Goodbyyyyyyyyyyyye Bethlehem!

Today was the last workday in Bethlehem, and it also marks our final day here period. We have been through quite a lot in the past 12 days. I've had some really amazing experiences! I've learned some invaluable lessons along the way - lessons that I never could have learned from someone else or by not making this trip. I've met some amazing people! People that I will never forget, and people that I've formed strong bonds of friendship with that will never sever.

If I had one takeaway from these past 12 days it's this: people are people no matter where you go. We all hear these stereotypes of different cultures and countries, but the fact remains that we're all human. We all have the same needs. We had our class meeting tonight to talk about what we've discovered over the past 12 days, and someone said that because of some extremists (which are few by the way) that peace may not be possible in Palestine. I immediately chimed up and disagreed.

Here is why I disagreed: peace is possible! And why? Because we're all human. People are people. I have met thousands of people since I've been in Bethlehem and they all want the same thing - peace. It doesn't matter if they're Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, they all want peace. And so do I! We might be different in skin tone, in hair color, in eye color, in religion, and in millions of other ways; but, we're all human. We all love, laugh, cry, dance, sing, and feel something deep down inside for each other that simply cannot be explained. If we all would just stop and put aside these petty differences, then peace would be possible. All that it takes is us! It starts with us! And it starts right now!

Oh, and just so you people don't think we didn't do a dang thing, here's the finished products...

This is the first house we did. They wanted pink, they got pink :) It turned out to be fantastic!

Remember the mildew/mold room? Here it is now :) BOOM! 

So, here you are folks. The now famous poop room! I personally scraped, sanded, plastered, primed, and painted this room. What once was lost, now is found! It's no longer the poop room, but a real bathroom!