It’s my turn! Katie here, with a few (ok a lot) of words from Israel…

Getting on the air conditioned bus is like taking a sleeping pill. I honestly struggle to stay awake once I’m in my seat and we are off to our next location. Today, we were on the bus for what seemed like quite a while. We woke up at En Gev, hopped on the bus and headed to Gamala, this ruin on a hill, the kicker is that you climb DOWN and DOWN and then UP AND UP to get there. This is what I’ve discovered: the Romans were determined to wipe everyone out because they did that single file, with a battering ram. I did it single file, and I was carrying a water bottle and a camera, and would not have had any energy left to batter down a wall. Life would be so much easier with minions.

Then, we got on our air conditioned bus, and headed to the Jordan River to reaffirm our baptismal vows. It was not what I expected. I did not expect otters and fish to be all over the place, I did not expect it to be so commercialized, and I did not expect the whole Jordan River to be dammed up. The site was still nice, and although, not historically anywhere near where Jesus actually was baptized, it was beautiful to reflect on this in light of our own baptisms (mine was in Pigeon Lake…in early June…yeah, cold).

Back to the bus, and off to Jericho. I was excited to finally get to see a Tel (man-made mountain because each community is demolished and then a new one is built on top of it). Tel-Jericho is not the site of the current Jericho, but it is nearby. Yeah, it may be a bunch of rocks in a pile, and yeah, I may have close to 500 pictures of rocks in a pile already, but Jericho made me think. It made me reflect again on the conflict in this country. I thought this trip was about some sort of spiritual high, but that hasn’t been the case for me. People speak of the power they feel here, and I think on the hearbreak. I sat by a woman on the plane who cried when we could see Tel Aviv out of the window, because she was finally back in Israel. On Sunday, 4 people were killed on the Israeli/Syrian border because people are trying to get into Israel. After we heard about that, we went to the Mount of Beatitudes and read the Sermon on the Mount and I read “You have heard it said, “Love your neighbours and hate your enemies”, but I tell you, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven”. I am maybe not supposed to say this, but I burst into tears on the Mount of Beatitudes. Tears, snot, red face, the whole bit. To read about love in light of what happened, and to know that Jesus’ message was one of love, and to see the Holy Land in such conflict is heartbreaking.

Tomorrow we wake up early to go to Jenin, a Palestinian village which has been undergoing the hardships of occupation. We just came from our orientation where we were asked to not forget Palestine when we go, and to pray for peace, justice and freedom. Please join us in this prayer, for healing and love to spread like fire throughout the world. Pray for us as we go on this adventure and meet the people of Jenin, give us courage and strength to bring them hope and smiles, and let’s spread some more love.

Shalom/Salaam (Peace in Hebrew and Arabic)