Lebanon in July

Our time in Lebanon has been such a blessing to see God at work through his body. Today we continued working with the boys at Dar El Awlad. Since they arrived on Sunday night we have worked to get to know them. We talked on Sunday how hard it would be to learn to say their names and yet now two days later we already know them. We are also blessed this week to be working alongside a local church here that is helping with the boys. The team members are mainly youth and they have been great with the boys as well. I am working with the sixth grade boys with their studies in the morning and it has been fun helping them with their math and not quite as fun helping them with their English mainly because I never did well in English class. Today was a much better day as we have gotten to know each boy better and with that, respect grows between us. After lunch we ran down to the Seminary and visited with Alia who gave a great talk about the work that the church is doing all across the Arab world stretching from Morocco through Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, and Egypt then up here in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. I wish we had more time to visit with her as she shared stories of men and women who had come to the seminary for training were now living out their callings in the places where God has sent them. I would love to be able to rub shoulders with some of these people as it is my wife, Sara’s and my passion to live and work here in the Arab world. We rushed back just in time to change into work swimsuits to go to “Putt-putt”. The place is actually called Splash Mountain but is known as “putt-putt” to the orphanage. It is a water park right next door to the orphanage that they get in free to because the orphanage lets them use their grounds for parking and recreation. The boys were great and the house mothers are thankful as well because the boys will be tired tonight. I hope that discipline won’t be an issue tomorrow as we have told the boys all week that is they were bad they would not get to go.

Tonight we will have a short time with the boys all together as we do a short devotional. Then we are heading to Nabil’s (director of the Lebanese Baptist Society) house to fellowship with him and his family. This will be a great opportunity for us as a group to get to go into a home and see the hospitality and fellowship that the Lebanese have. It is such a hospitable culture so I am looking forward to all the conversations and laughter that we will have together. Thank you for your continued prays as we are away. I would ask that you especially pray for Les and Mary Alice as they have been a little sick from eating all the local food. Also pray that we would all find the rest we need as our days seem to remain very full.

~Jeremy