SNOW in Beirut?!

Yes, it does SNOW in Beirut, that is if you are going to a Strongholds Night Of Worship, which we did on Sunday night. Strongholds is a local worship band from Beirut comprised of Christians from different traditions. The pianist is the librarian at ABTS, Rola, and her husband, Lou, is the bassist. They have befriended us while we have been here, and we have enjoyed hanging out with Lou and Rola very much. Sunday was an enjoyable time of joining in worship through the Spirit, in Arabic, English, and French. For anyone interested you can visit the bands website at http://www.strongholdsband.com

Strongholds band at SNOW.

Our friends Lou and Rola in Strongholds.

On Monday we were invited out to enjoy an evening with some Palestinian refugees at a place called Fantasy World (a restaurant/outdoor lounge with an amusement park for the kids). It was an amazing experience to sit with these people and hear some of their stories while enjoying arguileh (water pipe) and fruit cocktails. It was one of our first opportunities here to hang out with Muslims, yet we were not thinking about differences between our traditions, rather it was an enjoyable evening of relaxed conversations and relationships.

This past week has been full of Arabic class in the afternoon and hanging out with friends in the evenings. Each night this week we have spent with different people that we’ve met here. They have been long days beginning early and ending late in the evening, but we have felt very blessed through all the people we have met here and the opportunities to spend time with them.

Alethia and Suzanne (from Denver, CO)

Fortunately things have been relatively calm around Lebanon and Beirut this week, but we are constantly hearing of rumors of what will happen next. There is a great amount of tension in the air as people wait for the next thing, knowing it is not if, but when something will happen. We knew we would be entering a tense situation here this summer, but we did not fully realize the strain and weariness this would cause. Even though we have felt completely safe every day we have been here, we can feel the heaviness and anxiety that people constantly live with. This has compounded our tiredness over the last week, so we are looking forward to some much-needed rest in the upcoming week. Please continue to pray for the situation around the Middle East, especially those that are daily living here with nowhere to go if things get bad. We just read about the massive bombing in the Iraq marketplace today and it saddens us and makes it seem like this region is spiraling towards disaster.

Despite this, we have experienced many places of hope in this challenging context. We have met with the organization INMA, that works with Palestinian refugees in one of Beirut’s refugee camps providing humanitarian aid and establishing relationships with people in the camp that lead to moments of reconciliation.

Rob Pelgrim and his wonderful family. They are from Holland and Rob is the directing manager at INMA.

Mohomad and his family (from the Palestinian camp).

We have also met with a very influential Muslim follower of Christ. He is Muslim, but understands the importance and significance of Jesus Christ and is sharing this message with people in places that missionaries would never be able to reach. Yesterday, we had our final Arabic lesson with our teacher at a café on the waterfront in Beirut. She is a Lebanese Shi’ite and is engaged to a Palestinian Sunni (a modern day Romeo and Juliet). She respects the traditions but does not believe they should be divided to the point of hatred. We sat and shared arguileh with her, speaking our little Arabic and talking about life in Beirut during the Civil War, last summer, and now.

Our last Arabic class with our teacher Nada.

In this context it can be quite depressing feeling there is nothing to be done, but as believers we know there is ultimate hope in Jesus Christ that can motivate us to do what we can to bring peace and reconciliation in our own spheres while sharing the hope and good news found in Jesus.

Ryan and a Palestinian refugee boy.

Ryan with another Palestinian boy.

This upcoming week we now have a break from the practicum program and we will be trying to see more of Lebanon. We look forward to the much-needed rest and relaxation while enjoying this beautiful country. Due to the increased talk here in the last few days and as a result of the US government denying visas to Syrian officials, we have decided to cancel our travel to Syria at the end of July and will be flying directly to Amman, Jordan for a few days before traveling to Washington DC to spend time with Alehtia’s mom. We continue to covet your prayers and our extremely blessed by all of you who are thinking of us while we are here.