Bedouin Style & The Forest of God

Well, we are back from our week at the kids camp for the Bedouin children. It was a wonderful, but very tiring week. Many nights we only slept for 6 hours after running around with the kids for 14 hours. We were also in an environment where Arabic was spoken almost entirely. We could speak English with some of the staff and leaders, but all of the teaching and communication with the kids was in Arabic, so we tried to put our previous study to work. It was actually very helpful for us in cementing our language learning before we leave this area.

We both served as co-leaders for groups of boys and girls (respectively) aged 5-12. Though we were not able to communicate with the children completely we could play and love them sharing the love of Jesus through our presence and care for them. All of them come from a small Bedouin village in the Bekka valley and many of them work in fields or with animals in order to help make money for their family. Sadly, many of them are neglected by their parents and/or physically abused, meaning this week was one of the few times they might experience love and care from adults. They also come from Muslim families making this one of the few times they will hear the good news of Jesus.

Alethia with her group of girls.

Some of the older guys at the camp.

Despite the hardships these kids face, they can still have fun and enjoy life.

A few more of the older boys, even Bedouins want to look cool.

Ryan with his group of boys.

Some of the girls from the camp.

Two of the most adorable boys from the camp.

And one cute girl who always wanted to dance with Ryan.

One highlight for Ryan was when a boy came up and asked to pray with him following one of the small group gatherings. When the boys pray, they cover their faces with their hands, as they would when saying their Muslim prayers. I had been sitting down with my hands folded and resting on my forehead during the prayer time and I think when the boy saw he felt something he identified with from his own cultural experience. The boy approached me in the middle of the basketball court and asked me to pray with him. He did not know what I was praying, because it was in English, but we shared a moment in prayer where I believe the Spirit of God was present.

Another time was when the group went on a ride in some cable cars to the top of a mountain outside Beirut. There happened to be a Maronite church at the top of the mountain with a large statue of the Virgin Mary that is visited frequently by both Muslims and Christians as a revered holy site. (The Maronite church is a tradition that by practice resembles the Eastern Orthodox churches, but theologically aligns itself with the Church of Rome.) When we arrived at the top and were outside the gates of the site, Ryan had one of the leaders explain to a group of 25 boys that we were entering a holy and respected religious site and that the statue was Mary, the mother of Jesus. The boys, who usually were loud and often difficult to keep in a group were extremely well behaved, quiet and respectful, while we entered the site and took them up the circular stairs ascending to the base of the statue. This stood out during the week because it shows there is common ground between Muslims and Christians were we can engage one another and from which to use as a platform for dialogue and witness.

The statue of the Virgin Mary.

Out on a boat ride off the coast of Byblos.

One of the challenging things for us during the week was the way the message of Jesus was presented to these Muslim children. We felt many times that we were sitting in a camp designed for Sunday School children. Instead of taking into account the context of these children and trying to be culturally sensitive, the message was presented through Christian language, which seemed to disregard the background of these children or any commonalities between the religious beliefs. This caused us both to question and ask how to present a contextualized and sensitive message of Jesus for children.

Overall it was a very difficult, but rewarding week. We very much enjoyed the group of staff we were working with and we learned to love a lot of the kids throughout the week. It was very hard work, but we felt surprisingly encouraged that our previous studies really connected with this particular setting and purpose. We felt more prepared and encouraged to build bridges between Christianity and Islam – a need that we feel demands more attention than it receives given the dynamics between these religions today. Rather than condemning one or the other, we need to be working hard to find ways of communication and love for one another as created human beings.

Alethia learning the traditional Lebanese dance.

Alethia and a couple girls from camp.

After we returned to ABTS this past weekend, we spent Saturday at the Kefraya Chateau in the Bekaa Valley with some friends. We really needed to unwind and enjoy the country a bit after this past week and because we are facing the fact that we are soon leaving. On Sunday we went up to the mountainous area of the Cedars, a beautiful area of Lebanon and very different from the unbearable humidity, the crazy bustle, and continued rumors of unrest in Beirut. The mountains are quiet and their villages seem comparatively unconcerned about the questions those in the city are asking. At least that is how it seemed as we drove through…and as we have learned in the past 2 months here, nothing is as it seems and everything is political.

The Kefraya vineyard where we relaxed on Saturday.

Two of our friends, Suzann and Sue, who we went to the vineyard with.


The great Cedars of Lebanon, or the Forest of God. They are often talked about in the Bible.

There is a beautiful forest of Cedars up in the mountains.


This Cedar is believe to be 6,000 years old! Up close it looks like four trees from one trunk.

An image of Jesus crucified that has been carved into the wood of one of the Cedars.