June 15, 2003

Jerusalem’s Redeemer Lutheran Church.

We worshiped with the English-speaking congregation at Redeemer Lutheran Church this morning, the last Sunday for the current pastors who are moving back to the States. It's always nice to worship in English.

After their farewell celebration, we packed up and began the long wait for a shared taxi to Tel Aviv. Long wait. We sat with a small group of foreign workers who had come to Jerusalem for worship and some cheap shopping on their off day. Eventually, we all agreed to pay more to leave and not sit around waiting for other passengers - all except one, who had no extra money. The driver agreed that he would pay the regular fare while we would pay the new fare.

It was an interesting moment, which ruffled a few of the other riders but made complete sense to the Arabs sitting up front. We eventually reached our hotel in Tel Aviv and enjoyed Indian food at a nearby restaurant before calling it an early night - it's an early morning tomorrow.