Sunday, July 17, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Pictures from Bethlehem...
We are less than 10 hours away from departing for the Dead Sea to begin camp!! We are so excited for all that God has in store for this very special time with the 75 Palestinian kids and leaders from Zabebdeh and Bethlehem. The assignment team (Hunter (speaker), Dan and PJ (program) and Alysia and I (workcrew, photographers, meal preppers, whatever-else-needs-to-get-doners) have spent the last 4 days planning and praying and preparing for this amazing opportunity to create an experience for these kids they will never forget. The pre-planning is now over and we are out of time to rework or rethink anything else..."holis" as they say in arabic...meaning "enough, fine, finished, no more needs to be done". It's a great word and used often here. So we pray God will fill in the gaps where we need Him. Please pray for us...and all the kids and leaders. Campers arrive at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. Blessings, lauri
Pictures below:
1. Yousef got Haley a fireworks cake to celebrate her "Gotcha Day" or what we call her "1/2 birthday" (July 4th)
2. Yousef, PJ, Alysia, Dan, Haley, Lauri and Hunter at dinner in Bethlehem
3. Squishing 5 of us in the backseat of a taxi...no it's not legal here.
4. Haley's first ride on a camel
5. Haley gets a permanent marker tatoo from a man at Murad
One day and counting...
Just one more day until we host our first Middle East camp at the Dead Sea!!
We are so excited!! We are in Bethlehem putting the finishing touches on the program and getting last minute supplies for skits and meals.
Please Pray for the all the kids and leaders coming from Zababdeh and Bethlehem to the Dead Sea tomorrow. Camp dates are July 8-11.
Will try to post some pictures this afternoon.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Leadership Training Camp...June 30-July 2 pictures
Pictures from Leadership Weekend...1. All the leaders at the top of Mount Temptation
2. Welcoming the leaders to camp
3. Naeem and Haley...a snapshot of the future of YL
Pictures from Zababdeh...June 27-30
Pictures from our stay with Yousef's family in Zababdeh. 1. Outside Yousef's parents' house pictured with Abu Hunter, A'm Hunter, and Yousef.
2. Haley and her friends found a little bird...and vowed to bring it to camp as the mascot!! (didn't happen in case you were wondering).
3. Enjoying one of A'm Hunter's delicious Arab meals. Lots of olive oil and zatar! yum.
4. Yousef wore this shirt to breakfast on Thursday...small world that he had a JMU shirt on in the little town of Zababdeh. What was JMU thinking when they printed these (or misprinted thess?)
More to come...
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
More from the Camper Information Meeting
We started the meeting with a rousing game of musical chairs! :)
Great fun. The winner got 25 shekels off his/her camp price.
Camper Information Meeting
Tonight we held the camper information meeting at the Village Park. It’s a wonderful area (perfect for outdoor YL club meetings) near Yousef’s parents' house. About 50 kids and leaders showed up to play some games and get information about the camp next weekend. We set up the sound system and played a big game of musical chairs. We broke into 3 groups, collected 50 shekels from each camper and went over the packing list with the kids. One of the kids, Ilea, brought his 50 shekels (coins) in a bag. Here he is with one of his leaders, Isam.
Due to space at the camp (and to maintain a good leader-camper ratio), we have limited this first camp to 50 campers. One way to limit the number was to allow only one child per family to attend. Kids also have to pay 50 shekels (about $15 US), which for some is quite a lot of money to keep their name on the list. I loved looking at the list Yousef is keeping of the kids signing up for camp. It looks just like lists we have kept taking kids to camp, with payments, some scratched out and other names added, only everything is in Arabic. Several kids came to the information meeting hoping a space would open up if someone did not show or had not paid his/her 50 shekels. What a blessing so many kids are excited about the camp. It was great fun to see the kids having fun and hanging out with their leaders. It’s really exciting what God is doing here.
Shekels...
We are now staying at the home of the parents of one of the leaders in Palestine, Yousef Kahlil.
We are definitely NOT in Netanya anymore. Today we went to a near by market to get some snacks. For 13 shekels (about $4), I got a falafal sandwich, 2 bags of chips, a bag of pretels, a liter of water, some guava juice and 2 packs of wafer cookies. The total for this picnic was one shekel less than we spent for one 14 shekel popsicle in Netanya. It’s good to be in Zababdeh.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
On to the West Bank...but a few more blessings before we go
This is our last morning in Nazareth. Sigh. Last day in our Chocolate Cafe (pictured above).
Because we had rented a Hertz car when we first arrived at the airport, they would not allow us to take the car to the West Bank. Nieem said he would drive us to the Israeli/West Bank check point where Youseff would pick us up on the other (West Bank) end. However, we were concerned that we would have to walk all of our bags across the check point. Fortunately, Azar told us yesterday that he has a friend who works at a rental car agency here in town that will rent us a car we can drive across the border. This way, we can leave the luggage in the car as we cross through the check point.
This was also a great blessing to Haley because it meant that we would not have to leave Nazareth until later this afternoon and she could go to one more day of school. Not only does she get to see her new friends one last time, it's "Sports Day" today (their version of "Field Day" events). Double Bonus!! Hunter and I also got the opportunity to spend one more morning in Chocolate café. After switching the cars out and packing up, we will pick Haley up from school and head to the West Bank to Yousef’s parents’ house. We are excited to be with the leaders and start putting the finishing touches on camp.
Haley with her new friends in Zababdeh in the West Bank.
Divine Appointments...God is Good! June 26
Sunday, we drove to Tiberias to the Sea of Galilee for a few hours. This is a picture of our family on the Sea of Galilee. It was beautiful there...and very hot. It helps give us a feel for what the 110 degree weather might be like on the Dead Sea where we will have the camp.
We did some shopping at the Souk, where Haley bought a toy and some candy. We then made our way to yet another birthday party for our friend Nieem’s son who was turning 1. Nieem works at NBS and had been to our house last year on one of the fundraising visits for the school. His father has a heart for all kids and developed “King’s Kids” ministry which has been reaching out to and discipling kids from all over Israel for the last 17 years. He has turned his 3 story house into rooms and spaces that quickly convert to places for activities and meetings for kids of all ages. Because he has an Israeli passport and also works with prison ministries here in Nazareth, he is not able to go into the West Bank very easily. He was so excited to hear that we were starting a ministry there and that we would be training leaders and hosting the camp in July.
There were a lot of kids at the party and they had a piñata for the kids. Haley was in heaven once again. At the party, we also met Nieem’s aunt Amel who was visiting from Texas to see his sister’s newborn baby (1 week old). Nieem had told her earlier that day that he had invited some Americans to the party and we worked with a group called YoungLife. She said she jumped out of her chair with excitement to tell him that she not only knew what YL was, but she was on the local committee and her daughter had been to Sharp Top Cove in 2009. She loved Young Life and was so excited to hear that it was coming to the Middle East. We are hoping that she and Nieem will come see the camp at Siesta at the Dead Sea in July to experience a little bit of what YL camping is all about.
Friends...Friends...Friends -- June 25
Haley was invited to go with May to a birthday party at the Plaza Hotel swimming pool. Several new friends from her school were also at the party. She had a great time. We went to breakfast with Botrus and Abir at Aroma Café. Botrus was trying to convince us to “convert” from Chocolate Café where we spend every morning on the computers to Aroma (which is more modern and a hot spot in town). Although the food was equally as good, the atmosphere did not compare to Chocolate. Most days, we are the only 2 people in the café in the mornings, so it’s quiet and we can get work done. Botrus took us on a tour of Mount Tabor where the transfiguration happened. We saw the area called Deborah and Valley of Megiddo where the book of Revelations indicates the Battle of Armageddon will take place.
Friday afternoon, we had lunch with Azar and Eptisom (which means “smile” in English) and their 3 boys. Their oldest son, Halil stayed with us last year when the group from the school was in the states and visited Sharp Top Cove. It was nice to see him again.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Haley's last day at NBS and coffee with Seedo Attalah
Today was Haley’s last day of school. She had a great week getting to know the students, teachers and administration. Here she is pictured with one of her teachers (Rania) and the principal of the school (Liza).
Haley said they learned to write the arabic letter "J connected to a W with 2 dots". When I asked her if she knew the name of letter, she replied, “J,W dot dot”. We’re not sure exactly what sound that "letter" makes, but at least it’s a start. :)
After school, we took Haley's new friends, May and Lydia, to get icecream. They had a short play date together to celebrate Haley's last day at the Nazareth school (any excuse to get ice cream!).
Hunter and I spent the morning at the internet café, working on the computer then went to visit Atallah Mansour (Botrus’ father).
"Seedo" (grandpa) Atallah was the first Arab journalist to write for the main Israeli newspaper. He is incredibly smart and an encyclopedia of knowledge. He grew up in Palestine, lived in Lebanon as a child, stayed in a Jewish Kabutz for a year where he learned to speak Hebrew, lived in Oxford for 2 years, and has worked as a journalist for close to 60 years. We had had the opportunity to speak with him several times during the week and enjoyed every conversation. The time with him was never long enough. He has lived a fascinating life and is a great story teller.
We were happy to have the opportunity to go to his house for coffee and some uninterrupted conversation. He shared wonderful stories of his past, both about his family life and the history of this country as well as the world. Once again, our time together seemed too short and we were left wanting more. He signed a copy of one of his books, “Narrow Gate Churches” and we are looking forward to reading it. Quite a wonderful man.
June 23rd...NETS and the Greens
Today we met with Dr. Bryson Arthur from Scotland. Dr. Arthur is the President of the Nazareth Evangelical Theological Seminary (aka, NETS). He was very supportive of the idea of Young Life in the Middle East and talked about ways they could partner with us. It was a very encouraging meeting all the way around. Later, we went to a nearby national park called Sachne (aka Gan Hashlosha National Park) with the Green family. Randy and Stacy Green are from Chicago and have lived here for 3 years. Randy works at the school part time and teaches some classes at the Seminary. He and Stacy have been very helpful about offering practical advice about what life is like for Americans in the Middle East. They have 4 children (ages 2-12), the 7, 9 and 12 year old attend the Baptist school and are all fluent in Arabic. The park was great fun. We enjoyed a nice picnic, swam in the natural springs and played under the waterfalls. Beautiful.
Haley goes to Haifa...without us! June 22
Haley is on a field trip with her class today to a place called Haifa. It's the main port in Israel about 45 minutes from Nazareth. The class will ride on a boat, go to a zoo, and eat lunch in a park. She's very excited. They all boarded nice coach tour buses this morning. We were going to follow the buses to Haifa (that's the back of her bus in the photo above) and try to take pictures of her adventures from afar. We then decided it might not be best for us to follow her so she could be with her new friends without the distraction of her over-protective parents in the background.
Some of the teachers took pictures of their field trip so we were able to see all the fun things she got to do. Check out the NBS website under 6/22/11 for pictures of her visit. www.nbs.org.il
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)