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As we see our time in the Middle East coming to an end, I have found myself wanting to grasp and hold onto every experience. One of the last days serving the Syrian refugees, we helped out with a Saturday Club. This was a sort of Saturday Sports, where the children were bussed in from three nearby tent cities filled with Syrian refugees. I found that children are similar all around the world. They like to play, pretend, run, jump, and when given the chance to exude energy, they take the opportunity to the fullest.
There were over 150 kids that came, and we tried our best to manage that with the Youth For Christ staff and volunteers. After game time, the kids sat for some juice and a treat as the staff acted out a drama depicting the creation story out of Genesis. The idea that God formed everything and knit it together, including us, wouldn’t be a new idea to them, but the idea that we were formed in God’s own image and the intimacy and love He showed in the process would have been a new twist from what their religion taught. They watched with intent stares as the drama unfolded. I can’t understand the Arabic spoken in the drama, but I can understand body language. The children take it all in like they are listening to a story they have never heard.
We finished our time in Lebanon with an incredible authentic Lebanese meal. Maher, the Lebanese director for Youth for Christ, and his family have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and a part of the family. Good food and refreshing talk of how God is working in Lebanon filled the evening. We heard stories of heartbreaking conditions of the refugees, stories of Christ preached, and stories of celebrations. Here I get a sense that the flavors of life are rich with community. The people are diverse which lends to experiencing new cultures, and the landscape is littered with rolling green mountains.
Returning to the Convent Notre Dame du Puits, our home for the last four days, has both sadness and joy, as we will sleep one more night in the quiet rooms of the picturesque convent, then it's off to the airport for our trip home. My time journaling is spent gazing out the window with reflection of the trip, and realizing I have a smile on my face for the time God has given us to visit these remarkable people.