August 4, 2002

A good percentage of our time is spent in presentations and worship.

Condoleeza bumped us at National, but we were able to schedule at the last minute at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church nearby in Bethesda, Maryand. The original cancellation turned out to be a blessing, allowing us to meet a congregation that has been intimately involved in Middle East justice issues for some time now. Recently it has caused some friction with the synagogue with whom they share space, particularly over the last two years. We were warmly received with a large crowd for conversation after worship. We were soon whisked out the door, lunch in hand (thanks to their mission elder), and on our way north.

Halfway up the Jersey Turnpike we realized Elizabeth had left her purse back in the pastor's office. The mission elder (our lunch angel) graciously offered to ship it up to us, and we finished our journey to New Haven. It was the first time we had been there since Elizabeth graduated in 1994. We'll have a few days for nostalgia, but tonight we hustled off to First Presbyterian Church of New Haven where we used to worship periodically back in those "shortest, gladdest years". It was hot - very hot (something we've encountered periodically during our talks, but not to this degree). Even so, it was a good crowd with some interesting guests: the Yale biology professor from Beit Sahour who has been working tirelessly with Al-Awda, the Refugee Right of Return organization; the Yale Divinity School student who went to nerd camp with Marthame; the Presbyterian pastor who once served the Anglican communities in Nablus and Zababdeh (in the 1950s!)...you get the idea. It's always amazing to see who comes out to these things.

After our talk we were able to reconnect with our hosts, our old neighbors and friends (and Marthame's colleague) in Wilmette. It turns out that children get bigger, even when we're not around to see it.