The Pastor From Syria

Today we were invited to the home of Eyad Hijji, Pastor of the Anglican Episcopal Evangelical Church of St. John The Baptist in Al Husn.  How would you like to say that every time you answer the phone?

When we asked Eyad about their home country of Syria, he showed us pictures of his village on his computer.  The village was very beautiful and peaceful with trees, homes and clean streets.  Then the bombs started dropping and whole areas were almost completely destroyed.  It was heartbreaking.  We saw photos of buildings that were on fire, buildings that were collapsed and streets full of rubble.  Many people have been killed.

 Eyad and his wife came to Jordan about 12 years ago and now their passports are expiring and since there's no Syrian embassy here, they are really stuck.  They can't go anywhere.  It's like being in prison.  He's lucky to have a job.  He's planning to start a small kindergarten for children and we laughed when he told us about trying to get a license to run the school from the government.  His story is almost the same as ours--like a dog chasing his tail--going from one department to another, only his story is a lot longer than ours.  He's been working on it for months.