Stories From Our Trip

There were so many little things that happened, it would be impossible to tell them all, but I'll try to remember a few.....

Let's start with souvenirs. I had high hopes of finding some really nice treasures to return home with, as well as some nice things to give as gifts. Unfortunately, we quickly found out that the majority of souvenirs were cheap trinkets, probably made in China. We did manage to find a couple of things that we don't mind displaying in our home. I mentioned in my last post about the papyrus that we purchased. It was hard to choose one that we liked, because they were mainly scenes of Egyptian pharaohs, and lots of idol worship... not something I really want to display on the wall of my home. We finally decided on this one, because it was a pretty neutral scene.

Egypt is also known for their perfumes and delicate glass perfume bottles. I got a small bottle of perfume called "Arabian Nights"; it's mixed with oil, so it stays on your skin longer. I also got this small bottle, more for display than to actually hold the perfume-- especially since I already broke part of it :(

At each of the sites in Egypt the Bedouin people were swarming us, trying to get us to buy something. You have to be careful, because they are always looking for a way to get money out of you. They may tell you that you can sit on their camel for $5, but when it comes time to get down... that's another $20! If they see you taking a picture of their camel, they will try to get you to pay them for it. Even at the airport, the man taking our boarding passes tried to get a tip out of my husband, "You're American, you're my friend; can I have money?". One boy came up to my daughter and tried to get her to buy a pyramid trinket. She held up her hand and said 'no', but the boy put the trinket in her hand instead. When she tried to give it back, he wouldn't take it. I took it from her and tried to put it back in the boy's box, but he kept moving the box out of the way. I finally had to just lay it on the ground and walk away. We learned early on that if you have it in your hand, they will try to make you pay for it. Many of the Bedouin's would come up to us and "offer" a small trinket of some kind, saying that it was a gift, "Here, for you; because you have a nice face". The trick is; once you accept it, they follow you everywhere trying to get you to pay them for it. We saw them do this to one lady in our group, so we knew better for when they approached us. Living in Jerusalem gave us some good experience for this type of people; they have the same selling techniques here in the Old City. My husband is great at bargaining, so he's very handy to have around. He'll throw out an obscenely low price and won't move a penny until they cave-in and accept it. He even started trying to sell our purchases back to other Bedouins for a profit! Of course, no one bought anything from us, but we did find it a very effective way of getting them to leave us alone!
My favorite souvenirs of all were absolutely free. Heather has this "crazy obsession" with dirt and rocks from interesting places. But hey, it does make her extremely easy and cheap to shop for! The more I thought about her request, the more the idea started to grow on me as well. I was all prepared on our trip with plenty of empty zip-top bags in my purse to collect dirt in. We found these neat rocks for sale at Mt. Sinai that they say look like they have the burning bush on them:
Can you see the detail very well? It has natural "veining" on the rock that looks like little leaves and branches. It's interesting to look at.
I also collected dirt from the most significant spots that we visited. After cleaning out all of the "ancient" soda can tabs, matches, cigarette butts, and broken glass, I was finally left with this:
There is dirt here from the Great Pyramid, the Red Sea (including a sea shell), Mt. Sinai, and Mt. Nebo. This can hang on the wall, and I think it makes a very nice souvenir. I made double of this, one for Heather, and one for myself.

Just one more story.... this was my favorite part of the whole trip! There was another family on our tour that had children that were around my daughter's age; of course, they became instant friends. At one point, we were riding on the bus to our next stop and two of these children were sitting by my daughter, just talking and playing. Of course, the always watchful mother, I kept my ears tuned closely to the conversation, and was so pleased with what I heard. I don't remember exactly how the conversation got to this point, but my daughter was quoting John 3:16 to these kids. They said how they remember hearing that at church before. One of the kids said proudly that he had been baptized in the Jordan River. Immediately, my daughter asked him, "Did you get saved first?" Both kids were instantly confused.... SAVED??? What's that?? They proceeded to make jokes for a few minutes, and my daughter just sat patiently until they were finished, not discouraged at all. Finally they asked her seriously, "What does saved mean?" She began at the beginning and asked them if they knew that they were sinners. They knew this much, and admitted that of course they were sinners. Next, my daughter told them that because they were sinners, they deserved to go to Hell. These two kids were floored....."Ummmmm, you said a bad word!! You shouldn't curse like that!" My daughter looked horrified! She didn't know what they were talking about, but of course was afraid that she had done something horribly wrong. I quietly told her that it was okay; she used that word in the right way, but from now on just say "that bad place" to these kids, since it offends them. She still didn't let this bump in the road stop her, and continued to witness to these kids. She tried to explain to them how Jesus died for them and they needed to ask Jesus to save them, but their attention just couldn't be held any longer and finally went away and left her alone. Let me tell you, she looked SO SAD! She wasn't upset that her friends left, but she was so troubled that they didn't get saved right then. I explained to her that there are some people who plant seeds, and some who water, but God gives the increase. I tried to encourage her that she just planted seeds in these kids hearts, and there would be an award waiting for her in Heaven for obeying what her Father commanded her to do, regardless of what the kids decided to do with what they heard. My heart was overflowing with joy through all of this! I was thanking the Lord this whole time for such a tender-hearted little girl. For a child that is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and who is willing to lose her friends for the sake of their souls. And I was so thankful to see God working in her life, showing evidence of her salvation. What a precious gift!!
Later my daughter asked if these kids could come over to our house to play when we got back to Jerusalem. I told her I'd think about it. Yesterday, she came up to me and said, "Mommy, I was thinking about having those kids over here. I remember the Bible saying something about not walking in the way with sinners, so maybe they shouldn't come over after all." This child has zero friends here, besides her brother, and yet she is willing to give up playing with these kids to be obedient to God's word. Today, my daughter is my teacher.