Egypt!

We had the privilege of going to Luxor, Egypt with our partner organization Resonate for a retreat the end of March.  It was awesome!  I don't know how to put it into words nor did I know which of the 700 pictures to post!  Egypt is fascinating.  Egypt has 80% of the world's antiquities 3000 years old and older and 60% of that is in Luxor (Thebes in Bible times).  We're talking about Joseph's time, Moses, and even Abraham.  The beginning!  I love seeing history so this was amazing.  Egypt is a big desert land other than along the Nile River where it is lush, fertile and teaming with people.  The Nile River is huge and had big cruise boats to tour down the Nile.  I found Egypt to be very Middle East like.  Uganda is Africa, Ethiopia was a mix of Africa and middle east, and Egypt the Middle East.  I enjoyed seeing a new place and culture.  I think the Arabic language is beautiful to see and hear.  I tried to take it all in and learn.

The Resonate retreat was a blessing and encouragement to us.  It was a highlight reconnecting with the South and East Africa team and meeting a lot of new people on the Middle East team.  The group took turns sharing their highs and lows for the past year and then we prayed over each person or couple.  It kinda became life stories but it was good to get to know people at that level so fast.  It made for close connections as we were honest and open with one another.  I was honored to hear the faith of the Egyptian believers and the refugees from Sudan.  Beautiful.  I like hearing peoples' stories.  I also enjoyed being with other missionary moms.  I was thankful we could even see friends from MI who are new missionaries and encourage them.

I was so thankful for the kids and youth program.  The leaders understood our TCKs (third culture kids) and did a great job with them.  The youth loved being together.  Every night their leaders went with them to get ice cream or to McDonalds.  It was so much fun (yes, I went sometimes too)!  I was so proud of the youth helping and playing with the kids too.  Makai adores Torin from last year's retreat and now they are even closer than before.  The youth and kids did an Easter drama Easter Sunday and sang too.  It was a very special time together and they are planning a reunion for those who are in MI this summer!

Celebrating Holy Week in Egypt was meaningful too.  All week we were seeing the Bible times, gathering as believers, and remembering.  We had communion on the Nile River on Muanday Thursday.  Friday we were given space to reflect.  Easter morning we were suppose to all go up in hot air balloons at sunrise and worship our Risen Savior!  Awesome right!  But it was canceled by the government because of wind...):  We were so bummed.  However, we still were able to worship our Risen Savior at church in Luxor.  I loved it!  They invited all of us to participate in our cultures.  It was a beautiful multi-cultural celebration.  I appreciated taking communion in Arabic with my Egyptian brothers and sisters.  

The down side of the retreat was we spread a sickness around and most people were sick for a day or more.  Emalai, Grace, Makai, and Josh all got it from our family.  And if you didn't get sick, the dryness of this desert place wore everyone out and dried you out!  

We returned to Uganda exhausted!  Late nights, early mornings, busy schedule, sickness, and not great sleeping added up.  We slept a lot.  It took a week for us to feel better and not so tired.  It is always an adjustment coming home - a reality check and a let down.  But we are so very thankful for the Resonate retreat in Egypt!  Can't wait to go back someday!  

EGYPT!

Traveling is exciting and rough.  We were at the airport at 4am for our flight to Egypt.

Our first one sick with a fever.

Makai's friend Torin!

Makai also made friends with the grandson of the owner of the hotel.

Luxor has a ton of tourism because of the antient history.  So they had lots of horse and buggies.  They called them local Ferraris.  We loved it, especially Makai.  But watch out cause they will rip you off!  They will follow you for blocks getting you to ride.  We did enjoy seeing the city this was, going to the spice market, the market, and a stop at McDonalds too.

Karnak Temple

So many sphinx 

Just HUGE! And this is from 3000 years ago!

Went to a papyrus store where they showed us how to make paper.

Life in Luxor

In Uganda we live at the source of the Nile.  Now we've been at the end of the Nile (almost anyways).

TCK friends!

The Valley of the Kings - 60 plus tombs of pharaohs.  They hid them so no one would find and rob them.  They put more into their tombs and the afterlife than they did their palaces.  Once one became pharaoh they got to work on the tomb.  And it was all preserved underground.

Unbelievable

Everything engraved with hieroglyphics or pained with gods and pharoahs.
(Fun fact, paint stayed on because of snake venom or egg whites!)

Yup that's right, we went into the famous King Tut's tomb!
We studied about all this in History class this year!
(I chose not to post his mummy, but it was there.  Everything else was taken to museums around the world.  We even saw one statue with no head because the British wanted it but it was too heavy and they ended up only taking the head.)

More great TCKs and 2 of their leaders.

Awesome!

We went to an alabaster factory where they explained how they fashioned this beautiful rock into amazing things.  More Bible time experiences!

Next was Habu Temple

See the carvings on the mighty walls?

Our group with our guide Steve.  Steve works for Resonate and loves connecting the Bible with ancient Egypt.  We learned a lot.

Samson?!

Palace ruins next to the temple.

We were so glad to spend sometime with Matt and Emily!

We had a much needed break for lunch at a very fun restaurant overlooking the Nile River.
We were all very hot and very dried out from the desert. 
It was surprisingly comfortable and even cool in Luxor.  A nice break from Obule!

Rameseseum (like Rameses - they think it could have been the Rameses from Moses but since it can't be proven it is one of the more forgotten temples).  This was probably our favorite temple because we had it all to ourselves and the ruins were so fun to explore.

These were for grain storage - not from Joseph but would have looked like it.

Take note of the giant statue laying down behind me.  I forget how many tons it weighed.  Some people believe the earthquake when Jesus died is when it fell down.

The kids, youth and their leaders.

A walk to the market with friends.

Dinner on the Nile

Just a few of the many mosque towers surrounding our hotel.

Luxor Temple - I loves seeing it at night!

Sphinx lined the path from Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple - over 2kg long!
There were two churches here but when sphinx were discovered underneath, both churches were removed and given new buildings in new locations.

Josh and Grace taking a ride.

Egypt had amazing fresh strawberry juice and smoothies!
With a nice view of Luxor Temple.

Grace and I loved the sights and sounds of the el souke (market).
It's crazy but beautiful.  It was for tourist so we were hassled the whole time even though they say, "come look, no hassle, no stress."

I love these lamps!  (And got one!)

The boys got M. Salah jerseys!

One evening they rented the soccer field to play together.  Fun!

Makai in his glory!

The Egypt team singing an Arabic worship song for us.

Easter Sunday!
Eggs for breakfast of course and the kids leaders did an Easter egg hunt for them.

Church in Luxor Easter Sunday.
(Remember the church that had to move when sphinx where discovered?  This is the new church that the government paid to build!)

Kids/youth Easter drama - the soldiers.

Sharing in song.

Then it was time for goodbyes...

We had one last excursion to the workers village and artisan's tombs.
This was where the people who made the pharaoh's tombs lived in secret all their lives.  On their free days they worked on their own tombs.  The tombs were tiny but beautiful.

Temple at the worker village.

One last photo op!  A big one - two!

Do we have to go?!
The youth have been chatting since and all miss each other and are ready to go back to Egypt together.
I've given my heart's desire to God to some day go back to Egypt - Red Sea here I come!

All tired out from all our fun...

Resonate Middle East & SE Africa Retreat