Gayle

Israel / Palestine Trip – Day Nine

2020/01/28 Gayle 0

StarDate: January 28,2020 It was maybe the easiest day of our journey. Not easy in that ‘it’s a late start’ or that ‘it’s an early finish’ or that there was ‘all this free time available’, but after the hard day yesterday, I felt light. It felt easy. As we drove through the countryside on our way to Galilee there were shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock. It wasn’t by night, but it was reminiscent of what you might imagine the pastoral views would look like and what you would imagine a world would be like in ancient times. I was desperate to get a picture that showed sheep in the field or cattle in the field and a shepherd or The rest of the story

Israel / Palestine Trip – Day Eight

2020/01/27 Gayle 0

Stardate: January 27,2020 Sighs too deep for words. I really think that is all I can say for Hebron. What I saw and what I experienced, I don’t know how to put it into words. I keep coming back to the idea of how people who lived through the extermination in Germany in the thirties and forties, how they can relate to the idea of a sterilized street. When we got to the steps and the soldier came over to block us, I have to say that my first thought was a little surreal, like we’re obviously American tourists and to be stopped seemed odd. And then to be told that part of our group couldn’t walk through because it was a The rest of the story

Israel / Palestine Trip – Day Seven

2020/01/26 Gayle 0

Stardate: January 26,2020 Today we left Jerusalem. We drove out of the city in what seemed like the same way we had taken to go to Masada and to go to the Dead Sea. And yet we ended up in a city in Ramallah. It all had a very different feel from when we had gone on our adventure to the Dead Sea and Masada. As we drove into Ramallah it seemed like any other city except that as we were going in, Jared pointed out a sign that said to Israeli Jews that it wasn’t safe for them to enter the city. It was perhaps the first time that I truly had a sense of danger, a real sense of danger not the fake The rest of the story

Israel / Palestine Trip – Day Six

2020/01/25 Gayle 0

Stardate: January 25,2020 Welcome to Sabbath. Sabbath has been one of those things that I talk about often. It’s one of those things that my pastor and mentor and advisor have really pushed me to do, to take a Sabbath. And I always pay lip service to taking a Sabbath. But I’m not sure that I really knew what it meant until today. I spent the morning walking around in old Jerusalem after sleeping in a bit. It was really cool, we went to a bookstore which was a lot of fun, just to see the different books that were available. Then we walked into the old city through the gate that we have been through before, but we had time to meander and to The rest of the story

Israel / Palestine Trip – Day Five

2020/01/24 Gayle 0

Stardate: January 23, 2020 It was a very difficult day in so many ways even though it wasn’t a huge walking day. We spent a lot of time with the Palestinian people. It’s a story that’s very rarely told in our society and in our news. I’m going to try and unpack a little bit. We started our day by going to the the Pac Community Center and visiting with people there, learning about the environmental issues of the area. At first, the presentation seemed very rudimentary but when I realized that it was for the Palestinian people who had come to to learn and not necessarily for us, I understood why it was how it was. Then after the presentation we were able The rest of the story