FEBRUARY 9, 2009
I forgot to mention the excitement in the apartment Thursday night—I GOT A PACKAGE! It was such fun—Sheliah and Dee (and the guys) sent me a goodie box! It had two canisters of chips—sour cream and plain; Hot Tamale candies, TWO boxes of Joe’s favorite: popcorn w/caramel and nuts; 3 packages of gum; some wonderful handcream and a bar of the best, most luxurious soap—it was so great…we shared the popcorn and chips…and I enjoyed the soap today. THEN this afternoon I got a text from Adam that I had some mail! He is supposed to bring it by this evening—so I am so excited about that!
Our internet guy is also supposed to show up this evening…we’ll see…
None of my plans for this Sunday worked out—Elaine and I were going to go to a Baptist Church in Jerusalem, but she didn’t feel well this morning. So only Joy went to church—she goes to Christ Church (Anglican) in the Old City and has for a good while. This is her 3rd year to be here—and her visa was denied, so she is going home March 31. She lives in Virginia. Mary is leaving early also—she is getting married and is leaving for home May 15…so by the end of the year, only Elaine and I will be here in this four-bedroom apartment. Elaine is planning to stay until July 4—then she is going to Sweden to spend some time with her sons—one in Sweden and the other in Germany. But she will only be gone about a month, and she plans to return here to teach. But her visa expires in October, so that may present a problem.
So today I’ve done some cleaning and reading—but eventually, I was HUNGRY! That is a problem…no place to go and no way to go…so Elaine and I got dressed, walked down the hill to the bus stop—past the checkpoint and rode the bus to a café behind Jafars (our grocery store). The café is called Goodies—and it is a bit similar to a McDonald’s—I had a Palestinian hamburger and it was delicious—Swiss cheese, grilled onions and all…French fries like McDonald’s…a nice meal. I took a picture of the neighborhood while we were in there…and sent it to Melissa—hopefully, she can put it on the blog.

Then we went by Jafars for a few things, walked across the street to the chicken place, picked up chicken for Mary and waited for the bus. We had just gotten on, when we were stopped by a roadblock of IDF officers in a van. They came on the bus and collected passports (not mine nor Elaine’s) and got off…the bus had to pull over and wait…and wait…and wait…then they stopped another bus, so the drivers chatted while we waited. No big deal to us—we were in no hurry, had no one waiting on us, nothing to do, no meal to prepare for a family, or job to get to…but the other people on the bus most likely did. Once again, I could see the anger and resentment in their faces—old men and old women, young men and teen agers—so helpless to do anything except hand them the passport and wait. OF COURSE, I understand why they are doing it. I just can see that the relational aspects of the divisiveness are greater than mere words can describe.
Finally, they gave us their passports—walked to the driver and handed all of them to him…so each one had to come forward and get his…then we moved on. The bus we were on goes past the checkpoint, so he dropped us off and we trudged and trudged and trudged…we walked further to avoid the smoke and smell of a burning dumpster. MERCY…all this walking is killing me! Actually, I think it is doing just the opposite—I know it is good for me. I just like to fuss about it.
ALSO…I had heard about this movie “Slumdog Millionaire” set in India that is out now—the girls across the hall went last week to see it. So I was very very surprised today as I was leaving Jafars to see it ON THE SHELF FOR SALE! The guy told us the other day that they also have “Marley and Me”—amazing.
Thanks again for your interest and prayers—please continue to pray for my family and for us here at Jerusalem School. I miss all of you so much…Harold had written an email—and mentioned how great things are at church—and how grateful he is to be a part of the fellowship at FBC Groves—and I agree—and I miss all that so very, very much. We have a loving, wonderful group of people at FBC who love the Lord and love one another—I miss you and especially my precious SS class ladies…I look forward to seeing everyone—if not in March, in June…I know that is a short time, but right now it seems a long time away!
Love you
Beth