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March 2023
Our dear friends,
We know that many of you have been praying with us especially for the annual Cairo International Book Fair. We are so grateful for your ongoing support! Despite our fears that the terrible financial crisis would discourage attendance (as our local currency has lost half its value in half a year), the four massive halls at the exhibition center were packed full. In fact, 3.6 million visitors came to the Middle East’s largest and oldest bookfair this year!
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Along with 25 other Christian publishers scattered throughout the grounds, the Bible Society received hundreds of visitors each day. As always, our special Bookfair offer of a New Testament for just 5 EGP (16 cents) attracted many. Please pray for the 1,552 people who purchased this NT during the fair, many who are unfamiliar with the Scriptures. A woman came with her son and opened a Bible to the Sermon on the Mount and started reading to him. “These are the wonderful teachings I was telling you about,” she said, and then bought a Bible for him. Pray also for 1,584 people who took advantage of a special offer to get a complete Bible, and for the thousands of others who purchased a total of 15,695 Scripture units during these 2 weeks.
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Another parent was overheard saying to her child, “Here in this booth, I assure you it is safe to buy whichever product you choose.” As with our bookshops, people see the Bible Society as a reliable place to ask questions about faith. Like the young woman who told our salesman “I’ve been reading the Bible regularly for three years, using the Bible Society app on my phone… I read a lot about Trinity and now I love Jesus and have a close relationship with Him, but I am confused about the role of the Holy Spirit in my life.” We are grateful for this space and opportunity to have such discussions.
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People of all backgrounds came to our booth specially to get their free Bible verse, as Ayman our calligrapher was again available to write verses in this beautiful script… over 500 of them!
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We were again able to encourage further Bible engagement during the bookfair by promoting daily Bible Competitions on 2 of our Apps. For prizes, 10 daily winners each won a 200 EGP discount on any of our products. While the top 24 winners using our Bible App for children won a free tour of Bible World! We enjoyed celebrating all the winners, taking photos and affirming their success and interest in studying the Bible. People had a lot of fun with the picture frames!
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We were extremely proud to have our brand-new Bible App, “Everyday Bible,” ready for launch as well. This is one of the best Scripture applications worldwide, with easy navigation and helpful features that Bible readers have requested. In less than a month, over 150,000 chapters have been opened, with an astounding average of 35 minutes/session!!! Please pray for our team as they continue to develop and expand our digital presence and platforms, in order to make God’s Word electronically accessible to all. Click here to watch the Bible App demo.
Along with the Bookfair outreach, our mid-year break was very busy with several other exciting activities, as we finish up our Christmas Distribution, hold Bible Study Training Conferences, and officially launched our Mobile Bible World in Upper Egypt! We Thank God for all of these wonderful opportunities, and promise to send another update in the next weeks to share about these programs. We are so thankful for your prayers and support, as you partner with us to provide God’s Word in Egypt.
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With warm greetings,
Amir Elhamy
General Director
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