November 20, 2005: Historical Archive

Ecumenism on display in Zababdeh: Fr. Firas (Melkite priest); Fr. Fadi (his brother, Anglican priest); Marthame (Presbyterian pastor); and Fr. Toma (their uncle, Orthodox priest).

Note: This morning, I was invited to preach in the Anglican Church by Fr. Fadi. I followed up in the afternoon with a lecture on both the PCUSA's corporate engagement process and a brief introduction to "Christian Zionism." I preached in English with Arabic translation, but in the afternoon I tried my hand at Arabic - with mixed results. A bit too technical, I fear, for my level of vocabulary.

My last day in Zababdeh. While I didn't get to see everyone I wanted, I certainly saw many people. I do hope to come back periodically to visit, which eases some of the pressure.

In the evening, I visited with the new Mennonite Central Committee volunteers living here and teaching English at the school. Before coming, they had done a Google search for Zababdeh, finding our website. Before arriving, they had worked their way through the first year and a half of our daily journal archives. It appears we were a bit guarded about our early frustrations and stresses of our time in Zababdeh, which gave them some pause that what they were facing was somehow unusual. I assured them that, in fact, our first year was quite difficult for a number of reasons. Perhaps a re-write is in order?

It is comforting to know that our dedicated work of writing has become an accessible archive - both for our experiences and for the times that we and the people of Zababdeh faced.