Part 3 - Conference (To be cont.)

Then. Next is the retreat I just went on. It was in a nice area (translate, actually some trees, and a bit of grass b/c they water it, as opposed to desert only, though also a pool – but too cold, and a couple of playing asphalt/concrete playing surfaces) about 1-1.5hrs outside of Cairo, on the way to Alexandria. We arrived in the late afternoon on Tuesday night, and left early afternoon on Saturday. So it was a long retreat. But it was good. I am quite tired, owing to staying up late and waking up early.

In the midst of describing the retreat, I will continue my attempt to describe Egyptian culture to you…However, the caveat here is that we’re dealing with a distinct group of people here, evangelical Christians. So while they are still obviously Egyptians, their traits are not fully the same as orthodox Christians, or Muslims. I’ll try to distinguish where appropriate. So you’re aware, the percentage of Christians in Egypt is just under 20%, I think, which is the largest minority of Christians in the Middle East (to compare, for example, in Jordan you’re looking at 6%, and other countries, open practice of Christianity by nationals is forbidden. That means just over 80% Muslim in Egypt, and also, you should know that Coptic Orthodox entertains the majority of Christians in Egypt.

Okay, refocus. So the retreat. It was basically the same schedule each day: Wake up, breakfast, personal quiet time, worship service (worship+prayer, preaching, worship+prayer), free time, lunch, group games, worship service (as before), supper, free time, bed).

I went to the retreat with a group, in some sense. I mentioned that after church last week, I was invited to a small group the next day. So they, including their leader, were essentially the group I was with, and they held the responsibility/privilege? of showing me around. Besides knowing 7 or so people from the group, I also knew slightly more than 0 other of the 150 or more that were there. So there are two groups of people: People I know very poorly (my small group), and people I don’t know at all. These can be further sub-divided: people who speak lots of English, and people who speak some English.

So why spend all this time describing this? The reason is this. People were EXTREMELY friendly. I’m continuously relearning the concept of hospitality. Granted, I was the only foreigner there (until 2.5 days in, a girl, from Germany came with the people she was living with – she’s teaching their kids German). Still, you don’t know what it’s like. To be honest, it’s fantastic. However, I have to pause, to remember how difficult it was when I went to the church for the first time, because I didn’t know anyone. At that time, no one came up to me, I initiated it by walking up and saying, “hi, I’m new. After that, I stuck with (he stuck with me?) one of the people I introduced my self to. Perhaps it was less obvious that was I was new. Or perhaps less obvious that I wasn’t with or waiting for anyone else. I’m not sure what the difference was, though, as I said, once it was known that I was new at both times, it’s an experience.

First of all, my group. It consists of about 7 guys, plus a leader and sub-leader. Usually one of them would take me, lead me, guide me, instruct me. It was nice (and much appreciated) when I didn’t know what was happening, and downright generous when I did (such as when we were eating, and they’d get my dinner for me, and take my plate and etc.) And they introduced me to people.