The day after returning from Europe I flew to Cairo. One aim of the trip was to get some spoken Arabic practice as I continue my Arabic studies. It reminded me of how I felt when I went to Turkey for the first time in 1998. Everything is new, everything is interesting and everything takes a long time! Even the simple things are difficult when you don’t know the language or culture. I can’t say I picked up fluent Arabic in 12 days, but it was worthwhile. The second aim was to reboot the Egyptification of the Gardener (a skit parable for open air evangelism illustrating how sin came into the world, and God’s way of salvation.) After years of talking with very little progress, the plan was to get alongside the capable local pastors as they put the show together for a tour. With the conflict in the Middle East, they weren’t able to perform as much as they wanted to, but they did pull it off, and got great responses from local people. I loved being a catalyst and watching gifted Egyptian Christians using aspects of their own culture to reach their own people.
By Charles