Here we go again...

I am delighted to fire up the blog again as we prepare for another summer trip to Beirut, Lebanon.  Our team will be at serving at Dar El Awlad in Beirut from July 2-11.  We have a wonderful team of 9 people (7 of whom have been to the orphanage before).  It is an amazing team and I am delighted to serve alongside each of them.  Here is our official team picture that we took tonight as we had a packing party together.

 We are minus one very important team member though.  Our beloved friend, fearless leader, native arabic speaker, and brother, Tim Smith, will not be able to join us this year.  He has been temporarily sidelined due to cancer.  While he cannot join our team physically this year we take him with us in our hearts and in our thoughts.  His wisdom, smile, and presence will not be far from us as we spend time in one of his favorite places.  We look forward to him joining the team again next year when he has overcome his cancer battle.

Tim,
We will miss you dearly on the trip!  We are so thankful for your wisdom as we go and we covet your prayers for us while we are there.  We will bring back stories, memories, and plenty of pictures to share with you.  We love you and look forward to sharing memories at Dar El Awlad with you again one day.
Love,
The whole Lebanon team

 And, because we all will miss Tim this year, we decided he needed to be in our official team picture too.  So, look closely and you will see our friend Tim.  And, stay tuned as he may appear in more pics in Lebanon.

I have some thoughts to share from some of our team members who are returning and also from some who have not yet experienced Lebanon.  Here are some things that we are excited about as we prepare to go where God has called us.

"I am so excited to be going to Lebanon for the first time.  I have loved hearing stories from others about the boys there and the wonderful people who help care for them.  Members of the team have encouraged me to to in the past but this is the first year I have been able to go.  I am excited to see how God is working in Lebanon and to see how He is going to use our team this year." - Clara

"I am looking forward to seeing all of the boys that we have worked with before.  I'm sure they have changed and matured in two years.  I'm looking forward to meeting Yazmeen, Brent and Ruth's baby girl.  We were at their wedding three years ago and now we get to meet their firstborn.  I'm also looking forward to doing some sightseeing this year.  I am excited about bonding with our Calvary family even more."  - Lanna

"I first went to Lebanon four years ago in the summer of 2011.  It was Calvary's first trip, so we were just getting to know the boys at Dar El Awlad, and the boys were just getting to know us.  Since then, a sense of family has developed between our communities.  I'm eager to go back this summer to see how the seeds that were planted four years ago have grown and developed.  I'm excited to see Ali, Abdullah, and Bilal, boys who were in my group as kindergartners, who will not be rambunctious, independent 4th graders.  I'm excited to see if Jad's shoulders perk up to his ears when he lets out a mischievous laugh.  I'm excited to see if Ochinga still wears a cheerleading outfit and prances around the campus as he tries out his new magic tricks on his friends.  I'm a different person than I was 4 years ago, and I know they will be, too.  Some boys may no longer be at Dar El Awlad, and new boys may have joined them.  I'm excited to sit on the bench under the balooka tree and to get to know each of them, and I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity God has allowed for our paths to cross in Lebanon once again."  - Mary Alice

"Not having seen our friends at Dar El Awlad in two years, I am anxious to see their faces.  Those faces of genuine warmth and hospitality when we arrive, faces of intensity and enthusiasm when we compete, and faces of compassion when we discuss faith and life.  Most memorable are their faces on shoe night when they are overwhelmed by the love and generosity of their Calvary family that gives so generously and thoughtfully to these guys so far away.  I remember those faces.  I'm hoping they remember mine." - Les

"We're now less than a week out from starting our journey to Lebanon and I find myself more excited than ever to return.  Last minute preparations are being made and for many of us, we will soon be returning to a familiar place.  A land where some of the best fruits and food is eaten.  A place where hospitality is a way of life and everyone goes out of their way to help you feel welcomed.  A ministry where God is doing amazing things with a dedicated staff who seek to love him and love others.  And finally, a home where I will encounter my friends, Charbel, Mohammad, Ahmed, Jad, Abboud, Daniel, and many others.  I've missed you Lebanon and I can't wait to be with you again."  -Josh

"It has also been 4 years for me since I first traveled to Lebanon.  I loved every minute of it!  From tutoring rambunctious 4th graders, to seeing smiles shared when language was a barrier, to eating the most amazing food ever, to seeing God work miraculously in young boys lives. to seeing staff members give up their own lives and dreams to love them boys unconditionally, to growing closer with my Calvary family.  The list could go on.  I cannot wait to experience these things and so much more as we go."  -Jennifer

We will keep this blog updated as we go so please check back often.  May God do abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine as we journey to Lebanon once again.

With great hope,
Jennifer

It’s 5 AM Beirut time and we are sitting at the airport waiting to depart. We had a good last day at BBS.  I think that both of us feel the trip was of benefit to the work that is ongoing here. Though we are leaving here I don’t think that either one of us have entirely processed all that we have experienced or have had the privilege of being a part of. That will take a few days but we will post reflections on the blog when we have processed it all.

Our friend from North Africa came down to see us off from the seminary this morning at 2 AM. In some small way that has been representative of the trip, meeting people we have never met before but feeling an instant kinship. A kinship that transcends country of origin, language and culture. A kinship based on a common faith and belief in the One who has made us brothers and sisters with people half way around the world.

After inviting us to come to his country he perhaps summed up the trip when he said, “If I don’t see you in my country, I will see you in heaven.”

Tim Smith

Pictures from Thursday

Tim and Josh in front of the BBS school sign.

Building on the left is the Elementary/Jr. High School.  Building on the right is the day care and preschool building.  The high school is behind the elementary school.

Hall with 1st and 2nd graders

One of the four different 2nd grade classrooms

Our week at BBS is quickly coming to an end and I feel as if though we just got here.  Today, after having breakfast, we traveled back into the heart of the city to BBS.  Once again, Tim worked with the school nurse and the administrative staff and I worked with the students and teachers in the classroom.  I had three different classes today, 9^th – 11^th grade.  Once again, they went well with good discussion and dialogue.  In every single one of my presentations, I had students stick around after class to ask me a few more questions I wasn’t able to get to during the period.  One of the teachers thanked me after class for coming and explained that many of the students are very curious about this subject, but they don’t have a safe place to talk about it.  She was very grateful they were getting this opportunity. 

After we finished our day at BBS, the school took us to a restaurant along the coast for lunch where I thought the food would never end.  I was just getting ready to stop eating when they brought out the main course, still followed later by desert, and then coffee.  It was a true Lebanese meal.  We sat and ate for about 3 hours while talking about family, education, the school, politics, etc.

However, even though the food was wonderful, my favorite part of the day came between my classroom presentations at BBS.  I was asked to make a presentation to part of the faculty at the school during their 45 minute morning break.  I briefly described the presentations I had been making with the students since I had not had the privilege to be in their classrooms and then I spoke generally about prevention.  I mostly spoke with them about our research in risk and protective factors.  Many of you teachers may know this as risky behavior indicators and the 40 developmental assets.  As I began my presentation, I was encouraged to see the amount of care and dedication they have towards their students.  One of the teachers went to school at BBS and after finishing college, she returned to BBS where she has taught for the past 30 years.  When I spoke about the different risk factors, teachers began to express their concern for some of their students who have some of the indicators I discussed present in their life.  The care and love they have for their students is very evident.  I let them know that our job in prevention is to help outweigh the risk factors with protective factors and reminded them that they are already doing a big part of that work.  As I began to go through the protective factors they were able to see how they were already implementing some of them into their classroom and began thinking of new ways to implement some of the others.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time so I wasn’t able to finish my entire presentation, but neither of us wanted it to end and stayed a few minutes afterwards continuing to discuss some of their questions.  I am grateful for the caring teachers in my life who helped to provide protective factors for me and I’m grateful for the dedicated and caring teachers at BBS who are making sure that their students are encouraged, receive the tools they need to succeed, and above all feel loved.

Josh Caballero

Pictures from Wednesday

Students arriving at school in the morning.

The sea of backpacks.

Students lining up at the school.

The view from the town of Byblos.

It’s Wednesday evening here in Beirut and we have had a full day. It has been in the 50’s all day and raining off and on. We were at the Beirut Baptist School this morning, Josh was giving his presentations and I was with the school nurse. A boy came in complaining his knee hurt, it was slightly swollen so school nurse decided she needed to take him to have in x-rayed. She called his mother and told her which hospital she was taking him to and then turned to me and stated, “I will be gone for 2 or three hours, you take care of the children” and off she went. So I got to be the school nurse for a couple of hours. It was interesting, the older children tried to talk to me in English; the 1^st and second graders did not seemed fazed when I talked to them in Arabic. I don’t think anyone died on “my shift” so guess all went well!!!!

This afternoon the school took us out for an outing to see the caves at Jietta and then we had lunch at Byblos (reputed to be the oldest continually inhabited town in the world). But the highlight of the day started at supper up in the Seminary cafeteria.

We have been trying to sit with some of the seminary students, or inviting them to sit with us each meal. We have had the privilege of sitting with Syrians, Iraqi’s and Egyptians. Tonight we sat at a table with a student who turned out to be from North Africa. He told us about his conversion from Islam and how his father tried to kill him three times because of his conversion. Finally his father went before the court and disowned him.

After everyone had left the cafeteria, we were still talking and he invited us back to his apartment and served us coffee and we continued to talk. He talked about the problem his church back home is having; the building is too small!! He said that the services start at 9:30 and if you are not there at least by 8 you have to stand. He said some people drive 5-6 hours on Thursday and spend the night just to attend the services on Friday then go home. He talked about how over 2000 people come to services every Friday. He explained how being here in Lebanon and going to seminary as a converted Muslim has given him the opportunity to learn Arabic (not his native tongue) as well as study the Bible. He feels called to go back to his own country and reach out to an ethnic group that is not being reached out to by the church.

We prayed with him before leaving and Josh and I were lost in thought as we walked back to our room trying to process what we heard. How the Lord is using the work here in Lebanon to provide an opportunity for non-Lebanese from around the Middle East to come and study and prepare to go back and witness to their own people.

Tim Smith

Pictures from the first day at BBS