Brief News

Well, I don't really have any news. Things have been pretty slow actually the last week. I spend two days down in Tyre visiting some new people in the refugee camp, which I always love to do. It always seems to me that the poorest of people are the kindest in heart. The people in the camps are always so hospitable, even when they have nothing. One of the families we visited was a widow with five kids. The all live in one room the size of what we would consider a small bedroom. That room includes their bathroom and kitchen, complete with an infestation of rats. They have been living that way for about eight years, since the father died. One of her older girls is engaged to be married, and she is only 15 years old, because they think that getting married will solve the problems. I have not seen anything that so pungently displays the wickedness and devastation caused by sin as visiting places like that. So, one might ask why I enjoy going to places like that??? Because armed with a heart of compassion and a knowledge of the gospel you can offer to them something they know nothing about. Hope. and Love. Most of the time when I leave the camps I feel like I have made some small difference, but even more it renews my passion to do more, and to draw nearer to Christ, that I might not just speak about him, but also show him to those who know him not.

Other than the camp I was busy trying to prepare a sunday school lesson. Well, the lesson was mostly prepared, I just had to prepare myself. Now, normally that wouldn't take extreme effort or preparation, but this was the first time I have given an entire lesson in Arabic. Let me tell you that teaching in a foreign language, which you are still trying to learn, especially in one as difficult as arabic, is much harder than you might think. I managed to get through it, and cover most of the points I intended, but I had a constant feeling of inadequecy. Some of that comes because I am a perfectionist and I don't like feeling incapable, and part of it came because I knew how many mistakes I was making. Needless to say I still have a ways to go before I do public speaking in a fluent manner. I think only other studiers of arabic will realize just how dificult this language is. Not that I am complaining, I enjoy the challenge (most the time), and seeing my inadequecies usually encourages me to study harder.

On an unrelated topic, here is a picture of my Lebanese Lemon (that is it's name until I gain complete confidence that it won't break down). It is running more or less well, but still lacks the power it should and is burning more gas than it should. I've replaced almost everything in the fuel system and the basic parts in the ignition. It is pretty small (which is nice when driving and parking in Lebanon), but has a respectable amount of room inside. The picture makes it look smaller than it is.

This is a picture of a few of the kids from the orphanage. I am still staying up there part time and helping out. I've been looking for apartments for a while, and I think I've found one, but we'll see what happens.

Lastly, I am making a trip back to Jordan at the end of the month to visit some friends and a do a few other errands, as well as renew my Visa. I wanted to drive, but I am afraid the trip will hurt my back too much, so luckily I was able to find a cheap flight. Anyway, I am looking forward to it.

Well, I guess for not having any news I said quite a bit. Summer is setting in here and its getting pretty steamy. I envy you alaskans with your cool weather and longs days.

where is noah

Well, I would apologize for taking so long to make a post, but it is becoming so common that I figure everyone is getting accustomed to the long delays. Things have been very busy here in Lebanon. I am still in the search of an apartment that is reasonable priced. Plus, after being here for two months I have realized that I do not want to live in Beirut proper. It is quite possibly the most disorganized city I have seen. There are times it will take 2 or 3 hours to get across town, which is only about 10 km (6 miles). I think a suburb would be just as good, but I’ve been told that I should wait until the summer when it gets scorching hot then everyone will move up into the mountains and there will be lots of good places for a cheap price. Also, after a year and a half of living in the middle east I decided to get a car. I think I have finally gotten used to the “driving” here enough to feel confident enough to drive. I never thought that all the racing video games (especially grand theft auto) I played would actually help me in real life. However, basically the way things work here is that you forget everything you learned about rules and drive like it is every man for himself, because it is. The only rule you follow is “also pay attention”. You never know when some guy on a motor scooter will come flying up the road going against traffic, or someone will pull out in front of you without warning. In light of these conditions I decided to get something small (so I can fit into the non-existent parking spaces in Beirut) yet something that is strong. I was going to get a Jeep, but after thinking and praying about it decided it against it. Instead I found a Toyota Rav4. I thought I was getting a decent deal when I bought it, only to find out that the guy who sold it is quite possibly the biggest cheat and liar in Beirut (which is saying something). In addition to the mandatory government inspection, I even took the car to a mechanic before buying it. I later found out that the guy bribed both the mechanic and the government official to tell me the car was good. Anyway, to make a long story short, I got a car that needed some work, which for those of you who know me is nothing new, in fact if I ever had a car that didn’t need work I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I sure miss my mechanic tools though…

On a more positive side, my back is getting better, much slower than I want, but I can at least move around with relative freedom. I still can’t play sports or do anything too strenuous lest the pain comes back. Right now I just have a light, constant pain through my left leg. I am hoping that with time it will go away too.

I’ve been able to make a few trips down to the some of the villages in the southern part of Lebanon. It is very pretty there, and we met lots of people. However, we ran into some problems with a certain extremist group that has hence temporarily disallowed me from entering certain areas. The most important thing to know in lebanon is to expect the unexpected.

Another positive thing is that I finally got internet access. After being told by nearly everyone that there is no wireless internet in Lebanon (by wireless I mean the microwave based internet technology), I met a guy who has wireless internet. So I went down to the company, and in two days got hooked up with a USB wireless modem that works in all the major cities of Lebanon. It is not super fast, but fast enough. So I guess I have no excuse to not write more blog posts.

The pictures are from what remains of the famous Cedars of Lebanon. There is only about 10 acres of them left...pretty sad.

the virtue of patience

I don’t have too much to speak about. Things have been kind of slow for the last week or two. Not because I have a lack of things I could be doing, but because I have been restricted to limited activity (some of which is self-imposed). As a consequence I have had more time to read, pray, and think, which has been very good. I am reading a book called In His Steps, the first English book I’ve read for 6 months. It is a good book, quite challenging. I would recommend it to anyone. Also, living with the kids here at the orphanage has been good for my Arabic. Lebanese dialect is similar to Jordanian/Palestinian, but with enough differences that you have to spend a bit of time adjusting, especially with kids. Nobody except the director here speaks English so I am forced to learn and adjust. I still have a hard time with some things, especially when the kids are arguing and all speaking at once. There are days when I feel like I actually have a good grasp on the language and then there are days when I feel like I don’t understand anything. Anyway, I feel like I am still making progress…it’s just never as fast as I want.
Ironically, that is the same situation as my back. Some days it feels pretty good and some days it feels terrible, like the other day we went to church (me and some of the older kids), and after the service I went to stand up and the pain was so sharp and so strong that I couldn’t stand up and I fell on my knees. I have been taking IB profen to try and take down the swelling (and thus the sciatic nerve pain), but I think it is a waste of time and money. I am up to taking between 2400 and 3000 mg a day, which is more than twice the recommended dosage. What is more, is that I don’t feel like it makes any difference. I went to the chiropractor for two weeks and didn’t feel like that was making a noticeable difference so I quit that as well. I am trying to just rest and stretch a lot. If I don’t get noticeable better in two weeks I am going to get an MRI. I met a person here in Lebanon who said she had the same sciatic pain after having her first child. She said it lasted for around two months and has never come back. I am hoping for something like that.
Anyway, life goes on. Hopefully it doesn’t sound like I am complaining. I am actually doing quite well. God is good, and continues to bless me with His goodness and grace. We are planning on making a big easter service in one of the refugee camps in Tyre on Monday. I really like going to the camps. The people are so...I don’t the word, Simple perhaps. I enjoy so much going to a place where people have next to nothing: no cars, no cell phones, no trips to the mall, no suits or fancy clothes…their concerns are whether they will have food and shelter for their family. To me, there is something relaxing, even attractive about being like that. Plus the refugee camp is right on the beach, which makes it even more amazing. Anyway, the plan is to distribute food and clothes and bibles, then have hymns and a sermon, then have activities for the kids and bible study/lessons with any of the families who are interested. I am looking forward to it, and praying that the weather and my back will cooperate.
I will try to take some pictures of it all and post it when I can.

This is a picture of southern Beirut from the orphanage at sunset

back to the abyss

If I had to try to describe the last two weeks in a single word I would say, “trying”. For whatever reason my back decided to get worse about two weeks ago, so I determined to go to the doctor again. He told me that sciatica can take up to 3 months to heal in severe cases. It has been 6 weeks for me. He did a couple quick tests and said it doesn’t seem like there is any really serious damage, and that it seemed like I had two herniated disks, but he couldn’t be sure without an MRI. He said if it isn’t better in 3,4 weeks come back and we’d make an appointment for the MRI. I also started seeing a chiropractor a couple times a week. I still haven’t determined if it is helping yet. Anyway, as a result I really haven’t been doing much of anything besides trying to rest…which is the absolute hardest part of the whole ordeal. There is so much I want to get started with. I can’t even do much studying because sitting is one of the worst things for my back.

Nevertheless, I’ve learned that God has a plan for everything that happens in our lives. I have pretty much always taken for granted that God gifted me with a strong body. Honestly I never considered the possibility that I would my physical abilities. So, these last few weeks have really cause me to think. Do I trust God with my whole life? Yes I trust Him with my eternal destiny, my finances, my physical circumstances, and so many other things…but do I trust that whatever He causes or allows in my life He allows because He is GOOD. I mean, if He decided to break my body and take my health from me would I still trust and serve Him? Not that I am being pessimistic about my situation, just saying What If. I had been thinking about this for a few days, and a couple days ago settled in my heart that “Lord, I am yours. If you make me a cripple, if you take everything from me, if you slay me I will praise you. I will serve you however YOU want me to serve you, no matter what that is”. After that I went to sleep with an overwhelming sense of peace. Well, less than two hours later the conviction of my dedication was tested. I woke up feeling very sick and started vomiting violently (for the first time in 12 years). I couldn’t go 10 minutes without throwing up. This continued for about two days. I am feeling a lot better now. You know what is strange about the whole event? Despite the fact that vomiting is probably the thing I hate and dread most in this life, the peace God gave me that night did not waiver. I did not question His Goodness or Providence in all that happened.

Sometimes we forget just how amazing, gracious, merciful, and good our God is. I am glad that he has taught me (and continues to teach me) to say like Job, “though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him”.

I had a cool picture to post, but the internet cafe is being picky...

pictures

This is fr0m a village in Syria where they still speak biblical Aramic. I think it is one of the last places in the world. Aramic is actually really close to Arabic, so I could understand a fair amount.

A view of the Crusader castle from the top. It is a HUGE place

This is the secondary wall. The castle is basically built out of the mountain, and then there is a second fortified wall (shown here), and inside there is another wall. I can't imagine trying to storm this place.


A Moat! so cool! just like out of the books and movies. The moat also provided water through a system of aquaducts.

This is one of Damascus' famous covered markets places. This one is called Suq al-hamadiyya. It kinda makes you feel like you are in Aladdin.
The outer wall of Old Damascus

Lebanon! and snow. Lebanon has snow in the mountain until about the end of March. If my back was in better condition I would be tempted to go up for a day and play around.

The kids eating lunch. The younger ones are the ones I am taking care of. There are 10 of them and their ages range from 5 - 10 years old.