October, 2011

Written by Saeko Nishiwaki

How I met my Egyptian husband

In 1973 when I was 20 years old, on the flight to Egypt, I met my belated Coptic Egyptian husband, Samuel. I travelled to Egypt with my high school geography teacher and my friend.

During my flight to Egypt, I just simply asked Samuel, who was a flight attendant at that time, about hotel reservations in Cairo and Bombay. Not only did he welcome us at Bombay airport on our way back from Egypt, he also organised the hotel and sightseeing tours for us.

I was already surprised with all his kindness, not only that, my husband made a marriage proposal to me during our sightseeing tour.

It was something out of mind because we were just still acquaintances at that time. Therefore, I clearly refused his marriage proposal.

Eventhough Samuel was a honest, kind and an active man. He was also handsome just like a main actor of a western movie, I had never thought about marrying a foreigner.

I thought even if I did fall in love with someone I was still a university student and marriage would be in the far future.

Moreover, international marriage at that time was very rare and I thought that Egypt was an Arab developing country that seemed not safe for me to live in. I felt my parents would also be against it.Furthermore, the language, the food, the religion and culture is very different. I thought generally speaking, no one would accept living there.

Marriage to my husband

Although in all these circumstances, one month later I married my husband. I left my university and went to Egypt. There was no one who wasn't surprised with what I did.

God's divine plan is amazing. If I graduated from university I would have become an English teacher. I was studying studiously. However, God's divine plan and purpose for my life was completely different from what I had expected. "If it is God's will, the impossible will be possible because God will work to make it possible." That was what my husband believed in.

In Bombay when I declined my husband's marriage proposal, in his sadness, he went to a church and he consulted with a priest. The priest said "If she leaves you, let her go. That means that this is not the wife that God has chosen for you. That's why don't run after her. But, if she comes to you that will be God's will. So, just pray now and wait for God's answer." My husband prayed at that church. He was feeling hopeless because the next day I was planning to leave Bombay.Then something unexpected thing happened. The next morning, I had a severe diarehea and I became unconscious and collapsed. My friend was shocked and I wanted to call a doctor so she ran to my husband's hotel room. I became infected from the water in Bombay and I had an inflammation of my intestines. That day I could not move and our flight via Thailand was extended to another day.My husband understood this incident was a message from God. Since that, even I refused many times his marriage proposal he would not give up. After that, he asked to meet my parents.When I went back to Japan, I thought that I would at least try to speak to my parents about it. My parents became angry and threatened that they would no longer accept me as their daughter if I married. Eventhough my parents thought like that, they miraculously attended my wedding to Samuel and blessed our marriage. My parents ended up liking my husband because they thought he was a cheerful and a reliable person. My Baptism It was necessary for me to get baptised inorder to be married under the church. Originally to get baptised it would be necessary to study about the church until one would understand the meaning of baptism. Due to the fact that we were in a hurry to get married, we could get special permission to get baptised in a short period of time. However, at that time I completely did not understand the meaning of a Christian wedding and baptism. I simply just thought it was just a ceremony. I was baptised just like a child was baptised. Eventhough I was in that level of little faith, through my marriage, I have changed and became a person who believes in God. My life in Egypt At the start of my marriage, I was not interested in the church. I was just only accompaning my husband to church. The holy liturgy was in Arabic and Coptic, also the sermons were also in Arabic, therefore, I could not understand anything. I was just waiting for the long prayers to end soon. After some time later, I suffered from unexpected illnesses such as typhoid, liver infection, gastritis and pregnancy complications. In the midst of my painful illnesses, I wanted to recover soon. I wanted to be saved from my sickness. I started to pray to Jesus to be healed and I became a person of prayer.It is stated in the Bible how Jesus rose the dead to life, opened the eyes of the blind and healed sick people from their illnesses one after the next. Furthermore, it is said that whatever you pray in the name of Jesus, the prayer will be answered. I prayed to Jesus and Jesus healed me from all my sickness. Miracles in Egypt I was happy that there were many opportunities where I could hear about miracles that were experienced by visitors and monks who had come to visit my family. In Egypt, the appearances of the Virgin Mary was often. There were many people who had witnessed seeing by their own eyes, the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. My parents-in-law were one of them. When the Virgin Mary, the Holy Mother of God, appeared there were accounts where people were healed from their sickness. Moreover, a child was miraculously uninjured after falling from the third floor. The Coptic Christians in Egypt had a very strong faith, many people experienced a miracle performed by God in their life. My mother-in-law also faced death many times but God had saved her every time. She was a very affectionate and kind person who loved to pray. I was blessed to have three daughters in Egypt. My mother-in-law was a good Christian role model for my daughters and I. In my faults, she would be very tolerant and understanding to me. She liked to teach hymns and say spiritual stories to my daughters. Even when my husband and I argued with eachother, she comforted me by telling me that in heaven the loving and forgiving angel would win over the righteous angel in God's judgement. Through the 14 years of living in Egypt, I had received spiritual blessings and graces. Move to Australia My family and I immigrated to Australia when I was 35 years old.. I understood later that this was also part of God's divine plan for me.In 1988, the time when we immigrated to Australia, there were many other Coptic Egyptians who had also immigrated and lived in Sydney and Melbourne. Therefore, there were many Coptic Orthodox churches in those areas. The city that my family and I settled in was the Gold Coast, where there were a few Coptic Egyptians. For this reason, we were given an opportunity to serve the Coptic Orthodox church. Twenty years later around 100 Coptic Orthodox church members are on the Gold Coast. I can not help but to praise God for the greatness and fruit of His works. Presently Three yeas ago my husband passed. For this reason away. I have come back to Japan to look after my elderly mother who usually lives on her own. I would like the Japanese people to know about Jesus' love and salvation. I usually write about my expereinces with God in my life and also essays and poems which are read by people who are close to me. I would be happy if my writings or testimony would be of little help or comfort to anyone. Glory be to God forever. I