Living in Ecuador: Summer 2014

Check out the entire blog of my month long trip at: 

http://spiritscholarshipblog.blogspot.com

My Trip to the Holy Land: Spring Break 2014-Pt. 3

More Encounters! (Trip Journal March 13th) 

Hello all,

I am currently sitting on a bus heading from Nazareth to Jerusalem. It’s just past noon here and we’ve already had a great morning.

We woke up early today to go and see an Arch Bishop of Melkite Catholics that you may be familiar with named Elias Chacour (He’s written the books Blood Brothers, We Belong to the Land, and Blessed are the Peacemakers). He told us the story of 1 Kings 21. It’s an interesting story in the bible if you have the time to read it. It was basically putting an emphasis on how God does not want men to kill. He calls himself a walking contradiction. Words that describe him are a proud Palestinian, who is also Arabic, Christian, and a citizen of Israel.

Chacour preached to us on many things. I’m just going to list a few things that he talked about and if you have questions, I can answer them, or if you have more interest, I’d be happy to share more details.

The most important thing he started with was hope. He encouraged us to keep a smile of hope that shines from our heart through our face. Our course, hope is a major theme that all Palestinian leaders try to instill in their people during this time.

Another topic he touched on was the fact that when thinking about hate and conflict, we must look at towards God. Chacour said, “What have we done to each other? Each and every one of us have been born babies made in the likeness and image of God”. I think that is very powerful because it is a reminder to all that are discrimination against each other are learned and we are not born with them.

He reminded us that many years ago the Jewish people were seen as “Dirty Jews” by Western Cultures. Now, it is no longer the Jews, but rather the “Dirty Arabs”. I know this may seem harsh, but it’s true. It is more often then not that in the states we are fearful of Muslims and Arabs. We are fed that they are all terrorists and they are most likely the ones with bombs and that we need to be fearful of these kinds of people. I can say after six days of being here, I have not met one scary Muslim/Arab. They are all much more generous and kind then most Americans. I was guilty of believing these stereotypes and was fearful when I first arrived. I am not pointing fingers, but I am rather sharing that now that I have been here and seen what’s going on, I am more fearful of the Israeli forces and terrorist attacks. More murders from Israeli forces happened last night.

I was brought to tears when I heard a story of when Chacour went to a Native American Reserve in Oklahoma. He entered the reserve and was greeted my the tribe who gave him an eagle feather and said, “We understand your conflict Abuna Elias, for we are the Palestinians of the United States”. The chief of the tribe was relating to Chacour in the sense that they had lost their land and been forced into small areas as designated zones. Another comparison I heard was the swiss cheese example. Israeli’s have all the cheese with all the resources, which the Palestianians are shoved in all the holes of the cheese, reliant on the others and unable to get to other holes.

Religion has created discrimination in our society. There are the Orthodox Greeks, the Jews, the Catholics, the Lutherans, the Muslims, etc. Even the thing that is supposed to bring us together, through God, is separating us to some extent. The church here we visited is for all religions, races, and ages. It is a house of God, in which anyone who wants to come, will be accepted with open arms. It was uplifting to hear the lack of judgment and love for people in this church. Many churches are missing this.

Did you realize that there are 12-14 Million(yes, MILLION) Christians in the middle east. I didn’t even realize how many Christian brothers and sisters we had here. Yet, even with that we must remember that it is not just about the Christians, but Muslims, Jews, and all other people are children of God. Here in Israel, Jewish ID cards have a 01 while Palestinians have 02. There are not first rate and second rate citizens. None of us are God, therefore we are all equal under God. The common goal should be “unity through diversity”.

Another thing I was reminded of during this talk was the fact that Christians do not own a monopoly of good. Good comes from all races and religions. Muslims, Jews, Arabs, Blacks, atheists and so on, all do good. They are all making a difference in society.

The final take away should be, “We do not need to just learn together, we need to have a longer memory of when we all lived together in a common community”. Here is a picture of myself with Abuna:

After we met with Chacour, we saw the church of his town. It was a beautiful church that was completely donated from people and places from around the world. Of course, I have many pictures to share.

After this meeting we headed off the Jerusalem. It is about a two hour ride. During this ride, the weather turned for the worst. It got very cold and rainy, and to be honest we were all very unprepared in our clothing. It really distracted me from the sites we saw, but I am going to do my best to relay what I remember.

The first thing we saw in Jerusalem is the Mount of Olives. This is the hill that overlooks the entire city of Jerusalem. We all got an overview of the city and took several pictures. Here is one:

Again, it was rainy so it was hard to take pictures. We then walked to Church of Dominus Flevit. This is where Jesus wept in Luke 19:41. There was a pretty church and more ruins.

After this, we continued our walk in the rain to necropole. This is a large graveyard on the Mt. of Olives. It is traditionally the first place people will be risen when Revelation comes true (I think? It was really confusing). Anyways, we then went to the Garden of Gethsemane. You can read up on what this is in both Luke 22:39 and Matthew 26:36 as well as Mark 14:32. All three of these gospels tell the story which this place was dedicated to. There was a huge church(The Church of All Nations) built here as well which held the stone in which Jesus is believed to have prayed in agony on(Also called the Basilica of Our Lord’s Agony). Here is a picture of the stone and art on the wall:

In the garden itself, there are said to be olive trees that are as old as 2,000years, which infers that they were some of the same trees that Jesus himself walked near. Here is a picture of one of the Olive trees in the garden:

We then went to another look out view on the opposite side that viewed the Mount of Olives. This was very cool to see up the mount. Here we also saw ancient tombs of some leaders. One of them included the tomb of Zacharias ( the father of John the Baptist). Here is a picture of me and that tomb(The one that looks like a little house):

We then headed to the church of St. Peter. This was very interesting. This church is dedicated to basically everything that Peter did in the bible. From Jesus speaking to him about the keys to heaven in Matthew 16:19 to the betrayal of Jesus Christ. Here is a picture of the door to the church:

Inside, was a beautifully done church with wonderful murals and unique stained glass. Below, of course, were caves and ruins on which the church was built. These ruins were of the jail in which Jesus traditionally spent the night in before his death. We went into the room in which Jesus would have stayed in for the night and it was very sad. We read psalm 88:87, which was a psalm which Jesus probably would have remembered and said since psalm was usually one of the big ones that he prayed. Here is a picture of a further description:

After freezing our butts off, we finally headed to our new guest house. It is beautiful and definitely a room for queens. Look at the gold curtains!

And furthermore, the food is wonderful! Look at this meal! 

I am very tired and we have a big day ahead. Only two more days to enjoy the great sites, food, and culture!

I apologize for my journals being a little less descript. It is hard to explain a lot without pictures! I think a synopsis is better and I can give further explanations later!

I miss you all and hope the rest of your afternoon goes well! Goodnight.
Love,
Danni

The Day of Via Dolorosa (Trip Journal March 14th) 

Good afternoon everyone, 

I hope everyone is enjoying my journals. I know that I am getting more and more tired as I write them. Coming back with jet lag is going to be very difficult, I can tell that already! 

Tomorrow is our last day on the trip. Sunday morning, we will be leaving our guest house at 5AM and traveling on plane the entire day. If all goes well, I should arrive back to O'Hare around 6:30PM. Anyways, that means tomorrow is really the grand finale. I am sad to leave, but ready to share my adventures back home! 

I am completely exhausted. Today was the most intense day we've had yet, so I apologize ahead of time for typos and/or other sources helping to explain what we saw (I promise the pictures are still genuine though!).

Today began early with a great buffet breakfast here at the guesthouse. They ended up having some American delicacies such as Nutella and Tabasco hot sauce. We then were off to travel to The City of David. Here is some wikipedia information to sum up what that means ( I apologize for my laziness). 

The City of David (Hebrew: עיר דוד‎, Ir David; Arabic: مدينة داوود‎) is the Israeli name for the oldest settled neighborhood of Jerusalem and a major archaeological site. It is on a narrow ridge running south from the Temple Mount in the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem. It was a walled city in the Bronze Age and, according to tradition, it is the place where King David built his palace and established his capital. The City of David enjoyed the defensive advantages of its position by the Tyropoeon Valley to its west, since largely filled in; by the Hinnom valley to the south, and the Kidron Valley on the east.

Here, we viewed more ruins of the city (Yes, more ruins!).  But the coolest part was being able to walk through Warren's Shaft, which was the water system. We actually got to go underground and see where they dug out for the shaft and how the water comes in. It was really unique. 

After that, we went to the wailing wall (Otherwise known as the western wall).

 This is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard, and is arguably the most sacred site recognized by the Jewish faith outside of the Temple Mount itself.

It was a very crowded site because tonight the sabbath starts for the Jews. There were people coming here to pray and leave prayers. I left a prayer in the wall as well. It is important for the christians because it is said that an ancient temple was built there long ago that was ordered by God much before the wall was built. The Jewish people still believe this wall has the most significance for them. Here is a picture of me in front of the wall(And yes, the head garb is necessary). 

After that we headed towards Lions Gate and the Church of St. Anne. On our way, we ran into a protest. We were surprised to see that the streets were completely blocked off and the Israeli Soldiers were everywhere with guns. We found out that every friday, the israeli soldiers do not let any muslims into the temple to pray that are under the age of 45. Yes, if you are under 45, you are not allowed to pray in your mosque. Silent protesters chose to pray outside the blocked off areas and we did not see any violence (just a lot of pushing to get inside the mosque). Here is a picture of our wait before entering Lions Gate and you are able to see some of the police and blockades You can also see the lions on the wall, hence why it is called Lions Gate. 

Inside, we saw the Church of St. Anne. For those who don't know (Because I didn't), St. Anne is the Virgin Mary's mother. This church was very beautiful and had amazing acoustics. We sang a beautiful song just to hear how great they were. Here is a lovely statue in the church which I believe depicts St. Anne and Mary as a child: 

Nearby we also saw the Besthesda pools which are ancient ruins of pools in which they would cleanse the sheep in before they sacrificed them.

Here is a picture of the sign when we walked in: 

After this we traveled the Via Dolorosa. This is the real life stations of the cross. I will be able to further explain this with pictures, but here is a map of all 14 stations of the cross.

The first 9 stations are spread across the path Jesus took with the cross. The last five are in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the church built over the place where the cross was as well as Jesus's Tomb. Here is a picture of me touching the rock that Jesus's cross was on as well as a picture of his tomb. We waited an hour to touch the rock that the cross stood on. We chose not to wait in another line for 2 more hours to see the tomb. We instead saw the tomb of the man that gave up his tomb for Jesus. 

We also touched the rock that Jesus's body was anointed on after death. Here is me touching that:

After this long and exhausting journey on the Via Dolorosa, we went to one last stop to a Lutheran church. It was called the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. Here, we saw again with wonderful acoustics. Another gorgeous site. 

We came back to the guest house and rested for a bit. We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner together as a group and had great conversation (and my favorite part, Israeli ice cream! Yum!). 

Sorry for the short synopsis tonight, but as I was saying to my professor tonight, most of these sites cannot be described. No picture gives justice and an explanation could never relay the details and architecture of these complex sites. Today was a day that will be tough to describe even with pictures. 

Hope everyone is well! I will see you all again soon! 

Much Love, 

Danni

The Grand Finale (Trip Journal March 15th) 

Here's to my last journal and last night in the Holy Land! Today was a nice relaxing last day. We have to be up so early in the morning, and again I am tired! I am also excited to share the cool day I had, so here it goes!

Today began very early. We ate breakfast and headed out to the Judean Desert! It's a long car ride, but there is surprisingly a lot of beauty out there in the desert. The Judean desert surprised me. Maybe it's ignorant, but when I thought of desert in Israel I pictured sand. The Judean desert is all rock! It reminded me of the red rock in Sedona, Arizona for those of you who have been there. Here's a few sites we saw along the way on our long drive:

Our first stop in the desert was the Masada National Park. Masada is basically like an ancient fortress that is on top of an isolated rock in the middle of now where. And yes, I'm sure you guessed it, we saw the ruins of this ancient city fortification. It was built by Herod the Great (so it is very extravagant and there are many palaces) and it overlooks the Dead Sea. The site is gorgeous. Towards the end of the first Jewish-Roman War, the fortress was captured by the Romans. The strange part was that when the Roman's finally captured the fort, expecting to find people to enslave, they found the 960 Jewish rebels dead up there. They had all committed suicide because they preferred that to being enslaved by Romans.

These ruins were so amazingly intact and took you back and made you feel like you were in ancient times. Here are some pictures of the fort and the view from the top:

After two hours of exploring the ruins, we headed to one of the most fun parts of the day, Swimming in the Dead Sea! Yes! We got to get into the Dead Sea and swim in all that salty goodness. Some quick facts about the Dead Sea, the Dead sea in the lowest point on earth and is the saltiest body of water on earth. It is 7x saltier than the saltiest ocean on earth. So, that means as soon as we stepped in this water, every cut on our bodies stung, but even better, when we went all the way into the water, our bodies floated (floated like we were swimming with noodles floated). I am saving pictures of this for when I get home, but I can tell you it was so funny to see all the people floating.

After that exciting (and salty) adventure, we went to the Jordan River. I am sure everyone remembers this this where Jesus was baptized. At the river(which was very high and murky due to large rains) we saw people coming from all over, some of which were being baptized. I got a whole water bottle of Jordan River water to bring back. Here is a picture of me at the river filling my bottle up:

After this, we headed to lunch in Jericho at a touristy restaurant that was much over priced and then did our final souvenir shopping! Man, I bought way too much! Everything is so cool, I just want to give everyone a little piece of this place.

After lunch, we took a cable car over the city of Jericho to go to the top of The Mount of Temptation. This is said to be the hill where Jesus was tempted by the devil (Refer to Matthew 4:8). We were supposed to see a monastery up at the top, but it was closed. We ended up sitting at the top of the hill looking at the amazing view of Jericho. Here is a picture:

After this, we made our final stop in Jericho. We went to see one last place talked about in the bible referring to this verse in Luke (19).

Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."…

We got to see the sycamore tree talked about in this story. It was really unique. Of course there was also a church to accompany this site which we also viewed. Here is a picture of the icon for the story as well as the tree.

After that, our tour was finished. The trip was officially over and we began saying our goodbyes. We took final group photos with our tour guide and bus driver. I am sad to leave this holy place, but I was more than blessed to have 11 days here exploring and growing closer with Jesus.

My final reflection on this trip will last a lifetime. My understanding of my faith as a christian has increased tremendously. The friends and memories I have made here have been much more than I could have ever asked for. I am so grateful the Lord blessed me with this trip and I will forever cherish the moments spent here. I plan for this to be a place that I will revisit in the future (Hopefully not too far down the road). This is a must have trip for everyone, believers or not.

I will be in flight most of the day tomorrow, but please let me know if you have any questions or final comments on my journal. I hope you enjoyed following along with me these last days and I am constantly grateful for the everlasting support of my friends and family. This trip has been a huge reminder about the blessings in my life, as well as a reminded that our Lord is so much greater than we could ever fathom. All success in my life is owed to him for his great love and sacrifice for me. He is behind every single beauty in this life, and for that I praise thee!

I leave you with Psalms 134 & 135

134 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth! Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God! Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant! For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses. He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast; who in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants; who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel. Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages. For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them. O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord! Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the Lord

Much Love,

Danni

My Trip to the Holy Land: Spring Break 2014-Pt. 2

Exploring Settlements and Refugees! (Trip Journal March 10th)

Today was another packed day. Expect another long entry! I hope you're enjoying and don't mind my typos.

First thing, I am going to reply to an asked question that I've been meaning to answer. The currency here in Israel is called a Shekel as I mentioned before. One Israeli Shekel (Sheqal) is equal to $0.29. This means that one dollar is equal to like 3.48 Shekels. I am attaching some pictures of the currency(Bill of 100 Shekels, and then the coins that have the 1, 5, 10 Shekels).  

I want to clear a few terminology things up too(you may already know, but just reminding). Palestine is what Israel was called before the Israeli's came. As Americans, because we support Israelis, we call it Israel. But here, Palestinians still call this place Palestine, because this is what is was before the conflict and how they know their land. Israelis of course call it Israel. As travelers, the parts that currently belong to the Palestinians are referred to as Palestine, while Israeli land is Israel. Just thought I would clarify, because it confused me. For the most part, I will refer to it as Israel, because that is what most of you know it as. Also, I wanted to clarify what Jewish meant exactly. Many are unsure if a Jew is a religious label or ethnicity. Here, whenever I refer to a Jew, it is an ethnicity. You are a Jew and will be granted almost overnight citizenship to Israel if you can prove one of your four grandparents was Jewish.

Okay, so now that I cleared that up, on with the fun we had this beautiful Monday!

*Disclaimer: Please understand that I am going to try to stay as unopinionated as possible when explaining the differences between the two settlements/camps I saw today. I know many of you may have already formed opinions on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but I can tell you that the media is by law not prohibited to give Americans the full story of what is happening here. Many of you understand that the media can skew things, and I believe that in this case, our information is lacking. I am still in shock and reflecting about the things I am about to share with you all. It is something that is hard to explain or understand if you haven't seen it firsthand, but I am going to try to do my best.

Our morning began really early today. We had to be out the door at 8:30AM. We had a great buffet breakfast and headed to Efrat (named after the biblical story of Rachel) to meet with an Israeli settler. Efrat is an Israeli only settlement that was built around 35 years ago(It is built on Israeli government land). There are about 150 Jewish communities(settlements) housing over 380,00 Jews in Israel. It is home to 9,500 people and about 2,000 families. The settlement is built of seven hills and in the largest Israeli community aside from the big cities. It has it's own mayor, schools, healthcare facilities and shopping centers. Of the residents in the town, 25% work in Efrat, 10% commute to far away cities like Tel Aviv and the other 65% work in Jerusalem. Efrat has one of the best education systems in the country. They were just recently awarded for being the top schools in Israel. It was a very nice place with pretty (and expensive) houses(A 3 bedroom apartment goes for $200,000 and a single family home goes anywhere from 300,000 to 1million). There has just been a permit to expand the settlement (it will increase growth by 60% in the settlement). All residents buy the houses in the settlement and are able to own the land and houses (renters pay an Israeli who has bought their complex). It was a clean settlement with good roads and seemed very secure with security patrolling at all times and even a gate guard to get in (in the past 12 months, there were 2 attempted terrorist attacks on the community and both were stopped before they happened).

Our guide who lived in this settlement was named Bob. He was a very well educated and politically active jewish man with a successful family. He attended U of Wisconsin-Madision. He came to Israel years ago because of his historical roots. The Israelis claim they want to be in Israeli because it is Holy land for the Jews. To live in a settlement like Efrat, you have to be an Israeli citizen (The country of Israel is about 80% jewish and 20% muslim). This particular settlement was made up on 90% Orthodox Jews and 10% secular Jews(Orthodox Jews are practicing Jews that try to keep all hundred of the commandments while secular Jews may be religious, but not to the same extent as Orthodox Jews).

I am now going to relay to you Bob's opinion on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Bob told us that he wanted peace. In his opinion, Bob thought the best option for Israel as a whole is one state with cooperation and peace. He wants "good relations which the Arab people". He believes that if the Israelis leave that the entire county will fall apart. Bob claimed that the Palestinians owed huge bills to Israel for water and electricity. He said the Israeli's were paying for an uncooperative PLO( Palestinian authorities). He claimed PLO prohibited any interactions between both sides. After saying this, Bob claimed that in the last 35 years the increased separation was really the reason for decreased peace and the lack of association between the two peoples may be to blame for the current situation. His community has advocated against putting a fence between the Israeli settlement and the Palestinian refugee camp. He also told us that the majority of the problem is that Israel is just such a small county that any land taken away is huge. Many people look at Israel with a microscope and blow the conflict out of proportion. Bob's ultimate solution for the problem is that there needs to be a one state democracy in Israel, in which the government in Israeli. He defended this by saying in the last few years since Israeli military has stepped in, terrorist attacks (which now includes throwing rocks) have been decreased from 1,000's to only 80-100 a month. He thinks having a democracy in a state that has 80% Jewish population will protect minority rights. I am attaching a picture of Bob's house.

After we left Efrat, we went to a Palestinian refugee camp named Deheisheh. I am just pasting in the information that they gave us as soon as we got there. It is just some background information on the camp.

Dheisheh refugee camp, located near the city of Bethlehem in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, is one of fifty-nine Palestinian refugee camps dispersed throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. It was established after the expulsion and flight of more than 750,000 Palestinians who were displaced by the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Those that fled to Dheisheh originated from forty-five villages west of Jerusalem and Hebron. Their descendants now comprise the 11,000 inhabitants living in the camp today on less than one square kilometer of land. Only two under-resourced schools and one part time doctor serve the needs of the entire camp.

A resilient and active community, Dheisheh has a long history of struggle. Until the Israeli army’s withdrawal in 1995, the camp was surrounded by a high barbed-wire fence that sealed all but one of the fourteen camp entrances. The Israeli army controlled this single entrance with a revolving gate. The Social Youth Activity Center, which was the primary youth organization in the camp, was closed by military order from 1981 until 1993. Soldiers and violent confrontations filled the alleys, killing dozens of residents, while hundreds were injured, imprisoned, and disabled for life. During the years of the Oslo peace process, the plight of refugees was largely ignored in the negotiation framework, bringing a continued sense of stagnation and desperation to the community.

Since the start of the Intifada in September 2000, the Palestinian struggle to end thirty-seven years of Israeli occupation was met with unprecedented levels of military violence. Using US-manufactured helicopters and tanks, the Israeli military shelled Palestinian communities, destroying homes and killing hundreds of people. In Dheisheh, soldiers have opened fire on children, blocked families in their homes for days with little access to food or water, and denied emergency medical care to the sick and injured.

The Israeli occupation has had a particularly strong impact on the women in Dheisheh. With many men in jail, killed, injured, or restricted in their ability to travel to find work, women have increasingly become the sole providers for their families. They are responsible for income generation, home maintenance, education and care of children, and care for elderly and injured family members. As a result, many women find themselves suffering from increasingly difficult circumstances with fewer places to turn to for help or opportunities to struggle for change.

Yet those hardest hit by today’s deepening poverty and military violence are the children, who make up more than 50% of Dheisheha’s population. Severe human rights abuses, political instability and violence have deprived Palestinian refugee children of the basic pleasures of childhood. Like all Palestinian children, every child in Dheisheh has been traumatized by military invasions into their community, house raids in the dead of night, and arrests and murders of family members and friends. Almost every child in Dheisheh has lost classmates, neighbors, or family members in violent deaths or to imprisonment.

Now, that you have a little background, I can tell you about what I saw in this camp. I couldn't understand our guides name, so I will just refer to him as the guide. Most of this will be what I saw because we toured the camp by foot looking at everything. At Efrat, we saw the entire settlement from the bus and then talked with Bob in his home.

The first this I initially noticed about Dheisheh was that it was terribly dirty and gross. There was graffiti all almost every wall, it smelled terrible, there was garbage everywhere. It was really dirty and super crowded(sometimes 7 to 8 people live in one room). There is no security for the camp. The "homes" built in the camp were against every single building code I have ever invented. Some houses were literally just cinderblocks stacked up. There were wires coming out all over the places(at levels children could reach). There were only two schools. One for boys and one for girls, from kindergarten to ninth grade, then all education stopped. The roads were so tiny, you could only fit one car and they were filled with dangerous materials like old rusty nails. The buildings are so close together that neighbors have no privacy. Our guide said, "If you talk, all your neighbors hear you, if you shout, all the camp hears you". I believe it! Houses were so close. They are not permitted to do any kind of expanding or new building. The houses also rarely had windows so everyone would need to have their front doors open if they wanted any air. Our guide described the camp overall pretty well, "Living inside camp is disaster". There is a curfew in which the Palestinians have to be in their houses after that time. It is illegal to organize any kind of civil organizations to help with the conditions. Other governmental agencies like the UN have currently cut funding. The camp is all muslims. All christians were provided for by their churches to get out of the camp. We learned much of the graffiti on the walls was dedicated to martyrs that lost their lives to the Israeli soldiers. Here are some pictures:

This next picture I'm sharing is a memorial that a mother has posted on her front porch. The picture is of her son. He was a young child was murdered coming home from school by the Israelis soldiers because he was throwing rocks...

Many buildings carry bullet wounds (15mm bullet wounds from Israeli tanks). One of these buildings that has bullet holes is the little girls school. They were attacked and the tanks decided the school was the best place for bullets. 

When we finally to our guide about what life was like there besides just the physical aspects, and he said that life was more than tough. The Israeli military constantly kills and arrests Palestinians. In fact, a common thing that happens is the night before the high school children have their graduating finals from school, the soldiers come and arrest them so that they have to miss their tests and wait another year to graduate. It took our guide 10 years to graduate from college due to the amount of times he was arrested. Although camp is a better option than nothing, it is far from okay. There is very little crime, but drugs are on the rise. They have no healthcare system for them. There is one doctor for all 30,000 in the camp. He sees up to 400 cases a day (Can you imagine? And we are worried about Obamacare here! Ha! Obamacare looks pretty great next to that!) The only thing our guide said he wanted was to go back to his homeland that his great grandfather owned and built their house on. His house was passed from generation to generation and he was just angry that was taken away from him. When Palestinians fled, they were left without anything and sent to these refugee camps. Here's us with our guide outside of the boy's school.

After an exhausting meeting with both sides, we decided to lighten up the mood a little. We went to Beit Sahour to see the Shepard's Field. This is traditionally where the angels announced Jesus would be born(this took place in a cave). There was a beautiful little church too that we got to see! I have great pictures on my camera but here is a sneak peek!

After that we decided to get lunch at this adorable little place nicknamed "The Tent". It was a little place that was very middle eastern. There were cushion like seats and the roof was a tent. The food was amazing and the people were super fun! Heres a picture of our "salad"!

They also served us barbecue chicken and lamb for the main course. Some of the best lamb I have ever tried! Another surprise was that we bought a hookah for $6. It was chocolate watermelon flavored! 

It was such a blast! Meals are so great. They usually last 1-2 hours and its just great to sit and relax and take your time and be. It's really lovely. There was a beautiful view outside too that I took advantage of....

Great view, right?!

After this we went to see the separation wall. It was very tall, scary and intimidating. It makes you feel like you are in prison. Again, I know it seems like a lot of pictures, but it's really the only way to describe. The pictures still don't do it justice either.

 Palestinians have really used the wall as a form of artistic expression. We also visited a gift shop that was surrounded by the wall on all three sides. I will save those pictures for when I get back.

After shopping and seeing the wall, we ran back to have another meeting with Pastor Raheb (if you don't remember who he is, look back to my previous journals!). With Pastor Raheb, he informed us a little about his organization and his history. He was born in Bethlehem, across the street of the Church of the Nativity. His family has lived in Bethlehem for as long as the generations can remember. He was the first Lutheran Pastor with a Doctorate (he studied in Germany). In his work, he employs over 27,000 (between his university, church and other organizations) and helps over 60,000 in need. He is Palestinian. He notes when it comes to the Palestinian/ Israeli conflict, the bible is really important. A key theme in the bible in exile, and that alone is important. He believes the true conflict is about equality. He believes the right to return should be allowed and there is room for negotiation on other things after the right is granted. The Palestinians in his opinion are only looking for truth and reconciliation. They want the Israeli's to first admit they took the Palestinian land and that they are sorry for it. The Jews were granted the right to return to Israel after 2,000 years and now the Palestinians are being harassed for asking for it after 50 years.

Raheb also talked about the skewed media towards the Israeli side especially in America. One specific example I thought I'd share was this one, Christians in the Holy Land (Click on it to watch the 60 Minutes video or read the transcript, Raheb shows up around 3:43). This video features Raheb and his church (this is also where we are staying and things I've talked about). Initially, this was supposed to be a full 16 minute video about Palestinian Christians. It was later cut down to only 7 minutes after an American Jew who is in charge over at CBS got a call from Israeli Ambassador that the story was misleading and insisted that the jewish side be inserted or he would shut down the program entirely. They talk about it in the video! As you can see from this video, things are not at all what they seem. The press is a very limited freedom and the Israeli's try to limit as much as possible.

After a short hour and a half break following our talk with Raheb, we headed out again to go to an evangelical conference called Christ at the Checkpoint. It's a christian international conference about the conflict that people from all over come to. We heard the mayor of Bethlehem speak, but what we really came for was the Diyar Dancers. They are Palestinian interpretive dancers. It was a very interesting show. They did interpretive dance about the conflict. Heres their sheet

After the dance, we headed back for dinner. It's our last night at this guest house so they made us amazing food. I had the most amazing lamb shank ever. It was outstanding. We are headed to Nazareth tomorrow!

I hope everyone has a good evening. I'm sorry if I am getting too in depth in the conflict for you, but I really feel it's important to relay this information because the news is not.

Sending much love,
Danni

 Heading to Nazareth! (Trip Journal March 11th)

Shalom friends!

Hope all is well back in the states. I know it seems like not too many hours ago you read my last journal, but the day here is almost over and I have to share again(but today is not as long as yesterday!).

This morning began with breakfast at 8AM. Jet lag and the excitement of this trip are finally starting to catch up with me. I am tired! I am hoping to finish my journal early in hopes of getting to bed a little earlier!

After breakfast, we packed up are belongings and put them into our tour van. Today, we began to leave the city of Bethlehem to go to Nazareth. On our way out though, we made a few stops. We began with a tour of Dar al Kalima University College of Arts and Culture. This is a Palestinian college that focuses on helping the youth find positive self expression tools. Their vision is "That We(Palestinians) Might Have Life and Have it Abundantly". They have a mission to build a country, empower the community, and give life in abundance. Because Palestine is 47% youth, it is very important that at a time during this conflict, hope remains for a good life. Our guide, Angie, also talked a bit about the conflict here. I am going to share one thing she said about it that I found very powerful as a christian. She said, "If Mary and Joseph came from Nazareth to Bethlehem (from the North to the South) in present day, then they would have to go through 300 checkpoints. I find that very powerful to put an emphasis on the kind boundaries we are talking about. Another thing that I wanted to mention that I forgot to say yesterday was from Pastor Raheb. When referring to the conflict, he said, "Take the ten nicest kids you know, lock them in a room without any resources, crammed together for even only five days, and you will see why the Palestinians are angry." I thought this was a very interesting comparison if you haven't realized why the Palestinians are so angry and upset yet. Here is a picture of the university.

When we first arrived the University College, we noticed a group of students outside of the building standing around. They had signs posted on every door and window, but they were in Arabic so we couldn't read them. When we asked, we found out they were protesting four martyrs that happened this morning and last night. They were common people commuting to and from work. One particular case was a man who was on the public bus. The bus was stopped by the Israeli police and when the soldier saw one palestinian man standing up, he immediately pushed him down very hard. The Palestinian man got up and pushed the soldier back, so the soldier pushed the Palestinian to the ground and shot him to death. He was twenty two, married, and had a two year old son. His wife cannot even get a permit to attend his funeral and he will be buried without her goodbye. Here is a picture of the protesters.

Anyways, at the college we got a full tour. Currently, they have 220 students studying everything from film to art. Their school is a lot smaller than any university or college here. There were a few meeting rooms. Maybe 5 classrooms, 3 for hands on work and 2 for lectures. They have many people that contribute to the college, including my professor. Him and his wife donated part of the library and the brand new culinary kitchen for the new added program of the culinary arts. We are so blessed at Valpo. It's really amazing the difference. Their library had three rows of books, and all the books have to be smuggled in because Palestinians could be killed if they brought in the wrong books. After seeing the campus, we were able to meet with some of the students at the University. I met with two and we talked for an hour about our lives and the differences between Palestine and America. They were really down to earth and I enjoyed our conversation. We exchanged information to stay in touch.
Upon leaving Bethlehem completely, we stopped for one last thing...Falafels! I got to even make them myself! Attaching a picture! We decided to take them with us on the road to picnic later. We headed out to Nazareth. It was a long drive, but the scenery was gorgeous.

On the way, our next stop was Megiddo. This is a National Park and World Heritage Site. It is the biblical site of Armageddon and tells the story Hazor and Beer Sheva. It was basically several historic ruins that were discovered. It was interesting and beautiful. Here's an assortment of pictures.

After we left the ruins, we traveled the rest of the way to Nazareth. Here we are at St. Margaret's guesthouse. It's not as nice as the last place we stayed, but it will do! Plus, there is a great view here! We snuck up on the roof and took some great photos here. Attaching one!

I am exhausted, so I am cutting my journal a little short. Dinner wasn't that great so nothing to brag about! 

I hope all is well back home. I miss and love all of you much!
Danni

Holy Places and Churches! (Trip Journal March 12th)

Hello everyone, 

Happy Hump Day! (It's funny because there are camels here all over and it's like the best hump day ever!). I hope everyone's day is going well! Mine has been so busy! 

Today started with breakfast at 7AM. We left for the city of Cana (Canaan in english). This is the place where Jesus performed his first public miracle. Here is the verse(John 2:1-11):

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

So, we traveled to the site where they traditionally say this happened. We say the ruins of the city and of the house that the wedding most likely took place in. There is a church built on top of the ruins that we also visited. We also saw a replica of what the jars they talk about in here look like. They are huge rocks basically. I have pictures to share when I get back! 

After that we stopped at a store to try the famed sweet red wine of Cana(Wedding wine). It's so sweet! I am bringing some home, too! It was really a lovely store and our guide bought us a bottle to share a glass of wine together tonight as celebrating gesture for being half way through our trip! Much of the wine in Israel is world renowned. 

Next, we headed to Galilee to see The Church of the Beatitudes(The beatitudes can me found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 3 to 12 and in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 6, verses 20 to 26). This is the church built over the place in which Jesus was said to preach. It was a huge hill which they have scientifically proven that the echo of his voice on that hill would have been able to reach 100,000 people. The church was absolutely beautiful. It overlooked the Sea of Galilee. Here's a picture: 

And here's the view of the Sea:

It was really beautiful. After that we headed to the town of Capernaum, which is said to be the city of Jesus. This is also where St. Peter's house was traditionally said to be. Again, we got to see the ruins of the entire city. It was very well in tact still for being 2,000 years old. We also saw what they call "the White Synagogue" which is built on the ruins of the "Synagogue of Jesus". I am attaching pictures. 

Above is ruins of St. Peter's home where church was held often. 

Above is the "White Synogogue", another ruin. 

After we left The City of Jesus, we went to St.Peter's restaurant. They called it that because they served the type of fish that St. Peter would have found in this bible story: Matthew 17:27 "But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

Here's a picture of that experience for my lunch....

 After this amazingly wonderful fish dish, we headed to take a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had here to far. We could see all of the beautiful landscape for miles and miles. All I can say is that I know why God chose this land to be holy. We took an hour ride on the sea and soaked it all in. Our captains of the boat were also very funny. Yes, Palestinians have a sense of humor. They raised the American flag on our boat and played our National Anthem for us, then they played "American music", which consisted of Bohemian Rhapsody and Hotel California. Then they played Black Eyed Peas and we all danced and laughed, and it was wonderful. I am so happy here. These lands are indescribable. They have such power in them. Of healing and happiness and peace and history. I can't help but feeling this conflict is more than just people, but is the devil trying to destroy this Holy Place, The Lord's place. People flock here from all over the world, and the conflicts here will never end until the world's end. Here's me on the Sea. 

 

Up next, we headed to Mary's Well. This is where it is said that the Angel Gabriel first appeared to Mary, but she ran from him to her home in fear. This well is still in tact and running well and I was able to get water from it to bring back with me. It also had a Greek Orthodox church built over it. Following that route, we went to the Basilica of the Annunciation. This is where Gabriel was said to officially tell Mary she would bear the Son of God. This Church is built over the house that was said to be Mary's. It was a super beautiful church that held mosaic artwork that portray Mary from all over the world. It was really interesting. I am attaching a picture of the outside artwork of the church.

 My camera died and it was raining during this time so it was hard to get good pictures(I'm lucky there are 10 other people on this trip also taking avid photos to share so it will be easy to get some pictures). Near this was the Church of St. Joseph which as you can guess is to Mary's husband Joseph. This church is built over the ruins of his carpentry shop. We got to see those ruins as well.

That was pretty much the end of our day. We drove back and had dinner together. The only other thing is that the group feels very strongly about wanting to help with what's going on here. After dinner we discussed possible things that we could contribute as a group, from as small as educating our churches to as big as starting a nonprofit organization. It was a very successful discussion, and of course, right up my alley as far as passions go. 

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their afternoon. I am sending much love and am bringing many presents home for all. 

Hugs and Kisses,  

 Danni