Global Urban Trek 2007
August 13, 2007
 Back in Chicago (Cairo-Mokattam): "The faith of the poor that I've seen this summer has blown me away. Consistently, faithfully, we heard them pray for signs and wonders and miracles—things that we in the "rational" Western world don't really believe still happen."
 Not the Same Anymore (Mexico City): "I can't worship in the same way anymore, can't sing about God's kingdom covering the earth without praying at the same time that his justice will be done in Mexico."
 Ryan's Stories (Mexico City): "There's something terribly wrong when girls like Lupita and their brothers are unable to see their fathers for years at a time."
August 3, 2007
 New Beginnings (Lima): "Everyone who stood came to kneel in the front of the sanctuary as our directors came around with anointing oil and prayer. "
 Love (Dhaka): "I didn't think I'd actually end up loving anyone on this trip. I was supposed to, but the idea of loving someone, really loving someone by the end of four weeks just seemed crazy. And then I met Nasima."
 Contrasts (Phnom Penh): "What exactly does simplicity look like back home? Does it mean ... living like a hermit? Or would it fall under the category of carefully budgeting and being conscious of where my money goes? Does it mean passing up that extra chai-latte? "
 Celebration (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: End of the summer celebration at SCDP: a Sudanese song.
 The Chicken Dance (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: At the end of the trek, the Cairo-Sudanese team taught their friends the chicken dance, of all things.
August 2, 2007
 Good-bye, Not Forever (Kolkata): "This summer has taught me how to love better, how to be in solidarity with the poor, encouraged me to minister to the poor, and live a life full of love, mercy, and grace."
 Mount Sinai (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video : During their mid-trek retreat, the Cairo-Sudanese team hiked Mount Sinai - a beautiful and quiet place, far from the bustle of the big city.
 Painting a Classroom (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: Painting a classroom with Cindy, Krista, Jen and Rachel, in the Oregon State colors.
August 1, 2007
What Can I Give? (Phnom Penh): Getting out of Cambodia is as easy for Rachel as flashing her American passport. All that for being born in the right place at the right time...
 Rachel and Ruth (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: Short (22 second) clip showing Ruth and Rachel at the Sudanese school.
July 31, 2007
 Dragons and Hokey Pokey (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: Reba talks about teaching Sudanese children, and overcoming cultural barriers in the classroom.
 Schoolhouse Stories (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: Ben shows us the classroom in which he's been teaching Sudanese children for the past month.
 Homestays and Hospitality (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: Rachel shares her experiences with the overwhelming hospitality of the Sudanese.
July 30, 2007
 Wrapping Up (Lima): "The experiences we are taking away are profoundly affecting our identities, life plans, and understanding of who God is and how He operates."
Clay in the Potter's Hand (Dhaka): "God refuses to allow me to squander the life He has given to me. He loves me with such an everlasting love that He would choose to ... break me and begin to remake me into a vessel worthy of His glory."
 Crossing the Street (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video : Who ever thought that crossing the street could be such an adventure?
 Thoughts on Teaching (Cairo-Sudanese) - Video: Jesse shares his experience from this summer, teaching Sudanese children.
July 27, 2007
A Mother and a Daughter (Kolkata): "I keep having a hard time believing I will be leaving so soon for my heart is not ready to leave the poorest of the poor. But one thing I have gained from them is strength."
July 26, 2007
Cleaning House (Cairo-Mokattam): "These creatures were no run-of-the-mill spiders. They were seriously a new species—gigantic, with bodies the size of marbles and long, hairy legs that spanned the length of a small child's hand. "
July 25, 2007
 Visiting the Leprosy Community (Bangkok) - Video: Walking around the Leprosy Community and visiting with one Family ... corresponding with the Bangkok journal entry "Being Blessed by Lepers" (below, July 23).
The Service of Being (Phnom Penh): "By sitting with [these children] for hours, I am telling them that they are worth my time. I am helping to restore at least a bit of the dignity that years of poverty and neglect have eroded from their lives."
July 24, 2007
 Markets and Streets (Bangkok) - Video: Crowded markets and busy streets in Bangkok. Here's what it really looks and sounds like.
 "Like Totally Mexican": "When we first arrived in our community it looked so unfamiliar, almost like another planet, but now it's where we live. It's hard to imagine what it will be like to go home and what contrasts we'll become aware of only then."
What if the Bible Were True? (Dhaka): "God wants to socialize me anew into Kingdom culture, and the way that happens is by forming relationships with the poor that will change our hearts and lead to souls won for Christ."
July 23, 2007
 Sights and Sounds, part 1 (Sudanese Team) - Video: Ben kicks off a tour of the neighborhood with a stop at a local Egyptian pizza place...
Revealing Hope (Kolkata): "In my time of sadness, I was reminded of Christ's words, 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.' As I released my despair and confusion to Jesus, I found abundant release."
 Being Blessed by Lepers (Bangkok): "He was a faithful leader – a preacher in the church, yet was still plagued by a disease I can never imagine having."
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made? (Dhaka): "I can't even begin to imagine what a woman who has lived here her whole life might feel, or how her self-confidence or self-image might be affected."
July 20, 2007
 Jonah and the Whale - Video: The Bangkok team teaches the children the story of Jonah, in English and Thai, with drama and song.
July 19, 2007
Suiting Up for War (Dhaka) : "We [need] open spiritual eyes. Because when we allow ourselves to become blinded, the Enemy takes full advantage. He has no compassion. He does everything in his power to separate us from the love of Christ."
 Visits (Lima): "The Puerto Ricans were with us for four days. We were expecting more Latin American culture and got a little slice of the United States instead! This gave us a glimpse into how reverse culture shock might affect us when we return home."
July 18, 2007
Pictures are coming in, from ...
 Bangkok!
 Phnom Penh!
 Cairo!
(Sudanese Team)
Afraid of Forgetting (Cairo-Mokattam) : "I'm afraid that once my feet are clean of Mokattam's dust, I'm going to forget the grimy hands we shook and how hard we smiled when it reeked the most. Are there going to be real changes in my life?"
Where True Hope Lies (Phnom Penh): "After three weeks in a place of oppression and suffering, I have begun to learn that it takes a very strong heart to identify where true hope lies. Yes, suffering and sin are prevalent—but God is here as well. "
July 17, 2007
'Somos Iguales' (Mexico City): "But this is exactly what my family says all the time -- we aren't rich or poor, just somewhere in the middle -- and the contrast is staggering. I don't think I'll ever be able to say it again. "
Compassion Gets Personal (Bangkok): "Immediately after the first spoon emptied, tears began filling my eyes. I was somewhere between cursing God's name and praising it for the simple lesson he was teaching me in that moment."
 Last Week, part 1 (Cairo-Sudanese) : "Though my clothes should be my last worry when serving the poor, I knew the stronghold vanity had on me and realized that acknowledging my vanity is just not enough."
 Last Week, part 2 (Cairo-Sudanese) : "I am beginning to realize how I am accountable for the way my country behaves, and, with our Amos study, I am also seeing the need for us, as Americans, to repent for the sins of our nation as a whole."
July 16, 2007
 The Chicken Man and the Gas Truck (Mexico City): "It was amazing to hear their passion for transforming their community, the ideas they have to do it, and the ways that the missionaries here have helped to facilitate their work and make it possible."
July 13, 2007
Mine, Mine, Mine (Phnom Penh): "A guilty pleasure of mine is to retreat to my room and have my time for my space...Deep inside, I still fear what it might mean for me to live without the 'my'."
July 12, 2007
 First Week in Cairo continued (Mokattam Team) - Video: The Cairo-Mokattam team shares more sights and smells of their ministry, while waiting to build a little more trust in the Garbage village before filming the main work there.
 Playing Games with Children (Bangkok) - Video : Team Bangkok plays Duck Duck Goose with the children, sings some songs in Thai and English, and more.
A Place Like No Other (Kolkata): "It could be so easy for us to come to a place like Kolkata, be changed, and return to our material comforts and eventually say very little about these people who suffer each day."
Ripple Impact (Cairo-Mokattam): "... he says when he tells them that we're here to serve the community, it gets the people here to start thinking about how they themselves can serve their community."
July 11, 2007
 First Week in Cairo (Mokattam Team) - Video: Barnabus Lin, Video Blogger for the Mokattam team, checks in with sights and sounds from the team's first week in Cairo.
Immersion (Cairo-Mokattam) : "Today we saw a tour group walk through the village—the men holding their camcorders and covering their noses, the women wearing huge visors and grimacing while they tried to wave away the smell. Several people even wore surgical masks."
 Weaver's Mountain (Lima) : "Some designs use the usual two needles, but others require five! The women have learned their craft from their mothers, passed on from generation to generation for hundreds of years."
July 10, 2007
 Wrapping Up the First Week (Sudanese Team) - Video: Ben offers some concluding thoughts on the team's first week in Cairo.
Snapshots (Mexico City): "He told me that young white girls like me are more valuable than people like him, and it wasn't an accusation as much as an observation on the society he sees around him."
July 9, 2007
 Streets of Cairo (Sudanese Team) - Video: Crystal, clearly enjoying a cup of freshly-squeezed mango juice, tells us about navigating a busy city, with little command of Arabic.
Suffering (Dhaka): "Suffering is making me selfish, ugly, and probably a bother to be around. This is not a suffering in which one can boast. It seems silly to ask, but how does one suffer better? Suffer differently?"
The Poor Cry Too (Cairo-Mokattam): "It was just too much to hear this woman blessing us in her tear-stained state. As she spoke, she continually kissed our hands and fanned us with a board, while she herself sat covered in flies."
July 6, 2007
What "incarnational" really means (Bangkok): "The next thing I know, they all gathered around me, laid their hands on me, and prayed for me. It was by a people who are rejected and ridiculed by society."
Experiencing Flooding in Kolkata: "Thankfully we were saved by an old man who chose to lead us to our place when we had to go the opposite direction ... The water on the streets contains many things dangerous to our health."
July 5, 2007
Greetings from Lima: "Ours is a ministry of presence. We visit various sites and learn from the people living there. We seek to hear their stories more than share our own, to 'be' instead of do."
 Beautiful Days (Mexico City): "Yesterday was the first time that I felt like I was fully myself in Mexico, lying on the couch and listening to the rain, chatting with my teammates about Christian dating."
 One thing I've learned about myself (Cairo-Mokattam): "Here's the honest truth: a lot of us toughed this week out only because we've been telling ourselves that eventually we'd be back home in AC, eventually we'd get that pizza we've been craving, eventually we'd be back checking Facebook."
July 4, 2007
Out and about in Cairo (Sudanese Team): Tiffany Yang checks in with the first journal entry, a collage of a few entries from Orientation week to first days in Egypt.
July 3, 2007
Servants vs. Servanthood (Dhaka): "And then shame began to creep up at the fact that I was not pursuing the noble goal of servanthood, but rather the luxury of service."
 Three new videos today, from two different countries. Is the Trek great or what?
Team Bangkok checks in (video)
Meet the team ... street scenes and sounds ...
Our new digs (video--team Cairo-Sudanese) A look around the apartment, and out the window.
Travel Stories (Cairo-Sudanese) Jake from Michigan State tells how the team got from Los Angeles to Cairo.
July 2, 2007
 Into the Slums (Bangkok):
"I was further angered as I realized those those women were someone's daughter, and perhaps someone's sister or mother...."
Greetings from Thailand!: "I'm excited to see how God's going to speak to me here at orientation and when we go off to our ministry sites. For once, I feel I am in a place extremely close to God's heart..."
June 30, 2007
Down and Dirty in Phnom Penh: "Life here has not been convenient, but it has been good. I have been learning that to find a deep, true joy, you sometimes have to get a little dirty, or be a little inconvenienced."
June 29, 2007
 Happy to Be Here (Mexico City): "remittances from the U.S. are often the difference between a cardboard shack and ... a small home made out of concrete blocks that keeps out the wind and the rain. So now I don't know."
June 28, 2007
Inhaling Kolkata: "It is the people that continue to drive my heart to tears, especially at night when I see where they make their home on the streets.
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