Well, today is Tuesday the 26th. Christmas came and Christmas went; with me in Bethlehem. It really was neat. We arrived in Bethlehem right around noon on Christmas Eve and went directly to Emile’s place. Well, maybe “directly” isn’t quite the word for it. I don’t think there’s a direct path anywhere in Bethlehem. It’s quite a unique driving experience.
To try and understand, think of a road about one and half lanes wide. Then picture enough cars to pack I-5 from Williams to Sacramento. Now make all the drivers of those cars Nascar wannabes. Yeah, that was pretty interesting.
We had lunch with Emile and his family and spent a very pleasant afternoon just fellowshipping, fixing computers, and just having a good time.
That evening everyone else went to stay with another Christian family and I went on something akin to visitation with Emile and Brother Michael. It was absolutely amazing. Everything was in Arabic. I was the only one in the room (of about 25 people) that wasn’t a Palestinian. Emile translated a little bit for me but mostly I just sat there, smiled, and said the one and only work I know in Arabic; “Thank You”. (Pronounced something like “Shookrun”) It was pretty cool.
After that Emile took his family (and me as a tag along) to Bethlehem Square to kind of “see the sights” so to speak. It was crowded and noisy, but worth saying I was there.
I spent the night at Emile’s place, got up the next morning, worked on his computer a little more, had a great chat with Aaron, and just relaxed.
At about 10:00 I got in a taxi and went out to where everyone else was staying. I spent Christmas morning walking around a Muslim village and having coffee with some Muslim people that our host, Basaan, knew. A very different Christmas morning indeed.
We had our “Christmas Dinner” Mediterranean style there and enjoyed yet more great fellowship with Basaan and his family. Late that afternoon we went to a Christmas party in the home of another missionary there in Bethlehem. Finally, it truly felt like Christmas. Pumpkin pie, cookies, and yes, more coffee. It was a lot of fun.
From there we drove directly to our hotel in Jerusalem which is where I am writing this from. We’ll be touring around here for the rest of our trip. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here as long as we have. The time’s gone by so fast. Oh well, I better get this posted so we can get going. Everyone have a great day!
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