"Squeeze the World"

Well, the internet has been down in my apartment for almost five days now, and it's driving me crazy! The only way I've been able to access my email and news has been by bringing my laptop over to the Village to use their internet. But at least I can do that. On Sunday, a pastor from Virginia was visiting and gave the message. It was nice to hear a sermon in English! A couple of guys there have been helping interpret, but it's so different hearing from the actual speaker. I talked with him for a while after the service and also had lunch with him and the pastor's family. Erin left for the airport Sunday morning, and has arrived safely home. It will be quiet around here without her, but I'm managing alright. I really wish I knew Arabic so I could communicate with everyone better. I've been receiving so many encouraging emails, and it's been wonderful. Thank you everyone for all your support, it makes each day more bearable.

The past few days have been fairly quiet in Nazareth. We've had a couple tours at the Village, making a nice break from the intense cleaning sessions earlier this week. Today was Erin's last there, so everyone gave her a royal goodbye. They are so sweet!

A few hours ago, we heard some booms in the distance. Turns out some rockets hit between Nazareth and Afula, but it doesn't sound like they caused much damage. Hope you are all having lovely weeks!

So, this is quite possibly the closest I've been to a US Secretary of State before. Not sure how much good it'll do, but it's something worth noting.

We did more cleaning today and it looks like we'll be doing more tomorrow, too. I'm getting a little better with the doll clothes, but I need to redo a few bits. Also, I've been invited to an Arab wedding next month, which will be really cool. They seem like pretty big affairs.

After leaving the village, we ventured downtown. Unlike the cities of Haifa and Tiberias, who are recieving multiple strikes a day, Nazareth is still as active as ever, minus tourist busses. The road etiquette here is exceptionally atrocious. It's more likely for someone to get killed in a traffic accident than by a terrorist attack, but I guess that's common for most countries. The worst culprits are the bikers, who will pass huge busses on narrow single-lane roads. Most cars pull out without checking behind them because they figure that the people coming from behind will stop for them. Even better is the parking: it is an artform to park in a spot which appears smaller than your vehicle. We had to walk into the street several times in order to get back onto the sidewalk. Anyway, it was pretty exciting, and we broke a few pedestrian etiquette rules in retaliation, though we were much more cautious than they.

Oy vey. I just got back from working another day in the village. We scrubbed the synagogue today- it was a lot of work, but it still looks dirty. I guess that if it looked clean it wouldn't be very authentic. Most of the tour groups for this week cancelled because of the bombs and fighting, but one did come, so Erin and I got dressed into our costumes and sat at the well. Another girl from the village also came and showed us the fig tree. It was the first time I had had a fresh fig, and I enjoyed it much better than the dried ones I've had before. We also helped the seamstress with her doll clothes that sell in the Gift Shop (they are adorable), so it's been a full day!

We got back into Nazareth yesterday, and had lunch with the Pastor of the Nazarene church and his family. I played some futbol with his younger kids under the hot sun- though it isn't quite as hot as it is back in Washington!

I have decided that since I have extra time on this Saturday afternoon, that I shall begin describing my situation at the Nazareth apartment. So, the apartment is rented from a Hospital which has a convenient distance from the Village. In fact, the proximity is so convenient that we are serenaded by the Village's donkey several times throughout the day.
We have two bedrooms, each with two beds, and a living room area, as well as three half-bathrooms (not one and a half bathrooms). Our kitchen is smallish, but two people can stand inside and both be useful, though three would be pushing it. We have a gas stove, which I am very excited about, and the other appliances in which a kitchen should be outfitted.
The city of Nazareth enjoys at least one wedding a night, all taking advantage of the acoustics provided by the hilly disposition of the land and featuring fireworks. There is also a youth camp just down the hill which plays techno in the morning. Also down the hill is a street crowded with stores and their entrepeneurs. Here you can buy cheap pita and chocolate milk as well as olive wood crosses and keychains. Overall, the city is lively and fun, with rarely a boring moment.

Well, we're up at a friend's house, enjoying their beautiful location and view of the Galilee. Today we made bread and sushi for the Sabbath meal, and it turned out great. It's been nice and relaxing, and it's nice to get out of the city for a bit. Hope everything's going well back home, remember that only you can prevent forest fires.

Nazareth suffered its first Katyusha hits today. We heard them right after we had changed out of our 1st Century costumes at Nazareth Village. Directly after we left, we located the nearest bomb shelter for future reference. Thankfully, we already had made plans to spend a few nights out of town in a small village. Everything's settling down again in Nazareth, but we'll be staying indoors for the rest of the evening.

The last few days have proven to be quite interesting around here. That is not to say that we've had any uninteresting days, but this is in a different way altogether. Today I came to the realization that I am at an advantage since I never had a specific vision when I set out to the Holy Land. If I had had one, it would have been horribly inaccurate, or if it was accurate, I may have stayed behind. As it is, I'm having a completely life-changing experience as I find myself living along a war zone. Last night, my room-mate and I were talking and heard two bangs which did not sound like fireworks. After frantically reloading the Haaretz webisite several times, we found out that a Katyusha landed in Nazareth Illit (Illit means Upper), a largely Jewish city not far from here. Actually, Nazareth and Nazareth Illit (which shall henceforth be refered to as NI) have great resemblance to Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. For example, both have large populations but NI has a mall, while Nazareth does not.
The atmosphere of the area is also changing. The tours at Nazareth Village are being cancelled regularly, and the workers there are starting to listen to the radio more, though they do not laugh less.
I don't want anyone to worry about me, unless it motivates you to pray, because I still need those. My thanks to everyone and your emails, your support touches me so much. I only wish I could express how much.

Today we went to visit a Messianic Congregation, and loved it! The music, atmosphere and message were all great! There were translators for English, Hebrew, Arabic and Russian and the service began with directions to their bomb shelter. After the service, we went to Mount Carmel where Elijah called down fire from heaven. It looked much different than I had expected. It was covered in olive trees and extremely rocky. It was while we studied the Scripture there that we found out that Tiberias had been struck. Things are tense, but a chapter that the Pastor shared this morning summed it up well:

Psalm 121


I lift up my eyes to the hills --
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip --
He who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, He who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you --
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm --
He will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forever more.


This has so much more meaning to it now than it did before. First off, I've never been in a situation quite so extreme as this before, but also I've seen evidence of this throughout my touring and experience with the culture. I am so glad to be here.

This is just a post to let everyone know I'm still alive. Yeah, everything's pretty close, but so far the only explosions I've heard are the fireworks from weddings. All night. I planned on writing out a whole description of Nazareth life, but that will need to wait until I am more awake. I had a wonderful Shabbat dinner tonight and will be visiting a Messianic congregation in the morning as well as Mount Caramel.

I finally have pictures up! It's been a difficult and frusterating process, but here they are: http://wealhtheow.googlepages.com/israelpictures

Hopefully I will develop a better set-up, but this will do for now.

For Sunday, we went to the Arab church I might be helping, and, though we had an interpreter, we were confused a majority of the time. It was good fun. Afterwards, we went to the Valley Jezreel, more popularly known as the Valley of Armageddon. We saw the mountain where Elijah spent a great deal of time and raised a boy back to life, and went to the Springs of Harod, where Gideon divided his forces. It's now a popular park for people to lounge and smoke narguila. We played frisbee golf instead. Then we saw Beit She'an, some of the best preserved Roman ruins anywhere. There was an ampitheater, temple, public latrine and baths in recognizable condition. One area was only recently excavated, and we found a handful of Roman Glass. Then we went back and watched the World Cup game in a pizzaria. Let it be known that I knew Italy would win and rooted for them the entire time.

We even saw scattered Italian flags the next day (Arabs get way into their futball) as we traveled around to north Galilee. We saw the Mount of Beatitudes and the beach nearby where Jesus confronted Peter after the resurrection. We also saw Peter's house and the ruins of Capernum. The Roman Catholic Cathedral looked like a spaceship hovering over Peter's house, and the Greek Orthodox church (which commemorated the same place) a few hundred meters away was the same color as Pepto Bismol and looked like sherbert. One of the coolest sites was Nimrod's Fortress, a huge structure looking over Golan Heights. It was well preserved with great rooms and arrow slits, but a few hallways held bat colonies. The wind up there felt great after our long trip in the sun. We also visited Banias-the headwaters of the Jordan River, and Coffee Anan. Coffee Anan means "coffee in the clouds" and is a play on the name of a UN official. It has an old Israeli bunker and overlooks Damascus and the Lebanese border. Now (two days later) there's some activity in the area, so I'm glad I got to see it when I did.

The next day was my 19th Birthday and orientation day at Nazareth Village. Afterwards, we walked through some of old Nazareth and saw the Basilica of the Annunciation. For dinner, we went to a Bedioun settlement for an entertaining (and tasty) meal. I had my first and last sip of Turkish coffee, but their tea was very nice.

Today was the first day of work at the Village, and they did their best to exhaust us. I have done very little with animals, other than pet and wrestle dogs or cats, but today I got to shear sheep. And since they wanted it in view of the tourists, we also had to drag it across the village before wrestling and tying it down. Then we had the actual work of shearing with first century style clips. Needless to say, I am exhausted and really should sleep. Good night.

On Friday, we walked along the fortress walls that divide the city. Then we walked below the Temple Mount where the cleansing rituals took place and got a general layout of the temple. We also went to Caiaphas's house, where Jesus was questioned the night before his crucification. The stairs and cellar are well preserved, and you can see the courtyard in which Peter denied Jesus three times.

The rest of the day was for shopping the in the shuk. This was a lot of fun, and it was so funny talking to the shopkeepers. They all speak English, but they have strange ideas when it comes to persuading customers. I tried explaining to one that "who wants to spend money?" did not appeal to me, but it only confused him more. One of the best I heard was "I love you. I love you more if you buy more."

The next day, we left Jerusalem and drove south to the Dead Sea. Our first stop was Qumran- the site of the Hayad sect, the Jewish priests who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. It's also possible that John the Baptist came through there, but that's only speculation. The next stop was one that I had been anticipating for a while: Masada. This huge fortress is in the middle of absolute nowhere and is so hot. It took so much work to build this thing, especially since it was Herod's and he required an abundance of baths and pools, and columns for his palace. The remains of the Roman camps still surround the fortress where they camped out for two years.

Then we went to the falls of Ein Gedi, where David hid from Saul. It was beautiful, and the hike to the top falls was well worth it. We saw ibex everywhere and several caves, any of which may have been David's hiding place. Just down the road was a swimming area where we floated in the sea. Definitely one of the strangest sensations. I got a tiny drop in my eye when I tried to roll over, and it stung for a good five minutes. We didn't find mud anywhere, except on the rock where someone laid out a package. I grabbed a small glob, and it felt all silky and slimy. After getting the salt off us, we drove up to Nazareth.

So, my first introduction to Israeli culture was an ice coffee in the Tel Aviv airport. Since I hadn't slept since the Seattle-London flight, a bit of caffeine was a pleasant boost. They aren't much different from granitas, and they are everywhere here. After loading the bags, we drove immediately to Jerusalem. The hostel we stayed in was across the street from the last bit of Herod's huge palace. The actual hostel was in the same location as his guest home. It's amazing how small Old City Jerusalem is for all the history it holds.

We walked down to a tourist center called "City of David" where they give a great layout of how the city looked during David's reign and how he captured it from the Jebusites. We walked through the same water tunnels Joab used to penetrate the city, and had a glimpse at Hezekiah's tunnel. Afterwards, we visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was quite an eye-opener, especially since I'm used to reading about Corrie ten Boon, and the rest of the "righteous gentiles," and I hadn't known just how much persecution Jews have endured from Christianity over time, from both Catholics and Protestants. I wish I had been more awake for this since halfway through I had to concentrate more on staying upright than what I was seeing.

After a much needed sleep, we went to the top of Mt. Olives and we all had camel rides. Good fun, though not exactly comfortable. We had a great view of the city from there, and it was a great observation point to discuss the temple. We then walked back to the city through the Kidron Valley, which is much more shallow than in Bible times. As we passed through the valley, the many mosques of Jerusalem were all calling their devout to prayer. The songs echoing through the valley made quite an effect as I saw all the monuments of history around me.

Upon our entry to the city, we walked along the Via Deloresa and visited several cathedrals of interesting origins, such as St. Mary's resting place, and the point where St. Veronica wiped Jesus' brow. St. Anne's Cathedral really was amazing, though. It's completely unsymmetrical, yet has survived many periods of capture and uses. Also, it has the best acoustics I have ever heard.

The Garden Tomb was a great stop, just what a religious historical site should be. Run by a non-denominational group, our guide merely laid out the facts and descriptions given in scripture and showed us how they could apply to that area. And, even if it isn't the actual site, they've uncovered the third largest water cistern in Jerusalem and an impressive wine-press from the first century. It was a huge contrast to the Holy Sepulcher, which we visited immediately afterward.

This is another prospective claim of Jesus' crucification and burial, but it greatly lacked the facts given by the Garden Tomb. Nevertheless, it is claimed the first most holy site of Christiandom. It is predominately Greek Orthodox, though there are chapels for other sects, which has caused more than a few problems over time. For example, above the door from the main courtyard sits a ladder that has rested there for over a century. Someone went to fix a window once, and it sparked a huge argument as a different sect felt that their space was being intruded upon. I stood in line with Brian to enter the tomb (everyone else wanted to sit) but the priest at the entrance wouldn't let us in because I had too much arm showing and he wore shorts. We went back the next day and I wore long shorts and a tank top, covering my arms with a long scarf. He gave me a cloak to wrap around my legs and let us through.

What really touched me was the Western Wall. I'm used to the americanized Jews back home, and I really cannot connect to the flocks of Orthodox Jews on the street, especially when they cover their eyes so they can avoid seeing us. But to see young girls so much like the ones I've prayed over at Lost Lake Camp for so many years and to see the same reverence on their faces, as well as the old women clinging to the stones of the wall, the intense emotion really hit me. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to spend there since we had an appointment to walk along the wall, under the Muslim Quarter. It is so amazing how many layers of history are preserved in such a small area.

I didn't have internet access nearly as soon as I expected, but I plan on fixing that as soon as possible. Here's one that I wrote while I was bored on the plane, and the rest should be soon to follow:

I am typing this while still on the plane, just passing over the Sea of Crete. It is not even dark back home, and kids are probably lighting smoke bombs in the street to torture the neighbor's dogs.

It's been a crazy time so far. Our first flight from Seattle was delayed for an hour because the lights had no power and we couldn't board. I sat next to a lady heading for Munich, I'm sure she and her grandchildren have gotten there by now, for we passed it several hours ago.

Once we finally left Heathrow airport, Brian, Erin and I took the tube into London. In the same car were some very entertaining ladies and a darling little girl. However, the train ahead of us had electrical difficulties (notice a pattern?) and we were stuck in the dark for a good ten minutes. We switched lines and suddenly hit the rush, so we surfaced and rode a double decker bus until we reached Westminster. We walked around the Cathedral for a while, but we really only had an hour of free time. It was amazing to look at the various paintings and carvings while a chorus of "Hail Mary, blessed and..." echoed through the walls.

We walked around the area some more and couldn't figure out where we were until we came across Victoria Station, where my mom and I had been exceptionally lost about six years ago. Then we had to take the long trip back to the airport.

There are several Orthodox Jews onboard, and I don't think the woman next to me speaks any English. I felt a little sheepish pulling out a workbook that has large, colorful words advertising "Learn Hebrew in 10 minutes a Day!" It is a very good workbook, but I wish the cover was a little more subtle.

We're supposed to land in less than an hour, and hopefully I'll be able to find an open network in order to post this. God bless you all, I already miss you.