This evening we went to Resurrection Church (formerly Haddath Baptist Church). We arrived early to tour the place and get a better understanding of their mission. They are strategically located with an affluent Christian neighborhood on one side, a Muslim community on another side, a Hezbollah region on another side, and they are near slum areas with refugees. Just a few years ago they had about 70 people in the church, and now they run about 1,000! The services are made up of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, along with Christians and some Muslims. About 70% are women because the men normally work on Saturdays, and in the refugees’ case, the men work 2, 3, and 4 jobs if they can. We were taken to the rooftop and shown each of the areas surrounding the church. Here are a couple pictures taken from the rooftop. The large area beyond the big hangar looking building is the Hezbollah region, and that grassy area directly next to the church belongs to the US Embassy. Not sure why our country owns a grassy area in Lebanon (maybe it was the site of the former Embassy that was bombed back in the 70’s)? The Christian area is directly to the right where I was taking these pictures, and the Muslim area is directly to the left.
By the way, thank you for your prayers for Nicholas! As you can see, he was up and looking pretty good! Check out this picture below of him sitting in a ‘hand’ chair in the youth room imitating it with his hand (I thought it was a cute picture so I have to share it!). :-) He is definitely feeling much better!
After our tour of the church we were able to visit a bit with some of the congregation before the service. I spoke with a woman from one of the refugee areas, and she was happy to tell me in very broken English that her son was now living in Detroit, Michigan. Would have loved to hear that whole story of how that came to be. The service began with worship and then the pastor gave a great message on healing. He told us later that it is very unusual for a Baptist Church to talk about healing, which doesn't sound much different from the states it seems. Again, it was all in Arabic, so we had headphones with the translator. Here's a picture of the worship team (if you enlarge the picture you may be able to see Nicole putting on her headphones on the other side of the stage), and then our family with the pastor:
After the service our team stood all across the front (alongside the Pastor) and prayed with people who came forward. Most people did not speak English and we only had 2 or 3 translators, so the translator would come and tell us what the prayer request was and we would pray in English, usually without the translator, and even then our prayers brought tears to the eyes of the people we were praying for. Noah told me he especially felt the presence of God more than ever, and there was just a very sweet spirit in the place.
We then went to dinner with the pastor and his wife, and oh my goodness, the food!! I made a note of all the food we ate, and I may not have spelled it correctly, but here's what I have: falafel, hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouli, shawarma, cole slaw, potato salad, sliced tomatoes, pickles, pickled beets, cheese rolls, kebeh, Arabic bread, fattoush, sambousek, potato fries, potato wedges, baked potatoes, lahm bajeen, mint leaves, green onions, sesame seed paste, and I ordered orange juice that as soon as I got it I realized it was fresh squeezed! They just kept bringing the food - it was crazy! Here are some pictures of us at the restaurant, sitting outside near the road. They said the weather was going to be hot, but it feels wonderful compared to hot and humid Florida!
We then went to dinner with the pastor and his wife, and oh my goodness, the food!! I made a note of all the food we ate, and I may not have spelled it correctly, but here's what I have: falafel, hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouli, shawarma, cole slaw, potato salad, sliced tomatoes, pickles, pickled beets, cheese rolls, kebeh, Arabic bread, fattoush, sambousek, potato fries, potato wedges, baked potatoes, lahm bajeen, mint leaves, green onions, sesame seed paste, and I ordered orange juice that as soon as I got it I realized it was fresh squeezed! They just kept bringing the food - it was crazy! Here are some pictures of us at the restaurant, sitting outside near the road. They said the weather was going to be hot, but it feels wonderful compared to hot and humid Florida!
The guy sitting next to Tim is one of our translators, Mudrick, and I will get his permission to share his testimony later. Again, tomorrow is a big day as we go to the Syrian Refugee camp. We have to be on the bus by 6:30am, which is only 6 hours from now, so I must get to bed. It takes a long time to make these updates because the internet is spotty like they said and I'll lose the connection or it will just be slow, but I will do what I can! Thank you again for your prayers!!
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