yup it really is that cool. On my way up this boy jumps out his door and says, once you are in don’t worry they wont ask for a ticket. So there we are again breaking the law in Jordan - straight up illegal. We cruise the ruins for a long time and stumble across these bagpipers. We were going nuts they sounded so epic and it just reignited through this big room we were standing in - so cool. I caught some video of it. Love it. We started our trek back and hit up this falafel place that was amazing. It was a falafel spread. So good. Hummus, foul, salad, potatoes… just epicness. We ate and than rocked the town and bought some DVDs. Ha the DVDs here are all ripped, non of them are legal - so once again - our team is illegal. Once we were done with shopping we headed back to the hostel where the main man was having his birthday. So we joined in the festivities. I had some really weird dessert that I rather not try again. Ever. Sick. First day in Amman was good - this hostel was pretty interesting but still us girls had a room to ourselves which made it very nice. We have been spoiled with this luxury.

And the updates begin

Here I sit freezing cold and wet, my toes have lost feeling and all of my warm clothes are soaking wet. We have been in Jerusalem for three days now, it’s nearly ten in the morning and we have a day to just revel in our surroundings. This is the first day of rain and the rain here is so much like it is at home - buckets. I’m going to try my best and play by play each day but it is going to be difficult. It’s hard to update here because we only have very shotty internet down the street, but you have to use their computers and up until now we have had others in our room at the hostel, so to be on the safe side I have left my computer hidden. But now it is just us girls in our crazy little hostel (you’ll hear more about it soon). So I am sorry for the delays of days, I guess about a week now with no updates. So much has happened. I’m still trying to process it all.

So after our crazy trip into Jordan and our trip with the illegal driver.. which I have to elaborate on. So we get off the ferry and are haggling for a bit for a diver and we end up with this dude that puts us up in his pimped out suburban. When you haggle a car you are usually a tad unsure of what exact car they will end up taking you to, so when we saw this one we were all pretty shocked. There was no way we were going to be able to make all of our luggage fit -- but we did and we all somehow got in there too. We get in, totally cramped and just wanting this leg of the trip to be over, but we all know we still have a few hours in the car. We get to the check point and our driver and the police start yelling at each other. We have no idea what is going on but we know it is not good, especially when he drops the car in to reverse and we end up where we began. He say “ You sit be back five minutes.” Well okay what are we going to do buddy you have all of our luggage in your car and strapped to the roof. He gets back in and tells us to get out of the car. What? He ensure us it will be fine, just walk up the hill and meet him up at the top. We were all super confused but what else could we do, so we started the trek up the hill. So as we reach the top of the hill, the man zips by us and talks to the police. This time their conversation seems a lot calmer. The police hands our driver a piece of paper and than all of a sudden we hear -- faster faster, run, run, hurry, hurry. So that’s what we did and we jumped in the car and as soon as the last door was slammed shut he hit the pedal and we sped off. We were on the run. We were all laughing so hard at the situation. Than before we could fully understand what was going on he drives down this side road in purpose of veering from the police we saw ahead of us. Than from that side road he pulls into this chop shop looking place. We thought for sure he was going to be changing license plates or something but nope he is just siphoning gas from one car to our car. Are you kidding me? Ha this is nuts, plus he is standing there with all his buddies as they smoke their cigarettes next to the car tank. Yikes. Ha, the trip was nuts. I fell asleep at one point and in my dream we were in the car flying down the road over 100 mph with the same driver on our death wish but the thing is when I woke up I’m not too sure the story changed much. Before we hit our destination we stopped at a store on the side of the road and our driver would not let us pay. I was certain he was forcing us to steal but I think maybe he paid for it all. So he was sort of a nice illegal driver. We pulled into our hostel super late and the Lord hand of protection was over us the whole time because not only did we literally cross the border illegally, our driver didn’t know where our hostel was. And as soon as Robert finished praying that we would just happen across it (Amman is as big as L.A.), he looked up and we were there. PTL!

I wish I had time

I wish I had time to update you guys on everything that has gone on. We have been in Jordan, Jerusalem and now we are off to Tel Aviv. There are a lot of updates to post and don't worry I have them all in detail - just needing some fill ins and then ready to be updated. I'm praying we have accessible internet in Tel Aviv that will allow me to update this more regularly. We are leaving for home in six days (crazy)! Thanks for being patient and understanding the craziness it is to travel and the lack of time I have to blog :)

Much Love.
Julie

A look into the trip to Jordan

It was a rough go about getting here but we made it.

8:30 p.m on the 6th - So hard to say goodbye. But I'm stoked for our adventure.

10:30 p.m. on the 6th - Stopped on the side of the road for our first pit stop. The ride is already epic with Sam sharing his testimony. The bathroom girl was super stoked to see us and we blessed her with way more than 1 pound to pee. The coffee was the best I've had so far on the trip (they steamed my milk!) + I got a little chocolate treat with it :) One more hour until we reach Cairo and this driver is crazy.

12:09 p.m. on the 7th - Bye Sam. Oh sad day leaving Sam at terminal one. And off we go.

4:38 a.m. on the 7th - Stop again. We had holes for a toilet and I've come to really appreciate the squaties.. less things to touch. Muhamed our driver turned the heat on (he was holding out). Chuck Norris jokes ... way too many Chuck Norris jokes.

6:15 a.m. on the 7th - We watch the sun rise over the Red Sea.

7:51 a.m. on the 7th - We are now in Nuwbi Mohamed dropped us off and we are all sitting on the top of our bags on the side of the road. Drinking tea and journaling. Again we had squaties and again we paid (no more free toilets). It was so cool to see the sunrise over the Red sea. I totally didn't expect that little snack pack from Jesus. I'm not sure what we will be doing all day - but we have until 2:00 p.m. before our boat leaves. The tea was five pounds... essentially one dollar but for here pretty spendy. I bet today will be a lot of journaling, cruising and jamming. The whole crew is pretty wide awake but Viktor -- we is passed out across the luggage. Can't believe where I am, the sights and biblical reality is evident here!

9:00 a.m. on the 7th - Still here and just cruising. Robert and Jazz and I jammed for a bit. I'm starting to learn new worship songs. Finally. We got stared at a lot as we were playing. We are white. We are woman and we are playing a stringed instrument.

10:34 a.m. on the 7th - Still chilling in the exact same spot, we got a super amazing falafel from one of the stands and is right up there with maybe the best. There is garbage everyone. It's hard for me to fathom treating your land like this. No rubbish cans in sight. Suck. It's super hot out and we are all way over heated. We touched the Red Sea and some local yelled at us and told us to leave their beach.
Sounds like we are going to reach a 5:00 p.m. ferry instead.

2:47 p.m. on the 7th - Yup still here.. we've been playing Monopoly for a super long time and we've all sort of hit our wits with the game. But we still keep playing. Fun times in wait.

4:29 p.m. on the 7th - We are on the ferry. Money is exchanged and no more Egyptian pounds. I journaled more on this leg of the trip than I have this entire time.

6:44 p.m. on the 7th - I think my time get's hazzy from here on out. But we are off and ready to get to our hostel. This marks the start of the haggling to get a driver.

6:19 p.m. on the 7th - Well technically the haggling has stopped, we are in "route". Bags and all shoved into a pimped out Suburban. We are sitting and waiting because the police told us to go back. Not too sure what is going on.

6:40 p.m. on the 7th - We become illegal.

12:40 p.m. on the 8th - We make it to the hostel. God answered so many prayers during this trip. There is no way to explain it. We didn't even know where the hostel was, nor did the driver and we made it and to compare the town we are in size wise -- it's as big as LA and we drove straight up to our little tiny hostel. PTL. We are here.

Last day in Agomy

What a bitter sweet thing to think back on. The waves finally hit late the night before, so when we woke up we were all amping to see with the ocean looked like. The little boys kept saying in broken English that the waves were huge and they look like they are going to take over the world. I just about busted at the seems when I saw the surf. It pretty much looked like a windy choppy day with about a few feet of swell here and there. The shore is super shallow for super long so it was shore break after shore break chaos. But it was a fun day non the less. Pretty much this day I just cruised with Norah the whole time I was at the beach. I first off got to catch up with Tiff again, which was so great and such an answer to prayer that she was online. But I was super bummed I didn't get to skype my family. I've tried almost every day we have time to go on the internet and the time change is just too much for us to catch each other. After catch up time and some fun conversations with the internet staff it was cruise and say goodbyes. Norah and I had so much tandeming the day before that I had high hopes to do it again. As soon as I got to the beach Norah came running up. Gosh I love that girl. We didn't end up surfing because it was super messy and just basically all one shore break. But instead we just hung out. I taught her how to play the uke and now she knows the Colby song.. haha. She and I and the french kids just ast int he land rover and kicked it. It was fun to be with the little kids for a good long time. After Norah went home, i walked to beach and found some shells. I doubt I'll make it home with them -- but I can hope. The day ended so fast and it was time to jet. It was so cool to see the boys out there surfing, even though the surf was less than impressive. We had one last hurrah at the Koshari place with the mini family we have now and than off to tea and coffee and some good old fun playing dominoes (its big over here). Saying our goodbyes was super hard and I hope to see them all next year. Especially Norah.

Day six

This morning was by far my favorite morning of our trip. We had time to just cruise until beach it. Re and Jazz and I sleep together in one bed and last night we all hit it hard and slept super well. I never got up, just slept the whole night - which was one of the first on this trip. I got up and enjoyed my large bowl of cereal. I was tired of our Middle East breakfast foods, so I opted to go to the store and get some cereal and yogurt. It was well worth it. I just journaled for hours had quiet time and soaked on another morning in Africa. I ran to the Internet café real quick before our day started to check in on my grandpa and I got to catch Tiff on Skype. It was a good kick off to my day to see a face from home. ☺ After my Internet dash, it was time to hit the ground running with the day. This day was all about relations, as is our whole trip. Today I got to surf Norah and play the uke on the beach. We sang in a huge group, played Duck Duck Goose for over an hour and we all just spent as much time with each other knowing it is soon coming to an end. The surf wasn’t good, well there really wasn’t any but Norah and I tried to tandem and failed -- we got one good one. Than we just party waved together as much as we could -- it totally gave my flash backs of trying to party wave with Tiff this one time in Hawaii..attempt after attempt -- than when you finally get it.. your so stoked it doesn’t matter how crappy the surf really is. It was a good day for mine and Norah’s friendship and a good time to just laugh and live life with her. I started to teach her how to play the uke -- it was super fun. Again I can’t wait until I get to upload images.

Prayers that are needed are straight up for this up coming move. We head to Jordan and it’s full of boat ride and bus rides, all night travels and no stops for a few days. I’m totally game to cruise and travel like this, just pray my body is 100% ready to charge (so far it’s had it’s own ideas on health).

Agomi in it's best

Each morning we are doing bible studies and these studies are totally rocking my world. We are diving deeper and deeper into the true meaning of tilling the ground and seeing the fruit in our lives. It’s a difficult study but one that makes you examine you life, your heart, your intentions and your trust in God’s plan.

Day five of our trip has been my favorite day so far. We cruised to the beach around ten and started to set up for our day. We would normally be putting on a surf competition but since the waves have been flat since we got here it was time to be flexible and time for a surf training camp. We set up our area, roped it off and got our stations ready. So many kids came out it was epic. Of course the regular Bedouin kids were there, all the boys I’ve been writing about days prior. But it was so cool to see their brothers and sisters hit the beach too, as well as some random kids that just wandered into the day. We first started off with Jazz doing some key stretches and warm up drills. It was so cute to see all of the kids circled up on the shore following the drills, most of them couldn’t speak English so it was a stretch - let them figure I out - than they copied the movement. After we did our stretches I was up. I had all the little kids circle up and it was “beach talk” time. The beach talk is what at home we call the land lesson. I was so overwhelmed with how stoked I was to do this. I had a grip of little Bedouin kids circled up around me as I drew waves and had sticks as surfers in the sand. It was just like being at home. But this time I had Tim translate for me and I had Faris and Ahamad beside me ready to teach what they themselves just learned. So basically it went like this. I drew in the sand and said what I needed them to know, Tim translated my words into Arabic, I stepped aside, Faris repeated the same lesson, than Ahamad. It was a teaching them how to fish sort of lesson. I wanted to make sure that Faris and Ahamad (the older of the younger group) knew how to teach as well as what to teach -- like how to not drop in on each other (which I’ve hear they both have issues with). I can’t wait to upload images and show you all of the stories in pictures I’m trying to describe in images. So once we were done with the lesson, it was water time. We got them out on boards and had them just paddle around and practice the techniques they were just taught. Some of the kids, like Norah, already knew how it was done and others like Jasmine needed some extra attention. We all jumped in the water and lent a hand to the kids that needed it the most and I came over to Jasmine to help her figure out the best and most affective way to paddle. She is the only Bedouin girl in the water these days. It’s super rare to find a girl in the water and I just pray that once she hits of age she stays surfing (which in this culture is a long shot). Jasmine just cliqued with me I guess because from than on she was by my side at all times. She is so cute, I was just standing on the shoreline and she came up to me and goes “ Will you go surf with me?” Of course I was stoked to take her out in the flat waves (literally no waves), so we just paddled around and played in the water a bit. Once we got to shore she asked if I would go on a run with her, so yup we went. There goes a tall white American running down the shore of the Mediterranean with a skinny little Bedouin girl (I’m sure it was an odd sight for most). We just ran and talked about what ever. She knows English super well so it made it easy for us to talk. She just wanted to tell me everything, I loved it. Some things were hard to hear, for they just broke my heart -- like the responsibilities she has as the older sister (at 12) and how much she hates it -- but others were fun -- like talking about High school Musical and Hannah Montana. At the end of the run she turns to me and goes, I love you - you are really nice - I love you. So cute! God provided such a great opportunity to get to know this little girl and I’m glad she did. I’m stoked to keep tabs on her in the years to come and continue to encourage her to stay in the water. She is a natural surfer and I would love to come back one day and see her ripping along side the boys. The beach clinic was pretty much over and with a few more games like Tug-O-War and duck duck goose we finished off the day with lots of laughter. By two we were back to the flat and ready to relax. A few of us jumped to the Internet café to catch up with family. Each day I try and make it for at least five minutes so I can check up on my Grandpa (I hate not being there for the family at this time). From there it was time to get ready and head to the Kahuna for dinner. The Kahuna is Mohamad’s restaurant down the street. The whole place is covered in Surfing The Nations posters and signs -- it’s epic. We were having a big BBQ there for the end of the Surf Clinic 2010. This place was straight out of a movie, well most of this town it too. A huge crew of us was there and we ate Kofta and danced the whole night. Kofta is basically a hamburger that is spicy but in the shape of a hot dog, wrapped in a pita with a slew of fresh cold slaw veggies inside. They played a bunch of American music, which was super fun to sing and dance too - since they knew the lyrics too. Not that they knew what they were singing but non the less they knew how to say the words. At the end of the night we handed our leis and goody bags full of surf stuff. All of the kids were crazy stoked. The bags ended up being our “fish and loaves” story of the night. There was no way we made enough bags for all of the kids that showed up. Tim just kept calling up kids and we kept handing out bags. At one point Robert tell Tim to juts pick the ones who surfed because we don’t’ have enough, Tim replies Dude it’ll be good no worries. And the Lord totally provided because when the last bag was handed it was the last person to be called. We honestly all stood there in shock of what just happened. There is no way we had enough bags and as we looked back at the crowd of kids, they all had their bags. Praise The Lord!

I also got to know Norah and her Mom a bit more during our BBQ, which was a total answer to prayer. Seeing how the boys connect with Tim and the potential this man has to be the man of peace here has totally kicked my butt in wanted to dive deeper with his little girl Norah and his Wife Gala. It would be an answer to prayer if this family was brought to know our Father. Norah and I played all night, a mix between tickle tag and kung foo panda wars - I miss having kids around all the time and it was a much needed fix. Gala and Re and I talked for a good long time about their story and just life. Gala just had some surgery done , not too certain on what it was, but surgery non the less - so it was cool to see her come out for this event. She kept telling us, “ I’m here all year and the minute you guys leave we never stop hearing about the day you’ll come back, these kids love you.” It’s so cool how we fell like such a family here already. I know if I ever came back I would have no problem just cruising with them and feeling at home.

The night was pretty much over and we were all saying our Thank Yous and giving our hugs. We still have a few more days here but it seemed like we were having to say goodbye. Robert said a great heartfelt thank you to the boys and their insane hospitality and Tim translated to make sure they heard it word for word and not in broken Arab English. Than with out hesitation Mohamed had something to say in reply that just about brought our whole team to tears. He said, “You guys are like family and we love you, you don’t’ have to bring boards or clothes, you don’t have to bring any gifts but yourselves. We want you to come and we will take care of you, anything you need with will give - just come back.” I can’t really explain how much this meant to our team. Sometimes it feels like they just want more and better each time we come and to hear this it was a slam to the heart that no they just want us. All of the boys were giving us hugs and kisses and I know that on Monday it is going to be hard to say goodbye.

This day just rocked my heart and during our clinic time I got to talk to Tim a little about the guys and here more of their stories. It just broke my heart and there is so much more I want to be able to share with them and most of that just being my time. Faris’s Father passed away last year and at the age of 14 he is now the man of the house for his little Brother and Mother. Even though I want to see him surfing, there is so much more he needs to understand about his impact on his little Brother and to my understanding (what Tim explains) is a little boy with a bad case of Autism.

By far the best day in Agomi and for so many reasons. God is just blessing this team so much by these boys it’s crazy. My prayers today are for the day we leave that the relationships don’t seize. I pray that we stay in contact and hold them accountable for what they have learned, both within surfing and life. I pray that Norah and Jasmine stay in the water for years to come and that the countries that separate us are simply physical space and the emotional connection will stay strong. My hands are lifted towards my Father today, crying out to him to wrap his hands around these little girls - protect them and open their eyes to see their true Father and Daddy.

Day Four in Agomi

Lord make my hands calloused and my eyes open. Callous my hands so that I have the strength to till the land and open my eyes so I can see the fruit that lay ahead of me. Today the Lord has moved my heart to examine the fruit in my life. The fruit that has been, that is and that is to come. Today we discussed the meaning of bearing fruit and how you can see it in your life, whether to see it as spiritual or physical fruit and the treasures it collects. The fruit we bare may be sweet or tart, if we let our vine go with no care of pruning we will still bear fruit but we will bear fruit but it will be tart and unsatisfactory, so we must allow the Lord to prune away within his will. The bible study had me in question where the fruit in my life is and rather than dwell on this question I cry out to my Father to callous my hands and open my eyes.

The day was a pretty chill day. We beached it and just spent quality time with the boys. We met a new girl Sarah that speaks perfect English. She was so nice and it sounds like she wants to do the internship. It was the first person we/I got to talk to that was super open to any topic and I didn’t have to watch what I was saying, it was a refreshing release to relax. Catarina was raving about this thing called Fresca all day, we al thought she was talking about soda but we came to find out it’s more like a peanut cluster sandwich with a squished waffle as the bread. It was a nice little snack pack in the middle of the day. After a good few hours on the beach, while Sam fixed some of their surfboards - it was time to cruise and get some food. I felt like this was the first day that the boys really started to open up and want to talk more with us girls than just a hello. On our way to dinner the boys picked us all up at Fathalla (the grocery store) and off to town it was. We walked into this place called VIP and Gano wanted us to try liver so bad, luckily it was over ruled and we were off to Koshari. Not the best choice in meal but anything sounded better than liver at that point. So a family style dinner at the resteranut and more fun to be had. Gano ended up paying for all of us, which we were stoked on but at the same time not stoked on. It was super hard to let him be that hospitable but if you push it too hard it becomes disrespectful, so we had to let it slide. Koshari family dinner was super fun and I got to know Faris and Ahamad a little bit more. Faris is so adorable, he and I play like brother and sister. They took us for tea and coffee after dinner at this place down a sketch road. Most of the good tea houses are always down some crazy side road. We stayed here for a few hours and it was good fun. We sang, danced, drank tea and coffee and just lived life with the local boys. After tea it was back to the house to pack the bags again. We packed goody bags for all of the kids for our adventure day. We are going to put on basically a surf adventure day, the waves are still flat so we can’t put on a competition but we will have paddle wars, teachings, and games. I’m super stoked to put on some fun for the kids, they love competition and it should be fun to see how they soak in the day with us down at the beach.

I guess in years past they have stayed at a five star hotel while in Alex that is twenty minutes from the beach or so and this year well we are far from that. But to be honest I think I like this better. We get to know the kids so much more and spend a choke amount at the beach with them, cruising the town every night with them and eating over at their houses. It’s been a blessing to be put in a nasty beach flat that is infested with bugs and filth. Honestly. Even though some accommodations would be nice I wouldn’t trade it for the opportunity to really get to know these boys and spend more time living life with them.

The team is still all pretty sick. Some of us are getting better as some of us are getting worse. It’s near impossible not to share sickness so let’s just pray that it stops at a cold. My bites are getting better, not at itchy but all of the bumps are still there and itch on and off. Sam is feeling a lot better, it was just car sickness - nothing more. Robert is rocking the team leadership and today with the surf clinic thing my prayers are that things go smoothly and to God’s plan (planning here with the locals can be a frustrating thing). Viktor is hitting it off with some of the local boys and we are all praying there is a chance to dive deeper in conversation with one of them. Us girls are praying to have divine appointments with other woman and Nancy was a tangible example of that prayer. Tim has a little girl Norah that is a ripper and is so adorable and I would love to have the chance to get to know her and break barriers with this hard ball. We leave Agomi on Monday and that marks our adventure into Jordan. Keep us in your prayer for that adventure for it will be long and grueling (so I’ve heard). My belly is holding strong on this trip which is an answer to prayer but my body is having other ideas. I pray God puts his healing hand on me and I feel 100% before we leave for Jordan. I know God has a plan for everything and I pray his plan is to get me up to par soon.

Day Three

First day of an American breakfast! We had frosted flakes and we were all amping it was not foul or some other meal we have had every other day. Man this day was packed, well pretty much like any other day. But non-the-less super super packed. So after our epic breakfast, a good quiet time and another legit bible study the day began. Today in bible study we were taking about fruit bearing and what it looks like to bare fruit and man was this just straight to my heart. All I could think of during this talk was what someone once told me, “Don’t doubt in the dark what God told to you in the light.” It’s just the statement of my heart these days and during our discussion of what it looks like to have fruit or what it looks like to be pruned, my heart was super gripped by the fact that we should recognize the pruning as pruning not as doubt or resistance. Today was a day to see Alex and go to the orphanages, so we met the driver outside and while we were waiting Sam got nipped at by this pack of dogs next door. The lady was so funny, she came and said no no they have injection so they won’t bite. Ya right lady, all that means is he won’t die of rabies when they bite him. The driver came and we were off. We went and saw Jeff where he was staying. We hadn’t seen him since the drive out of Cairo. He was staying at this home for mentally handicapped kids, a mix between a school and a church is what I gathered. We were a bit late because of traffic and miscommunication but we still go to tour the place and see the kids before they jumped on the bus. The principal of the school told us that the main man wanted to have tea and talk before we left, so we went upstairs to see him. Viktor had run into a volunteer there that was from Sweden and so him and his wife talked for a bit with Vik, it was pretty cool to see how small the world is. Even to the point that a good friend of Vik’s volunteered at this school for six months and this FarFar (grandpa) knew her very well too. So we sat down the Egyptian man says, let’s have Feca. Yup that is right I went all the way to Egypt to have Feca with some more Swedes. We had coffee, tea, and some amazing sweets. We all had to have self-control because we were starving (no lunch) and all that sat in front of us where sweets. It was so cool to sit and here all about how the school came about and what they do there at the school as well. The heart that goes into this place and the love that is showered on these kids, so much patience and understanding. We talked and talked and talked and it was super epic to hear about the Swedish couple and why they were there. They were retired and now giving their time to this place and their story was crazy encouraging. All I could think of when I talked to them was my own grandparents. My grandpa was pretty much at this exact time having open-heart surgery in the states. I can’t believe I’m missing this time to sit with them, It’s hard to imagine not being there for my grandma in this scary time but I know God has it under his control and I must trust he has his hand on my FarFar. I love you Grandpa and know I am praying for you every day. We haven’t had Internet for a few days and I have a lot of trouble not knowing what is going on. I just pray that there is no news for me to know in any urgent manner. After seeing Jeff and the school he has been at it was off to the boy’s orphanage. We went out for a quick lunch and shwerma was the choice of the day, basically it’s a meat sandwich that the meat has been roasted on a stick with veggies. It’s good but super heavy and greasy. We than were off to pick up Tim and our meeting place was the mall. I swore to myself I wouldn’t buy starbucks in a foreign country but they had the cheapest prices of coffee at the mall. They were pretty comparable to US prices but well I got coffee. Egypt doesn’t have soymilk so I had a vanilla latte…. Sick. Bad idea, I really do hate milk and all of its tastes. We got Tim and were off to the boys orphanage. This place rocked my socks. The house was amazing and the boys just stole my heart. Especially these twin boy and the younger one, John. I have some good photos of these boys but a lot of them are taken by them. I let them play with my camera, which they pushed button after button so who knows what the pictures really look like - too dark - too light - blurry, what ever. I got to talk to Justina a lot as well, a girl who used to live at the orphanage because her aunt help start it. She was a pharmacist and was super good with English. She told me a lot about the history of the house and how boys come and go. We only got to see the younger boys but older ones stay there as well. We again had Feca with soda and treats. It was so fun to bless these boys with toys and clothes and be blessed by their heart and joy. All they wanted to do was to take photos and play and I could have stayed with them for days. I wanted to be able to know more of their stories and Justina gave me a little insight to John and his twin but I wanted to know more of all of the boys. We sadly had to say goodbye but in excitement that we were off to see the girls. What a different feel the girls place was, very proper and quiet. Most of the girls were studying for exams so we had the chance to talk to all of the older woman that ran the place. We again had a little feca, this time it was Mango Puree (so good). Ida was the woman I talked to the most and she had so many questions for me. She was very interested in my purity ring that I wore and when I told her my Dad gave it to me, it’s a symbol of purity in honoring God with my life (sort of the best way to explain it with the language barrier) she started to understand. She told me she had never met an American who loved Jesus and she was impressed that I married God (she told me a was a nun). It was fun to talk with her and get to know her a bit more. It sounds like we might have the chance to meet up with them again in the next few days, depending on surf and plans here in Agomy. Somehow talk about the bites on my hands and face came up and before I knew it they were giving me all sorts of medication to help. They are so crazy nice. Basically I was given a form of benadryl, anti itch cream and off spray. We said our sad goodbyes and we left to go home. I really didn’t want to leave just yet, we were all sharing so much. The girls were getting used to us being around and they started to open up more and more. But God has a plan and I hope it is for sure to go back. We blessed them with as much donations as we could and jumped back in the van for our ride home. The day was done and our hearts were overwhelmed with the day in Alex. Sam got super sick on the way home, getting car sick here is very easy and it got the best of him. Once we were home we headed to the store because on Fridays (the holy day) everything in closed down. Than from there is was back home from Fathalla (the store) and off to bed.

My prayers have been filled with the cry for God to use me where ever I am and what ever I am doing. In every situation I want to be used and seen as a light of God’s love. Being at the orphanages just throws a whole new perspective of life in Egypt and less in a sad way and more in a way of hope and restoration for these kids. At the girls home there was a wall of pictures of the woman who were know married that once stayed at the home and the older woman were so proud to show us their frames. God is doing mighty things here and I am glad I can be along for the ride.

Day two

It’s rough trying to remember what we did days ago. I’m trying my best to update the day of but it’s proven to be near impossible to find time and to stay awake when there is time. The morning of this day I woke up with bites all over my hands. I never get bitten at home but here I am loved. I woke up with about sixty bites just on one hand and about five in the other. They looked more like odd red dots but I was told they were mosquitoes and as time went on there was no doubt; they puffed up and itched like crazy. We had a great quiet time and bible study. We are going through a book called Secrets of The Vine and each morning we have taken a day to discuss the chapter. The chapters are pretty interesting and are applicable to our daily lives. After bible study we re packed all of the donation bags to get ready for our drop off. Sam had told us about this man Tim we were going to see and finally we got to meet him. I had heard a lot about this guy and was stoked to finally put a face to a name. We got to Tim’s house and talked about our plans with him and when we were going to cruise. His wife just had surgery so we stayed outside to make sure she rested and didn’t get up in response to hospitality. My finger had become infected about a day or two before this and I thought it would be a good idea to ask Tim (who spoke perfect English) what I should get to put on it. I tried to find something the day before but ended up with just Band-Aids and no way to explain any thing else. Tim took one look at it and said oh my let me call my doctor. He grabbed his phone and called Shou-Shou. That was all that was needed and from then we were told to wait on the beach and Shou-Shou would come check it out and see what needed to happen. So we went to the beach. Shou-Shou to the rescue! All of a sudden a man zips down the beach on a motorcycle and flashed by, turns around and stops - here he is. It was the funniest sight ever. He takes one look at my finger and says you must come with me. So I jump on the back of his bike and off we go. He also speaks perfect English so I was totally secure with the situation since we could explain to each other just exactly what was going on. We zipped through town and off to his house. If I ever through Egyptians drive crazy, they ride even crazier. I was holding on for sure, all I had on were slippers and loose cotton pants and a t-shirt. I thought for sure a few time my knees were going to be taken out but to be honest I was having too much fun to be worried about the logistics of the situation. About 15min later we reached his house and it was pretty great to see a real home. It was my first house I was in that felt like a home. He was getting ready for a wood working show and was so willing to lay it all down for a bit to make sure I was okay and he had no idea who I was, just that I knew Tim. And let’s face it I had just met Tim for 5min earlier on in the day. Honestly the hospitality here has been blowing my mind, we all need to take notes for sure. Shou Shou took a razor blade, alcohol, iodine, and some gauze and fixed it all up. It wasn’t super bad but it had potential to be bad and luckily he told me the ocean here is good for cuts - phew! I was not stoked about another infection = no ocean time. It was pretty cool to sit down in his kitchen while he had a little surgery time on my finger. His woodworking was everywhere, even the table we sat at. We talked a little about how he knows English so well and come to find out he was a doctor in England for about two years and with a few policy changes he came back to Egypt and started working. Also come to find out him and Tim do expeditions for National Geographic and Discovery (and other shows). Tim is the fix it man, the go to, the range rover driver and Shou-Shou is the doctor that goes with them. So basically what Tim told me is that if you ever see a Egypt special on any adventure show him and Shou-Shou are heading it up. So after Shou-Shou fixed me all up and told me what things to buy we were off back to the beach. We jetted back to the beach and zipped down the shoreline. I wish I had this whole adventure on video because it was all and all a humorous happening. A once in a life time story for sure. Than we cruised the beach and hung with the boys for a long time. We swam, chilled, sang, played -- just spent some quality time with the boys. It was fun to talk with Catatrina a bit more and take some fun photos of the locals on the beach. We tried to play football with them and it was the funniest sight to see and everyone on the beach was watching us and totally confused. Than some little kids near the shore started playing their own version of football. The sunset and it was time to head back and get some grind with ano and Kahalad. We jetted over and found a pretty legit pizza place. It was the first meal here that wasn’t Egyptian; so to be honest it was a little refreshing. The owner lived in the states for a little bit and you could totally tell with his way of pizza making that he knew a little of how it was done back home. Re and I shared a pizza and it was epic. During dinner I asked Gano where a pharmacy was and he said yes come come, and off we went. He took my across the street and I was so stoked to get some stuff for my cut. I’m super used to people speaking no to very little English so when I walked in to the store and started explaining what I needed I said it all in very broken Arab English and the man looked and me and goes, yea yea what do you want? I just laughed in embarrassment. Everything I got only cost me about four American dollars, which blew my mind. Once I was set we were back to the pizza place for dinner and fun. Than from there it was off to a cane juice stand where they literally stick the cane sugar in the grinder and out comes a glass of cane juice. It’s pretty good but at the same time it’s a glass of sugar, so it’s overwhelming for sure. Re hates it and it was funny to see her try and down it all in politeness. Muhamad has this restaurant near our flat and wanted to show us the scene. It is only open in the summer so basically he just wanted to show us what it could look like. I’m not kidding the car rides with Muhamad are so fun. I can’t believe the no police system here but if we tried that back home we would be pulled over in the matter of seconds. I want to video it but it’s always so dark out that it really doesn’t do the issue justice, at all. We had to jet early because it was time to again organize the bags, this time in complete readiness for the kids. Tim gave us a paper with all their sizes and need and we were going to two orphanages so we wanted to make sure boys and girls were separated. We have organized the bags so many times, that by this time we were laughing so hard at the fact we were basically moving dirt from one side of the room to the other, back to the other side just for fun. This trip has produced a pretty legit quote wall and the bag time defiantly gave a few good new ones. Basically it has turned into a Robert quote wall but we entertain him with the idea we all say stupid things. The day was super long and we all passed out pretty early. I fell asleep on the couch, which was a bad bad thing. I woke up with mosquitoes all over me. So the trick is to always keep yourself covered but than you get too hot so how do you find a middle ground - well you don’t. You either get bit or you burn up. But since I had been exposed for a few hours my face was eaten alive. The whole night I was tossing and turning trying to get away from the bugs, covering up and than cooling down. I woke up with even more bites on my hands and choke on my face. I never get bit at home and here they just love me. West Nile anyone? I think I counted over 100 bites on my hands and my face I just don’t even want to look at.
It was a good day for sure and God has shown me first hand that he has a plan for everything, down to my finger infection. Later I found out from Sam that he (Shou Shou) has been pretty MIA with the trips and it has been hard for anyone to really get to know him because he is so buys. Sam was stoked I got to spend some time with him because he came back to the beach telling Sam that as soon as his show was over he was going to cruise with us as much as possible. So if my gnar finger is what it took than I’m glad! Cruising on the beach with the crew was super humbling as well. The boys just have so much fun playing together and they are stoked on everything from a wave to a grain of sand.

Day one out of Cairo

Day one in Alex (actually Agomy) and now I know why people want to come to Egypt. Today was a day that was straight up amazing. Last night I slept maybe a totally of two hours, I was just all worked up I guess and couldn’t relax enough to let my mind rest. Today was the day we traveled to Alex from Cairo. The trip took about six hours (usually a three hour drive) because we stopped off in Wadi to get Jeff at this camp he was staying at. The camp was a crazy nut, an oasis in the middle of nowhere, both spiritually and physically. Once we got Jeff we were off to Alex and man were we in for a surprise. I honestly had no idea what we were driving into. I knew that we would be near the beach, for this is a big part of our surf ministry. I feel as if I say this a lot but how can I describe this place, it’s impossible. We got to our apartment and unloaded the boards. Charris was here ( a girl we met in Cairo… which is from Kauai and knows part of the team) with some of her friends and they were leaving that same night, so it worked out perfect with the transition of us coming in. The first person we met was Maluka - he showed us our place. He was super nice and we sat and talked to him for a good while. He has a little baby that is one and has been married for two years. Sounds like his whole family lives together in a large housing situation just a few blocks away. He is a mechanic on a farm and works on really big machinery. This little chit chat got me stoked to see the relations we were going to deepen or create on this trip. The apartment is pretty legit and it only took a few minutes before we all realized it was time to beach it. We started our trek down to the beach and for sure it was a fun adventure. The buildings here are so awesome, orange, old, and the architecture way better than anything I saw in Cairo. It’s for sure a beach town and a beach town found just a few hours from the city of all cities in Egypt. This town in a tad more liberal so us girls can get away with wearing long shorts and a loose shirt. On the beach you see a few tourists wearing less than that but in respect to the culture (since we know better). So anyways we were headed down to the beach and it was so cool to see the impact Sam had already made on these boys. The second we turned the corner they were at the gate ready to see us all. They were so stoked to see us and everyone was saying (in a broken Arabic accent) Sam - Sam - Sam, Welcome Surfing The Nations - Welcome! Faris and Ahamad are the little boys that roll with this crew and they are apparently super good surfers (no surf yet to see this truth or not). They are so cute and adorable, we all want to make sure they make it to Hawaii some day. They are stoked (especially Faris) on everything that has to do with surfing - Everything. Faris always looks at me and goes… you goofy.. yes goofy good (because I’m goofy foot like him and not regular). Leo was there too, another grommet but he is from France and is here because his parents moved for a some job his Dad has. These boys literally just cruise on the beach everyday. Some of them have jobs but most of them just cruise. So we met the crew and cruised on the beach for a few hours, just getting to know them. The beach - umm only images can describe. The water is so green, the air blue (never thought that could happen in Egypt), the sun piercing, the sand like white and fine like flour (with garbage everywhere), the surf flat, and the scenery more than you cane take in. It was a good time talking with all the boys and getting to figure out who is who. I started to get super chilly and Gano saw this and literally ran home to get a jacket for me. They are so hospitable and nice. The sun set into the Mediterranean and my heart was swelling with excitement to see a sight I’ve only dreamed of. Everyone started to get hungry and too cold to sit with boardies on the beach and with the movement of our team the boys decided to was time to BBQ.  We weren’t sure what this meant to them but we were game for what ever happened. We all changed and got ready to cruise. We walked a few blocks over to Mika’s house (I can’t really type in English how they saw this in Arabic but say it how ever you want). They wouldn’t let us help or lift a leg, sit - sit - sit, they always say. We sat around for about an hour as they prepared the meal, well Mika’s sister came to prepare it. Maluka and Kahalad were playing video games and we joined in once we settled down. Kahalad is sort of the ringleader of the crew in a way, we call him GQ because he is always so dressed up, gelled and shirtless. Dinner was starting to come in a finish and the Omar was outside flipping the meat. This meat looked so good, I knew the rest of the meal was going to rock our socks off. We were all super tired of eating foul, Kosheri, and Falafel that the sight of meat meant a whole new world. Catarina and Gabriel are two Germans that have lived here for a bit teaching in a German school. They are super fun and totally a kick to hang around. I was kicking myself in the face this night for not bringing my camera. There were so many fun things that happened, fun isn’t even the word to use. So many once in a lifetime things that happened. We were all sitting on the top of the roof of Mika’s house and sitting around this tiny two foot high table. Dinner was served and we were all so hungry and amazed by the feast set before us. The rice was honestly the best rice I’ve ever had, something was different about it and I can’t put my finger on why. The meat was so good and the tahina sauce was the best yet. Everything was amazing and they just whipped up this feast as a Welcome Surfing The Nations event. All of the surf boys were there and this totally kicked off this week here. After dinner we sat around and drank tea and sang songs. Some how Omar had the great idea, no Maluka - yah Maluka had the great idea that I sing while Muhamad sings and Robert plays the guitar. So well I was roped into it and even though I was super apprehensive I figured what ever it’s English they have no idea how I really sound. So the song they wanted was “I never told you”, they head us girls singing it earlier on in the night so yup the song has hit another trip and another country. Oh my was it so fun. I have no idea what Muhamad was singing but as I sang Colbie he sang something in Arabic at the same time and Robert just kept on jamming. I wish I had this on tape and one of the guys does but who knows if that will ever show up, let’s hope. Oh man that moment was a once in a lifetime experience. Sitting rooftop in Egypt, drinking tea and singing a duet with a man in Arabic. After our dinner adventure it was time to head home and this ride home was crazy. They drive so nutty over here and we were all piled into one car - Muhamad’s jeep. Robert and a few of the boys hanging on to the back and Gano on the hood of the car. We were laughing so hard the entire time but laughter was the result in shere fear we would all die. Not really but yes sort of. Again with wishing I had this on video. I’m sure though this won’t be the last time we all jump in Muhamad’s epic ride and almost crash around every corner as his make shift police siren goes off. Oh what an epic first night in Agomy.

My heart today

  I close my eyes and all I can see is the face of Amack. Her eyes are the resting ground of the all-familiar flies, her nose runs and her smile is hidden behind the confusion written over her face. I hold her in my arms, keeping her close to my chest and feeding her the mush for breakfast. She is so young, maybe nine months old. I hold her in my arms and feed her until she is full, I wasn’t sure if that would happen but eventually her stomach seemed to fill. It seemed as if the food was more than just a source of energy, it was sense of security. For when the last spoon full went into her mouth her smile over came the confusion. She never hit at the flies; she never squirmed or fussed while I fed her. Her eyes would simply fix upon mine and her mouth would open in a sign she wanted more. The joy was infectious and her giggle was more than pure. I wish I could have captured this moment with an image, I wish I could have shared her face with you but pictures are not aloud inside the orphanage. When time came to leave Amack and the other children my heart broke. My heart broke when the gate closed and the cries began. The confusion came rushing back across their faces and the abandonment wiped the giggles from the room. It was hard to say goodbye. We went into the next room where the smallest children were. I walked in and picked up this little girl. Her ears were pierced; her eyes brown and piercing and she cowered in the corner in fear to be seen. I was afraid that she would begin to cry when I reached for her but to my surprise she put her arm to my face and her cheek to my chest. I looked down at her wrist and this four-month-old baby girl had the tattoo of a Christian. I knew the mark of an Egyptian Christian was either on your wrist or between your thumb and finger, but I never knew this age would begin the mark. Not but five minutes passed and her eyes started to become heavy. She nestled farther into my neck and with her right hand resting over my chest, her eyes closed. Without question I started singing her to sleep, rocking her back and forth singing worship song after worship song. It didn’t matter she couldn’t understand me for I knew no matter the language a child can still relax to any tune. Once her eyes had been closed, her breathing slowed and her body became a little looser - it was time to put her in the bed. I walked over to the cribs and rested her body down on the mattress. She was breaking a fever, her head was dripping with sweat and her nose was running down her face. I wiped her clean and prayed for God’s hand to protect her as she rested. The net was placed over the young babies to keep the flies from resting on them as they slept. Once again it was time to move on to the next room, but this time was a bit easier for my child was now resting. The next room was the elder ladies. The ladies were so sweet to talk to. They knew very little to absolutely no English but the language never stops the amount of love you can give. We laughed and loved on the woman for a while and before we left we began to sing. Oh come let us adore him, oh come let us adore him, oh come let us adore him - Christ the Lord. We only spent a few hours at the orphanage but it was a blessing I could have never prepared myself for. Even though we were there to help and to bring donations of clothes and toys. We left way more blessed and humbled than we could have ever brought with us. We walked our way through the streets of the garbage city back to our car, each one of us affected in our own way. -Processing and trying to soak in just exactly our place in this country. This trip has proving to be a trip where we never stop moving, never stop for a moment to truly realize the impact, the changes, the sights, the people, the relationships and the blessings. I try each day to take time alone, to stand vulnerable and transparent, to stand humbled in front of my Father in search of the changes of my heart. I am so blessed.

Today I realized it's not about the actions we are doing but the life we are living. What's the difference? The difference is this. Today when we went to the orphanage I left with mix feelings on our impact. Did we really "do" anything for the kingdom? Did we help them or hurt them by only being there for a few hours..? My heart is torn about the reality of short term missions. Yes I'm here for a month but that's neither here nor there with where we end up for the days we spend with the same people. As I sit here totally conflicted on where my heart sits, I realize the impact of our life seen from a different perspective - one that is not us but them. What really counts is the impact we made on the driver, the impact we made on the man who showed us the city, the impact we made on those that simply saw our lives from a different view. It's interesting to hear when our driver doesn't want to stop in garbage city in fear for us and our safety both within the food and people. And when we insisted on stopping and our reason being, this is why we are here - we want to be with the people - his mood changed. He not only let us out but came with us to the orphanage and fed the kids, picked them up and loved on them. A man that once stood firm with a cigarette in his mouth was now picking up the little children with a smile pasted across his face.  It is all about the impact on others. I just love the relationships we start to make with others as we spend time and consistent time with them. Sad that we leave tomorrow but excited on what it will bring.

Even as I sit here the man that makes my coffee each night, is now sitting next to me in amazement of what I am doing - or confusion. I'm not sure. But how fun it was to be skyping with my Mom and for him to say hello hello! 

The rest of the day was cruising the streets and hanging out with our new friend Norah (American spelling). She jumped in our van and cruised back to Cairo with us. It was a funny experience trying to figure out if she was with us for the night, the day, wanting to go to Alex with us. It was some serious fun trying to figure that out when she speaks two words of English and vise versa. It was pretty great though how things worked out. We ended up just going to have tea and coffee around the corner, after an epic adventure of more language confusion and walking around for no reason - bah ha. But all in all the day ended with a deeper relationship with her and a fun experience for the team. God is for sure working within this relationship. Tea time came and went and we are about to have worship on the roof before we head back to the market for one last hurrah, we leave to Alexandria (Alex) in the morning. Until next time.

Pryamids - no big deal

So let me first start with the ending of last night. We got together for a quick bible study/Sam telling us about his time here. After that we hit the town. Gosh my mind is so boggled with what we did today I can barely manage to tell you what we did last night. The bazaar was good fun and bartering with people was pretty entertaining. I got a few things but I wasn't super keen on buying junk that once I brought back home would be thrown away within a year or less. Oh gosh one thing that was nuts that happened --- usually tea is about oh 1 or 2 Egyptian pounds and we all sat down for tea after the night on the town and we got up to leave asked how much we owed him and he said 20 pounds.. ARE YOU KIDDING? Robert was pretty funny dealing with him, "what did you put gold in this tea?" Ha. Well needless to say we paid the money and left. Note taken not to go back there. We walked and drove and walk and drove to the most random of places that night, I felt like I was in a labyrinth - it was so confusing. So many cars... this place is packed with people.

Okay today. Hmm I feel as if it will take more than a freezing cold 4 min shower to process all that went on today but let me try. And maybe I'll fill in the blanks later. We headed out early this morning to get on the camels and see the Pyramids. Yup it was today! I was pretty freaking stoked to be riding a camel. And I even rode it barefoot... well because come on... when in Egypt - right? Any ways... so we got to the camels (after our felafel breakfast...) John (our main man in Egypt) has been hooking us up with all the rides and what not.. he completely was a blessing to our day/trip. Any ways so we went and grabbed out camels and headed to the Pyramids. There was one camel we called "the snake" ... and Jeff got him at first. Ha this camel was so gnar gnar and angry it was pretty funny... no one wanted him. Ha I literally laugh out loud when I think of us getting on those freaking things -- so great. We traveled through the city a little on the camels and than it was into the pyramid grounds. How can I even describe that fact we went and saw the Pyramids...? Well we did. The ride was super fun. I flipped off my slippers and rode that sucker barefoot. It was great. It was super cool making friends with our guides and just chit chatting with the local kids on the grounds. They of course wanted to sell us things but we made friends instead. Today was a fun day to just take pics of a place you have only heard about... like the sphinx! We walked through some of the tombs and fun things like that. After we did the adventure of a lifetime on the Pyramids we were off to the garbage city.

The garbage city was insane, totally just blew my mind. And as I write and re read all of this about our adventures - I know it's going to hit my in a week or maybe take me until I am home to write more of where my heart has been and less of what my eyes have seen. God is truly rocking our team and he has been continuously opening up doors within relationships with the locals. His hand of protection is over us and I know there is so much more to be blessed by. So bare with me while right now it is just simply an update on the places we have been going.

So anyways... the garbage city... we walked through the streets trying to find out destination. To which we finally found - the orphanage. The city was covered in well, garbage and when we knocked on this big brass door it opened to a perfectly clean refuge. All of the kids were else where (it was Sunday/Sabbath) so we basically were checking in to see when we could come back. We are going back tomorrow with donations and time to play with the kids. When we opened the door to go back to our van all of these little kids came up, holding our hands saying "hello" "hello" - they were super cute and totally heart breaking. On our way through the streets we stopped at a store and got pure cane sugar juice -- I wasn't sure about its cleanliness... we were in the garbage city and all but eh it was good! After the garbage city it was off to this epic church. It's a church that was built into the rocks and I wish I could just upload pictures because my words won't even begin to describe it. While we were there we met some kids and one girl - Noari - that totally hit it off with us. She was super fun and adorable. Another little girl totally clung to me and I gave her a little bracelet I had on my wrist that she kept staring at :) I can tell already that tomorrow is going to rock my world. Just the little bit I've had with the local kids here has gripped my heart and getting to spend some good time with them tomorrow is going to rock me.

From the garbage city we came back, passed out for an hour and than we were off to church. We went to an Arabic Christian church that had a translation headset in the back for us. The guy that was translating was so funny, he would translate like one word and than say "you don't need to know what he is saying.. it's just church announcements"... and funny things like that. We sang Come Let Us Adore him in Arabic.. so we sang along in English, which was pretty epic. The service was so good and it was so amazing to see such a thriving Christian community in a Muslim country. Post church it was off to dinner (by now it's 9:30) ... and guess what we had Felafel again.. and tea =). Now we are back at the hostel and after a little uke session on the roof and blog update I am ready to pass out. Until next time.

Egypt thus far

Totally just trying to absorb at this point but let's relay as much as possible. Right now I'm sitting on the roof of our hostel, tucked in a corner that has pillows to rest on a shade to hide under. The flies are all over me and the filth of the city is something you just have to look past. The sky is smoggy and clean is a word left sunken at the bottom of the Nile. Having a few moments to look back on the first few hours of Cairo, makes me want to rest my eyes and catch up on the sleep I lost but I won't. Even though I'm super tired, my body has adjusted pretty well the the 24 hour time change. We were so blessed on the plane over there to have some leg room seats. The 10 hour ride to Amsterdam was a little rough but this 4 hours ride from Amsterdam to Egypt was simple. I actually slept and felt semi rested when we got into Egypt. Let's just be honest I was so tired on the plane rides that I'm pretty sure I once said, "man I really like this food". So being well rested is a loose term I will use, probably throughout this trip. Well there we were getting of the plane. I had watched our flight track all the way - passing under and over countries I've dreamed about going and I couldn't fathom that I was so close to them. Once we landed and it was time to step foot in Africa the reality started to set in. I honestly didn't feel like I was in another country when I was in Amsterdam but now that I'm here, I am for sure far from home. We have one bag lost in transit and it just so happens to be one of the donation bags under my name. So with that came a little hold up at the airport but nothing big and we are just praying it will show up before we leave Cairo. Once we finally got our bags loaded and found the hostel. Which was a funny time finding because they took the sign down, but luckily Robert is well - Robert and remembered where it was. The hostel is so epic. It is called the Dahab Hostel and it's seriously epic. I will for sure take some photos and try to upload them (the uploading process is proving to be an issue with the shotty connection we have here). We are on the seventh floor and the elevator that takes you there is for sure the oldest elevator I've ever step foot on, or even seen working. So with the time being around 5:00 a.m., we were all pretty stoked on finding a bed. The shower... ha the "shower" was what we now call -"Egyptian water torture". It was refreshingly freezing cold and humorously dripping, to the point it was a fill your hands and splash sort of shower. We all rested for about three hours and than called it good and headed out for more adventure. We fell asleep as the sun was rising and mask was being called out - what a lullaby :) This morning we went to a corner shop and had some tea and felalfel for breakfast. It was a funny little shop and well waking this morning to what Egypt really looks like was an experience. The smog was so heavy, you felt more as if your eyes were hazy than the sky. The city is packed with tall buildings, cars every where, stray cats, and odd stores. The architecture is mind boggling and the history here is beyond what I can imagine. Just walking around the town you totally get lost in your surroundings. The tea shops are so fun, one the tea is amazing and two the people are just so fun to talk to (mainly because they don't understand you and they look at you like "oh you silly American") After our tea time as a team and finally meeting up with Sam and Viktor it was "Middle East Team" launch! We went back to the hostel, grabbed a few things, dropped off cameras and headed out to the Museum. We went to the Egypt Museum -- yeah that's right... the Egypt Museum. It was amazing. I could do a whole new blog post about how crazy it was to walk around and see the things I've read and studied about in school. The crazy thing about this place was the lack of security, I seriously touched tombs, statues, and other old what nots. I mean think about it. We saw all of king Tuts stuff and had a private tour around the whole place. Our tour guide was amazing and we even got to talk a little "bible" with him. It was interesting to here all he had to say and than he was convinced we were Israeli, which was a funny conversation. After the tour we headed for lunch. But first we stopped by to see the Nile. Yup that's right I went to go see the Nile and yes it's a dirty as you would imagine. After that it was lunch...guess what it was Felafal again :) We had tea (well I chose to drink some coffee) again and sat and chilled out from our super long tour. The best thing about today was the human frogger we played to cross the streets. It was straight up crazy. Cars never stopping, you just had to run and pray that you ran fast enough across the four lanes of honking cars. Well and than that brings us back to now, sitting here with flies covering my body, chatting with Viktor, and soaking in this new experience. This time here is so about relationships with those we meet and I'm stoked to have some shotty tea places to sit at and chat with the owners, which was what we did today. Tonight we are going to go to the Bazaar and see the Egyptian night life as well as meet up with a friend of STN's from prior years. Super stoked.

That's a super quick update on the first few hours in Egypt. I'm excited to have more time to meet those we see, get to know them better and be able to share with you guys their stories and needs. Pray for the hearts of those we get to befriend.

I praise God that our team is so solid. We are having a blast together and I'm crazy stoked to get to know these hearts better. Egypt so far is blowing my mind and I'm simply trying to process it all. I can see already how this experience is going to taint my ability to ever stop traveling, learning, seeing, and being across the nations.