Most of us in our family seem to have had many adventures in our lives, but probably the Phenicie family would take the cake for being the most adventurous. Most of that has to do with the area of the world where they have worked and lived. Because of their involvement in the Middle East, we have had the privilege of visiting them in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Kurdistan and hopefully soon, Tunisia!
We have memories of the inner city of Beirut, beautifully decorated by Christmas lights the week of Christmas, picnicking with both the Lebanese church and the Kurdish people of Sulimaniya. (Regular picnics are a feature of life in the Middle East) We had delightful visits with many of your Lebanese friends in their homes. There are memories of when we had to have an interpreter to communicate with our Phenicie grandchildren as that was the only language they spoke. Other memories of speaking and teaching through interpretation in the Alliance churches and picking up pretty shells with my granddaughter on the white, sandy Mediterranean beaches. (I still have some of those shells!) Our bountiful meals in the homes of Arab pastors and friends will never be forgotten - hospitality is an art in the Middle East. Seeing all the Bible scenes as we travelled with you, Darrell and Cheryl - Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Beirut, the stony beach at Tyre, Byblos, one the world's most ancient cities, beautiful Amman with its many minerets, the ancient city of Damascus - these are engraved in our memories. Of course, the horrors of the explosive wars and dangerous situations in which you often lived, made us pray extra hard for you so many times! It seems as if most of your life has been an adventure, in many ways.
We were able to go to the States for your wedding at Simpson Church. That church had always been our furlough church, so it was especially fun to have the festivities take place there. Dad married you and your sisters were in your wedding as I remember and it was a joyous occasion for all of us. Then you went to south Jersey to do your home service in an Alliance church there. It was there too that your little baby was born - too soon - and she never made it into full life. We had to mourn with you from a distance. How often this happens in the life of a missionary! We did visit you briefly in your parsonage there.
We never saw your first apartment in Beirut, although you pointed out the area to us when we visited you later on. But we have memories of the chaotic conditions of Nathan's birth, there in that Beirut hospital in the midst of fierce fighting, a birth that was long and painful as you were in labor so long. The whole world was praying for you it seemed! Dr. King was on a trip and when he landed back in New York, the first news he heard was: The Phenicie baby has been born! I was on tour during the days of your labor in that hospital and I had to watch the horrible scenes of Beirut at war on the TV in people's homes every day! My tour partner very graciously offered to speak for me the night that Beirut was in a complete blackout and no news - everyone wondered what had happened. And all I could do was think of you laboring in that hospital! It would have been hard to speak publicly.
You moved up to Byblos and we did not see your home there, but we did visit the town with you years later on a visit with you. We saw the church where you attended and met the pastor. We also went over to where the bunker in a hillside was located, where you hid out when the shelling got very bad! It was from Byblos that you and Rachel, Cheryl, escaped to come back to us in Ft. Myers to have surgery. Darrell, you brought the two boys a little later, coming by the same escape route.
I think you went a couple times to stay on Cyprus to escape the hostilities in Labanon. From there you sent movies of your life there and the friends you made among the Christians. And finally you moved over to Jordan. We never visited you in Jordan, but we did make a trip there from Sidon during our time with you there. That was a memorable visit, we were there long enough to see lots and meet many people.
But soon after you were getting to the field, we were on our way back to Africa again and Mark was our only chick left in the nest. He was in eighth grade and we decided for the three of us to visit you in the Middle East. We rented rooms in the Jerusalem Alliance guest house. You met us at the airport when we landed in Israel - what a sight for sore eyes. This was after all that Beirut nightmare, Nathan was just a baby. The six of us had a wonderful touristic visit of the city of Jerusalem, as well as visiting Alliance missionaries, the Zieglers, in a little town outside of Jerusalem.
We stopped at all the Bible scene places in the city and went out to Gordon's Calvary, such a beautiful spot. Cheryl, you tied Nathan to your back as we always did in Africa, and how the women in the streets scolded you! They thought you were hurting Nathan! I am sure he was the last baby you carried that way, living with people in the Middle East!
Being invited to Sami's and Joy's house was always a delight when we visited you. They lived in that lovely terraced home overlooking the Mideterranean. So many memories of being there - the long tables set up with hors d'oeuvres and hot dishes, and steaks being cooking to order in the fireplace.....eating outside on the terrace in good weather, at little tables, again overlooking the Sea in the distance....boxes of fresh almonds being brought in and we sat at the tables after a meal cracking them and eating them.
There were also the wonderful picnics - a day out in the "bush" - with a group of young people and older ones from the church there. Attending the Hartebelany church and also Sami's church downtown. Speaking to the women's groups in all the churches as well. The Middle Easterners are always so hospitable and we were the recipients of all that graciousness, as your parents.
The trip we took together in your little European car was amazing!! You showed us Damascus and we stayed there in a nunnery. We also had breakfast at the home of a pastor and his wife ministering in a small Alliance church in southern Syria. In Amman, we stayed with the Hashweh's and enjoyed that so much. Some years later we entertained their family here in our home for a week when they were getting their daughter settled at TFC. The hospitality everywhere in the Middle East we found to be so warm and gracious.
Our few days in Aqaba were great too, staying in the makeshift guest quarters of a Protestant church on the northern end of town. The trip down there was amazing, past the Dead Sea, seeing Israel over on the other shore, waiting for camels to cross the road in front of us! In Aqaba, we did not have any ministry there at that time, but we had a fun tourist time. Going out in the glass bottom boat and swimming and sunning in the Sea. You both were always such wonderful hosts. That last visit we were there for Christmas and spent that with the family in Sidon.
Going into the men's coffee house and drinking those little cups of thin mud they call coffee. They even let you and me in Cheryl, but we sat over to the side. People followed us around eyeing us suspiciously. A UN man checked up on us, we visited friends in a small house with a garden. That was where they would call you to deliver babies - even at night. So many memories of that time with you in Sidon. I even had my birthday there and that is the year you all went together and got my lovely Sapphire jewelry. I was so surprised.
You took us down to the Israel border and we visited the Alliance orphanage there. We also went through a now unused prison where the enemy was kept in terrible conditions in past wars. We stopped for coffee and a snack in a high mountain village at a little coffee shop, and lo and behold the man had lived in the United States and was so glad to see us. This was in a town overlooking Israel to the south!
We have good memories of the year we both furloughed in the big city of Waynesboro! Our apartment was a short walk from your house. We had many fun times with you that year. Dad and I were both on tour, but we enjoyed the time together when we were home. It was also good to get to know your family, Darrell. The year we retired, we also visited you in a duplex there in Waynesboro. When you, Cheryl, went with Nathan for his surgery up north, we stayed with the other kids and enjoyed that time with them. I can remember staring at the TV with them by the hour as that was the big school massacre here in the U.S. Funny the things you remember!
Recently you received us so royally there in Kurdistan. What a terrific experience. The visit to Hallubja was amazing and sobering and very sad. So many people gassed. Horrible scenes of torture and torment. Visiting the pastor there, who has no legs as a result of that horror when he was a school boy of nine years old. (More about this visit in another post.)
And now next stop - Tunisia! Wow, can't wait!! Darrell and Cheryl, we may not remember every house you have ever lived in, but we do remember our fun times and sometimes sad times together. Seeing our grandchildren growing up in another culture was always interesting. One memory we have of that home in Sidon, was when your friends took us out to dinner by the seaside one night and their son and your kids stayed home. They had invented a fun game while we were enjoying our dinner by the sea - filling balloons with water and throwing them at people who walked below in the streets! We had been going through a very difficult time in Burkina about then and our visit with you was balm to our spirits. We returned home ready to face any situation!
Sounds like it has been quite an adventurous life! Hopefully lots more to come:)
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