In Jerusalem

Hello all,

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but we have been very busy! Since my last post our group has traveled to Allepo and Palmyra while still in Syria. Then we headed to Jordan for a week where we visited Amman, Petra, and camped in the desert with the Beduins in Wadi Rum. While in Wadi Rum, we got to tear around the desert in the back of trucks, watched the sunset while sitting on top of a sand dune, and got about an hours worth of a camel ride. It was all so much fun. After Jordan we headed into Palestine for a week.

This past week in Palestine we stayed with host families and did a one week tour program with ATG (Alternative Tourism Group). I was with three other girls from my group and we stayed with the Awwad family. I really enjoyed the setup of their house. The mother (grandmother) lived on the first floor which is where the four of us girls stayed. The 2nd floor was home to one of her sons, his wife, and their 4 children. The 3rd floor was home to the other son, his wife, and their 3 children. We ate breakfast every morning with the grandmother on the first floor, and we switched each night between eating on the 2nd or 3rd floors. We usually ate by ourselves, just the four of us since their big meal of the day is early in the afternoon around 2. The schools get out around 1:30 and most shops close between 12 and 3, so this is when they all gather to eat. Then in the evening they just have a small snack and fruit. We were taken such good care of while in Palestine. The food was so good, I miss it already. After the dinner meal we would retire to the living room where we would be served tea or Arabic coffee. Then a little bit later some sort of snacks or sweet would be brought out. Then even later a variety of fresh fruit and more drinks were offered. I was never hungry while in the Awwad's house. The one family had a little girl about 7 years old. She spoke hardley any English, but we were able to play together anyway. It was so cute because she could say Allison, so she decided to call me Lucy. Her mom kept telling her my name was Allison, but she would shake her head and say "no, Lucy!" She was adorable. It was a wonderful experience, and I was sad to leave them this morning.

With the tour program we did a lot of things packed into the week. We had about 6 different lectures, got to see a small portion of the separation wall, went to a refugee camp, toured both Bethleham Bible College and Bethleham University, went to the Church of the Nativity and saw where Jesus may have been born, saw the Shepherd's Fields where they watched over their flocks by night, went to Hebron, helped plant grape vines at Tent of the Nations, went to an Israeli Settlement and had a discussion with a settler, hiked inthrough Wadi Qelt to Jericho and possibly through the "valley of the shadow of death," saw the Mount of Temptation, and the Sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed. It was a pretty amazing week. I saw things that I never imagined I would ever experience. And walking through the land where Jesus lived is such an amazing feeling, it is hard to wrap my mind around.

Now I am in Jerusalem. We are staying at Jerusalem University College where we will be taking a two week Historical Geography course. Our orientation begins at 8 am tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. JUC is located just outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, and there is plenty of shopping to be done!! We have dinner in about 20 minutes and I can't wait to see what kind of good food will be prepared for us!

If any of you are interested in leaving comments of any Bible verses that are encouraging to you, I would love to hear from you.

Much love,
Allison

Two Days Left

I am sad to say, that we only have two days left in Damascus. The past three weeks have been so enjoyable and have passed so quickly. I have loved my time here, it is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. And to think, I still have about 3 more months to experience new and amazing things. I still can't believe it sometimes.

This past week has been very routine. I get up around 7:30 each morning, get ready and head over to the dining room to enjoy my breakfast. We have the same thing every morning, and I love it. I am going to miss the pita, the jam, and my usual two cups of tea. Then around 8:30 we head over to the Old City to catch the bus to take us to our language school. The bus ride takes about 15-20 minutes depending on traffic. The best part is, that each bus ride only costs 10 syrian pounds which is roughly equivalent to 20 cents. Language class starts at 9:15 and ends at 1. We have two separate classes for our group, and we all love our teachers. They are wonderful teachers. Our teacher taught us a Syrian song, and then went on to write lyrics to fit the song that was about our group. It was so sweet of her, we love that song! She also brought in some Syrian music and she taught us a few dance moves. We have so much fun in our classes. After class is over, we either have the rest of the day to do whatever we want, or Linford will have a little assignment for us to do. During my free time, I love to walk around the Old City. Window shopping, people watching, real shopping, bartering, and practicing my language. I have bought a lot of things in Damascus, and I am wondering how I will fit it all into my bag. I have two days to figure that out. Dinner is at 7 every day, and we always have something delicious. Usually it consists of a rice based dish with a little bit of meat, vegetables, and either fresh fruit or a traditional dessert. Then we hang out in the evening, play games, email people, and head to bed. I like the routine, and it really helped this place feel home-y. Only two days left.

Today, with our language school, we went on a field trip to two places. Mar Musa, a monestary village/ living community in the mountains, and Maalula, a historical village that still speaks Aramic (the language that Jesus spoke). Despite the overcast day and almost constant drizzle we really enjoyed ourselves. Our first stop was Mar Musa and we spent a few hours there. The picture below is of where the bus/van dropped us, and we hiked up to the building on the lower right hand side.

There was a path from where we parked to get up to the monestary and so we headed right on up. There was about 350 stairs that we had to climb. No I didn't count them, I was told that's how many there were. The picture below is a view from the top of what the stairs looked like.

A view from the "deck" of the building. If you can pick out a tiny white blob in the lower center, that is where the van parked.

There were really small doors at the monestary. I'm not sure what the purpose for that is.

This monestary is always open to hikers or anyone else that wants to stay for a night or more. The only requirement is that if you stay you help out with the work. Luis, a monk in his first year of training, told us that there are three main puritys: hard work, hospitality, and prayer. They practice all three of those there, but there is so much hospitality work to do that he thinks they are overworked, but its good, he said. There are only 4 monks that live there, 2 in training, 2 nuns, and then 1 nun in training. Today this is more of a living community than a strict monestary. We were very fortunate while we were there to meet with Father Paulo. We met with him for about an hour in a very small room, and we were definately shown a lot of hospitality. We were all crammed into a stone walled room, with a small fire stove in one corner. There were two tables in the middle and hardly enough room for all 23 of us to sit on the benches lining the walls. Then people kept bringing more and more food for us. We were served black tea, herbal tea, pita, marmalade, olives, and fresh made goat cheese produced on site. Everything was great, especially the cheese. Along with the good food we had great conversation. Father Paulo is a very intelligent man and he had some great ideas or thoughts about faith, life, and more. Sadly I didn't have anything with me to write down notes, so I can't remember anything he said specifically. I just remember thinking, "thats a really good point, I should remember that," a lot, and then I just ended up forgetting most of it. But our leader recorded it, so I will be able to look over that at a later time.

The one thing I do remember him saying really spoke to me especially in a setting where Christianity is a minority. I'm not quoting directly, I'm just going to paraphrase what I remember. He said something about, if you think your religion is the only way, you are shutting out the possibility for it to spread, and if you think that your tradition is the best ever, then you are keeping it from reaching its true greatness. He said more about this, but I can't remember. His words are good for me to remember when interacting with Muslims and Jews along the path of this trip. I'm also still trying to digest what all meaning can be found in this.

After our enjoyable visit at Mar Musa we headed back toward Damascus to visit Maalula. At Maalula is one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. It was nothing extravegent, not like the other churches I have toured in Syria. But it was quite a sight to see, the old stone walls, and an alter dating back to the 3rd or 4th century. There is also a monestary there built into the wall of a cliff, but the ravine was too muddy for us to go down there, so we just looked from afar.

That pretty much sums up my final week in Damascus. The next two days will be pretty routine, except tomorrow, the ladies of the group get to go to a Hamaam, or Roman/Turkish bath. There will be a steam room, a wash place, a sauna, a scrub room, and a massage thing. I don't really know what to expect out of it, but the guys went on Sunday and told us a little about it. I am looking forward to the experience, and getting very clean!!

Thursday we leave Damascus and travel to Elipo, Friday and Saturday we travel to and tour Palmira and other small sites along the way. Sunday we do return to Damascus for the day, but to a new location, and then Monday it is Ma Shallah Syria, Mahaba Jordan (good-bye Syria, hello Jordan). We will spend a few days in Amman, then head out into the dessert to stay with the Beduins, camping in the dessert and riding camels (no big deal). I don't know for sure when I will be able to post again. Internet will no longer be as easy access or free. So keep me in your prayers, and I will update again as soon as I can.

Love,

Allison