FIRST STOP ON FIRST MISSIONARY TRIP - Egypt

After closing the gardening business in September of 1999, arrived in Egypt in September of 2000 to teach English at an Egyptian Christian school on the Suez Canal.  But we quickly found out that the director was a "snake", and when the people who sent us failed to inform us that we were going to be paid only about one-third of what we were told, we were in a big problem.   The people who sent us would not fix the problem, and we cried out to the Lord.  He told us He wanted us to go to Cairo!  No work in the middle of a muslim country, heading for Africa's largest city with no place to stay!  Wow!  Brand new to Africa and we were already in a situation!  He gave us the exact day - September 25th - my parent's anniversary - of 2000, which turned out to be precisely 3 days BEFORE THE START OF THE PALESTINIAN "INTIFADA" OR UPRISING!!!  Fortunately, we were already there, when we saw the eruption of the Egyptian anti-American, anti-Israel propaganda machine in print and on TV.  It was so thick, it is remarkable that anyone in that country could even think straight!

While sharing God's plan with someone over a soda after Sunday service, he inquired as to whether we had a place to stay, or whether we knew anyone.   When we told him no, he replied that he had friends there, and that he would take us the next day! The very night of September 25th Evelyn was ministering to an Egyptian couple.  And our very first full day in Cairo, Africa's largest city, on a Tuesday, we were ministering in an Egyptian church!!!   

Surprisingly, the Lord had unexpectedly turned a horrific situation into a GRAND OPEN DOOR!  And we were being driven from church to church to neighborhoods we knew not in order to minister to the people.  And the prophecy given us in Chicago, announcing our overseas trip, was being fulfilled - I had a microphone in my hand, and Evelyn was standing behind me!  Christian Egyptian services were like a funeral - even the women wore black, and were sobbing. They were desperate for God's TRUTH, and for PRAYER.  Shockingly, they began to line up AFTER THE SERVICE FOR INDIVIDUAL PRAYER!  It was exhausting. The Lord told me to let Evelyn take over praying for the people and He immediately gave her spiritual knowledge and insight as to how to pray for each person though we knew them not!!!   After that, the people all over clamored for Evelyn to pray over them!!  A wealthy Egyptian family even arranged one evening to have us driven to their residence for a meal and to pray over each one of the family members, while the driver waited for us outside.  When would this ever happen to us in America?!!  It was stunning to see how the Lord worked.  And we got a taste of how He does things and of HIS  GLORY !

We had stepped out, leaving a "job" on the Suez Canal,... and now people were coming up to us that we barely knew putting as much as $100 in our hand telling us that God wanted us to have that money!  It was more money than what we would have received had we stayed in Ismailia on the Suez Canal!  Eventually we discovered the serious errors within the Egyptian church (as evidenced by the fruit), and began to address them.  This was to the disliking of the "powers" that be, and persecution then began to set in. It was time to leave.

People back in America were pleading for us to come home, but God said that we were to head to Nigeria.  One problem - we did not have enough money to get to Nigeria!  There was this land mass called the Sahara Desert that stood in our way!  He showed us one young Egyptian couple.  The husband was a talented minister, a gifted youth minister. The Lord told us that they were to travel with us, and that He had a marvelous plan to one day take this family to Texas.  When I told the young man, he surprisingly gave me the nonchalant answer of "I know".  He already knew!  But he wasn't happy! Why? His wife opposed it! Welcome to reality. We sadly had to leave him.

I devised a plan to leave Egypt by bus to travel around the north of Africa, get to Morocco or somewhere to work to earn more bus fare in order to get to Nigeria. We got on a bus heading for Libya!  It was horrible. The men in Egypt smoke like chimneys and they like the windows closed!   We passed through Alexandria, and got to the Libyan border in the middle of a chilled night.   There was a problem when they recognized that we were Americans. They took us off the bus.  The Libyan border guards were not going to permit us entry into Libya.  Maybe they did us a favor.  Evelyn tried to sleep outside in the chilly conditions while I stood "guard".  Finally, around dawn some Libyans drove across the border from Egypt to do some paperwork and turned around.  They saw us and offered us a ride all the way back to Cairo for free of charge!  God works in mysterious ways.

Eventually, we found out that we could fly cheaper to Nigeria by taking an Ethiopian Airways flight through Ethiopia en route to Nigeria, and thus we were able to get to Nigeria the same way we decided to follow the Lord's lead into Cairo - WITH NO PLACE TO STAY!!!   And ironically, Ethiopia would feature prominently later on in our 2nd missionary trip in July of 2003!   Already, our first 4 months in Africa had shown itself to be very EVENTFUL!   There would be much more to follow!

Hear Ye! Hear ye! Photos from Egypt 2000 - 1st Mission trip ssion Trip

Arrived in Egypt September 2000 - Paul & Evelyn in front of Pyramids

More Pyramids

Live Camels

Me at the left bottom corner - Streets can be narrow in Cairo - Africa's largest city - and dirty. Notice lack of lawns and sidewalks, landscaping, etc.  People hang laundry from balconies.

Many live in apartments or "flats"!

Nile River in Cairo

Many Street corner stores.

Most of Egypt is desert. No trees.

City of northern Egypt.

 Beside cars.  Donkey carts everywhere!

OUR MISSION - 2012

OUR  MISSION

We have spent about 64 months in Africa on 2 separate trips, and have gone from Egypt to Nigeria, and from Ethiopia to Namibia.   We have seen very different parts from northern to western Africa, and from eastern to southern Africa.   We have seen a lot, and understand that the "story of Africa" is not being told sufficiently enough.   For most people, including the media, it is not on their 'radar screens'.   It is so sad.

We have been back since Sept. '07, fortunate enough to spend the last months of my mom's earthly sojourn with her into 2008.   But we are still on a 'mission', so to speak running to get help for the poor and needy in Africa, who are now our friends, whom we cannot forget and whom we must "not let down"!

Yet over 4 years have passed and we can hardly crack the thick wall of America's inward focus, selfishness, and greed (which ironically are some of the major reasons for its own problems!).   I also have a great burden for this country and want to see God move in this country once again.   We need REVIVAL.  God is ready, but people must begin to pray fervently continually, constantly, and "PRESS INTO" what God wants.   That also is not happening, and thus America continues to suffer, with its answers eluding her, though they are so attainable.   This is the "work" or "mission" which we have.   People must wake up; the status quo is not getting it done, and people can no longer ignore or turn a blind eye to the problems.   The times are serious.

Sadly, though, we have learned (from experience) not to tell church leaders that we are missionaries.   There's almost an instant "pullback" from us.   We may then get either the "quiet treatment", or just "lip service" from then on out.   It's sad, but it is also indicative of the state of current leadership in the church.   The American church is our other, and 3rd burden.

Remarkable things happened to us in Africa, but here people pretty much keep us and the needs of Africa at arms' length.   I realize that I am just giving you a rough sketch, leaving out the many details which would be the "mortar" to "cement" all these different "bricks" together.   It is said that less than 10% of American christian adults even have a "biblical worldview", etc.....   Thus, we avoid identifying ourselves as missionaries, preferring people to deal with us as "brothers and sisters".    And we continue to search for people who share God's vision (as clear as can be in the Bible) to help the less fortunate, with whom we can share our burden and maybe even be able to work with.   i was so blessed the other day, for example, when i met a couple (in a surprising venue) who actually was interested in hearing about Africa.   However, in over 4 years, we have found but a few who share the vision to help Africa.   Too many hide behind excuses.   How sad that the Wall St. protesters will take advantage of America's economic woes and use it as an "excuse" for destroying America, but NOT as a reason TO REACH OUT TO THE POOR IN AFRICA WHO ARE SUFFERING MUCH MORE!   Thus, people in America continue to suffer, and the poor and needy in Africa continue to suffer.  It is to "rent one's clothes" over, but that is the situation.

Thus, work we have plenty of.   And those in a position to allow us to do that work have by and large not opened the door to let us.   How do we explain that to those in Africa who can communicate with us their dire situation?  We are just 2 simple people who have come running for help.   But then God said, "No prophet is without honor, except in his own country."    And having seen how people react to us in Africa, we can attest to that.

This is the Lord's VISION HE is showing me for Africa (on today, Martin Luther King day, 1/16/2012): HELPING HANDS MINISTRY - an orphanage, a shelter (in Africa or USA) for rescuing teenage girls from sexual exploitation, a feeding center for the homeless, and a sports ministry. These all fit in with KEEN INTERESTS of mine, and the need for such a ministry can be found in the pages of our blogger.   We are willing to be "tent makers" while we focus on our work.    It is my wish that the poor and needy in Africa need not suffer and languish in sickness, poverty, and abuse while waiting for the Christians in America to help.  

This is to help you to understand, and is not meant to imply anything personally.   Correction may be needed in certain areas, but God is bountiful in MERCY, and so the emphasis should be constructive.   A "team" corrects its errors and focuses on becoming ever better.  Sport teams understand this concept, and we must also.   A team must pull together.

Paul Leonard