A Fix to the Problem

Well, I'm happy to report that Turd-gate is over! Finally, after two days of wonderful smells emanating from the floor, the drain, and pretty much any other crevice that smells can creep through, the plumber showed up and fixed the problem. Apparently the pipe connecting the entire house to the septic tank was clogged, hence the poop water everywhere. Hey, at least we can actually use the bathroom over there without having to walk across the street! Victory is ours!

After we cleared up the feces, dirt, and dust, we finished priming the walls of the house and went off to lunch. The house is located on top of a mountain overlooking the entire valley, and the view is spectacular! We walked to a local high-end restaurant and ordered some food. The view from the restaurant was simply amazing! We could see Jerusalem, the Dead Sea Valley, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and just about anything else! After 9 straight days of eating chicken, we decided to order the lamb kabobs, and they were delicious!

After I finished work, I walked to my friend's house once again. One of my friends goes to Bethlehem University. She told me that the Israeli army will just randomly snatch people up and throw them in jail for no reason at all. One of her classmates was walking home from class one day, and he was picked up. He has no criminal background, nor any other association that would give cause for the army to pick him up, but yet, they did. After several weeks in jail with no cause, they released him, having beaten him severely.

This sort of thing goes on all the time here in Palestine. As I hear these stories, I often wonder what my reaction to this will be? How will it change me when I go back to America? And how will I react when I spend 2 weeks in Israel? Will I make friends there that will make me see their side as well? I don't know the answers to those questions just yet, but I do know this: I am called to be a peacemaker. And perhaps we all are. When I asked my friend tonight what do the people here want, she said, "we all just want peace. The Muslims, the Christians, and everyone else. We are all fed up with the situation, and we just want peace." Peace is what we all want. Sure, there are those who fight against peace, but we must not fight fire with fire. We fight fire with peace. We fight bombs with peace. And we fight evil with peace. Love, grace, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, and mercy - against such things there is no law.

This is the view from Barbra restaurant in Beit Jala! Amazing huh? Bethlehem is on the right and Beit Jala is directly in front. Although, no one can really tell the two apart because it's all one big city.