Beit Jala And Church
This morning we were able to go to worship at Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala! There was a special youth brass group who provided a lot of the music as well as organ playing and singing plain old hymns. The service was bilingual in Arabic and English and my main take away from the pastor was the phrase, “Come and see; Go and tell.” Come and see the splendor of the Holy Land but also go back home and tell what you’ve seen. This is a Palestinian community under oppression from the Israeli government and you can feel that as you travel throughout the area. It is very important for the people here to be hospitable and welcoming, they were so gracious and kind to everyone who came in.
Lunch
so, I’m trying not to post so much about the food, but i can’t help it… `1. It is so good. 2. It is way healthier than in the United States, way less sugar. 3. Lunch today was unique. It was a traditional Palestinian meal called “Upside Down.” Lots of ingredients including rice are cooked together in a pot and then the chef comes out and literally dumps the pot upside down to create your meal. Check out the pictures in the video. We also got some dancing lessons in the traditional Palestinian dances.
The Shepherd’s Field
This afternoon, we went to what people call the Shepherd’s field in Beit Sahor (House of the night watchers/shepherds). There is a church on the site where it is thought the angels appeared to the shepherds to give them the news about Jesus’ birth.
Church of the Nativity
We ended our day going to the Church of the Nativity which is one of the spots that people think Jesus may have been born. We go to see three areas of the church dedicated to the Greek Orthodox, the Coptic Orthodox (I believe, I’ll fact check myself a little later!), and the Catholic Church. There was a grotto that we got to go down to get our pictures taken on the spot where it all began. Then, we toured the other part of the church dedicated to the Catholics and as we came out, there is a statue of St. Jerome in the courtyard. While there, i ran into Deacon John and Martha Lohrsdorfer from St. Basil in South Haven! The world really is pretty small!
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