Spring greetings from Egypt!

Steve, Alex, Travis, Brett at Karnak temple at Christmas

April spring greetings!! February and March have flown by and have been full for all of us in our different spheres. God continues to bless us in amazing ways as we live our lives here. First, spring in Egypt is really beautiful. Right now the trees are exploding with color. Our days are warming, but in waves. The week might start out with highs in the low 70’s and by the end of the week the high temps might be in the upper 80’s. Winter never got as cold as it was when we interviewed a year ago last January/February. We are in the khamaseen season, which means 50 days of wind, causing dust and sand to BLOW. The sky isn’t always blue and the grit seeps in under the windows and doors. It is manageable, mostly because I have help cleaning, thank goodness.

We went to Germany for spring break to ski. My bargain finding hubby researched and found tickets to Munich for CHEAP. We went to Garmisch and had absolutely beautiful conditions. We downhill skied for 2 days and then cross-country skied for another 2 days. Alex snowboarded for 4 days. It snowed 4-6 inches every day of the last three days, which made the snow conditions great.


Alex. He worked hard this past quarter to bring up his grades, as well as played JV basketball. Though not his primary sport, he worked hard and improved such as to be able to travel to the tournament with the team in Kuwait. It was a great experience and he met kids from other places, which he hopes to see when he travels to Dubai, UAE for softball on April 15. He is enjoying his sports!! He even turned three double plays in softball last night! He is still finding his way in school. It is definitely more college “prep” school than Mead, so the demand on him is greater. He is doing it, slowly but surely. The different sports have given him more friends and the “away” games are incentive to hang in there. Plus, he was able to get his first choice for his Week Without Walls trip that every CAC high school student takes. He went to Borneo, Indonesia to an orangutan rescue. He landed and traveled 4 hours into the rain forest by riverboat, sleeping on it for 3 nights while they saw the orangutans in the wild. He then went to a hospital and helped paint, as well as checked out the small, sickly baby orangutans. It was an experience he will not soon forget. Another plus for being here. Youth group and his relationships at church have also helped his heart in out life here. Though he misses his brothers and friends in Spokane, he is finding his way here and we are thankful.

Karan. I started subbing at the school where Alex is attending, CAC (Cairo American College), mostly in the middle school. For a few weeks there, it was teach from 8-3pm and tutor until 5:30, still shorter than my Shaw days. Ha!! I will sub for the first time in the elementary next week. I am also tutoring 4 days a week and enjoying it most of the time. It helps where we need it and gives me most of my days free or at least with a choice of the time teaching. I am continuing to meet with women, take part in the women’s guild and wash babies between teaching days. Friends are coming slowly and I am thankful. Some new friends are already on their way out of Egypt, so I have enjoyed the time we have had. Some I will get to know better. The diversity is life giving and keeps things hopping. I am happy, hopeful and eager to see how I will be used, as time goes on.

A view of the gate of St. John's. We worship under the tent to the left.

Steve. He has been very busy, but finding a rhythm of sorts in his long days. We just this week received the news that a man is coming as the church administrator. We are thrilled. Steve will have some help in the admin arena, which will be wonderful!! In the meantime, we are making progress in bringing structure to our African Ministries. We may be turning a corner in that department! Both of us are still very happy to be here and see God at work. We are now trusting God big time to provide property and permission to build a church in a different location from our current rental situation. By August, we will either have to switch days for worship or find a temporary location until we get property. We still sense God at work to equip and send people into His fields after their 2-3 year stay here.

We have found a handy way to receive an email notice when we make a new posting. This is a great tool since we are so erratic and unpredictable as to when one of these blogs actually shows up. Go to our blog and click on "Follow." On the next screen you will be prompted to choose one of the sign in methods listed (google, yahoo, etc.) or create your own google id. Then you can choose the public or private option for whether others can see your name. If you later decide to unsubscribe, you can easily click on that option when you sign in to see our blog.

In His Grip,
Karan and Steve