Wednesday, May 13, 2009

lots of good stuff...

hey everyone...

we are still doing well and enjoying our time in cairo immensely! so much has happened in the past 24-36 hours since our last blog and we are excited to tell you about it...

yesterday morning, we headed to the Garbage City Church outside of Cairo. Part of the city serves as the predominant dumping ground for the city of Cairo's garbage and waste. (Cairo has roughly 18 million...so let your mind wander to think about how much trash that actually is). Garbage City just happens to be where the majority of the city's Christians live as well. Right now, much of the city is recovering from the government's decision to kill all of the pigs that lived in the city and provided income for its inhabitants. Remember, Muslims do not eat pork so there is no loss for them. Many Christians in the city believe that the government has been waiting for a time to eliminate the pigs, and thus their livelihood, for years and years. Well...that time came when the swine flu epidemic came a few weeks ago.

Inside of the city is two of the most beautiful churches your eyes could imagine. both were built and carved out of the stone that was already in the mountain. go to www.cavechurch.com/home to see the pictures. they will not do justice to what the human eye can see, but we bet you will be blown away. you can also do a you tube search for Garbage City Church and learn more about it as well.

while there, we had the opportunity to pray inside of the churches and all over the grounds. primarily, we prayed that the Christians would not feel persecuted and their income would be replaced as well as for revival! we have also both been plotting on ways to get Louie Giglio to do a Passion event there. yeah...you would want to be there for this...

So after that, we had the chance to spend a little bit of time at Al Azhar Park. To our surprise, this beautiful park was funded and built by us - the Americans! We learned that the #2 country that America supports with resources after Israel is Egypt.

Last night, we had the opportunity to meet and pray with two Americans who have been here less than 6 months. Their heart's focus is to reach a certain Muslim people group near the Red Sea who has not been reached yet. There are roughly 800,000 people in this people group...wow! These guys are struggling with wanting to move forward with their mission, but needing to know the Arabic language fluently before they can head out.

All that in one day...cool!

Today's highlight has definitely been one of the most unexpected. As we were coming back from our morning prayer time at the church, we met this lady who runs a counseling center here in Cairo. She took us to her office where we met the primary counselor who works with sexual abuse victims and is trying to break down the wall of silence that exists in Cairo. Some of the facts that we heard were staggering. For example...

- only one counselor in the past 15 years has been trained to work with children who have been sexually abused
- approximately 80% of the females here have been circumcised
- if a female marries and can not prove on her wedding night that she is a virgin by blood being on a piece of cloth, then there is a very real chance that she can die
- it is pretty common for men to show their pre-teen sons pornography on a regular basis to make sure they are ready for 'manhood'

this counselor was very interested in hearing about Amanda's work with sexual offenders but made the statement that treatment really wouldn't work here because there is no mandate to receive treatment...

this has been overwhelming news...

thanks for reading this very long blog. we continue to appreciate your support and prayers and ask that you just continue...

much grace and peace...chip & amanda

6 comments:

  1. Chip and Amanda,

    Thanks for opening our eyes to a part of the world we don't hear much detail about. You are a fearsome reporter. Unfortunately, we need to keep hearing about the bad nasty stuff so we know what to be praying for.

    Keep it up. Stay safe, keep praying, report intensely and send pictures! We love you guys.

    Charlie

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  2. Hey Chip & Amanda,

    I was relieved to hear from you when I awoke this morning. I know your days are very busy just trying to absorp all the sites and information being thrown at you. God has a wonderful plan for your lives and this experience is molding you into the man and woman you where created to be. I will continue to lift you up personally and ask that the goal of the mission trip exceed your hopes and dreams and reach God's unemaginable plans for that region. Stay safe and take time each day to just meditate on the granduer of your present surroundings.

    Love Ya'll, Stan, Laura & Payton

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  3. Chip and Amanda,
    I also was glad to see a post. Hope that each day that you are there exceeds all your expectations. Stay safe and great job on the blogging, it makes us feel like we can see it along with both of you.
    We love you both,
    Alice, Matt, Abby and Mom

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  4. I'm praying for continued divine appointments....May your heart beat to the rhythum of HIS heart.
    Much love...Cheryl

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  5. Chip & Amanda,
    Hope your day went well and many special blessings came your way. We have been thinking about your journey and what a special "GOD THING" it is. Did you ever imagine such an adventure coming true for you. Continue loving GOD with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Continue living in HIS will and your prayers will make a difference in the lives of people in that region and back home.

    Love Ya Always, Stan, Laura and Payton

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  6. I'm glad you guys are doing the blog. I was planning on going to Mexico this summer but the swine flu may redirect us to Egypt. There is a great season finale of LOST waiting for you when you get back! We finally meet Jacob.

    brent

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