I have now been in
Lebanon for over a month and I just want to give everyone a practical update
about how I am and what my days are like.
As far as the work goes, honestly, the first month has been a bit
scattered. I have been between two different organizations, meeting many new
people, being assigned many different odd jobs, trying to understand the
politics of working in organizations that are reliant on donations, often from
European countries, and mostly asking God how I can be most useful in this time
and place. Now I understand more than I
did a month ago, but I still have a lot to learn and will need more time to
really settle in to my work. However, I
must say that I am most thankful that not a day goes by without some little
adventure and many new things learned.
In my free time I go
running or walking by the sea which is about a ten minute walk from my place. I
read on the long bus rides across Beirut.
For those of you who always want to know what I’m reading, the current
book is “Dr. Zhivago” and I’m liking it a lot.
I’m picking up lots of new Arabic words here and there and thinking
about signing up for a class though the thought of adding something like that
to my schedule now is a bit overwhelming.
We’ll see. I’m also trying to
spend time with my grandparents every week.
They live in a suburb of Beirut called “Sabtieh” and usually I spend one
or two nights a week at their place. I
enjoy the constant smell of Jedo’s hookah and watching Turkish soap operas with
my Teta. Also enjoying my old friends
from the year I studied abroad in Lebanon and meeting new people as well. I have settled into my place well and really
love my room and my quiet time though I miss my little brother, Elie, walking
into my room all the time. Yes, I miss
Elie, that is the biggest problem in Lebanon!
Honestly, this is a
crazy place as everyone who has been here knows. The smell in Beirut is awful, the bus drivers
stop to get themselves coffee and cigarettes while the passengers sit waiting
in the bus and you find bombed out buildings crumbling next to brand new
hotels. I never get bored here. And sometimes at just the right time of day,
the sun floods in between the cracks of those buildings and a warm fresh wind
blows in off the sea and I can understand why people still want to come back
after all its done to them.
I have found an
English-speaking church called “All Saints” which I can walk to and I enjoy
going to sing familiar hymns and hear the message. In everything I do, whether it is in work or
church or relationships, my goal is to know more about God’s love and share it
with other people. Please pray that in
whatever I do, my heart is bound to this commandment. And continue in your prayers for Lebanon,
Syria, Egypt, Iraq, peace in the Middle East, in all the world, in all our
hearts…it will come.
