Hertzeliya

It has been an interesting month! Life at Jerusalem School Bethlehem is challenging and fun!

5th and 6th grade girls, post- hamburgers!

 I got to go with the High School soccer team and Junior High basketball teams to Hertzeliya in Northern Israel. It was so much fun to see them play (I have now become a big fan of basketball.. which is VERY surprising, especially to me!) I loved getting to cheer for the Jr. High girls! They were each about a foot shorter then the girls on the other team, but the did a great! And afterwards we went to a mall and ate McDonalds (a very exciting treat for the girls, as there is no McDonalds in Palestine.)

snapped just as we were goign through the checkpoint

It was an interesting experience traveling through the checkpoint on a bus full of Palestinians, but God was good and all the students were able to make it through for the basketball and soccer tournaments!

Jr. High team, getting some quick direction from Coach Chaun (pronounced Shawn)

 Over all it was an amazing trip filled with fun! The bus ride was great, some girls taught me Arabic verb conjugation!

One amazing part was that after we went to the mall, we went to a park. Now this was not just any park, this was the MOST amazing outdoor, free, public park. It was so cool, that I saw high school boys running to it! There was an over two story high slide and zip line!

Even though Hertzeliya is only 2 hours away, there is a world of difference. It was just wonderful to see this students just being free and having fun. It was even fun to watch them eat McDonald's.

-K Day

home across the street from Miss Graces' house

I am an unreliable blogger! But here are some pictures and short little tid bits.

View form my bedroom window
Beit Jala

So, I actually live in Beit Jala. 

Beit Jala, Beit Lahem (Bethlehem) and Beit Sahour are three cities that have grown together. It is funny, but there is a lot of town pride. At class, the students will compete as people from Beit Sahour and from Beit Lahem. And it is very meaningful to them!

Garden outside my principal, Miss Graces' house

UN Statehood poster.
These were EVERYWHERE and there are flags EVERYWHERE

While I was grading I noticed a student's notebook. the longing is expressed everywhere.

Students notebook

 We are reading Indian in the Cupboard in class. I asked the students to image what

it would be like to be Little Bear (the plastic Indian that comes alive when put into the magical cupboard) when he first found himself in a dark place (the cupboard) and no longer in Iroquois lands.

This is a sample response:

"I feal so scared, I would poop my pants. I would say "Where am I?" Then a door would opens and I see a  umagise (humongous) monsters I would poop my pants again. Then say "Unfreakable!"Then die back to a toy.

I am learning how to live a completely different life. But loving it!

Please Don't Go

Monday, May 2nd marked the first day of the last week of school for U of A. Things are quickly coming to a close around here.

Monday nights are long, but good. The Rockhouse has our student leader meeting at 5:30 pm and then I'm part of a small group (or cords as we call them [Eccl 4: 12]) that meets at 8:30 and usually ends around 11pm.

Somewhere during this time, my big sister called. And I didn't hear her voicemail until 11:20. She said she was in Fayetteville on a date and wanted to crash on my couch. I excitedly called her back, and she said she would be at my apartment in about an hour.

Me and my big sister, Taryn. Isn't she adorable?

Around 12:30 am  there's a knock on the door and  a sister smoking a cigarette on my front porch. I haven't seen her since Easter weekend. But even then, I was only in Tahlequah for Saturday and so we really didn't get a time to chat.

She takes a quick shower and then tells me about her date, her life, her ex. She said she was feeling really awake and wanted to leave pretty soon. I was just happy to have her next to me for a little while.

Then she says, "I want you to do me a favor."
I look at her, smile and say, "What, hun?"
"Don't go. Please don't go to Palestine next year. Please"
"Oh, sweetie-"
"I know you have faith in God and all, but please don't go, it's not safe and it is just getting worse. "
"I know. It's okay" And I just look at her and say, "You don't have to worry about me."
"Missionaries die all the time. And it's just getting worse over there."
I tell her about how I know that I should go, about how I know I want to go. I tell her I want to be apart of lives changing.  And then I read her Luke 4:18-19, where Jesus reads from Isaiah and says,

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
   because he has anointed me
   to proclaim Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim Freedom for the prisoners
   and Recovery of Sight for the blind,
to Set the oppressed Free,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

I really believe this. This is why Jesus came, to give Hope. And I'll go where I need to, to be a part of this and see those that are oppressed set free and see people healed.

Not interested in what I was saying, she kissed me on the forehead and left.

The Beginning

I am taking the first steps in adventuring.

In just over three months, I am moving to Palestine to volunteer with a local school.

This is a big change. I have lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas for almost five years now, and it is crazy to think I am leaving this area. It is even more unimaginable to think that I will being leaving the people here.
When I moved here to go to the university, I never would have imagined that I would love it so much.

I graduated last May, and for the past year, I have been interning with a campus ministry (Christ on Campus and lovingly called the Rockhouse) at the University of Arkansas. It is a lot of fun, but man, is it challenging.

Spring Break to New Orleans, about a third of our group (I'm in the middle, back, in white)

The semester is now really starting to wind down, and I am focusing more and more on the plans that God has for me in Palestine.

[http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/photo]

I love this photograph. I think it is beautiful and touching.

I'm off to the little town of Bethlehem, a small town surrounded by a big wall.

Inside this wall is a christian school, Jerusalem School-Bethlehem;  a place of hope, good news and quality education. And I get the opportunity to teach 5th grade, experience Palestine, and love people in the little town of Bethlehem.