Day 101, Desert Compound, Egypt

I finally got those posted!!! YAY!! I haven't had internet access for a few weeks now, but I wrote some blog letters for you guys during that time. I posted three or four new blogs all at once, so be sure to read back a few. I will try to go back and put in some pictures of some of the things I was talking about, like the metal witchcraft charms and pictures of the mountain and such.

We are back from Luxor Egypt (ancient city of Thebes) where the Valley of the Kings is located. After a 17 hour van ride through the desert we are finally away from the spiritual heaviness that the area bombarded us with constantly. We are safely back at the desert compound now. We will stay here for New Years and possibly go do some ministry is Alexandria along the Mediterrainian sea. We just arrived last night and its our first morning time here so I dont have a whole lot to say so far that I haven't told you about in the last three blogs I just posted. I just wanted to let ya know why three of them got posted at once. Because I wasn't constantly updating my letters to you, I may have missed some things that we did, so during the next couple of days I will probably be jumping back over the last few weeks as I remember things I want to share. I love ya guys and think about you often. I hope to hear from you all soon. I have only heard from Mallory Gliko and my parents for the last 2 weeks, so update me on whats going on back home in your lives.

Day 99, Luxor, Egypt

Our time here in Luxor is almost done. We have been around the city quite a bit. This week we did many prayer walks around the city. I found out that this was the religious capital of ancient Egypt and there are many ancient temples to the Egyptian gods. There is a lot of witchcraft and pagan rituals here. Many horses and carriages are adorned with witchcraft charms. The most obvious is a charm shaped like a hand. Little metal hands dangle from everything....you can feel the spiritual tension with these charms. I was told that the Muslims here mingle witchcraft and voodoo in with their Islamic beliefs. If the Muslim chants shouted over the loud speakers all over the city five times a day aren't enough to constantly remind us that we are on a battlefield here, these charms do.

I just took a break from writing this letter to go up on the roof and pray with the Egyptian team. Our team split up today. They will be going to a different city. Up on the roof we had them stand in the middle as we prayed. Esther, one of our girls, said God gave her a vision of our team joining hand around their team and praying protection over them, except we were facing outwards. When we told them what we were going to do, one of the married women on the Egyptian team looked shocked. We joined hands, facing outward, and prayed for spiritual protection over them. After our prayer the woman from the Egyptian team asked her husband to share the dream he had before they left for their outreach. He had dreamed that his team was huddled together and a group of people were surrounding them, facing outward, fighting for them, protecting them, and when we prayed for them this is what happened. It is amazing watching dreams and visions come to pass.

We hiked to the top of the highest peak in Luxor this week, it is the mountain that makes up one side of the Valley of the Kings. To get there we had to make our way through the Egyptian markets and get a ferry ride across the Nile. Then we hopped in the back of a truck and traveled out of the city to the base of the mountain in the desert. From there we climbed 3,815 stairs which brought us a little over half way. The rest was climbing up loose rocks and through crevices. I was surprised at how little some of the team complained. lol. We all made it to the top and had a time of intercession. We buried Bible verses and proclaimed God's Kingdom in Egypt.

I continued on without the group and climbed around the rim of the mountain. On the other side (side opposite the city) I found myself looking out only a few lesser mountains below, and beyond that.....nothing but desert. A few minutes passed before I realized something that I haven't heard in a very long time: Nothing at all. It was completely silent...I mean COMPLETELY. Most of the time when we say it is quiet, you can still hear the leaves of trees, or faint almost unnoticeable bugs, or far off cars. Up here there were no trees, and no wind, no bugs, no people nearby, and we were miles and miles from the nearest car. I stood there in awe...I held my breath so I wouldn't hear it and stood completely still. It was an amazing experience. It makes me think about the moments before God created the earth. There was nothing at all....all was silent......It is easy for us to enjoy and marvel at some of the amazing sounds God creates, but we never really marvel at the beauty that God creates with silence. Silence isn't just the absence of sound, its something God created and true silence is something to stand in awe about.

We also made it into the Valley of the Kings, well, a few of us did. We made our way underground into the tombs. As I looked at the carved walls with all their hieroglyphics I noticed the sarcophagus of the ancient pharaoh (I wont mention his name). The mummy had been taken out and put in a Museum in Cairo, but his sarcophagus had a small gap between the lid and the base, allowing something small to be slipped in if someone could manage to do so without the guard noticing. I traced my fingers over the hieroglyphics and stooped down and got my Bible and journal out of my bag. I smiled as I left the tomb. I left a small piece of the Kingdom in that little room.

Day 93, Luxor, Egypt

Again I'm writing to you, but you still will not see this letter for some time. After a week in Cairo we took a night train to Luxor, Egypt. This was supposed to be an 11 hour train ride south. Things never really turn out like they are planned. We joined with an Egyptian team at the train station so we could do ministry in Luxor together. Our teams had to take different trains, so me and two of the girls stayed behind with the Egyptian team to take the later train. Half an hour later our train rolls up and everyone piles on. Only one of the Egyptian girls spoke English, but one of the Egyptian guys who was dropping the team off came on board real quick to speak to me. He just tapped me on the shoulder and said, "God bless you, enjoy your trip, and if someone tries to talk to you, dont. Only talk to your Egyptian friends and you'll be ok." I wasn't exactly sure what he was implying, so I just sat down and waiting for the train to start moving.

We left at about 7:30 or so. The train was very dirty and didn't smell too pleasant. I knew this would be an overnight train so I expected to catch up on some sleep. HA! That didn't work out. The train pulled out and I waited for them to turn the bright lights off. They didn't. The lights in the train stayed on all night long. The seats didnt recline far enough to sleep on, and the crying babies in surround sound made me give up trying after 2 hours of tossing and turning in my stone seat. About this time two men in their later twenties came walking down the aisle, poking the bags above their heads and questioning people. It was odd looking. They didn't look happy. I was talking to Steph about a book she was reading when the Egyptian girl sitting next to her placed her hand on the book and made a motion for us to be quiet as she stared at the two men coming. Two guys from the Egyptian team sat in the seats in front of us. As the men reached them I noticed the bruises on their foreheads....

(Here is a picture of a random Muslim with the bruise)

Muslim men carry the mark of their religion on their forehead, much like Cain. It is a brown bruise they receive from constantly smacking their heads on the ground five times a day in prayer seeking intimacy from the god of this world who does not satisfy them. They began speaking roughly with the two guys seated in front of us. They seemed to be arguing. They made one of them stand up as they patted him down. I was scared, I wont lie. We were the only non-Egyptians on the whole train, and I knew we were next. After a few minutes of arguing with the two guys, the Muslim men passed us and continued down the train. They two guys in front of us sinked back in their chairs and sighed heavily. I could tell they were very relieved. I asked the Egyptian girl what had just happened and why they were searching us. She just said not to worry that everything was okay now and that they were Islamic police. I still dont know exactly what took place that night, but I believe there was more to the story.

It wasn't too long after this that our train broke down and we stayed still for two hours waiting for another train to come drag us the rest of the way to Luxor. This made our train ride a total of 13 hours of sitting. Right before we arrived in Luxor the sun came up. I stood up to get all the bags ready in the back of the train when I noticed you could open the door on the side of the train. I pulled it open and the cool air rushed in to drag out that funk air that had settled inside the cabin during the night. I stood there a couple feet from the door eying the handrails on either side of the opening. It wasn't long before I was hanging out of the side of the train and it whizzed past the palm trees and fields of veggies. What a rush.

We arrived in Luxor and we taken to a place I cannot tell you just yet. I dragged my luggage up the stairs to find my room so I could crash for a couple of hours. I had been awake for over 26 hours and was ready to pass out. I entered my dark little room where Ruslan and Gerges (My Egyptian friend) had already been sleeping for the past 3 hours. Three beds...two on the ground...one was a top bunk......OF COURSE THEY LEFT ME THE TOP BUNK! I sacrifice myself to take the later train, it breaks down, I get no sleep, and of course they arrive before us and take the best beds. lol. Thats life, what can ya do? I just dropped my luggage and climbing into bed, not caring how much the metal bed frame squeaked. hehe. I slept in my clothes.

I woke up the next morning and they are taking showers in the bathroom. Well, not at the same time. After they are done I go in there to find everything completely soaked and dirty. Im not sure when the last time they cleaned the bathroom was, but I'm sure it was sometime in the 80's. After an interesting shower I was ready to continue the day. We had a meeting and prayed and got briefed on ministry opportunities in the area. After a day out in this crazy city we came home exhausted and ready to crash. Ruslan and Gerges again went in the bathroom to clean up.

I was sitting down somewhere when they came to me and told me that they spoke with the leader of the place we are staying, and that we have to move to another room because the bathroom is broken and the water isn't draining. I waited for them to move all of their stuff to the new room. I walk in and look at the top bunk they left me, and the REALLY small and nasty bathroom the new room provided. The first room was small....but this was almost funny small. The first room had a window that opened up so you could look at the mountain in the distance, and looked out over the city. This new room was on the back of the building and was dark and only had a window that opened up to look at another ugly building behind us. The bathroom didnt have hot water on demand, it had a tiny water heater up in the corner. I told them I would stay in the old room alone. I walk into my room, look in the bathroom at the inch of water on the ground, and then pile all the mattresses on one bed, take all the covers and do the same and use the other two beds as shelves for my luggage and computer. Oh yeah....the whole bathroom being "broken" thing.....I figured the drain was clogged from when Ruslan cut his hair. I went in there, unclogged the drain, cleaned MY bathroom and settled down into bed. Did I mention Gerges snores? Poor Ruslan. I have enjoyed having this room to myself this past week. Funny how things work out sometimes.

Day 90, Cairo, Egypt

What to say. Im not sure. I am writing this now, but you will probably not read it for a while. I am staying at a place inside Cairo, Egypt. I can't talk too much about what we are doing or where we are. On Tuesday we left the compound in the desert and traveled into the city. An Egyptian guy named Gerges is staying with us to translate. As I write, I am sitting on a bed that I'm pretty sure is made with the hardest cloth in the world. No springs, just a bunch of cloth inside it. The room has gray concrete walls, florescent lights, and a joke of a bathroom. We are staying right next to a mosque, so the call to prayer rings through our room 5 times a day....such an eerie sounding chant. The ministry here is very difficult. In Mexico or Budapest or Nashville or anywhere else, you see the results....you go, do dramas, speak, talk with people, lead them to the Lord, and walk away looking at results. Not here. We cannot do dramas, preach on the streets...we have to be secret. We have to wander into churches in groups of two so the undercover police that are here dont know we are a group.

There was a Islamic feast or something this week...They sacrificed lambs in all the mosques....The streets ran with blood, literally, blood from the sacrifices pooled in the streets. I looked out the window as cars passed by with bloody hand prints all over them. As I walked the streets, blood pooled with dust to make soaked patches of road. Many skins were piled all over the place, and I still find body parts lying in the middle of the road; legs, skin, entrails... We are here as prayer missionaries. I believe this is one of the most difficult types of missions. You never get to really see anything being done. You dont get to see any change, and its very difficult to not feel like you aren't getting anything done. So often it feels like we are doing nothing, because we see in the visible but our ministry is strictly spiritual. But we will continue to soldier on in what God has put on us to do. I wish I could tell you a lot about what exactly we are doing, but this is difficult and not really "safe". Plus, I dont know when I will be able to post this. I haven't had access to the internet for a long time now. I can however, tell you about our living conditions, I enjoy doing this anyway.

The bathroom. Ok. You open the door and there is this little bucket looking thing you are supposed to step in to shower in. So you undress and step into this tic-tac sized shower. It has no shower curtain, and the shower head doesn't attach to the wall, so you hold it in your hand and try not to let the water spray your towel. It has two knobs, one for hot, one for cold, but this means nothing at all. I don't know why there are two knobs, they should just have one knob in the middle and write "Random" on it. This would be more accurate. You turn on the water, and no matter how you set it (Hot all the way up and cold off, or cold all the way up and hot off) it decides on its own what the temp will be like. It likes two settings, boiling lava hot and ice cold. It goes back and forth between these two setting about every 20 seconds.

We are supposed to be washing our clothes by hand...needless to say I have dirty clothes

Where did I last leave off....I think it was landing in Cairo. Okay, so to continue the story, we touched down and got our bags and left the airport. We waited outside for the van to come pick us up. Five minutes later a very nice van pulled up...I had just counted all the girls in my group for the fifth time to make sure they were all there and started to pray silently for protection over us as we make our way to where we were staying when I hear shouting and a loud CRUNCH!! I looked up to watch as our nice van smashes into the open door of a taxi. Lots of yelling in Arabic followed. I just kinda smiled and tried to hide the giggles. I dont know why I found it funny. Just did I suppose. We loaded all our bags on TOP of the van....if I hadn't proved that I am the strongest man alive already...everyone knew it after I lifted Esther's bag over my head. I am Nick, hear me roar!

We crunched into the van and began our...uh...interesting trip to the desert compound. The drivers in Egypt honk their horns when you go too slow, when you go too fast, when you are driving normally, when they have to pee, when they want to say hi, when they leave a parking lot, when they arrive somewhere, and sometimes for no reason at all. It was about a three hour drive to the compound. Im not allowed to say exactly where we are staying...I'll tell ya when I get home though.

We got to our rooms, which were free of Rusball clothes, and settled into our beds. SOOO nice! I woke the next morning to someone tapping on our door. It was pitch black in the room because they have really dark think curtains. I felt my way blindly to the door, hoping to get some light into the room so I could see. I turn the handle and opened the door, only to be completely blinded by the incredible light. I closed the door trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I cant see in the dark, and now I cant see in the light...hello....can we not find a middle ground here? After a few minutes my eyes regained their sight and I slowly let the light into the room.

Lesson #1: Open door slowly to avoid blindness

I stepped outside and the girls were already freaking out because it was so beautiful. They took me to the side of the house. We live on the third floor so we get a birds-eye view of the desert surrounding the compound walls. And there I saw the desert rolling out into the distance. A shepherd was guiding his flock of sheep and setting little random fires all over the place. Don't know why, but I hope to find out.

Lesson #2: shepherds can be pyros too

We had a short meeting to figure out what we would be doing that day. The base leader was still working on our arrangements in the city and had given us our schedule.

Agenda for December 15: Relax

I didnt argue. I'll follow that guideline any day. lol. So we had a full day of relaxing. I had about 3 hours of time alone (which is a luxury you dont get alot when living in a community) and I laid out in the warm sun reading and writing. After lunch I played volleyball and soccer with the Egyptian guys for about 5 hours. I returned to my room to shower. I dont think I have ever welcomed a cold shower so much. We have hot water, but that seemed to just make it worse. Cold showers are a must from now on. We had an amazing dinner, then had an amazing worship and prayer time with them. They sang and prayed in Arabic, and we did the same in English.

There is a dog that lives with us here in the compound. A pretty nice German Shepherd. Apparently this dog only speaks Arabic because he didn't respond when I asked him to shut the door on his way out of my room. Im not exactly sure how a dog that sits out in the sun all day in the desert can manage to not smell like complete butt, but he pull it off somehow.

Lesson #3: Dont trust Egyptian dogs to save your life, they don't understand English.

One thing I have learned about the Egyptians, is that they need a lot of encouragement. They live in a land where Muslims dominate and it is difficult to be a Christian. They kept asking us to share testimonies to encourage them in their faith. I hope to be able to strengthen their faith as we are here among them. They are a very friendly people who always smile. I already have a passion for them.

I am not sure exactly how the Egyptians do it, but their meals are spread out pretty far throughout the day. Im used to eating at 1pm for lunch, and dinner at 6pm. Here lunch is supposed to be at 1pm, but its 2:15 as I write this and still no sign of lunch. Dinner isn't until about 8pm or later. They set a time for things, but never follow that time-line. Its like church, watches mean nothing.

Lesson #4: If an Egyptian tells you a meeting will start at 2:00pm, expect them at 5:00pm.

Well, there is the lunch bell, Im off for now. Love ya guys.

Day 85, Touchdown in Egypt

Tada! Last night we touched down in Cairo, Egypt. It was an interesting flight over here. We left at about 3:30pm and spent like three hours in the air. Going from Budapest, Hungary to Cairo, Egypt can be compared to jumping from Ruslan's Closet to the girl's room upstairs. Everyone in Budapest has this heavy spirit of oppression on them. They never smile, even when you smile at them, and don't really want to talk. Everything is hard: people, buildings, hard water, transportation, choking air, and cold weather. There is a lot of room for God to soften Budapest, and a lot of work to be done. I'll tell you about the difference in Egypt in a second.

I noticed the difference in Egyptians back in Budapest. We flew Egyptair. The rules were you couldn't bring more than 20kg of luggage. Me and Ruseball (we got tongue-tied one time while trying to say Ruslan's fooseball table, and came up with the name "Ruseball". It stuck, poor guy) didn't have any trouble staying under that limit.....the 7 girls traveling with us on the other hand.....completely different story. Some weighed over 26kg, which is about 13 pounds of clothes over the limit. You know how many clothes it takes to get 13 pounds? I dont know if I even own that many clothes. (Note to self: buy more clothes). They are supposed to charge you 2,600ft, which is about $12 for every kg over the limit you are. They just smiled and didn't charge us anything. Completely surprised me.

We sat there in the terminal and watched as a snowstorm hit Budapest. It was like a blizzard, more snow than I have ever seen fall. Budapest got blanketed while we were leaving. Perfect timing, we got to watch the snow through the glass walls, but never had to walk through it. YAY! We were welcomed onto the plane by about 37 different people, whose only job was to say, "Welcome" apparently.

We were seated in the same area, and I was seated by myself. WOOHOO. I had a window seat with two empty seats on my left. Praise the Lord. We had to wait a little bit while the airline people took this big machine and sprayed all the ice off the wings. A few of the girls didn't particularly like my comments about them spraying gasoline on the outside of the plane to melt the ice. I thought it was funny though. After about five minutes of me explaining to them about how we were probably going to die in the plane because of the blizzard, we climbed towards the clouds and I watched the last of Budapest sink away while I listened to Benny and the Jets on my iPod. I couldn't help but notice how dark, and almost dead Budapest looked. It was dusk, almost dark, and there were very few lights on outside the city, tons and tons of cube communist buildings with no lights on. The clouds eventually blanketed my view of the city and I watched the sun set into the bed of clouds. I got the better side of the plane. It wasn't long before the girls realized they could move into the empty seats next to me, and in about 5 min Steph was sprawled out on the two seats next to me. I love the many roles I play in this team, especially "Nick the Airplane Pillow".

A few hours later we begin our descent into Cairo. Pitch black outside with no clouds. The city was breathtaking. The moon had taken the place of the sun, and I saw something I had never seen before. I kept catching a glimpse of something really bright and rather large in the city below me every once in a while. I couldn't figure out what it was. It just looked like big flashes of bright light, brighter than any of the street lights or cars. It was keeping up with the plane also. I finally realized what it was as it passed over the Nile. The reflection of the moon....I had seen it on lakes and such, but never from that far up. It was so large in the reflection!! It was bigger than a whole city block. The little flashes I kept seeing were reflections of the moon as it passed over flat buildings and water. Breathtaking.

After we touched down and got off the plane we all boarded this little shuttle on the runway, which took us, literally, about 30 yards to the building. lol. Then again, more and more Egyptians just standing there with smiles on their faces, welcoming us to Egypt. They people here seem pretty friendly. Completely different than Budapest.

Hmm...ya know...its nice and warm here and sunny and everyone is outside and im not, so Im gonna go do some things and write more when everyone is in bed tonight.

Day 83, Budapest

In 24 hours we make our way to the airport to step onto the plane that takes us to Egypt. It is almost 9am here. I just sat down with a bowl of yogurt and a book I've been reading. Half of our team has already left for Romania, we will rejoin in three months. Its a little weird not having everyone here. Community living is so different, but almost addictive. When a bunch of people left our little community here in this house, I felt so.....naked. Its weird not constantly hearing footsteps. With 25 people living in a house.....you ALWAYS hear footsteps. Its like a loud clock at home or something, its constantly ticking.."Tick....tock...tick....tock...tick...tock..."..you get used to it and eventually dont even notice it anymore. Same thing with the footsteps. Every room here has hardwood floors that don't dampen any sound at all, and the footfall noise became like the clock. Now the clock has stopped "ticking" and it almost feels as if time has stopping too. Weird. Things have slowed down here in Budapest with half our team gone.

Ruslan's Closet....

Oh how I do not miss my room. Let me start at the beginning. For the past three months I have slept in the lowest room of the house with three other guys. If you could call it a room. It is the only room without hardwood floors, besides the bathrooms. You know when you walk into a house and take off your shoes and hang up your coat and then choose which room to go in? Thats the room we live in....not the room you chose...but the actual room you step into and take your shoes off and hang your coat up. Apparently there werent enough rooms to house everyone in the house, so they stuck the guys in the old foyer. The door to our room is the door to outside. You walk into this room, about 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide, and there we are, four guys huddled in the corner, trying to sleep. We actually never called it our room. One day I was commenting on the...err...cleanliness of our little room, talking about how someone's clothes were all over the room, and we stumbled upon a more accurate description of our little abode. "Ruslan's Closet". Ruslan is my buddy from Ukraine. At some point during his first week here.....no one was around to witness this, so the accuracy of the story isnt completely verified....but he took all of his clothes and packed them into a bag....with dynamite....and then set the clothes bomb off, completely coating the inside of our room with Ruslan clothes. Thus, we call this room Ruslan's Closet.

Inside Ruslan's Closet, the temperature stays about 5 degree warmer than outside....unless it is warmer outside, then it is 5 degrees cooler. We sleep fully clothed. Luckily, I can fall asleep in 5 minutes, so I just get all pumped up, rush in there and crawl under some of Ruslan's clothes and fall asleep to the chattering of teeth. I never actually warm up before I fall asleep, just kinda wait until the sleep hits me so I go numb to the cold. Im not sure exactly how it happens, something about the rotation of the earth and gravity and the way the house was built, but somehow or another, all the dust and crumbs and dirt from this three-story house manage to collect on the floor in Ruslan's Closet. We sweep the floor, and then wake up the next morning, brush all the dew, bugs and Ruslan clothes off our sleeping bags, and then proceed to step onto the cave-like ice floor covered with crumbs. Yummy. This room also only has one window, but there are boxes loaded up on the other side of that window, completely blocking out the light. So this only adds to the cave-like appearance.

Three of us play the guitar, and Jarrod brought three guitars with him, which brings a total of 5 guitars into Ruslan's Closet. Ben, the drummer, doesn't own a guitar, but seems to collect a lot of them on his bed. The reason for this is when you are playing a guitar, you are sitting on your bed, and when you are done playing guitar you are still sitting on your bed but dont want to continue holding the guitar, so you look for a place to set it....two choices...well, three:

1) Pull your guitar case out, open it up, place your guitar in it, and place the guitar case back under the bunk bed. NO: too much work

2) Lay your nice guitar on the cave floor covered with crumbs and wait for someone to step on it. NO: too risky

3) Lay your guitar on the foam mattress that is in-front of you where no one will step on it, and you dont have to get up to put it there. YES: This sounds like some weird Goldilocks and the Three bears story.

Ben walks in the room and almost always has a guitar on his bed. And hair. I forgot to explain that one. Jarrod sleeps in the bunk above Ben. Jarrod has long hair. Every morning, Ben wakes up to find long hair in his bed in addition to the crumbs and frost. We don't notice his hissyfit because Ben gets up about 4 hours before we do, this is because me and Jarrod stay up until about 1 in the morning and Ben goes to bed at around 6pm every night. Canadians....

Now I live in paradise. When the other team left, so did their spots upstairs in the real bedrooms. Me and Ruslan are the only guys left, and we got to move up into one of the girls old rooms. I had forgotten what it was like to go to sleep without a shirt on. It is so warm, and so cozy. The sunlight pours into the room in the morning, I wake up and stand on a clean, warm, hardwood floor and stretch my arms out, and actually smell breakfast cooking for the first time in three months. I felt like having a good cry the first morning I had this experience. I felt like a human again. Every morning in Ruslan's Closet I woke up and felt like some cave animal (not a bear, bears stay warm). The girls didn't completely remove everything that is theirs from the room. I sleep in the bed that used to be Esther's, and she left a bunch of notes taped to the slanted ceiling above my bed that read, "Good night Princess" and "Good morning! You look beautiful this morning" I pretend they are for me, I feel so pretty in the morning now. I am actually eating breakfast every morning also. When we lived in Ruslan's Closet, to eat breakfast you had to get completely dressed, shoes and everything, and walk outside in the cold and up the concrete stairs to the third floor. Now I just open my door and walk into the warm kitchen. What a blessing. We leave tomorrow, so I will have had a total of three nights in a real bedroom before I find out what desert room I will be sleeping in in Egypt. They will probably make me and Ruslan sleep outside, or with the camels. Oh joy.

Good news though. I just got word that some more support came in this week. Last week a buddy of mine (I dont know if he would like me to post his name) gave me $700 towards my trip, and a few other people gave a couple hundred dollars and my aunt and uncle sent $100, and this week someone sent in $500 and a few other saints sent some also. This brings the total up to $1,730 towards the $4,400 we need for our trip. I am being sent out anyways, even though this isnt enough to cover the cost of my tickets into these countries. Im still praying for more support. Thank you guys, I couldn't bring the good news into the countries if it wasn't for your support. I'm not sure what the internet will be like in Egypt, but I hope to post about what we are seeing and what God is doing through our ministry there. I will talk to you soon, God willing. Until then I will enjoy my final night in this amazing room, and as always will be praying for my little church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. I love you guys.

Day 77, Budapest

Only two more days and our team splits into two. Its hard to describe the atmosphere here. A little tense...but calm at the same time. Worried, but confident. Its such a weird brew of emotions and feeling. Friends we have lived with for three months are about to leave on their outreach, and we wont see them for three months. I could write about the lectures we had this week, but I think I will use my time to share some other things.

Every Tuesday night after dinner, me and four of the girls take the 173 bus into the city and catch the metro to Daek Ter where the coffee house is located. We duck into the cellar where the cafe is located and begin brewing coffee and setting out the tea bags. After all the tables are fitted with baskets of cookies and treats and the lights are dimmed, we circle (coffee in hand) and pray. In a few minutes college student will trickle into the dimly lit cafe, place a name tag on, grab a coffee, and sit down. We spread out and sit among them, never more than 4 or 5 people at a table. These are Hungarian students who come to practice their English. We usually play a little ice-breaker game and then begin with the questions. Hungarians love deep questions, and we have a plethora of them. Since the beginning of the English club we have formed friendships with these people. They are alway filled with deep responses, and very receptive to new ideas. I find such a contrast to some of the students I know in the states who dont like to think....or think they have it all figured out and dont need to talk. I love these conversations. I decided to staff this class just to get to know some of the people in Hungary better, but these deep questions have afforded me with many opportunities to really talk to these students about their life, the way they think, and about the life I live in Christ. They have been very interested who Christ is, and what it means to have a relationship with Him. On more than one occasion I have found myself speaking for 45 min straight about having a relationship with Christ and how we were designed for this. These students pay to come and speak, to learn English, and I end up speaking and they listen for most of the class, but they eat it up....they love it. They know we are missionaries, and love to ask questions about why we are doing what we do...why we are there to speak to them. It is such a reward to watch them sit there for 45 minutes after class is over, continually asking us questions. This Tuesday was our last English club that we will be able to staff, and because of the Hungarian holidays, we decided to make the theme "Christmas", and not ask very deep questions but keep it light and fun. We opened up with teaching them some Christmas carols, and then read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I sat down at my little table and looked at the set of questions that were prepared:

1. Have the Hungarians explain Mikulas Day and other Hungarian traditions for Christmas...tree, food, music, etc.

2. Have the American/British explain the legend of Santa Claus and other American traditions for Christmas

3. Are you someone who really "gets into" Christmas or are you not very interested and don't engage in the season's activities? Why or why not?

4. Do you have any childhood memories of Christmas or Hanuka that would be fun to share? Did your family do any special traditions for the holidays?

5. What traditions or values would you like to pass on to your own family one day?

The Hungarians have two holidays in December. Mikulas Day (Dec 6) and Christmas. The night before Mikulas Day the children sit their shoes on the windowsills and go to sleep, waiting for Saint Mikulas to come and put candy in them. If they have been good, they get lots of chocolate. If they have been bad, they get a stick in their shoes. haha. I suppose its as silly as putting coal in a stocking. Then they celebrate Christmas the same day we do. The Hungarians, however, do not link Santa Claus (Saint Mikulas) with Christmas at all. Angels bring their gifts, not Santa.

We were surprised this class. Before it was over, one of the students stood up and said that they had a surprise for us and needed a minute to get prepared. A little caught off-guard we stopped our discussion and waited for them to return. I held back tears as they returned with gifts in their hands. They said that since they would not see us on Saint Mikulas Day or Christmas, Saint Mikulas had contacted them and asked them to help him out a little bit with our gifts since we would be traveling around so much this month and would be hard to track down. One by one they handed us a beautiful handmade card, signed by them all, a special gingerbread star in a lace bag (A Hungarian custom), and a Mikulas bag filled with candy. They kissed our cheeks as they handed us our presents....I tried hard to remember a time where I felt as blessed as I did at that moment. My card read:

Nyk,

We are glad that we know you, and we hope you enjoyed English Club
as much as we did. We are sorry that you are going away, but we know
others will welcome you with the same joy! We would like to remind you
of the good atmosphere and pleasant conversations by our hand-made
gingerbread and card! You may know that Santa Claus, who we call Mikulas,
comes on the 6th of December. He asked us to help him by filling Mikulas
Bags for you and giving it to you two days earlier so that he would have more
time to go around the world in one night! May the wind take you to a
wonderful place where there is no harm or fight, just peace, joy, and delight!

We wish you all the best!
English Club 2007 Budapest.

I found it hard to continue with the conversation after that blessing. I asked the woman who has lead the club for the past 11 years if anything like this had ever happened before and she said "no". She was just as surprised as we were. Had we really impacted the lives of these students that much? After talking well past the end of class, we cleaned up everything, turned off most of the lights and got our coats on......but they were still there....they didnt want to leave. They just hung out while we wrapped up the class. For a few minutes we stood there by the door in our coats, gloves, hats, and scarves....just smiling and looking at each other. We walked outside and locked up the cafe. After kissing both our cheeks, another Hungarian custom, we said goodbye and went our ways. Needless to say, I didn't say much on the way home. I pray God will continue to place people in their lives who will reflect His love and friendship to them in the way we were allowed to.

Well, I'll leave you for now. I have some things to do on my side of the pond. I will write soon about some of the other events that have happened as we prepare to leave for Egypt. I want you all to know what we are setting off to do. You are here with me.