January 7, 2003

Fr. Thomas leads prayer in Tubas, Palestine, with a visit from American college students.

They made it! After several false starts and a completely closed checkpoint at Hamra, the student group arrived in Tubas - two hours late, but safe nonetheless. There, we were welcomed by the Christian community of the Church of the Holy Trinity with information, prayer, lunch, and conversation. The benefit that such visits give to the likes of the Tubas Christians cannot be underestimated - even in the "good" times, few - if any - groups would come to visit these small communities, preferring to come to major Christian areas like Bethlehem or Nazareth.

American college students in the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Tubas, Palestine.

Refreshed after a long journey, the group then went to Zababdeh where they were met by students and hosts from the Arab-American University of Jenin (AAUJ), Christian and Muslim alike, welcoming them with handmade cards reading "Welcome to Peace Land." One of the American guys broke out a football (American, that is), and the guys began tossing it around with varying degrees of success. This strange sport and strange way of throwing a strangely-shaped ball is something we simply take for granted in the States.

American and Palestinian college students sharing a “study break” meal.

We had been hoping that the timing of the group's arrival would coincide with the end of finals for the AAUJ students, but because of the situation, that soon became impossible as the exam period had to be extended. So our original welcoming party was re-tooled as a study break. Most of the local students, to their credit, did take a break to have some hummos, falafel, and other Arabic "munchies."

Today was just the beginning. Tomorrow the work begins.