It has been exactly 95 days since I initially left New York for Mexico City, the start of my 7 week mission trip to Cairo, Egypt. For the longest time, I had purposely stayed away from the post-God experience blog..partly out of a fear that it would take away from all that happened while i was away. it’s a strange feeling, but up until very recently Jesus, in his infinite wisdom and humour, has convicted me to tell my story again. If you haven’t heard it already, then here it is, although i confess that it’s not quite as good in written form as it is in the verbal.
Mokattam.
this was the name of the community that i stayed in for 5 weeks.
5 weeks of uninterrupted, 100° heat in a community that makes it’s living off garbage collecting and recycling.
the zaballeen, as they were called, were the garbage men, women, and children of Cairo.
every morning i would walk over to the BRC, Boys Recycling Center, and tutor Egyptian children one-on-one in basic English.
Remoun, Youssef, Ebrahim, Engie, Bola, Samaan..there were so many of them, yet I remember them all.
every afternoon i would walk over to the APE, Association for the Protection of the Environment, where my team and I would present lesson plans to the teachers.
teaching teachers how to teach.
at first, everything sounds very basic.
teaching English, writing lesson plans, helping out the community, etc.
and for the first 2 weeks of my time there, i thought so too.
why did Jesus have to bring me all the way to Egypt (???) to teach English??
could i not have done it back home, in the comfort and familiarity of the States?
this was something that i struggled immensely with, and frustration boiled over the point that i wanted to leave.
tell my director i had had enough, get on the next plane out, and leave.
of course, this wasn’t possible.
so instead, i decided to just do what i was there to do, with no reservation, but at the same time, no expectation.
until i met Ramoni.
let me introduce you to Ramoni, a teacher at the APE.
on the one day of the week where the least amount of children come to school, we talked.
we talked about food, politics, the children, and America, a place many Egyptians think of as heaven on earth.
when he said that i was very blessed to have Obama as my president, I asked him to explain.
in his words, Obama wants change and is going to bring it.
for the Egyptians, they have had the same president for 30 years, and the citizens feel as if they are going backwards, not staying stagnant.
no progress, no voice for the citizen, especially if you are a Christian.
“you know, that’s why you came to Egypt from America. to bring hope.”
if nothing else, that was all i needed to hear. Jesus permeated through those words over and over again as they replayed in my head.
the entire time, as i was questioning my purpose for being in Egypt, looking for a super breakthrough,
an epiphany, a divine revelation, Jesus spoke to me through that simple word.
you won’t be able to quite understand this, but the Christian Egyptians living in Mokattam, from an outsider standpoint, have no hope.
born literally into garbage and destined by their society to become a garbage collector, there is no hope.
for the Christians living in a country where the population is 90% Muslim, there are continually oppressed everyday.
it’s unreal.
treading in the middle of vast ocean that is as wide as it is deep..that is the imagery that i had when i thought of the Egyptians.
there is no hope.
or so it seemed.
how could i have missed this before?
Jesus brought me to Egypt to bring hope, can it be any simpler?
hope and evidence that these people are loved, that they matter in the eyes of the Father.
that they are worth something that their society denies them of, something far more valuable than riches or status.
hope.
not my hope, but Jesus’.
my hope was to get the heck out of there, so certainly not my hope.
if Jesus has blessed me with the hope of knowing him, the hope of a better day in the future,
why was it so hard for me to see that my mission was to bring that same hope to others?
that is the gospel. the gospel is hope.
Jesus died for us not just so we could gather in Christian circles and celebrate our salvation
but to go out and share it with others.
if Jesus blessed me with the knowledge of knowing him, wouldn’t the next best thing to do be to pass it on?
i may be rambling now since i’m taken aback to Cairo, but this is just one of the manymanymany things that i learned there.
a missional life is a life worth living, and i really think that if we adhere to God’s teachings,
to “make disciples of all nations,” then the question shouldn’t be “am i called?”
YES, you are. where is it, how does it look like, what will you be doing..
the answers won’t always be in front of you, and they certainly will not always be given to you all at once.
i believe that God looks for obedience first and foremost.
if you have a willing heart to go wherever the Lord calls you, in whatever capacity, he will use you.
it may be totally unexpected and probably the last thing in your mind to think of doing/living,
but then again, if you’re willing, how much does it really matter?
this one blog does absolutely no justice to explain what Jesus did through, for, and to me in Cairo. 46328 blogs won’t even come close, and though the numbers may be an exaggeration, the statement is not. if you really want to know more about it, the best that i can do for you is talk. if you’re reading this, then you’re close enough to me that we can talk about my trip more in depth. if you’re curious about going on this trip or one of the many other trips led by InterVarsity over the summer, please please please talk to me. Jesus will use you in ways that you never imagined, and he will forever change you. completely, fully, beautifully.
this is officially the last post on this blog. i want to sincerely thank every single person who has supported me on this trip. when i was struggling the most to hold on to God’s purpose for me in Egypt, one of the main things that kept me going was thinking of you and how you were probably praying for me at that very moment of doubt. thank you thank you thank you. from now on, all of my thoughts and updates will be found at www.clementcyu.wordpress.com. you mean the world to me, and i can’t thank you enough for that :)
