Broken

Hey everyone, Jason here. Just sending you an update on how things are going. No pics today, but I'll have more tomorrow!

We Saturday in Ramalah, Palestine and spent the night in Bierzeit. Ramalah default capital of Palestine. There were so many people in the streets! We went to a Latin Church and heard the pastor speak about the Israeli/Palestinian war. He spoke a little bit about the suicide bombers, and said that no one really likes them, especially the majority of Palestinians. What he said that ultimately all his people really hope for is peace. We were taken in by a wonderful Arabian Christian family. They made us home cooked Palestinian food, which was delicious! I’ve gained a new appreciation for Pita and hummous.

The language barrier was difficult, yet there were so many commonalities between us. They had a large loving, fun family. The grandparents reminded me of Laurie’s Nonni and Poppi. The family was very friendly and hospitable.

When we arrived, however, the family was a little upset. When we asked why, they told us that there had been an “accident” involving a military vehicle and a family of 8. The whole family died. Because of this Roadblocks had been set up and we to take backroads to get to our families home. While we were there, the army set off teargas in front of our house.

The next morning, our family told us that some of the soldiers were occupying the house next door to us. Some kids, angry at what had happened, were throwing stones and the soldiers. Throughout breakfast they kept firing off shots to keep people away.

There are other problems that the family expressed as well. The English speaking daughter in the home mentioned that she has not been to Jerusalem, which is only 15 minutes away, for 7 years, due to the separation wall I mentioned a couple days ago. The father of the house has not seen his parents in 14 years.

There are checkpoints all around Israel which will stop people from getting past. She is a devout Christian, and she used to visit the Holy Sites on Easter and Christmas. None of her children have ever been to Jerusalem. What’s worse, many Palestinians have trouble getting jobs because they cannot freely these have been problems that we have been hearing expressed from one Palestinian after another throughout the week. There has been a mass exodus of Christians from Palestine in recent years, because Palestians feel like they have no hope in their country. The Christian population has decreased significantly.

On a positive note, we visited a Catholic Church today, and the priest opened the table to everyone. It was an awesome display of ecumenicalism despite the hardships.

I would ask that everyone please keep us in your prayers. God is stretching us through this, more than we realized that he would. Ask that the Lord be with us at this time, that our hearts would continue to be formed into His image.

Also, tomorrow is Laurie and my wedding anniversary. Happy two years!