Middle East Trip: Day 4

Day 4: Cultural Education

Jonathan and I got our wires crossed and overslept and missed morning devotional. Sure did sleep extremely well Sunday night. Jonathan allowed my to play his Taylor guitar a bit before bed. Maybe that is what did it. It was the fulfillment of a life long dream of sitting on balcony overlooking Syria and playing bluegrass music and hymns. Hah! I could not even dream such a scenario.

At any rate since I showed up early for breakfast, the wait staff insisted I sit at the table set aside for our team and when I begged off to sit and visit with I_____ and C______ from Pakistan, I could not get anything to eat or drink. Apparently I was messing with their system but when everyone else showed up after devotional I moved and all was okay. At the end of breakfast I bargained with the street vender just below us to buy a half kilo of almonds. Paid a bit too much in my first transaction but it was Marsha’s money anyhow and so began my addiction to Syrian nuts of all kinds, but particularly almonds.

During the morning session Larry gave his testimony and many in attendance were deeply moved. After his testimony the whole assembly prayed for Larry and Monica; many tears were shed.

In session with the young adults I taught the house-cleaning choice, where we inventory our stuff and share it with at least one other person with whom we have build a relationship of mutual trust. I believe it was almost too much information at one time but afterward in the small groups I could sense the young men opening up a bit more and examining and testing the process. At our lunch break J_____ and I walked up the street to buy some water. As we crossed the busy street, he took my arm and guided me. I was very much touched by his caring. J______ even insisted on paying for my water (about 50 cents US for 1.5 litre) and a can of pineapple juice. J_____ is very indicative the generous spirit of the people attending the conference. And the fruit juice was incredible! I bought several more to enjoy first thing in the morning.

Also during our afternoon break E_____ and I talked at some length about ministry in Syria, and the complexity of law and religion in the Middle East. For the last few months there has been pressure on evangelical churches. His church of 350 have had to change location several times because non-orthodox churches can not get security clearances to meet off church property. Some of the pressure is coming from the hierarchy of the Orthodox church who fear loss of members to the evangelical churches. Yet on the local level there is often support from Orthodox priests. E_____ explains that relationships supercede laws in the Middle East which allows them to meet in apartments until someone blows the whistle on them.

Later that night we take a “Tuff Tuff” ride up to an overlook of Bloudan. The Tuff Tuff is a colorful three car shuttle that takes people on a fun ride. Ours was not in the best of shape: the high tech one had a lap top in the cab and nice stereo. Ours had broken benches and doors that tend to fly open on sharp curves. As Dick has said earlier: “This is why we have trip insurance.” What a sight we must have been as we careened by shops and cafes, traditional Arabic music blaring so loudly it was to the point of distortion and we American laughing and shouting “Baloza” in honor of the ice cream we had just eaten and the fact it was the only Arabic word we had learned. At times might cheeks started to hurt from laughing so much,