When I first decided to join the missionaries to Africa, many thoughts came to my mind; I did not know exactly what to expect or what I can offer the people there with my very limited talents. I talked to Abouna Bishoy who encouraged me by telling me that going there is a great experience on its own.  To be honest, I just came to find out why our children love this place and what make them come back full of the Holy Spirit and the Light of Christ is clearly shining in them.

I was always wondering what is so different about this place that make people benefit so much spiritually.  It did not take me long to find out the secret.  As soon as you meet the people here, you feel the real joy and the real peace that is only given by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This joy and peace satisfy them and make them always happy. For us, our main focus is on the luxury of the world; we are very busy making a better life on earth and we are never satisfied with what we have. We never find time for our eternity. The people here are very poor, but they are never miserable, because they get their satisfaction from Jesus Christ Himself; they get the real joy and the real peace that we always search for, but it’s very hard for us to get because we are very busy in the world; we have no time to focus on God so that we can get filled of the Holy Spirit who satisfies us and fills our hearts with real joy and peace.

Last Sunday, we attended a Liturgy.  It was amazing to see the number of people attending; there were about five hundred attendees; more than three hundred people got baptized that day; it makes you so happy to see the love and happiness showing on everybody.  The spirit of the Lord was indeed filling the place.  We came here to reach out for people, but in reality, we are the ones who learned from them.  We saw the peace that Jesus Christ promised to give; the peace that nothing can take away from us, even if we don’t have food at the table to feed our children.  I learned how to trust in God and get my satisfaction from Him alone.  We all experienced the happiness that the world gives, which is only temporary and does not last for few minutes.  I pray that God can touch our hearts and give us the real joy, peace and satisfaction He is giving these people.

It is a wonderful experience and I thank God for giving us the opportunity to have.  Not only that we are growing spiritually, but we are also enjoying our fellowship together.  Mama Samira (jambo Samira) is taking very good care of us, she is in charge of the kitchen.  Baba Kanisa (Amin) and Magdy Ibrahim built the fence of the monastery, which coincides to Anba Boulos bible study about Nehemiah and building the walls of Jerusalem.  Baba Kanisa’s assistant (Peter Samaan) is very busy taking pictures and capturing every moment.

Filed under: Africa Winter 2006