A letter from Carol Dolezal-Ng in Lebanon
December 9, 2008
Greetings as we wait for the miracle of the Christ child.
I have just returned from Lebanon and the Near East School of Theology, and I write you on my way home from the Association of Presbyterian Mission Pastor’s conference in Louisville. I’ve been traveling afar and a lot! Perhaps it’s my traveling that has drawn me to the story of the Magi. As a visual learner, the path of the Magi didn’t make much sense to me until now. From my travels to the Middle East, I now comprehend the amazing journey for the Magi, traveling from Persia, today’s Iran, toward Bethlehem.
Truly the journey of the Magi helps illustrate our journey toward Christ. It’s long; takes time not of our own design; holds risk; and is unknown and uncertain. But in the act of taking the journey there is faith.
In addition to visiting NEST, I visit people throughout the United States to share what I have experienced. My “travel” could be through a visit to a church to share photos and stories, it could be through a phone call or email, or through my Mission Connections letter. During my travels I think often of NEST students past, present and future, who are from Lebanon, Syria, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Palestine. They have traveled to and fro and are still on their journey, and above all, they keep the life and witness of Christ alive in their homelands.
Last year I talked with Anna, a NEST student from Aleppo, Syria, and a member of the Armenian Union of Evangelical Churches in the Near East. She was completing her bachelor’s degree in Christian Education and preparing for graduation in June. I asked her what it’s like to study at NEST, and she said, “It is very personal so you get affected. It touches your heart. Theology is very different from any other subject. It affects your relationship with God and the people and the way you look at your life.
“Just this month,” added Anna, “I thought, ‘I’m finishing and I don’t know anything!’” She told about entering NEST’s library and feeling the enormity of all the books and writings and said, “There are lots of things to read and lots of things to know and it’s an endless journey.”
Indeed it is! When I returned to NEST this fall, Anna had graduated and is now working toward her Master’s of Divinity. She is married to Hadi, also a NEST graduate, who teaches Old Testament at NEST while completing his Ph.D.
Anna and Hadi were married this summer in Damascus, Syria.
Hadi believes the Old Testament is misunderstood and misused and thus abandoned by many Arab Christians. His passion is to help future pastors and Christian educators understand and deal with these important texts in a better way. This is NEST’s dream: to continue adding to its faculty outstanding scholars from the region, like Hadi. Hadi also serves as the pastor at National Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Minyara, one of our partner churches, with Anna by his side. Anna and Hadi are an amazing gift from and to NEST. Their union is one of love and Christian service; and their continued journey is one that will richly bless all they meet and further glorify God.
Meeting followers of Jesus like Anna and Hadi helps me explore my own faith. As I follow my call to help find partners for the NEST, I am often challenged and find things very difficult. My work is lonely as I am separated geographically from NEST except for my visits a couple times a year. So I find I must surrender to the silence and listen for God’s leading. In that silence wonderful things happen, and I am taken in new directions. I feel tugs at the most unique times, hear a voice from within, and know the Holy Spirit is working through me. I find friends who support my work and who walk with me on my journey and lift me up when I am seeking God’s will. I am grateful to all who have supported me, and I thank God for this chance to serve as a mission co-worker.
I’m grateful that I don’t have to travel as far as the Magi did to see Christ. Wherever I go, I see Christ in the faces and actions of people in awesome ways. I ask you continue to travel with me in my work with NEST. As we think about the gifts of the Magi, please consider a gift to NEST. Consider the gifts being given by NEST throughout the world, and consider what gifts you might share in return. Prayer, donations, sharing the story and the ministry of NEST or introducing it to others—one or all of these are gifts at your disposal, and they’re much needed and appreciated.
May God richly bless you and yours this Christmas and throughout the year, and may your journey continue to show you the light, the truth, and the way of the miraculous Christ child, born so that we may have endless journeys.
Salaam and Merry Christmas!
Carol
