First Day in Cairo!

I never became nervous for this trip until my mom and sister dropped me off at the Delta entrance of the Austin airport. Talking to my friend Jim (we worked together in Mexico) definitely calmed me down in knowing I would be safe and everything is in His hands. Meeting my team was an exciting experience! All 7 of us (5 girls and 2 guys) packed our extra suitcases for the man we are staying with in Cairo. That makes 15 suitcases in all. . . we had a lot of stuff. We were on our way to Detroit, and suddenly we discovered we were surrounded by babies! They were really cute, but one of them did not like flying. . . at all. It was exciting to get to detroit, however, we landed at 4:55 and our next flight was departing at 5:15. All 7 of us were running as fast as we could go down the Detroit airport, and we actually ran past a group singing praise and worship songs. As I was breathing really heavy, I walked up to the woman at the kiosk. Scott asked her to make sure our bags made it on the plane. Her response was, "They will. Don't worry about it." . . . later we would know she had no idea what she was talking about. We made it to New York! Seeing the skyline was really exciting. . and me and half the team were now in the mood for pizza. As we landed we got the chance to get to know each other because we had a 2 hour layover. We ate good pizza and laughed a whole lot. On the plane to Cairo, I was really nervous! haha. It was kind of funny to listen to the Arabic translation of the English. I will never be able to pick out words. We took off, and 30 minutes later I took 2 benadryl. . . and 9 hours later I woke up. haha. I woke up with only 1 hour to go, which was a great thing. 

As we landed in Cairo, it was definitely a landscape I had never seen before. It is dusky, sandy, and city as far as the eye can see. It almost looks like mars in the future! haha. The sounds and the hustle and bustle definitely reminded me of Mexico though. Now. . the fun part. 5 minutes into the trip, I had a man walk up to me and introduce himself. I remember that he sat 3 rows in front of me on the plane. He handed me a piece of paper with his phone number and e-mail. I looked at him and said, "No thank you, I'm sorry." He insisted that I add it to my contacts. Again, I told him I was sorry. Sooo, within 5 minutes of being in Cairo, I got hit on. Oh man, I was so nervous then. haha. We got through customs (where again I was pretty nervous). Then we waited for our bags. . .and waited. . and waited. . until finally the belt stopped. We all looked at each other, and I had to laugh. Of course they would leave our bags back in Detroit. We ended up meeting this very nice man who took all of our identification numbers for our luggage and told us that they would have our bags in the next couple of days. Hesitantly we left, hoping that one day soon we would be reunited with our belongings. We then met the man we would be working with the whole time we were here. He introduced himself and we made our way out of the airport. Everything looks so different here. It seems that everything is has a little yellowish tint to it. We walked toward the "stallion" as they call it. This is the van that we drive everywhere. We actually had parts for the car in our suitcases. haha. I am not sure what those parts were, but we ended up getting to the house we needed to get through. Driving through the streets there are sounds of horns honking, kids playing, and the wind blowing in my face. I miss so much being on mission, and I love what God does in the hearts of the people that are trying hard to follow his plan. As we made our way into the air conditioning living room, we were exhausted. We ended up watching this Beyonce movie on their TV. The arabic subtitles added just a little flare. The house is very open and sits on the second floor of a multiple floor apartment building. We were all excited when one of the girls brought in this huge bowl of grapes! They were really good. We sat down and talked about what we were going to do for the next couple of days. We will be working with widows and helping them out with different things. Leading in song and telling stories of our lives will be one of the ways we can speak to these widows. After discussing the love languages of Middle Eastern people (physical touch- as a pat on the shoulder, going to their home, and then having a meal with them), we were able to have an amazing dinner cooked for us. Potatoe pie topped with coconut, pita bread with butter and honey, and salad. It was all SO good! We cleaned up our plates and that is when I got the nickname "Cure"isten. Haha, the man we are staying with cannot say my name at all, and so he said he would call me Cureisten, because I am going to be a nurse. He is a really funny man. He tells us that we have 12 surprises throughout the trip, which gets me excited. We also had 5 options for our lack of clothes situation: 1. We could find some extra clothes in his house to sleep in and him and his wife would wash them for us, 2. We could sleep in what we have and then wear the clothes we have found out tomorrow. 3. There wasn't a 3rd option, 4. Mummification, 5. None of the above. haha. So knowing these 5 options we took number 1. We are now in our apartment down the street. We went on top of the roof where there was a wonderful breeze and all the lights seemed to light up the sky. This trip is going to be something I have never experienced before but I am so excited to get started. 

Tuesday starts the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. This is the month of fasting from dawn until dusk where muslims practice patience, modesty and spirituality throughout this time. We will get the chance to fast for the people of Egypt, so that they may come to know the truth. I am excited to fast for the people while their biggest holiday festivities are taking place. We will see God move in glorious ways these next two weeks. Keep us in your prayers!

1 Peter 1:8-9

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."