October 19, 2003

A glimpse of some of the destruction of Nablus’ Old City.

In Nablus, we worshiped at the very old and beautiful Orthodox church in Rafidia. Afterwards, Martina took us on a little walking tour of Nablus's ancient Old City. Unfortunately, the two soap factories (among the few still operational 3 years into the intifada) we tried to visit were closed. But we got to see the elegance of the ancient stone buildings, arches, and alleyways, as well as the astonishing scenes of destruction from the Spring 2002 incursion. The amount of firepower needed to destroy these ancient solid stone buildings must have been unbelievable. No wonder our friends living near the Old City were so traumatized.

As we were heading back to the Anglican compound, Elizabeth ran into a friend, the former art teacher at the Latin school in Zababdeh. She's now teaching art at An-Najah University and able to live with her family. Last time Elizabeth saw her was this past summer, when she ran into her by chance in Ramallah. Amazing coincidence. Later in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit her at her home, marveling at her embroidery, painting, and other art on display. After a sweet visit, Elizabeth went back to get a good night's sleep in preparation for a long day of travel tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Marthame worshiped at the Latin Church this morning, participating in the service with Fr. Aktham. Deacon Imad preached, his second sermon here, on the gospel passage of the least becoming the greatest. With the beatification of Mother Theresa today, it seemed a fitting passage to use.

After church, Fr. Aktham left for Jordan - his trip to the States has been delayed by a couple of weeks, but he was able to pass through the checkpoint with no problem whatsoever. He will leave Jordan in a few days for a well-deserved break from this place.