Arrival in Egypt

   Jeremy and I departed Nairobi at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday and arrived in Cairo at 2:30 a.m. on Friday. We exchanged enough money to pay for the taxi to get us to the hotel. A large tour group was departing the hotel as we arrived, so we had to wait for them to do some cleaning before we could get into our room. It was nearly 4:30 before we finally got to bed.

   My purpose for going to Cairo was to meet a young man that I had been studying with on the internet for a few months. Since I’m publishing this report, plus putting it on my blog on the internet, I will not use his true name. We will only use his nickname, Totti, which is the name of one of his favorite soccer players. Totti had completed two Bible correspondence courses and had many more questions that he wanted answered. He is not allowed to own a Bible, so he has to read the scriptures on the internet. He had expressed his desire to be baptized for the remission of his sins, but he had been unable to find anyone in Cairo who could or would baptize him. His father is a radical Muslim and had warned that if he tried to convert to Christianity that he would have him killed.  Totti believes that his father is that extreme and would carry out the threat if he knew of his interest in following Jesus.  Several of us had the desire of assisting Totti in obeying the gospel and agreed that whoever could get to him first would assist with the baptism.

   The evening before we arrived, Don Patton had arrived in Cairo with a tour group that he was leading. Totti was able to meet them at their hotel and Don baptized him in the hotel’s swimming pool.   Problems began for Totti almost immediately after his baptism. The Americans were going to their rooms for sleep, but Totti had to walk to the subway in his wet clothes. The security man at the hotel stopped him and started questioning him about why he was at the hotel, why he had been with the Americans, and why his clothes were wet. Totti was in strong fear that he would be turned over to the police and questioned further, but he was eventually released.

   We had previously made the arrangement that he would meet me at my hotel at 10:00 a.m.  He didn’t show up at 10:00, so I waited and waited.  The clock passed 12:00 and then 2:00 and then 4:00.  With the passing of each hour, I was getting more and more concerned for his well being. I checked his Facebook page, knowing that he normally gets on the internet many times each day, but saw that he had not been online for the past twelve hours. I was really starting to get concerned. I started sending e-mails to anyone who might know of his whereabouts.  I got an e-mail from Don, telling me about the run-in with the security officer, so that made me even more concerned.  Finally, at about 6:00 p.m., Totti contacted us at the hotel. He had been in bed all day with a fever. Walking home in the wet clothes had made him sick.  He was very apologetic for not keeping the appointment and asked if he could come to the hotel at that hour.  We were so relieved to know that he was okay and it was a joy to spend the evening with him.

   Our four days together were most enjoyable. I had taken Totti some books, but he was too scared to keep them.  He held them like a child with a toy and would clutch them to his chest and say, “Oh, I wish I could keep these.” He was especially interested in Daily Bible Reader by Don Bassett and the book on The Early Church by Ferrell Jenkins. He said he just couldn’t take the risk of being caught with these books.  I agreed to type certain sections of these books into our private messages and he could study them in our e-mails.

   Sunday was one of the most emotional days that I’ve experienced for a long, long time. We had a good Bible study and I showed him a small video on crucifixion. We talked about one member being a Christian and several Christians can comprise a church. We talked about the items of worship and prepared ourselves to partake of the Lord’s supper. When Totti broke the bread and started eating it, he broke into tears. He kept repeating, “I just can’t imagine why he would want to die for me.” His emotions were so strong that we had to pause for a few minutes between the bread and the juice. The saddest words of the day were when he said, “But next week I won’t be able to do this because I don’t have another Christian to meet with.”

   We were able to spend some good quality time with each other. He would come with a new list of questions each day. We were able to visit the pyramids together one day and take a small ride down the Nile on another day. It was very hard to say good-bye to him. We stood beside the Nile River and embraced each other. His departing words were, “Please come again and please pray for me daily.” I encourage all of you to lift his name to the Father, too.