No Title Has Struck Me Yet.

Well, first thing is first! One of my dear, dear friends is having a birthday today! She is twenty-three years old. Happy Birthday, Friend! You rock!

This post is pretty much just going to involve me rambling, so no big changes on that front. Haha.

The presentation at church went well. I got to the church early so Pastor and I could make sure the stuff was all going to be compatible and what not. I set out a bunch of my informational flyers and stuff on a table while Pastor was putting up the screen and getting his laptop started. Then, I put my CD in the computer and it loaded up and was working fine. We wheeled the projector and laptop out of the way, took down the screen, and Pastor got ready to lead worship. He told me that he was sorry he wouldn't be able to view the presentation, but Other Church still needed him to lead worship.

After worship, Pastor said that he would be at the back to greet those who couldn't stay for the presentation. I was afraid I was going to be presenting to a very small group, and so when I turned around to go get something out of the fellowship hall that I'd forgotten, I was pleasantly surprised to see a large remnant of the congregation there. I'd say there were at least fifty people who stayed, and our average worship attendance is around 120 or so. And fifty is not a firm guess at all. I just know that A LOT of people stayed.

Pastor got the screen put back up and then he left. I thanked the people for staying and then showed them my presentation. They laughed where they were supposed to laugh, and I didn't hear any sighs like, "Hurry up already! We didn't know it was going to take this long!" When I had clicked the last slide and gave my closing comments, I stood up and the congregation clapped. I asked if there were any questions, and people actually raised their hands to ask me questions. There was a pew full of little kids who had been sitting right behind me, and they asked me some really good questions. And really, the kids were the majority of the question askers; not just the ones behind me, but the ones throughout the congregation. I fielded questions from the adults, too, but I was impressed at the quality of questions these kids were asking, and how well they had been paying attention, considering the presentation lasted about 45 minutes or so.

When I thought people were done asking questions, I said, "There is a lunch being served in the fellowship hall that you are welcome to stay for. Let us have a word of prayer." Then I gave a short grace, and they went out to eat. I was doing a few things before going out, and some more adults came up and asked me other questions. One man thought that all Palestinians are out to kill other people, but I explained that the majority of them want peace, and extreme right wing anything is bad. He said, "Wow. That's not the picture we get, is it?" And I said, "No, it isn't."

When I got out to the fellowship hall, I got a plate of food that some church folk had cooked up and supplied, and sat down by one of my cousins who had come from Peoria, Illinois to see me and my show. We also sat by a bunch of church folk, and they asked me more questions. I felt smrt. :) ha. It was a good time though. I'm so grateful that that congregation is so willing to support me in various ways; including showing interest in what I'm doing. I'm blessed.

Anyway, this post was more focused than I thought it would be, and it has taken a bit longer to write than I thought. It's all good though. But now, it is time to haul myself down to Audit's so we can do SGW. It's breakfast for dinner tonight, and I'ma walk because it is absolutely beautiful today. Peace out.

What's happening.

So, I came "home" this weekend because I am giving a presentation of my trip to I/P tomorrow at church. We are having worship, set-up time for the power point, the presentation, and a light lunch afterwards. Pastor is not going to be able to make it to the presentation because of the "other" church, but I told him I would show him sometime, or at least leave the cd and my notes so he could see. I'm excited to do the presentation and share with my peeps what I did in January, but I wasn't in the mood to come home this weekend. Ah well. I'm here, so there is no use whining about it.

Hmm. This past Friday was April 11; the day that my mom's friend, Dick, died last year. I don't know why I remember that sort of thing; I just do. I didn't get all weepy or anything, but I did remember with fondness the times I got to spend with him. I also hope that his daughters are dealing with the "anniversary" okay. They say that the first year is always the toughest, and I agree. It's okay to grieve and to not be "fine" all the time, even as others think you should buck up and get over it already. That's not the way human emotions work. I think it's a sliding scale sort of thing. Sometimes memories or situations or something comes up and brings that hurt up almost like new. I know I always get a little crabby around the "anniversary" of my dad's death, and so I empathize with Dick's daughters. I maintain that grief is a strange thing like that...Sometimes even "happy" things can make a person feel the grief anew. I have thought a lot about what could happen in my future, and I did even more so in my past, because I didn't want this or that situation to catch me offguard with grief. That being said, I invite you to pray for those who maybe feel like our culture is telling them to "get over it" already, or telling them that they don't have a right to grive; that they might be surrounded by unexpected grace and love.

Anyway, in other news, one of my cousins and her parents said they are coming to this presentation tomorrow, so I'm happy to see them. I love them and don't get to see them that often. I hope I am not kept too long though, because I also want to go see Grandma, and maybe Mom if time allows. My plan last time to get her to sing didn't work because we were in the hallway and not in her room, so I have a new plan this time to get her to sing. Not in a manipulative way, really, but in a, "I want you to 'feel normal' for a time, and your singing voice is still beautiful and might aid in that" way. I don't know.

But, I need to go because I hope to get some sleep tonight. I'm going extra early to the church in the morning so I can set up a table of stuff from J-term, too. Have a good Sunday.

Earthquake

So, a seminary friend showed me a link about something that happened in Israel this week. They suffered a 5.1 earthquake on the Richter scale. The only places that had damage were the Temple Mount and Nablus (a palestinian area in the north of Israel). There is a decent sized hole on the Temple Mount, but not really all that close to the dome of the rock. It's just interesting to think about what could potentially happen. I think a lot of Zionist Jews are thinking this is a promising sign that God is preparing the Temple Mount to be taken back over by the Jews. The Jews have been preparing for the Third Temple Period for a long time. As a matter of fact, they have a multi-million dollar, gold menorah in a huge glass case on one of the staircases leading down to the Western Wall Plaza, waiting to be taken out and used in the new temple. In case you want to read the article, check it out here

And some more...

Here are pictures of the Christmas parade, the star marking Jesus' birthplace, as well as a side view picture of the main altar of the Church of the Nativity.

A couple more pictures from the last post...

Here are a couple pictures of the wall surrounding Bethlehem. I was astounded at the many different agendas on the wall. There were paintings of beauty, messages of hate (F*** this wall; Place Bomb Here), messages of pleading (I want Peace, please), satire (an alien spaceship over a figure, as well as big black letters saying, "Ich Bin Ein Berliner), and many other things.

More from J-Term

I think I've mentioned before how the first place we stayed while in "the Holy Land" was in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is actually not Israel, but rather is Palestine. It's in the West Bank, and has a high wall around it with a checkpoint through which all people must go. Because we were "Americans," we just showed our little blue passport most of the time, and voila, we were ushered right through.

Bethlehem was a really neat place. It's bigger than my hometown, so I was somewhat amused when I thought about the Christmas hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." But, I reckon it has grown over the years. The big pilgrimage site in Bethlehem is the Church of the Nativity. This church is where many historians, archaeologists, and theologians believe to be the place Jesus was actually born. Well, in the cave underneath the church, anyway. The church is held by Catholics and Eastern Rite churches. The Catholics have their side, and the Eastern Rite (Coptics, Armenians, and Greek Orthodox) have theirs. The difference is like night and day, but it was neat. When pilgrims go down into the cave, there is a line to the altar under which it is believed Jesus was actually born; as in, "Bam, Congratulations. It's a boy." The place is marked by a 14 point star with a bowl type divot where people can place stuff to be blessed. It was an amazing feeling putting my hand on that place.

A few feet away is another cave-ish type place that is believed to be the "quiet place" where Mary and Joseph laid Jesus after he was born. There is a glass case with a baby doll in there now to recreate the scene. When you leave that place, there is a long hallway type thing with pictures of Mary and Jesus, with candles hanging from the ceiling. All the soot has turned the roof black.

When pilgrims leave the cave, they go out through the way the Catholics generally enter. That puts you right back up top by the main altar that you see when you enter the church. Oh, and another interesting thing; people have to stoop to enter the Church of the Nativity, and guards are outside to make sure men do not wear hats inside. It opens up to a huge room with the main Eastern Rite altar ahead, a "side altar" off to the right, and in a different part of the building is the Catholic Church. In the main part of the church, when you first enter, there are also doors on the floor which open and close to show pilgrims the original floor which has been destroyed by conquests, as well as time. This church is actually used by all these denominations today. The Sunday we were there, the Eastern Rite churches were having Christmas and the Catholic side was having Epiphany. It was pretty amazing being in the Church of the Nativity while people were celebrating Christmas. There was even a big parade with the priests, the boy/girl scouts playing music, and a procession with the worshipers and the patriarch. The Church of the Nativity was a high point of the trip for me. Here are pictures from the church. (stooping to enter, the side Eastern Rite Altar, and the original floor). Enjoy!

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a persimmon!

When we were in I/P, the places we stayed fed us very well. The last place we stayed was a Lutheran Hostel in old city Jerusalem. They fed us breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was buffet style with the same things on it every day. But at dinner, we got different food every night. It always included soup, salads of some sort, sides, the main dish, and a dessert. Sometimes the dessert was jello or chocolate pudding with fruit in it, or cake of some sort. But often, our dessert was fruit, which was wonderful. One time in particular, we had this fruit that looked a lot like an unripened tomato. But, it was NOT a tomato. The flesh was kind of hard, but it was very edible, and the inside was very sweet and juicy. I had NO idea what kind of fruit this was, so I just Googled it. It's called a Sharon Fruit because it is grown in the Sharon Valley. It is also known as a persimmon. Here is the picture. If you ever see one, I recommend trying it.

The view

Here is a picture of the view from our first room. You can still see the buildings a little on each side, but I zoomed so they wouldn't be taking up much of the photo. Also, I included the view from the Christmas Lutheran Church, because it is right by the "hostel" part of the ICB.

Our first accomodations

First, these are my shoes that looked SO suspicious to the security at O'Hare. :) ha. I'm just giving them crap. They're keeping us safe.

These are pictures taken in my first room in Israel/Palestine. It's modest, but in all reality, all we did was sleep in there. I was more than happy.

Woops

I slept way too much this afternoon, and thus, I am still awake at 6:30 a.m. My bad. Ah well. I reckon I'd better start regaling you with the stories of our trip, and hopefully later, I will post some pictures.

We flew out of Chicago-O'hare on Thursday to catch a connecting flight to Frankfurt, Germany. At O'hare, we went through security; having our bags and shoes x-rayed and what not. They asked me, "are these your shoes?" When I said yes, the security folks said, "We're going to look them over." I said, "ok." They took my shoes to a table and took these tongs with something like tissue paper and wanded them. Obviously they were clean, and so they gave them back to me. The day-glo orange shoelaces probably looked suspicious. :) When we got to Germany, we got on a plane to go to Tel Aviv; THE most secure airport in the world. It was daylight there, in part due to the fact they are 8 hours ahead of midwest time. Our guide met us in the airport and we walked out to our bus. These two people would move us around and give us boatloads of information the next couple of weeks.

We were all pretty tired from the flying and what not, so most of us slept some on the bus from Tel Aviv to Bethlehem. Naim talked over the microphone in the bus some, but I think he knew we were all just exhausted, and so for the most part, he let us sleep. When we arrived to Bethlehem, we had to go through an Israeli checkpoint at an opening in the separation barrier to get into the actual city. By then, it was getting dark, so our driver said something in Arabic and Naim told us that Atah (the driver) said, "We have 20 Americans on board." and they let us in, no questions asked. Only about two minutes after the checkpoint, we had to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to our accomodations because Old City Bethlehem has WAY TOO narrow of streets for a huge honkin' tour bus to navigate. The walk is only about three or four minutes, so it's not bad. Plus, weather over there right now is around 50 degrees or so, so we were doing okay. We got to the International Center of Bethlehem, which has accomodations for tourists, a media center, a college, a church of the ELCA, and a few other things involved with it. We had chosen roommates beforehand, and when our luggage came to the ICB, we took it, along with our room keys and pretty much, we went to bed as soon as dinner was over.

Food in Israel/Palestine(I/P from here on out) is interesting. I couldn't even tell you what we had that first night. I remember there being pita bread, soup, some kind of salad, a main dish, and dessert. I wasn't that hungry because we ate multiple times on our flight, and I was more tired than anything.

My roommate, "A" and I went to our room, got ready for bed, and went to sleep around 8:00 P.M. and slept until about 7:00 A.M. It was a good thing we got to rest up because the next day, we were slated for much activity.