Palestine
The West Bank
Israel
January 3–21, 2009

“We are commanded to forgive.” – Salim, Musalaha

“Reconciliation – expressing and receiving forgiveness and pursuing intimate fellowship with previous enemies” – Salim, Musalaha

“I do it because my life isn’t mine – I was bought with a price” – Ritta, Messianic Jew

“People of Israel are to be a people of Priests; pointing people to God… we are not pointing people to Christ. We have rejected the Messiah.” – Rabbi of Messianic congregation

“Jesus, do you feel homesick for Bethlehem? Is there a place here for you in the Inn?” Pastor Nihad – Palestinian Christian Church

“Pray for the children of the entire world, even for the Israeli children. We want to live in peace; we want to live in hope.” – Yasser, former employee of World Vision, father of 6 living the nightmare in Gaza

“We have walked where Jesus walked so many years ago. We have also walked where Jesus WOULD HAVE WALKED TODAY, through the streets of this refugee camp.” - Darla Ruiz

To sum up a Mission trip is always a challenge. This recent trip to Palestine, the West Bank and Israel is no different. Like any trip there is excitement in the anticipation of going. There are moments of laughter as a group of people “melt and mold” personalities, expectations, skills (or lack there of), preconceived ideas, beliefs and the reality of traveling and living together for an extended period of time. This can be a great challenge under “normal” circumstances. You should try this while going during a time of war to a place steeped in conflict.

Our team had  peace about going and was determined to be an encouragement in spite of our loved ones who struggled with our “call” to go. This did, however, insure a lot of prayers on our behalf.

The first week was once again spent in classes listening and learning basic terminology, Zionism, intifada, Messianic Jew, Hamas, Jihad. We heard lectures from Jews, Palestinians, Messianic Jews, Bible scholars, Peace activists, a Rabbi and Pastors. For people hearing this for the first time, it can be both enlightening and confusing. For the “old timers” (after all this was our second time) we heard things that we didn’t pick up last year. Through it all, the cry for “peace” rings clear.

Along with these lectures the team traveled to one of the “hot spots”—Hebron. Much conflict between Jewish settlers and Palestinians takes place in this ancient city. Following the visit to the place claimed to be the burial place of Abraham and Sarah it was on to At-Tuani (my favorite place visited last year). It is probably the most realistic place we have seen, when trying to picture where Christ was born and lived. People live in stone houses and caves. Our friend Art Gish hosted the team and the local Palestinian woman prepared a dinner of rice, tomato soup and bread. An illegal Jewish settlement being built on a hill above this village is threatening the existence of At-Tuwani. Art Gish and other Christian Peacekeepers live in this village to protect the Palestinian children who must walk to and from school. The children are often attacked by the Settlers. Art also sleeps on a cement slab, outside the house of a family who has also been attacked. (You should pick up the book “At-Tuwani Journal by Arthur Gish—available on Amazon.com.)

One afternoon some of us visited Masada. Having seen a movie about this place many years ago, I was anxious to see it. It was an amazing place. This fortress sat high on top of a mountain, overlooking the Dead Sea. Here about 1000 Jews lived trying to escape the wrath of the Romans. Day after day the Romans built a ramp so they could break through the walls of the encampment and capture the Jewish people. I won’t give away the end of the story, you need to look it up and read about it. But walking on those stones, you could almost hear the cries of the people.

On Friday of the first week we were to tour the Holy sites in Jerusalem. A van and tour guide had been hired and the team was ready for some walking after sitting through lectures. When we arrived on the street leading to the Mount of Olives, our van was turned around by soldiers. A phone call from our tour guide (a Palestinian with an Israeli tour guide license) told us that all the gates to the city had been closed and he could not even meet us if we got out and walked to the Mount of Olives. After much discussion it was decided to go to the Old City of Jerusalem and seek information and guidance from the Tour Information Center. We were dropped off at Jaffa gate and soon found that the office was closed. There were police all around and as the guide had told us, there were indeed barricades in front of the entrances to the city. We were waved through the barricades and walked the nearly empty streets to the Damascus Gate. Because it was Friday, we knew the Muslims would be flooding the streets following the noon prayers, so we decided not to get in the midst of the “school of fish” and wait at a nearby restaurant for lunch. Coming through the Damascus gate we were “greeted” by Israeli police, soldiers and even men on horseback! We asked if we were “all right” being here and they said, “Why of course!” Finally at the restaurant, we asked enough questions that we found out that the city had been closed to all Muslims under the age of 50. The Israelis anticipated that this along with the war going on in Gaza would be cause for the Muslim population to rebel, thus the measures taken. Suffice to say there was no uprising. We finished our lunch and went to the Garden Tomb, another favorite place of ours. After our tour of the garden, we sat together as a group and took communion. It was a sweet time of remembrance of the price that was paid.

On Saturday we traveled to the Mediterranean Sea to attend Church with a Messianic congregation. The service was translated through headsets into several different languages. I was impressed with this Rabbi/Pastor who suspended the usual Praise music for a time of intercession for the war in Gaza. The Rabbi/Pastor called for repentance. Amazing that in this group were friends and relatives of Israeli solders and yet they prayed for both Israelis and Palestinians. We enjoyed lunch with this Rabbi/Pastor and a time of discussion following lunch. I have to stop here and tell you about lunch. We went to an Israeli restaurant that had the most unusual menu. They actually served spinal cord, udder, brains, tail and other parts near the tail that I will leave to your imagination. As in any group, there are always those who must try new things. This group was no exception (John and Keith) and I will say that it was rather disgusting. The more civilized of us enjoyed salads, lamb and chicken.

The next day we attended an Evangelical Church in Bethlehem. Once again we worshiped with people who had friends and family suffering in Gaza. It was amazing to hear these people praying for both sides of this war. This Pastor preached on “comfort and mercy” – Psalm 123. With everyday and every experience it becomes more difficult to wrap your heart and mind around this conflict.

Probably the most life-changing experience came rather unexpectedly. We were visited by Nasim, a friend from last year’s trip. He is a highly educated man. He worked many years for World Vision and also in Ruanda where he was in charge of a refugee camp. He has returned to Bethlehem with his young family believing that he must be a light in the darkness. While we were talking, he asked if he might telephone a friend who lives in Gaza. He said that he had tried to stay in contact with him nightly, and it was time to call him. He did so and put the phone on speaker. As we sat and listened to the desperation in Yassir’s voice it was almost to difficult to bear. This is a believer (he also worked for World Vision with Nasim) struggling to keep his family with six children alive. The days before this call he had dispersed his children all over his Gaza neighborhood, believing that most likely some would be killed. His thought was that by not being all in one place, they would not all be killed. At the time of the call, they had all returned to their house along with a total of 25 family members. As he talked, you could hear the gunfire and bombs going off. They had been without water and electricity for five days. They had been without food for two days. The Israeli’s dropped fliers that people could leave their homes for three hours in the afternoon to buy food. In anguish this father told us that he had plenty of money but could find no food to buy. The stores and markets were all empty. The fliers also said that their neighborhood would be targeted next. “We have no place to go!” he cried over and over again. We all went to bed with torn hearts for the innocent people of Gaza who are trying to stay alive. Our next report was that Yassir and his brother had to hide as the men in his neighborhood were taken and either arrested or shot. When we left, we heard that the family of 25 was still alive, but be sure; they will never be the same. Yassir’s two teenage daughters have been severely traumatized, one loosing the use of her legs, the other control over her bladder. It was reported that four hundred children were killed the two weeks were in the West Bank. Regardless of your political or biblical views, this is so wrong.

Three of the team members left after the first week and our work projects began. The President of BBC, Bishara Awad began the school after someone told him he should do so and gave him $20.00. Now some thirty years later the school is not only a great academic institution, but a great Christian outreach in Bethlehem. We thought we would be working on the new Student Center located behind the school while there, but as in many Mission Trips, the plans changed. The College decided to contract out different aspects of the building and were waiting for the bids to come in. Wonderful news did come while we were there. They had raised $900,000 toward the building and anticipated the bids to come in at 1.7 million meaning they were just over half way. When the bids came in they were 1.2 million! There was a lot of rejoicing. Work was to begin by the first of February.

We had three work projects that we were asked to complete. After 30 years of faithful service and living in an apartment connected to the college building, the Board of Directors decided that it was time for Bishar and Salwa  to have a house to live in. A dear friend from the states who was born in Bethlehem decided to build a duplex high on a hill in Bet Jalla. It was decided that the Awads would live in the “other” half. We were asked to put up a security fence and paint the security railing on the second floor as well as an iron gate. Bill and John made quick work of the security fence and the rest of us got busy sanding the railing to remove all the rust. We then painted everything a bright orange undercoating followed by two coats of paint. Sounds pretty easy, but the house sits very high on a hill. You can actually see the Mount of Olives, the Herodian and all of Bethlehem from the upper floor. Translated that means the wind is unbelievable! We were bundled up with hats and gloves trying to spread paint on really cold iron, not an easy task.

Our third project was to put two sky lights in a prayer room. In between two of the buildings there is an old cistern under the walkway. The desire was to make this into a prayer room. With no windows it was very dark. Now this is the cool part. We are always amazed at how God puts teams together. It just “so happened” that John, a contractor, had just built a sun room on his house and in the process made sky lights out of glass blocks, rebar and cement! It took some “arm twisting,” but John finally convinced the powers that be at BBC that it could be done and people could actually walk on the glass blocks without falling into the prayer room! He built the forms, put nine glass blocks into the forms and the last day we were there, carefully lowered the window/sky lights into the holes in the walkway. It was so cool and everyone was excited to their prayer room “opened up to heaven”. Great job, John!

Taking a couple breaks from our work projects, we did a little touring. We hired a driver and guide to go the Sea of Galilee. We were picked up at BBC and headed for the check point. Our guide, Tony was a Palestinian, registered tour guide, however was not allowed to go through the check point on the van with us. We dropped him off so he could walk through the check point. We sailed right through and parked to wait for Tony. A phone call told us that he was not being allowed through the check point even though he had all the proper paperwork and a tour waiting for him. We went back through the check point and picked him up on the Bethlehem side. After much discussion and telephone calls to the Israeli authority, we decided to go to a different check point and pray. Arriving at the checkpoint, the soldier smiled at us and asked where were going. We told him we were headed to the Sea of Galilee and he waived us through! Or driver told us he had recognized the soldier, who was a Palestinian Christian. We again prayed and thanked God for answered prayer.

We traveled to Akko an ancient Crusader fortress on the Mediterranean Sea. The buildings were amazing. We then went on the Mount of the Beatitudes and Capernaum. What a beautiful, peaceful place. It was easy to see why Jesus chose this place as a base instead of the noisy, hassle and bustle of Jerusalem. We were on the sea shore at sun down and Bev finally achieved her goal of wading in the Sea of Galilee.

On Saturday we spent part of the day in Bethlehem walking through the market. This is one of our favorite things to do while traveling. The narrow streets were full of activity and the central fruit, vegetable and meat market was great! We bought a beef roast cut off a huge piece of beef that was hanging on a hook. We also bought potatoes, carrots and the biggest radishes I have ever seen. We found a wonderful bakery where men took lumps of dough, flattened it out and threw it into an open oven on top of hot rocks. It quickly baked, was flipped over with the help of a long hook and then was thrown onto a table to cool. We bought some right out of the oven and it was the best bread I have ever eaten! Baklava was also a favorite—especially for John! Bev and I found a little “balcony” overlooking the fruit market and loved sipping Turkish coffee watching the vendors yelling (they must loose their voices by the end of the day), women carefully choosing their weekly groceries and young boys pushing grocery carts up and down the stairs taking wares out to people’s cars for a little price. It was a fun day.

Saturday night we were treated to a Thank You dinner at a place called “The Tent.” It looked like what we would picture a Bedouin tent. Bishara and Salwa ordered a beautiful spread of traditional Palestinian salads and grilled meat. It was a fun evening which included a visiting Professor and Aaron and Misty, managers of the guest house at BBC.

On Sunday the team visited another Church in Bethlehem where Edie was actually able to reconnect with friends from 30 years ago. That night was Armenian Christmas so Keith, John and Bev walked to the Church of the Nativity for the celebration. Processions of Priests walked into the Church stomping their staffs on the ground. It began at 10:00 p.m. and was to go until 4:30 in the morning. The service included a lot of chanting and incense. The team left around 11:00 and walked home.

On our last day in the West Bank John finished up the sky lights and the rest of us hauled out the stone and cement he chipped out of the roof of the cistern. When finished, we walked to a refugee camp behind BBC. It is an amazing place that houses over 4,000 Palestinians. It is surrounded by walls with the huge, ugly wall of separation and gun towers running on two sides of the camp. We went to a stone cutters facility. The first thing we notices was the huge holes all over the building. We were told that the Israeli gunship helicopters fired on them during the 2005 intifada, accusing them of being an ammunition plant. We watched as huge machines cut beautiful shapes out of stone. John was like a kid in a candy store as they let him take a beautiful piece of cut stone with him.

We left Bethlehem at 7:30 p.m. and headed for Tel Aviv airport. We were happy to sail right through the first check point and made the decision to split up for the second check point and not go through as a group. Each couple was asked a few questions and in less than 20 minutes were at the gate. Our flight home was half empty, so we were able to stretch out and sleep.

As I now look back at this trip it must be described as Todd put it… wonderful and awful at the same time. Being able to actually walk where Jesus walked is a moving experience. Being there during a war and walking with people on both sides of this conflict is so difficult. It truly reinforces my belief that no matter where the conflict everyone involved believes they own the truth. Whether it be rockets or words meant to inflict pain, both must grieve the heart God the creator. And who really are the “children of Abraham”? Is it those who walk around with boxes tied to their foreheads rocking back and forth in prayer to God, awaiting their Messiah? It is those Messianic Jews who have found their Messiah and live through enormous persecution for their new found faith? Could it be us, the Gentiles who have been grafted in? We can debate until Christ comes back for his bride. I choose to believe that we were all created in the image of God with the purpose of serving and praising God. We are ALL His children and given the greatest commandment—to love our neighbor as ourselves. End of sermon.

Thank you for taking this journey with us and upholding the team in your prayers. We again go realizing the responsibility of going and being the ears and eyes for those who cannot go. We also do not take lightly the responsibility of standing in prayer and encouragement of those we meet along the way.

Respectfully submitted,
Darla J. Ruiz