September 1, 2006

The last month and a half in the amazing city of Cairo was been wonderful. I was able to do so much working with the YWAM Megacities ministry there, and I enjoyed every minute. God worked both in me and through me in a variety of ways, and I feel like I can say, "mission accomplished!" (although there's plenty more work to do there!). I am now in London after having attended the Global Leadership Team meetings in Harpenden last week as an observer. In a couple days I fly to Amsterdam! Here are some of the highlights of the last month and a half:

THE GYO:

The main reason I went to Cairo was to help with media for the Global Youth Outreach. I've explained a lot about what the GYO is in previous emails, so I wont repeat everything again. As it turned out, the local Egyptian who was in charge of all the video production for the event pulled out at the last minute, leaving us without anyone to handle it all! After months of planning, it was back to square one. So I volunteered and was thrown in to arranging a whole new video setup a couple days before the event! It was a huge challenge to pull everything together in those few days, and I was running around the city frantically looking for equipment, having meeting after meeting and delegating people to do various tasks, etc. It was actually quite a fun learning experience for me, and we managed to do it in the end, praise God! I have to mention that it would have been impossible without the help of my Egyptian friend, Hatam. When it all came together, we were able to provide live image magnification from 3 cameras so that everyone in the back rows could see the speakers/stage. We also were able to record the whole event to make promotional material afterwards.

The event itself was incredible. Hundred of Egyptian and Sudanese young people showed up to worship and to hear the word of the Lord for their lives and for their city. The messages were powerful and inspiring, and the spirit of God was there speaking identity and destiny into the lives of all the youth. Many of the young people who had attended many other conferences in Egypt said that they had never seen such a genuine response from so many of their peers to what God was doing amongst them.

DAY OF COMPASSION:

On the fourth day of the GYO, the Day of Compassion, all of the youth from the conference teamed up with the YWAMers, and went out to perform acts of love and compassion throughout the entire city. I was in charge of a large region called Muquattem, which is famous for the massive cave church, and also the huge garbage city. It was incredible to see how the Egyptians and Sudanese really caught the vision for reaching out to their city as I watched them participate wholeheartedly in ministering to the needy. Many of them realized for the first time how easy it is to do, and expressed that they would continue, even after YWAM was gone. As a whole, we reached out to over 4,000 people in the city that day.

SCHOOL OF WORSHIP:

After the GYO, I decided to stay in Cairo for approximately another month to join one of the Megacities outreach teams. The megacities coordinators prayed, and without any suggestions from me, decided to place me with the school of worship outreach! (Those of you who have followed my news know that I had been planning on staffing the school of worship this year, but it didn't happen because of my parents' accident). Well, I ended up joining them for the outreach phase of their school anyways! God is so funny sometimes.

We worked primarily in one of the poorest areas of Cairo, the Garbage City is it's nickname. Its a huge area where all the city's trash collectors live. Every day they bring back the whole city's garbage to their homes where they sift through it for a living. If you can imagine the worst smell you've ever experienced, and then add some, you will get the feel of it. In some alleyways, heaps of trash reach the 3rd story windows, and going past many buildings you can see people (even children) working waist deep in the garbage. Goats, cats, pigs, rats and of course millions of flies share the neighborhood with the people living there. Most people in that area are actually Coptic Christians, and attend the famous cave-church which in the hills just above Garbage City. We spent lots of time working with the church and organizing house-visits throughout the neighborhood. We were able to provide some health-care as we had a doctor on our team, and of course prayed for people every day. We taught in youth-groups, did skits and songs for handicapped children, did daily worship and intercession, and many other things besides.

THE GLT:

I was having such a good time in Cairo that I decided to push back my flight to London & Amsterdam. So I asked God for a specific date for when I should leave, and I felt like he said the 22nd of August. Well, the day after I changed my flight, I received an email asking if I could come to the Global Leadership Team meetings in Harpenden (just outside of London), starting on the 23rd! I love it when God arranges my itinerary!

So I had the most amazing privilege of observing the annual YWAM GLT and hanging out with all these famous ywam leaders like Loren Cunningham and so many other heroes!! I was there to help Bryan Bishop from the international communications network with collecting information from all of the regional directors for the YWAM survey and Go-manual directory. What a difficult task it is to gather information about YWAM! Because of our decentralization, there are so many locations out there that we aren't even sure really exist or not. We got it all finished in the end though and now have the most up-to-date and accurate information on YWAM Staff, operating locations, and contact information possible. YWAM is now in 166 countries with over 16,000 staff!!

AMSTERDAM:

I finally arrive in Amsterdam on the 3rd, and the twice-a-year orientation for new staff starts on the 4th! Believe it or not, I didn't know about that when I booked the flight, so it really is another itinerary miracle that I will make it just in time!

I'm really excited about this next season. I will be with the Cleft for the next year reaching out to the people of Amsterdam. I do hope my Dutch returns to me swiftly and easily! Please pray for me for this time of transition!

THANK YOU for all your prayers and support!!

SPF