15 March, 2019 This past week was our second and final week at Jerusalem University College. After taking our first test聽Saturday morning聽and a free afternoon, we started off strong with field studies again聽Sunday morning. This past week was quite a bit different from our first week at Jerusalem University College as we spent much of....
Guatemala: Living in the moment
Imagine this: riding a boat on Lago Atitlan, a lake so blue and beautiful, you can hardly believe the toxins and pollution it contains. A lake surrounded by tall green volcanoes covered in green trees, coffee plants, colorful, touristy markets, and people鈥檚 homes. Imagine wandering the streets, sun on your face, admiring and buying the....
Middle East: Jerusalem
This week has found us transitioning to Jerusalem, our next port of call on this journey. Here, we鈥檙e staying and working with Jerusalem University College, where we鈥檙e focusing more on Biblical geography in and around the Promised Land, right here where we are. Jerusalem itself is only a few miles from Beit Sahour, about a....
Do No Harm
After reading an article titled 鈥淒o No Harm鈥� This article really struck me and pleased me at the same time. 聽I鈥檓 not exactly sure why, but I have this negative connotation towards mission groups. 聽I loved hearing [the article鈥檚 author] Dennis Smith鈥檚 sharp critique on this subject. I can鈥檛 quite pin where this judgment for....
Guatemala: To be Mayan
Mom, There are many things I鈥檝e learned about the Maya, many things I鈥檝e seen and felt and read. To be Mayan is to carry weight. Literally, Mayans carry weight all the time — baskets on their heads, bundles on their backs. But, in another sense, there is a greater more permanent weight that Mayans carry.....
Cacao to Chocolate
Cacao to Chocolate I am a colony of cacao beans, sitting in my shell nobody to disturb me A loud crack heard, the shell that I call home is being broken into. Five long fleshy weird things from the bright blue abyss, reach out and grab me from the only place I know I鈥檓 then....
Middle East: Bethlehem University, authors, the wall, Herodian
Feb 16, 2019 Hello friends! Since our last post we鈥檝e enjoyed another week in beautiful Beit Sahour. Week 2 in Palestine has included more bonding with our host families, several trips to local sites, and聽 – you guessed it – many more falafel sandwiches. We have continued to enjoy lectures from professors from the local....
Middle East: Beit Sahour, host families, Arabic studies
Feb. 2019 After three weeks of hotel-hopping (and bedouin camp-hopping), we’re glad to be somewhere we can really settle in: Beit Sahour. A Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Beit Sahour is south of Jerusalem and a short walk downhill from Bethlehem. Of its 15,000 people, 75% are Christians, and we’re all staying with....
Guatemala: Welcome
鈥淚 feel tall,鈥� said Maya as we were talking about what we noticed in Guatemala after a week. I couldn鈥檛 help but laugh at her comment because I couldn鈥檛 relate and I thought it was comical. I actually feel like I am an average size here in a funny way. In the United States I....
Middle East: Jordan – desert hikes, refugees, and Biblical story
Greetings friends, Since Graham left off at the Bedouin camp we have seen, heard, smelled and experienced many more new things. After leaving the camp, we as a group rode on the bus to the small village of Dana where we were to begin our adventure on the Jordan trail. The Jordan trail goes from....