November 10, 2002

Still low from the aftermath of our colds, and having spent good prayer and meditation time in Burqin, we worshiped this morning at the Church of St. Home. Again, language can be frustrating - as much as we understand, the language of worship is different. It's like the difference between American spoken English and King James' English, or maybe Chaucer...to a Russian...who's hard of hearing. Anyway, we're hungry to understand. We sang some hymns, prayed, and did some Bible study, struck by the story of Cain and Abel and how its lessons remain so unlearned by the world.

Msakhan is a favorite dish of ours.

We ventured out for lunch at a friend's house overlooking Zababdeh with Fr. Aktham and Deacon Homam, featuring delicious msakhan and the ubiquitous olives. Our friend's family is originally from Nablus, but his parents grew up and were living in Beisan in 1948. They, like those who took us to Burqin on Friday, fled the war and went back to their ancestral hometown, expecting that the military unrest would soon be over and they'd be allowed to return home. Now our friends from Jenin are making a similar "temporary" escape. For them it is to Zababdeh, and hopefully truly temporary, but it helps us connect with those feelings of 1948 a bit.

Jenin remained open today, and the talk is that the students from there will be joining us in school tomorrow. N'sha'allah - God willing.