Hello everyone,

First of all, I am healthy and well. For those you who might not have heard there was a terrible rockslide in Egypt that has killed at least 30 and trapped many more under rocks. Thankfully, none of the students or staff from MESP were near the area when the disaster happened. However, it is a terrible tragedy that definitely warrants prayer for the people of Garbage City and the families affected.

I pray that all of you are well. I myself am doing great. I completed my first week of class, although it was only two days. So far Arabic is easy with little homework, but it is supposed to be easy right now. I actually have class on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and my service project at the geriatrics center on Tuesday. Today I had Arabic class and we also started Islamic thought and practice. Our instructor is a Sunni Muslim and really intelligent. She actually took us to three different and important mosques historically. It was fascinating to hear about the architectural, historical, and religious importance of the three mosques.

Because we have school/volunteer work Sunday through Thursday my weekend is Friday and Saturday. This last Friday and Saturday I with a few other people went to the Egyptian Museum, downtown Cairo, Zamelik (an island in the Nile), Coptic Cairo, and an English speaking service at an Episcopal Church in Maadi (the foreigners part of town). The Egyptian Museum was stuffed to the brim of tombs, coffins, stone tablets with writing, figurines, statues, etc. It was pretty cool. Downtown Cairo doesn’t get really busy until after 11pm and stays busy until early into the morning. I was there until 1am and people were still everywhere. Zamelik is a very westernized and wealthy part of town where a few of my roommates and I had lunch on Friday. Coptic Cairo is a section of the city where many old Coptic Churches were built a long time ago. One the churches holds claim to having the tombs of the Holy Family in their crypt below. And finally the church service I went was really good. We went with Barrett (one of the MESP interns who attends that church). It was nice to go to a church service after not being to church for a couple of weeks.

So yeah I did all of that in two days and there is still so much more to see in Cairo. Sorry I couldn’t go into much detail but it would take forever to write it all out it. Again I pray that you are all doing well back in the states. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. More pictures are finally uploaded so check them out. Finally, my next blog entry probably won’t be until next Monday or Tuesday. This Thursday we are traveling to the Sinai Peninsula and hiking Mount Sinai and then swimming and snorkeling in the Red Sea. So I hope you all have a great week.

Love, Scott