Final Escape

I'm close.

I'm terribly close to being through with this entire adventure, and I'm left feeling all sorts of different things in the pit of my chest, the epicenter of some crazy hurricane. There was a Hurricane Alex a month or so ago, right? Wouldn't be suprised if it had been influanced by events here someplace between my lungs and heart.

Tough, in a word, is how life is now.

Politically speaking, things could hardly get worse here in the West Bank. I had the opportunity to spend this last weekend in Palestine's two largest cities: Ramalla and Nablis, traveling with my HLT group and visiting several NGOs and similar organizations along the way. At each, we heard a similar story of general decay of economic viability, the increasing possibility of the West Bank being split in several places by Settler-Only roads, The Wall, and et cetera, and that essentially the only thing for me to do that is helpful as a so-called International is to spread the word. Refugee camps bursting at the seems after 60 years, an ineffective and compliant government that doesn't get anything done... I don't have enough heart for all that's happening here. For all that's happening in my life in general.

And here, in the midst of all this confusion, I've been getting more and more struck by a particular theological question (It's been a while since I've posted on one of these!). It occurred to me actually in jest after we had visited Hebron last week, after I was reminded once more by someone how all that the Jews are doing is being done in the name of God. All politics aside, I respond that I surely wouldn't want to be serving a God that condoned the purposeful and systematic oppression, killing, and disrespect of an entire ethnic group...and then I had to pause. And...oh wait.

Deuteronomy 2:31-36 (NIV)

 ³¹ The LORD said to me, "See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land."
 ³² When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, ³³ the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. ³⁴ At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed ^[c] them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. ³⁵ But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. ³⁶ From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them

This is merely a single example. From what I recollect of my readings through this part of the Bible, there were many such instances as Israel was establishing itself in the Promised Land.

I've heard repeatedly over and over, God is a God of justice[Leviticus 19:15 , John 5:30 , Acts 3:14]. He wants us to care for the downtrodden, the poor in spirit, those who are overlooked[Luke 4:16-21]. God is Love [1st John 4:8]. Neither the Jews nor the Gentiles are above one another [Romans 3:9-19].

How does this go together exactly? Here, I seem to be confronted with the fact that, if the Jews only are referring to the Torah and most of the OT (or is it all of it? I can't recall all that they considered Holy Writ), then they would seem to have ample support for what they seem to be doing today. (Granted, many Israelis are not acting explicitly or with the mentality that they are doing anything for God, but some are) And yet, there is plenty of support for God not wanting to advocate the wan-ton killing of entire peoples. (Not that this is exactly what's going on here either, but still.)  

I find myself conflicted....

... and that I'm leaving for home in 8 days.

Totally weird.

Eventually I'll have more pictures up, it's just an entirely laborious process overhere...

Salaam.

Rockupation

Hey all,

Sorry for the lapse in communication. This week has been more difficult because my volunteer placement actually decided to use me, significantly chewing into my time to blog! How dare they! As I've mentioned before, the folks back in my home stay are essentially addicted to Facebook online poker; a point of endless frustration. They're actually leaving to visit family in Honduras and America in less than a week (August 2nd), which will mean me and Trey will have the house to ourselves! Block party! Hahaha... it'll actually be pretty sweet. We're definitely going to miss our host father, but not our host mama! Terrible, I know, but that's life in the West Bank.

In many respects, it's actually been a pretty difficult week, and I thank God for getting me through it. I found out last week that I didn't get into my intended major at the UW: Human Centered Design and Engineering. Huge letdown. I suppose this topic is outside the context of this blog, but it matters, it has impacted me. Last year I found out right I had been rejected by engineering literally a day before leaving to help with a camp for children and their families who have cancer (Camp Side-by-Side)... I don't know if this is any better save for my maturity in Christ and my long-term-understanding.

Don't get me wrong, I was distraught. If it hadn't been for the mercies of His People around me, several e-mails and a phone conversation, it would have been much more difficult than it was. I'm already considering a couple other directions for my life, but honestly, it's all in His hands regardless. He keeps closing some very specific doors on purpose which leads me to imagine there's something headed my way I simply can't anticipate...

Partly in response to the above, I've really dedicated myself to making the most of the time I have left here. These final 15 days...and interpreting for myself what that means. Part of what that's looking like right now is to really be not only reading scripture for personal assurance and growth, but to study it. Spending some decent time following a collection of lessons compiled by a professor at Union College in 1894 that really directs an array of important concepts...and provides ooodles of passage references. If anyone is interested, I could send you one of the lessons. Maybe I'll include one on here eventually...

Essentially, I can no longer ignore the significance of ignorance. Biblical ignorance. This conflict swirling about me is essentially based on assertions of Biblical authority, or at least, from the Torah. For goodness sake, settlers are attacking children in the name of honoring God! How can this result from anything but profound ignorance, when combined with the evil naturally present in all our hearts? How can this be tolerated except by a people ignorant of Christ's passion for the downtrodden?

Anywho, enough ranting for today. Hopefully all is well wherever it may be that you are reading this. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Impressions of Egypt

Positives:

(+) Incredibly cheap food. The average full course meal (including complementary lemonade, dessert, at very special price!) ran me about 6 bucks.
(+) Incredibly cheap accommodations. 4 bucks a night, yeah baby!
(+) Generally beautiful vistas. Particularly due to the ocean.
(+) Fabulous environment, however touristy it really was (Think: something out of Disney Land but real)
(+) Totally killer bonding time
(+) The Ocean. / The Red Sea (same difference if Saudi Arabia wasn't in the way! Most the time you couldn't see it through the dusty haze, so it's a moot point)
(+) Frequency of showers concerning me increasing about 7-fold
(+) Getting to be shirtless for basically 5 days straight
(+) Being completely removed from the conflict in Israel








Negatives:

(-) Constantly being harassed by the hordes of shop and restaurant owners hanging in the street, which at any given time just about outnumbered everyone else there.
(-) Non-potable tap water
(-) Bathrooms without toilet paper...that is to say, every single bathroom in the Sinai.
(-) Having sweat pouring down my face...while I'm doing nothing but standing. The heat was cuh-RA-zy. (And A/C was quite noticeably absent from the entirety of Dahab)
(-) "ugly days"
(-) What amounted to a bureaucratic nightmare on the part of the Egyptian Government...or lack thereof.

It's good to be back, though. =)

Travel Plans and Etc

Half way done.

Yikes!!! Where does time go? Is there a big ole hole somewhere it all gets sucked into? Gosh dang...

This is a quick one for lack of sleep time.

I'll be traveling to the Siani Penensula for about 4 nights starting tomorrow... it's going to be awesome. We've just hit some major free time since we're between sessions of the Holy Land Trust (which also means there's a bunch of folks leaving which is totally sad!). There's 7 of us trekking out into the wilderness, should be awesome. I'll be sure to take plenty of good pics. ;) Might be outta blog-contact for a while, just as a heads up.

God's Peace be with all of you!

Happy Day-After American Diplomatic Immunity Day

[As written 7/5/2010 11:55am (+2 GMT)]

[Note: Anyone interested in seeing better quality photos or to comment on them, visit my Picasa album]

 

Wow.

An incredible weekend.

I mean, seriously. If you could measure a time by the quantity of pictures one takes, well… I think I took about 200 pics. I feel tempted to overuse the word "breathtaking" to the point that I'd basically be admitting to suffocation.

Our group from Holy Land Trust had for us a weekend-long adventure through the northern bits of Israel and Palestine, giving us our first opportunity this whole trip to really be “tourists.”

Here’s what our weekend’s itinerary looked like:

 Bethlehem --> Jordan “River” --> Sea of Galilee (Including a boat-ride! Complete with Titanic soundtrack) --> Capernaum à Mount of the Beattitudes -->  The Golan Heights --> Haifa --> Mt. Carmel --> Caesarea (Beach on the Mediterranean) --> McDonalds --> Bethlehem

Now that I’ve just written that out, aswell as cross-check with my map, the prospect of describing all these places seems like an overwhelming task! How about bullet-points and pictures? Ya’ll good with that?

Jordan “River”

• Pathetically small, ever since the Israelies have been pumping out more and more water from the Galilee and creating dams and such, there really isn’t all that much to this water-way anymore. BUT, there’s this “Baptismal Location” you can visit (as we did… felt like they were – dare I say it – marketing baptism. It was  honestly disgusting… get your photo while being baptized! Get your bottle of “Holy River Water!” Get your samples of holy dirt, holy oil, holy smokes! Felt like overturning some tables…) There was a place you could stick your feet in the water, and these fish would eat off your dead skin. Totally exfoliating.

Sea of Galilee

From Deputation

• Small wonder they called it a Sea! Seriously, the most vast body of fresh water I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t even see the farthest end of it! We took a boat to the otherside, ate some horrifically overpriced fish (“Jesus Fish”… the “same fish” that Jesus ate. So I gained like, 200 Spirit Points).

Capernaum

• Now, a Tourist Trap. It was pretty alright, had some sweet reconstructed ruins. A massive Aloe-Vera plant thing that seriously looked alien. Someone made a comment about it being a giant venus fly-trap. Ironic, visit the West Bank, get killed by a plant.

From Deputation

Mount of the Beattitudes.

• Traditionally believed to be the location where Jesus preached His sermon on the mount [Mathew 5-7]. I actually was just reading through that passage, so to be able to put a place to the words: ridiculous. The view of the Sea from there is breathtaking. The church there is also pretty alright, lotsa nuns. More gift shops.

The Golan Heights

[multiple pictures, coming soon]

• !!!!!!!!!!!
• Stunning.
• We spent the night here in a hostel, in this small town up by the border with Syria… I’ve never seen anything like it. The Mountains literally all around, a view down into Israel like nothing else… ending up playing soccer with some kids and Trey and Eric (another HLT participant)… sunset like nothing ever…
• Me and Trey both firmly belive we’d come back to this place… it was also the only place I’d say we got to more than simply “taste” for half an hour, like most the other places listed here.

Hafia

• Most industrialized city in Israel.
• Nuclear Power Plants --> totally sweet [photo coming soon]
• Ba’hi Gardens  O_O
• Mount Carmel

Mount Carmel

From Deputation

From Deputation

• Neither sticky nor sweet, yet had a killer view
• Place where Elija did some awesome stuff
• Spetacular view of the Meditterean and the Ba’ai Gardens
• Ice Cream Truck

Caesarea
 

From Deputation

• Beach on the Meditteren
• Were only there for 30 minutes… =(
• Ancient Roman aquaduct right there on the water! Poor choice building on the Sand, silly Romans. Should have visited the Mount of the Beatitudes first…
• Got my jeans pretty soaked, Trey and several others decided to strip down and jump in (Skivvies only…or, as Jenny our Brittish friend would say: Pants only)
• Never getting time at the beach = a piece of my heart never getting satisfied. Right next to the part of my heart that never get peanut butter or bacon or mashed potatoes or tacos or milk or OJ or cerial…..

McDonalds

• Our single act of patriotism. Supporting Cooperate American Supremacy. I opted for for the chicken sandwich from the 10-Sheckle Menu. Total Rip-off. Trey got a Big Mac ™ . Paid for it later.

Oh geez….  *takes big breath*

That’s a lot of stuff, there.

Infused amongst it all, and almost more importantly… I had ample time to reflect while on the bus when I wasn’t socializing.

Praying a ton, reading… and really feeling God working in me about patience and judging others… to unpack this statement completely would take more than what I’ve already said… suffice it to say, there’s some interesting characters on this trip. And my heart, being full, in some respects cannot wait to get home, or to someplace where I don’t have to be on edge. And being patient to let this time do it’s work is key… but I’m starting to miss home. The green forests. The deep blue bodies of water where-ever I turn in Seattle. The Music, oh… the music. The Friends. The Lady… it’s rough.  And honestly, there are times where if I could, I’d teleport right over there from here. And then I have to tell myself:

no. This is where I need to be. If I keep looking forward, I’ll miss the significance of the right-now.

And keep telling myself.

And get to my host-home, and feel so completely the opposite of “at home”… almost the exact antithesis. To be tired regardless of how much I sleep.

It is trying to my soul, but I know it must be true: that I’ll be better for this. I’ll be stronger. I’ll have a better understanding of myself, and how stinky I can get. Of who I want to be, and who He wants me to be. Of me. For me. Through me.

Honestly, politics aside, people just need to be loved. That’s all I see here, when it comes down to it…. Everywhere. And we’re all just so stubborn and reluctant to do so…

Christ, preserve me. Uplift my spirit, encourage me and Trey. May Your peace soak us in this thoroughly dusty land…

Shotgun- Update

I've made my frist visit to an Internet Cafe here... got super tired of trying to cut in edgewise with my host parent's addiction to Internet Poker (On Facebook no less, thank you Zynga). So I'll keep this farily quick, some highlights.

Interesting Wildlife:
-- Horse at/in the ATM
-- JUMPING spider!! O_O (In my bedroom!!)
-- Goats in the street

Interesting Places
-- East Jerusalem, turns out this place is actually technically one of the Israeli settlements. Comprises several settlements, in fact. Where the Israeli appartment complexes end and the Palistinian neighborhoods begin, no more sidewalks, nice streets, fountains, publicly servicable dumpsters, or watered lawns, or decent busses or schools. These particuar folks have Israeli citezenship and pay taxes just like the rest of the Israelis....
-- The "Bethlehem Meusem." $2 USD to see 8 rooms from 18th century homes. Totally a tourist trap, but sweet. According to Trey, we lost major street cred.
-- The Wall Lounge. A Restraunt here in Bethlehem with a projector screen attached directly to The Wall... interesting way of protest (?) or attempting to make light of the situation(?), great place to watch USA lose in the World Cup  >.<

Interesting Happenings
-- Someone in the group has started a Bible Study on Wednesday afternoons to compensate for our total inability to go to church because we're always traveling on Sunday. Should be awesome, there seems to be about 8 of us interested. =)  Finally get some serious spiritual time in! It's been so difficult always sneaking it in the cracks in my schedule... in the morning... when I have a moment during Volunteer time, et cetera... That's honestly been one of the most difficult things for me is really staying connected with Christ. Be praying for me in this regard... my heart is full. My spirit grows tired...

Mas Salaame, sadiiqi (Go with Peace, my friend) -- I don't know how to make this plural yet! Maybe I'll ask in Arabic class today...

Little trouble in Big Bethlehem

There’s been a recent grumbling amongst certain unnamable followers of this blog that some of you may be wondering what my daily schedule is.



Consider yourself lucky, that I have a moment while “on the job” ;)

Typically, each morning begins at about 7:30am with me literally peeling myself out from amongst my sweaty bed-sheets (I know, mega-gross. The nights are rather toasty here…) Shortly following, after I’ve already “put myself together” I usually have to remind Trey that breakfast will be soon (Promptly at 8am) and as we both know at this point, to miss a meal seems to be quite the offense to our host family. (Their generosity and overbearing hospitality does have it’s dark side…)

Breakfast has consistently consisted of pita with a wide selection of “dips” including amazingly fresh hummus, homemade marmalade, olive-oil, thyme mixed with sesame seeds, fried (or hard-boiled) eggs, and this white chunky stuff the two of us generally avoid. And always, as with every meal, it’s served with sweet tea with fresh mint.

Yeah. Elaborate. But awesome.

From there, I walk or bus into Bethlehem where my volunteer job is. (Doing all sorts of different things, actually… I stuffed envelopes the other day. Fixed a computer. Typed a bunch of stuff into better English, etc etc... Cool people though when they're around. There's also a few pianos there, and I'm definitely taking time out of my day to practice music. =)). Sometimes I even might get lost and wander around downtown for a hot-hour (Christie, that’s for you! ;) ) struggling in the heat and hills until about 5 taxi drivers converge and “help” me find where the place is...but it’s not like that really happens, I mean, it could. Probably. ;) Volunteering officially is from 9am to 2pm.

Between 2pm and 3pm, I have time to travel to the Bethlehem Bible College, maybe chill a bit, who knows. Arabic lessons at the college from 3 – 5, and then after that, the schedule is different for each day. Yesterday, for example, we learned some of a traditional Palestinian folk dance called Dabkeh. (Pretty awesome, I might say). Tomorrow we have some “football” and BBQ going on with the team.

That’s the typical day. ;)   All kinds of adventures, mishaps, and thinking about my girl back home (^_^) are typically thrown in-between for variety, I can assure you. Like trying to get a “burger” at 9pm two nights ago when me and Trey were starving. 40 minutes later… ughhh…. We finally got our "food". I don’t even really feel like talking about it. And how when we got back to our host family, they were upset with us because they’d saved us dinner food in an obscure metal dish hidden among all the other pans… SO frustrating! >.<

Anywho, I suppose I should get back to work!

Take care, all of you. Your thoughts and prayers on constantly appreciated! Shokran! (Thank You!) It makes it a little easier to be so far and away from everything I know, regardless of how exciting it is to be over here… a faint amount of home-sickness started to settle in my heart this morning… you guys really are helpful in that respect.

Hope you’re holding things together back home ;)

Mas salaama!