A Quick Marhaba from Vicky and Cory (V-slick and C-money)

Hello family and friends!!

We cannot believe that in three short days we will be leaving Palestine/Israel and coming home to all of you! While we are very excited to see you all it is a bittersweet feeling -- we are not ready to be coming home! We have thoroughly enjoyed our month here! WE HAVE WALKED WHERE JESUS WALKED and have felt his love working through us during our time at Musalaha and in each of our experiences.

This past weekend, the three of us girls and Phenocia (another volunteer who we have become quite close with!) took on a trip to the North. The four of us girls rented a car, packed some sleeping bags, consulted google maps and set off on a two day adventure! Our first stop was Nazareth -- we went with Shadia to her family's home and experienced everyday life of the people of Nazareth! On the way though we stopped for food and to ride a camel!!! Vicki got a pleasant tour of the local gas station and I was taken away into the desert by the camel man who offered vicki 13 camels in exchange for me -- thank god vicki said no!! but we did have alot of fun!!!
We then continued on over to the coast to find our camp site for the night! For 8 NIS (about 2 dollars) we camped right on the Sea of Galilee -- let me just say... WE ROUGHED IT :) no tents no lights no nothing just us and sleeping bags, bugs and bedoins but man did we have fun! in the morning Phenocia and I went for a run around Galilee and after swam in the same body of water that Jesus walked on!!! Probably one of the highlights of the trip.
After quickly packing up -- the gang got back in the car and went to see Capernum (where Peter's house is -- also where Jesus healed the paralyzed man) then to the Mount of Beattitudes (another one of my favorites) we continued west until we hit Akko-- a beautiful fishing city with old walls and beauitful landscapes -- for 10NIS we went on a little boat ride all around the city -- vicky got soaked!! -- next we had lunch in Haiffa and then finished our day on the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv. We feasted on hamburgers and gelato :) Gelato and Canaffa has quickly become our favorite desserts!! then the four of us tiredly drove home!!!
On sunday I got to go on another run around the country side in palestine! What an amazing experience -- we did a trail run and I got to see all the views of Jordan and mountains of Beit Jalla. As the days go on i grow more and more sad to leave this place I now call home!

Yesterday and Today Vicky and I have continued writing chapters for the new book at Musalaha -- Vicki is writing a chapter on gender in the bible and I am writing one on psychological trauma! Tonight I will teach my last english class and we will have dinner one last time in the Old City of Jerusalem

Tomorrow the two of us will be trying out Holy Bagel -- apparently God himself blesses this morning treat so you gotta try it out once! and spending some time in the old city before going to work and preparing for the Women's ministry kick off! I cannot believe tomorrow is our last day of work!

Vicky would like to add (I am currently serving as her scribe -- trying to embody our bible knowledge):            Camels smell! Cory is the best! and .... I want Mexican food when i get home. Love you~


We love you all!!! (I love you everyday Daddy)

We will post pictures later today -- especially the Epic shot of vicky on a camel at the gas station


xoxox,
Vicky and Cory

Shalom!

Hello from the Middle East! I just wanted to start this blog post out by extending a more-than-words-could-ever-say thank you to our friends and families for supporting us, praying for us, and loving us during this month! We had a very busy week after our Dead Sea adventure! My placement is at the Bethlehem Bible College- which of last week- is different from the other two girls who are now both at Musalaha. Bethlehem Bible College is a very small, newer, Arab version of Westmont. I love my days at the Bible College. I do- what I can mostly categorize as- Communications work. I love the friendships I am starting to make with some of the people at the Bible College and the routine I am getting into. It has been such a blessing to witness the incredible things that this college is doing in the Holy Land.

            Monday night, we were invited over to a friend’s house for a BBQ. I was pretty excited because I had to miss the first one from being sick, but I think this one made up for it. Our house father’s uncle hosted it and toasted at the beginning of the meal by reciting basically the doctrine behind Westmont’s Ring by Spring.  That was awesome. The rest of the night was filled with us having 3+ servings, lots of laughter, and the children climbing on me like a jungle gym.

            On Tuesday, Cory taught her first English class all on her own! I am a proud friend!!! She has about ten 20-30 year old students. I would like to say on her behalf- it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. The next day, we all traveled into the Old City after work to hang out at a friend named Shadia’s house. The entire Musalaha team along with the three of us and the Canadians sat on her beautiful, Christmas light lit roof which over looked the entire Old City, The Dome of the Rock and Mount of Olives. What a blessing it is to laugh and share stories all night with new friends! On our way out of the city, we walked through the Old City light show- which I can confidently say is a partial reenactment of the Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

            On Thursday, we had our last lecture from Salim at Musalaha on “History & Narrative of the Land”. I am so thankful for the time that Salim has taken out of his busy schedule to speak on these topics he is passionate about. I think it’s so important for us here to soak in everything that we hear, from both sides, through (okay bear with me) a Jesus-like-cheese-cloth. If that doesn’t make sense, just hold on…In Matthew 22:36 a Pharisee (a lawyer to be specific enough and OF COURSE it’s the lawyer that speaks…) asks Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus responded by saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

            I’m realizing how long this blog post is and I’m sorry. If you need to take a bathroom break or grab some popcorn, right now would be a good time.

            On Friday, I was at the Bible College and two of our Canadian friends (Matt & Dave), picked me up from work. We walked the wall that separates Palestine from Israel in Bethlehem. Being an Art Major, I was pretty excited about a lot of the political street art on the wall and we made a stop at the Banksy Store. The boys had a final stop in mind and it was the home of a woman named Claire. Claire has a very unique story. She is a very creative, funny, mother of four. Claire is a Christian. In 2000, Israel started to build the wall, which would separate Palestine from Israel. 2000 was also, and not only, the same year that Claire’s home began to become swallowed on three sides by this huge wall, but the terror began in her family. Late at night, Israeli soldiers would come to her door. If they sent her husband, he would be shot. It was too dangerous to send her children. She was always the one sent to open the door. They would barricade her children, with guns, in one room and her and the rest of her family in another. I sat for two hours and listened to Claire’s stories. My heart was not only furious, but also weeping. I have realized that learning more about the conflict will never become easier. Claire’s story reminded me of the verses in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12. Paul writes, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” Claire’s hope is not found in anything else but the promise of Jesus’ life given over to us. What a beautiful and humble expression of a love for Christ.

            We had to say goodbye to most of our friends from Canada on Friday! What a sad experience. After our week, we got to travel to Tel Aviv. We met a new friend named Mariel and stayed with her in Hetzilya. Saturday, the four of us walked around Jaffa Port and saw St. Peter’s church and where the prophet Jonah was swallowed by a whale! Sunday morning, we took a short walk to the beach. Okay, I am a California girl to the core, and will always love the Pacific Ocean. You always have your first love, but sometimes the second is even better. I am head over heels in love with the Mediterranean Sea. I might have left my heart there, so it’s just necessary I go back to get it soon. I’m sorry to have kept you reading for so long and hopefully you stuck around to this part. We are getting very excited to be home, sharing our stories with all of you. Thank you for being beautiful blessings in our lives. We love love love you all!

View from Shadia's roof

We decided it was okay to give them just a little more of a confidence boost.

The Old City (Western Wall) on a Friday night.

The lookout point above St. Peter's church.

In my element.

I was really happy about that watermelon icee in my hand.

Love,

Ry

Marhaba!

Hello from the Middle East! I am a story teller and I love to share pictures. So in this post, that's what I'm going to do. Also, I am a list maker so I think that would be the most effective way to write my (Ryanne's) part of the blogpost.

1- Our bus drive into the Old City of Jerusalem consists of about a 45 minute bus ride, through a checkpoint. (I do love our bus rides into Jerusalem because we get to experience a little sense of the two sides of the wall coming together.) I got off the bus and within 45 seconds I was sick behind a taxi, whose driver was yelling at me, "Taxi?! Taxi?" No sir, I would not like a taxi, can you not see I am a little preoccupied? Just kidding, I found him to be a very nice man after he offered me his own water bottle. Feeling like a champ, I tied up my skirt, grabbed a sprite and headed towards Damascus Gate. I was not going to miss our first real day in Jerusalem. After the Western Wall, the Garden Tomb, and Church of the Holy Sepulcher it was so worth it. Now, I am feeling 100% better!

 

2- I can not get enough of our family. As we wrote in our last post, there are six of them and five of them are boys. I love them so much already that I can't even imagine what it is going to be like when we leave. The other day, our dad, Ala, took us three girls on a drive. Being the strong willed, funny and excited women that we are, we all began to talk at the same time. Ala stopped us and said, "Hallas (meaning Stop)!!! I am not professional in English!" I think even someone who was professional in English would have had to told us to slow down. Also, our breakfasts and dinner have become one of my favorite parts of the day. Not just the food but the conversations that we have over our meals.

3- Sunday we had the best day ever . Our bus picked us up from souq e shan (which I think is how you spell it and I think it means peoples center) at 5am. An hour and a half later we were at the place shown below...Masada. Seriously, look at that trail. Look at that mountain we climbed. Between 37 and 31 BCE, King Herod (the king when Jesus was born) built this huge fortress on top of this huge mountain. After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, the Jews raided Masada and camped out here until the Romans came to take over. Right before the Romans invaded Masada, the leader of the zealots, Elazar ben Yai, decided it would be brilliant for everyone to participate in a mass suicide and avoid what would happen to them when the Romans made it. It's a surreal feeling to be standing in a place with so much history. It's also surreal to be standing on a mountain so high after the hour and a half hike up. I couldn't decided which one was making me more light headed.

Masada

I was just being realistic.

The "Snake Trail" we took up.

Standing strong with out Canadian friends!

Cory and Vicky perfecting their "OM" pose. Namaste. 

4- I love hiking. I really love swimming in waterfalls after hiking. After our Masada adventure we traveled off to En Gedi. We figured we would focus our time getting to the David Falls. In 1 Samuel 23 and 24, David takes refuge in the caves of En Gedi to hide from Saul. Although David was hiding for his life, we couldn't help but think this would be an okay place to be hiding. It was gorgeous.

Here, we read through 1 Samuel 24.

One of the falls below David Fall.

Cory and Vicky

Our whole team under the David Fall.

Our new friend Matt pretending to be some sort of photo bombing sea creature. Our friends from Canada are real funny people.

The boys laying out getting their necessary tan on.

Cory and I under the falls.

Happy and refreshed!

5- After the falls, we stopped at Qumran (the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found) for lunch. We were all very excited to finally arrive at the Dead Sea. I was expecting the water to be very salty and not a very refreshing experience. Oh my goodness was I wrong. All you have to do when you get in the water it lift your legs and you float. How is that even possible?! We were all very excited about getting in the water, so we didn't get many pictures of us floating. After we spent our allotted amount of 15 minutes in the water, we rubbed our entire bodies with mud and waited impatiently for them to dry. My skin was so soft. Who would have thought the best spa in the world wouldn't cost any money?? I have to go home and tell everyone from Newport their wasting they're money.

After many, many tries, we finally got a group picture!

Please continue to pray for our hearts as we serve, that our time here would be intentional and not casual, and that our relationships with everyone we meet would stand firm on the foundation of Christ. I would like to share my prayer for my team this week with you guys. It is the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

Amen

Cory Blog Post of the Week

Well we have made it a week in Israel/Palestine and already I feel as though I have grown and learned so much! We are living in the middle of a very complex racial/political/religious conflict! We have traveled alot on both sides of the wall: all over the Holy City, all over our home town of Beit Sahour, bethlehem, Hebron and Aiba Refugee camp.

In the holy city-- we were able to see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the garden tomb -- both places are believed to be the cite of both the crucifixion and the resurrection of our Jesus. I was really moved at the garden tomb -- it felt so sacred and looked just as I would picture the tomb -- the Holy Sepulchre seemed very overdone and seemed to take away from the recognition that our messiah is no longer dead but is alive in our hearts waiting to take us home -- It is amazing to be so close to where Jesus walked -- Nick it reminds me of you I just know you are walking around up in heaven with Jesus with your laugh and just loving each other -- this has brought me so much comfort in missing you... for now I understand that we really never will walk alone :)

We were also able to visit the wailing wall, both Damascus and Jaffa gate and strolled through the arab and christian quarters bartering for gifts for home!

We have also been able to visit the church of the nativity in Bethlehem where Jesus was born -- I can now saw I have been in the very spot where the world was saved from sin! Pretty cool!!!!
Today we just returned from Hebron -- a very old city where the original stone walls are still very much intact! Today I touched stones that probably witnesses some of Jesus' teachings!!! -- Hebron was amazing full of culture and history but sadly was also smack dab in the middle of the fight for land -- Jews and Palestinians share Hebron and  mainly fight over the tombs of the Patriarchs -- which we were able to see!! Abraham & Sarah, Isaac and Rachel & Jacob and Leah are all buried right there in Hebron! The girls had to be fully covered so we were dressed in gowns -- Vicki liked these ALOT!!!! She also pulled them off super well I may buy her one to take home -- so Joel you better take her out on a nice date so she can where her hobbit robes :)
We then walked out of the Muslim side (we are not permitted into the Jewish side -- shocker!) and went to have coffee at a souvenir shop right on the jewish side owned by palestinians -- very interesting -- we shopped ALOT but met some really nice Israeli Soldiers who were telling us their side. Its all so very interesting -- everyone has a different story to tell -- I am just still trying to figure out how to truthfully tell my own.

After Hebron we went for Schwerma (one of my new favorite foods -- but let me be honest I LOVE ALL THE FOOD HERE!!!) and then went to the Aiba Refugee Camps created in 1948 for displaced Palestinians -- this was probably the one of the most intense and emotional parts of our journey -- we met two men Mohammed and Moses who have both been born into the camps -- basically born in captivity. They are two of 5000 refugees in this camps alone -- these camps are surrounded by Israeli walls and guards who will literally shoot at any moment -- Moses was shot last year in the cheek and has to flee nightly from the camp in fear of being captured by the IDF because of fear that he will charge them at the courts. These families are limited to one room living areas smaller than my freshman dorm room -- we were able to meet some of the kids and see some of the work being done in the childrens center -- some kids have created photo exhibits that tell of their lives in the camps-- it was truly heart breaking! Yet they still all seem so happy -- laughter is everywhere -- we even got to see a dance team preform the traditional arab dances! Unreal-- they are hands down better than N'Step, which i thought was next to impossible :)

We have really loved our time here! I run on some mornings through the city and get to see the sun rise which I love and our family are so loving and have really adopted us as their own! My house mom feeds me at every waking moment!!! They have really made this our home!

I love you all... EVERYDAY!!
Isaiah 41:10

Our First Days in Jesus Land

.So we have survived our first few days in the land where Jesus once walked

After traveling for 33 hours we finally found our shuttle service and began our two hour journey from Tel Aviv into Jerusalem stopping to quickly visit our office at Musahala and then continuing our journey across the boarder into Palestine, our home for the next month! We were greeted by our host family, Ala (dad), Abeer (mom) and our four brothers, Abir, Amin, Adam, Hanna. They are extremely loving and gracious. We all were exhausted and napped for 5 hours before heading back down for dinner! The food here is incredible! And they literally feed us at all hours. We got to tour the city of Beit Sahour with our house parents and visit Abeers mom and dad at their new home! We then crashed as soon as we got back and are 

now somewhat over our jet lag

The next morning began our first full day in Israel. Ryanne woke up early enough to watch the sunrise and Cory journaled for a while after the morning call to prayer. We all awoke with the lovely music provided by the rooster residents and our horse Selma's morning requests for breakfast. We all took our time getting ready and preparing for our first day at work. Abeer made a delicious breakfast for us with fresh pita bread, homemade jams, olive oil and thyme, boiled grapes and thyme eggs. We also had Arabic coffee out on our porch with Ala. Hanna, our youngest brother lovingly locked us out on the porch resulting in Ala having to climb back in through the windows. Haha it was a perfect way to start the morning. 

Ala then took us to the taxi stop to pick up our shuttle to the bus that would be able to cross the checkpoint into Jerusalem. The three of us handled it like pros only getting lost once!:) At the checkpoint we had to show our passports but the guards were very friendly and we are now comfortable with the daily journey. 

Once at Musahlaha we met some other students that will be with us for the trip. They are from a Christian college called Trinity in Canada. There are four boys and three girls and all are extremely nice! We all worked together on newsletters and then got to meet the rest of the staff during orientation. We were also given our work placements. Vicki will be working at the offices helping Salim with the youth curriculum and writing some pieces about gender issues and religious conflict. Ryanne and Cory are assigned to Bethlehem Bible College and will be doing summer camps, small groups and teaching English. We are all so excited to start on Monday. 

Tomorrow we are headed into the old city of Jerusalem to tackle the sites and find the best hummus!:) 

Love you all! Thank you all for your prayers! 

And off we go!

We (Cory, Vicky and Ryanne) are in Newark, New Jersey right now waiting for our flight at 4 to go to Israel! We are very excited for the adventure that we are about to embark on.

Just a little bit about our trip... We will be working with and organization called Musalaha that works with peace and reconciliation in Jerusalem. We will also be living with a Christian Palestinian family in the West Bank who has a family lineage that dates back to the when Jesus was born!

Honestly, we do not know what the Lord has planned for us. But we are prepared to serve and engage with the culture in Israel-Palestine.

Things we know: it will be hot (100's!),
Things we do not know: Arabic

We will hopefully update this blog at least once a week and would love for you to keep us in your prayers. Thank you for you love and support that you have given us!