After arriving at the airport we immediately discovered that our flight was significantly delayed. This would cause us to miss our connecting flight in Philadelphia. So the airline re-arranged our flight plans, sending us through Philly and London instead of Philly and Frankfurt, Germany. Doesn't sound too bad, except it added around 6 or 7 hours to our total flight time. Other than those changes in our plans it was uneventful flying all night. We were excited to be off on our ministry adventure!
Monday, May 3
After a 5 hour layover in London we headed off to Beirut! We arrived in Beirut around 11:00 pm Monday evening. Flying across the Atlantic Ocean has an element of fun and excitement, but is also really tiring! Fortunately our flights were smooth sailing as we tried to get some sleep and adjust to the massive time change were were about to experience. We lost 7 hours on our flight to Beirut. So when it's noon in Indiana, it's 7:00 pm in Beirut. We were met at the airport by Chadi Melki, the Director of Cedar Home. We got settled in and got a few hours sleep, already anticipating our first day of ministry!
Tuesday, May 4
We met Camille Melki, the Director of Heart for Lebanon at 8:00 am Tuesday morning. H4L's offices are in the Meditteranean Bible College building, right next door to Cedar Home. Camille and his staff took us into downtown Beirut where we distributed food to Iraqi refugee families. These families fled Iraq due to the war and persecution going on there to this very day. We were treated to lunch at a local restaurant by some friends of the H4L ministry: Brother Frank & Brother Stephen! It was a great time of fellowship with these two pastors and leaders from churches in Canada! In the afternoon we went in teams of 4 or 5 to visit some of these families in their temporary homes. It would not be possible to articulate the array of emotions you feel as you hear the stories of each family. There is a bit of everything... sadness... grief... relief... joy... anger... desperation. I encourage anyone reading this to ask one of our team to tell you a couple of the stories they heard. In addition to the Iraqi families, it was so inspiring to see the Holy Spirit power through the H4L staff! We are deeply grateful that God has placed these dedicated and Spirit-led people in Lebanon to minister to these desperate needs! Camille and your staff...THANK YOU for the great work you are doing on behalf of God's Kingdom!
After returning to Cedar Home for the evening we finally got to meet the 21 girls who call Cedar Home... well... home! Chadi & Joyce Melki are truly God's hands and feet for these girls who have all come from very difficult and sometimes tragic backgrounds! Rhiannon McKinley led devotions and small group discussions before supper. We chose a three part theme for the week on the topic of "Purity". Rhiannon's topic was purity in your actions. She did a great job! We then ate supper with the girls and then quickly settled in for our first "real" nights sleep in almost two days! We were ready for it!
Wednesday, May 5
Our day was identical in schedule to Tuesday: Iraqi food distribution in the morning / Visiting Iraqi homes in the afternoon. More powerful moments of ministry with the wonderful Iraqi people and the inspiring H4L staff! We were blessed by our time with all of them!
After arriving at Cedar Home the evening devotion, this time on the topic of "Spiritual Purity" was led by Marlene Crump. Another great job! We played a couple of games with the girls and then shared a great supper with them!
We then walked over to H4L's offices to meet with Milad, one of the H4L staff members. We wanted to hear his testimony of what God had done in his life. It was powerful to hear this man who was raised as a Muslim tell of his encounter with Jesus, the persecution he endured after his conversion, and his faithfulness to God's call into ministry! Thank you Milad for sharing your story with us!
After returning to Cedar Home we had an opportunity to hear Chadi Melki tell of some of the joys and challenges that come with caring for 21 young girls and women who have lived challenging and sometimes painful lives before coming to Cedar Home. Please continue to pray for Chadi and Joyce as they serve these girls! It is a powerful expression of the love of Jesus to watch them live every moment of their lives for others!
That's got you up to date so far! We will share some more in a couple of days! Thanks for your prayers for our team and for the ministries we are serving with! Blessings from Beirut!
In His Grip,
Pastor John
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