October 2004

Dear Friends,

Our mission, yours and mine, is to reach out, get to know the people among whom we live, to get involved in their lives, and to share Christ’s message and His love.

My Scottish friend, a former nurse now working with refugee programs for the UN, was intimately involved today when she found herself helping a refugee woman deliver her baby on a sidewalk in downtown Cairo. After the baby was safely born, she got a wonderful taxi driver and took the woman, her husband, and her new baby to our hospital, where they were given the needed care. My friend then found me in the new activity room in our geriatric unit. There we had tea while she “caught her breath” and shared her story. I later went and introduced myself to the couple as the woman was lying comfortably in our maternity ward. They saw my friend as God’s gift to them in the time of their need.

On Saturday, I went to the Anglican church where the medical clinic for refugees is located. I found their request to be legitimate. Thanks to some of you who have given contributions for just such instances, I was able to call and tell her husband that if he met me at the hospital I could give him what she needed. The joy on his face was immense when he met me the next day.

I find it easy to get involved in the joys and pains of young adults when I teach English at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral one evening a week. My advanced students are university graduates who need more proficiency in the English language to get the jobs they want. One young man brought his fiancée to class and invited me to their wedding. Some friends are coming from the States next month and bringing gospel pamphlets in modern English, so I can use those in the class. We can have conversations about what they read and what it means. This is allowed since there are no Muslims in these classes. The only Bible in Arabic is one translated over 150 years ago.

Earlier this summer, I took a five-hour train trip to Assuit in Upper Egypt. This is where the Protestant Church started, and took a strong hold in the late 1800s. The First Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church sits in the midst of a poor area of the city. The congregation has responded to the needs of those around them by having a medical clinic six evenings a week. I found it busy, clean, well organized, and caring, meeting a real need for the people it serves. So I was happy when they asked if I would come back and do some training for their informally trained “nurses” on a few of my weekends. I am doing that this weekend.

One resident, who had been with us two months, seemed particularly to enjoy the increased socialization. However, she felt pressured by her family to go back to her apartment where she was living alone. When I visited her there, I found she could barely get around. She was confined to her apartment as she lives on the fourth floor and there is no elevator in her building. She was lonely and longing for company. I pray she may be able to work things out so she can come back and be in our social environment where she can feel caring again. Another resident, who spent the last year in her room, now comes every morning for tea and activities. We’ve gone on one outing to a garden although she did not go. I’m praying she will consent to come with us on our second outing next week.

Grace and Peace,

Emily Schornstein

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 318