+ WORTHY +

Today, a beautiful soul has (in her own words) been "wed" to the Lord Jesus. When I met Mariam, a few months ago, I fell in love with her smile, and could just see the love of Christ shining through her. It was to the point that I was in shock to find out that she had not yet been baptized! She then continued, not to amaze only me, but everyone around her. But the One whom she amazed most today, was her Lord. Her prayers, and tears and her longing to find the one whom her heart loves, has been finally satisfied this morning. She arose early in the morning and came to the church to be baptized and to be cleansed from sin. She was confirmed and anointed into the true faith, received the Holy Spirit and became a part of the one holy, catholic (universal), and apostolic church. Coming up from that water, she was glowing, from the inside out. 
                                             
 Since we have been here in Mississauga at St Maximos & Dometius church, we have witnessed three converts into the Coptic Orthodox faith. More importantly, we have witnessed the Holy Spirit working through the servants of the Lord to draw these people to Himself. The work of our amazing Lord has been so beautiful that all we can do is "stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before our eyes" (1 Sam 12:16) May the Lord continue His work in our church and all parts of His one body.

New Mission Field

We just got back from our Africa/Egypt trip and God has led us to settle in Ontario, Canada in a city called Mississauga. For the first few weeks, we were going through major withdrawal from our life and mission in Africa, but we knew that God would open a new door and a new calling for a Mission life here--and He did, much quicker than we expected.

We both always held on to a truth that if you are a Christian than you are a missionary. There is no such thing as a Christian that does not spread God's good news and long to bring all to Christ. And so in living by that truth, we set out to find a service here that would help us reach that goal on a daily basis. God led us to the missionary church in Mississauga, St. Maximos and Demadious Coptic Orthodox church. Besides all the warm and open hearts of the servants here, we felt a need for Christ in a community that so longs for Him. We are already enjoying the fellowship and blessings of being in the company of so many people from different walks of life and various religious backgrounds, who were baptized in the Orthodox faith. It has been giving us a sense of unity of God's people--regardless of color or ethnic background, that we first felt in Zambia.

So as always, we will wait on the Lord to lead us here in Mississauga, and are sure that the same God who guided us in Africa, has big plans for our service here.

http://www.smsd.ca/welcome-to-smsd.php

Cairo & Alexandria



St. Mina Monestary, Alexandria

 

Cairo Opera

Egypt...hmmm where should I start? Well, in the first twenty four hours, we attended a wedding of  distant,...distant relatives, we didn't know them and they didn't know us lol) at night. We also prayed a liturgy and had a spiritual day the very next day. I have to say it was an interesting experience for us, but apparently, the norm around here! We  visited a few churches in Cairo (Masr El Gadida) and attended a few sermons by the one and only Fr. Dawood Lamey. Our trips included a visit to The Egyptian Museum, The Opera, and a church trip to St. Mina Monestary. After a week of activities, including lots of food-"tasting" (for lack of a better word), we headed to Alexandria to visit the beautiful Mediterranean sea and a whole lot of family!

The Egyptian Museum

 We stayed at the Sheraton El-Montaza in Alexandria and saw some of the most beautiful sunsets we've ever experienced. I introduced Fady to my family for the first time. Some of them, I was introduced to, for the first time! It was amazing how close I felt to everyone. It was as if I grew up with everyone here. 

Sheraton, El Montaza Alexandria



One of the most memorable visits I made was to the church that I first attended and it was also where I had my first Sunday School experience. This church was the Church of St. George Ghobrial, Alexandria. Of course the church looked completely different. When I was there we had one huge hall where everyone, of all ages, attended Sunday School and we all sat on the floor. Now, the church has become a beautiful catherdral and I was so happy that I got to see it. I didn't recognize how it looked, but it felt the same as when I was a kid.





Xristos Anesti!! Alithos Anesti! It has been long since I've updated this blog. There are many reasons for this, but the most prominent one is lack of internet access. I never appreciated just walking up to my laptop or PC amd clicking a button to be connected...but now I know.

God taught us this and many other lessons through our time in Zambia. It has been an experience beyond words. An experience that has brought us closer to each other and closer to Him. It is truly an experience beyond words. If I have to discuss one thing that has touched us most, it would have to be the people of Zambia. Whether Egyptians or Zambians, every person had their own unique personality and God has given them a message/lesson to deliver to us...which they each did in their own way. They will all be missed dearly. But we know in our hearts that we will be back to Zambia one day. We have to. Because a people that have stolen our hearts in such a way, are impossible to part with forever. So for now, it is not a goodbye but a "see you later" and for that reason I can't dwell too much on our departure.

After our time in Zambia had come to an end, we headed to Cape town, South Africa for a week with a few of our dearest friends from Zambia and had a GREAT time. And now we are in Egypt for a month...and there is much more to come about both of our trips...stay tuned! :)

Bill Gates At Coptic Hope Center

Last Monday, Bishop Paul, one of two Coptic orthodox general bishops here in Africa, told us that Bill Gates was coming for a visit to the Coptic Hope Center here at the hospital. At first we thought he was joking, but when he showed up and began making preparations for the visit, we realized that we were going to get to meet one of the richest men in the world!

He arrived at the Coptic hospital at 8:30 sharp along with his secretaries, photographers and body guards. His day was planned out by the minute. He went to the Hope Center first, which was the main purpose of his visit. He was intrigued by the 6,300 HIV positive patients that were diagnosed and treated here at Coptic Hope Center and wanted to come evaluate our successes and challenges. He carefully reviewed our many success stories and evaluated all those who became victims to the disease. He gave us much encouragement on the work that is being done and promised to come back again! It was both a pleasure and an honor to meet him-and very strange that out of all the places in the world, we would meet him here :)
May God continue to bless His church, hospital and mission work here always.

A Memorial For Our Beloved Pope Shenouda III 1923-2012

The sad news of the death of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III came to us while we were in a youth retreat, on March 18, 2012.  At first, we were all in denial, we did not want to believe that our church, our people and the rest of the world, just parted ways with the teacher of generations, our beloved angel H.H Pope Shenouda III. We let reality sink in, which took quite a while, and returned home to prepare for a memorial in his honor. The expectation was that the love of His Holiness has reached many here in Zambia, one country among many across the world—and we were correct. Within a few hours of the spread of the news, officials from the Zambian government, the Egyptian embassy, and the United States Embassy and the bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church came to offer condolences to us here at St. Mark’s Coptic Church.

Members of the Zambian, Eritrean, Ethiopian and Coptic Orthodox church also came to mourn his death. It was a day of unbearable grief, but also filled with personal memories, jokes and sermons of His Holiness that eased our sorrows. We are all certain that our beloved Pope is now in the bosom of The Father in The Heavenly Jerusalem, but we could not and still cannot fill the void that he has left in our hearts. His blessed teachings and over 100 books will remain with us to comfort us and guide us on the right path. Among his many sermons, one of them truly comforted our hearts that day and will continued to strengthen our faith. His Holiness was contemplating on the verse in “Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the ages” (Matthew 28:20) In this sermon, he assured us the Lord Jesus promised and will not relent. He rose from the dead, to show us that He has overcome death and we have nothing to fear any longer. He appeared to His disciples and numerous other people and returned their faith once more, and gave them strength through the pouring upon them of His Holy Spirit. He established His church to spread the Christian faith all over the world. Finally, He promised that He would be with us unto the end of ages and return again to take us unto Himself. We will continue to live on the hope of the promise of our fathers that was passed down through the ages, and specifically to us through His Holiness Pope Shenouda III. We know that our Lord Jesus will provide another shepherd to lead His people. We will continue to pray that His Holiness’ life become a beautiful example for all of us to follow and may his prayers continue to be raised up on our behalf in front of the throne of God always. Amen.

In Prison

Three weeks ago, we started a service that I don't think I can ever stop again--here in Africa or when we get back home. We went with one of the deacons to visit the two major prisons here in Lusaka. At first, I was hesitant and actually a bit afraid to go. I didn't know what to expect but I finally reminded myself of the Lord's words "I was in prison and you visited Me" (Matt 25:36) and was convinced that I would see the Lord face-to-face...and I did, I really did. We walked into the prison expecting to see different buildings with inmates cells..and we did, except those cells were empty and all the prisoners were outside in a communal area ready for worship. They began with singing songs and then awaited for one of us to share the word of God with them. When I say singing, don't let your mind go to any church meeting or Sunday school class. Their voices shook the prison walls and everyone in that little town knew when it was time for worship at the prison.

Every face we saw, every word the prisoners said, we felt the love in their hearts, towards us (people they've never met before) and more importantly towards the Lord Jesus. Everything they did, they did with passion. In their singing, they were fiery, in their prayers they were consistent, and those who could read (or afford a bible) had one in their hand. They all sat quietly as we shared the word of God (reminder: these are a group of thieves, murderers and rapist) but in looking at the change in their lives (while in prison anyways) you would never have guessed they are criminals. Every time we go, we remind them that this time was granted by God for them to repent and become better people and in this time, they will find blessings.

When we left the first prison two weeks ago, we didn't feel that God really has spoken through us (talk about faith :/ ) but God wanted to prove His promises never fail, in spite of the weakness of our faith. He said, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-12) and his promises are true. We were doing some shopping at the near-by grocery store and a gentleman stopped Fady in one of the Isles and said to him "You probably do not remember me, but I remember you from the time you can to visit me at the prison. I was finally pardoned and you had told us, that if we come out to come find the Coptic church". Fady gave him the number and address of the church and we are praying that he finds his way to the arms of the Lord. 

They had a great saying in prison that Fady and I picked up and will never forget. One person would say the first part (like a chant) and the rest of the men would answer with the second part..

"God is good"
"All the time."


"All the time"
"God is good"


Amen :)

Kasisi-Children's Home

Sister Maryola - Head sister of Kasisi

This past weekend, we were blessed to have visited a Children's orphanage called "Kasisi ". Kasisi is an orphanage that currently has about 300 children. It is run by the Roman Catholic Church's order of nuns called "Little Servants of Mary Immaculate". This order was founded by a man named Edmund Bojanowski, who was a patron of orphans. I have to confess, before going there, I had my doubts about the service at the orphanage. The Copts here at St. Mark's that visited before me, were describing this place as "heaven". They continuously spoke about the  the beautiful guests rooms, with the comfortable beds, and extravagant decor. Fady and I were not impressed by all the talk and we were going there determined not to utilize anything of what we heard about. Fady was going to do a day- clinic for the sick kids at the orphanage and I was going to help out as much as I could. The head nun, Sister Maryola, drove about an hour to come pick us up from St. Mark's. Her warm smile greeted us at 8:00AM and we all jumped into the orphanage's car and headed to Kasisi. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted with more smiles. The love and hospitality that the sisters showed us was overwhelming. But it was not love just from the outside and it was not only directed to us as visitors. The love and fellowship of the sisters extended to all the children at the orphanage, and to all the staff--for the least to the highest of ranks. We felt a comfort and peace on all their faces that proved to us that the sisters' care for them runs way deeper than we could ever think. Although the children are provided with much love, that love is also balanced with a healthy amount of discipline (which in reality is the definition of true love). The kids had everything a child could want, from their own beds, to their own play rooms, play grounds, cafeterias, and mamas to take care of all their needs. But they also had set times of waking up, prayers, and readings. The children were not lacking manners, from the youngest to the oldest (23 years old). They all showed respect to the staff, the sisters, to us, but most importantly in their dealings with one another. We realized that all of this was due to the amazing balance of love and wisdom that the sister's portrayed in dealing with the children. They treated each one as their own, without spoiling them and without lacking the love and tenderness that every child requires. Our experience at Kasisi cannot really be described in words. We have experienced love and service to the utmost capacity. Oh and the "luxuries" that all the Copts spoke to us before we went, doesn't even come close to the true treasures we've discovered there.

God-willing, there will be a clinic for these kids every 2-3 weeks. Keep us and them in your prayers!

Sister Maria (my right) and Sister Janina (my left)

Acts 2:47...Live...:)

For the first time, I got to experience and live this verse  "..And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:74). Seeing all those people baptized in the name of Our Lord Jesus was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. Some of them were people who had jobs here at the Coptic Hospital and others were people that have encountered Christ through home visitations and service of the deacons here at St. Mark's church.
 A topic that has been on my heart lately, has been the gift of the Holy Spirit inside of us. This mass baptism has ignited these feelings inside of me more than ever. When every orthodox christian has been baptized and anointed with the Holy Oil (Myroon), they were given the gift of the Holy Spirit. A gift often neglected, quenched or not acknowledged altogether. As a result, we often live spiritually lacking and poor, although we are children of the King.

We are called to live as saints and nothing less.  His children, that are vessels of His own Holy Spirit, must live accordingly. "The mystery which has been hidden from ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints....which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:26) Let us not "Grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" May we live each day as if we have newly received God's Spirit inside of us.

This is Timothy. The first time he introduced himself to me he said "My name is Timothy, disciple of Paul" and gave me the biggest smile. Timothy is not a preacher here, nor is he a deacon, he is the Gardner/Maintenance guy but through the simplest means he showed me and the rest of us here that he is ready to receive the Holy Spirit and live as a vessel for Christ.  He was taught the faith and discipled under the deacons here and was baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I know I was happy to see him baptized, but I cant describe in words how happy he was.