Today was a quieter day. We walked to worship at Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala. The congregation is small but full of children. They sang during the offering, a very familiar song, Seek Ye First. What a wonderful sound in Arabic. We followed with the singing of the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic. It is amazing to be in a different time and place and feel so close to our own worship.
Lutheran Church of the Reformation
After worship we were invited to family’s homes for lunch. The Palestinians expect you to stay all day and often invite you for the night. A short visit of three hours was not enough for them but that was all we could manage with the schedule set up for us. We heard of how it takes 18 checkpoints to get to Jordan from here and we heard it takes 5 for a worker to get to Jerusalem for work each day (up to three hours each way).
We found that women here are highly educated but are low on the totem pole in terms of advancement and salaries. The family we visited has 8 daughters, seven have masters or PhD degrees but most are in low paying jobs. They are often disappointed at lack of employment and at least three of them are working overseas. They wish they could work here though.
We spent a brief time in Bethlehem Square, next to the Church of the Nativity, taking in the local scenery. Elaine bought, guess what, a nativity set.
Then we arrived at a Palestinian Tourism reception and each of us received one more as a gift. Now we have three to bring home. The reception was to build and encourage us to support tourism in Palestine as well as Israel. For every dollar we spend in the Holy Land, only 5% ends up in Palestine. Even though some countries’ travel websites discourage people from staying in the West Bank, Bethlehem and Jericho are safe sites and are certainly worth the visit. Many countries, not including Canada, now acknowledge this.
- Church of the Nativity
Part of our itinerary tomorrow is to visit Lutheran Schools, plant olive trees next to the security wall and meet with the Canadian Consulate officials. It should be an opportunity to express our concerns about the situation and Canada’s response to it.
Peace
Elaine and Rick
