in the middle east

Well, Jessica and I have returned from our three week adventure with friends in Jerusalem and traveling abroad in Jordan and Egypt. We're so glad to be back "home" here in Jerusalem. So, now we have a backlog of things to tell y'all about, so let's begin at the beginning. Our friends from Blackhawk arrived on Feb 2, the Henderson's stayed until the 7th, the Dolson's and Anderson's until the 11th. We had a wonderful time together, made great memories, and became more familiar with the situations of poverty and oppression caused by the conflict here. I've compiled some photos that are representative of their time here, arranged in roughly chronological order. I think the team was able to go home with a more intimate knowledge of the issues that grip this land as well as its amazing and layered history. To see some of our experiences together, just click here.

Our Blackhawk friends are boarding their plane as I write this, and Jessica and I are about to go get on a bus to begin our own mid-year Middle East adventure. We'll be gone Feb 11-25, so we won't be posting any new blogs for a while. Here's a quick overview of where we're headed:
Jordan
> Feb 11 Travel to Jordan
> Feb 12-13 Overnight jeep tour in Wadi Rum (Google this one, it's cool)
> Feb 13-14 Petra
> Feb 15-16 Bus up to Amman and fly to Cairo, Egypt
Egypt
> Feb 16-17 Giza Pyramids outside of Cairo
> Feb 18-20 Luxor, Thebes
> Feb 21 Alexandria
> Feb 22-23 Cairo
> Feb 24-25 Cairo > Amman > Jerusalem

We can't wait to share our adventures with you.
Cheers.

A group from our church in Madison has been visiting us the last few days, and it's been great to be around friends and make new memories. The group consists of Chris and Becky Dolson, Rich and Martha Henderson, and Mike and Gail Anderson, all leaders at Blackhawk. They spent a week before coming to Jerusalem visiting different ministries that Blackhawk supports in Nairobi, Kenya and Amman, Jordan. Their time here with us was aimed at becoming acquainted with the political situation here in Israel/Palestine, particularly issues of social justice and human rights. We visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah, and met people whose lives have been destroyed by the conflict, but also others who still have hope and started a youth-community center. Tomorrow we're spending the day with some representatives of World Vision to visit some of their poverty relief and human rights advocacy projects in the West Bank; it should be very good.
All in all, it's been a wonderful time. You can check out their own blog on the trip by clicking here.

The small hill town of Nazareth, Jesus' home town, still occupies the same steep ravines and hilltops that it did 2,000 years ago. It was a small agricultural village - today it has a population of almost 100,000 and has a thriving culture and economy. The oldest part of town, "lower Nazareth" is predominantly Palestinian, Arab citizens of Israel, while the newest part of town "upper Nazareth" is predominantly Israeli, and the line between the two parts is pretty clear (for a quick history of the city, Click Here). A day after Christmas we stayed in Nazareth a few days and used it as a base for our other adventures up north in Galilee and the Golan heights. We stayed in lower Nazareth and had a great time. Very friendly people, great falafel, and way to much traffic for those narrow streets! The most well-known tourist site is the church of the annunciation, commemorating the spot where Mary was told she was pregnant with Jesus. It is a gigantic and awe inspiring church. After Nazareth we went down South in the broad Jezreel valley where the ancient city of Megiddo lies. Here are some pictures, just Click Here. [Note: I just realized that I spelled "Nazareth" wrong in the captions of the pictures! But I don't feel like correcting all of them, so just read "Nazareth" when you see "Nazereth", oops).