Middle Eastern Hospitality

If there is one thing that I am always amazed in in this culture, it is their hospitality. I think the western world has failed in many ways in our ability to make people feel at home. Here, I have visited  several shops of people we know that are overwhelmingly welcoming. In some stores this is because they want you to buy something. But in the stores of people we are friends with, it is simply because they like you and want you to feel comfortable there.

I also had the special opportunity to visit a coworker at her home in the Old City of Jerusalem. She is an Arab Christian that has lived in Jerusalem her whole life. Today, she invited three of us over who have never been to her family home before. Her mother graciously welcomed us in and fed us a delicious lunch of rice, an okra and chicken stew, salad, and ice cream for dessert! During our time there, a couple of their friends dropped in to visit and we all were able to chat with each other. It was so comfortable. Even though we didn't know these people, they accepted us as their friends. I felt so special to get to be part of their lives and see what a normal afternoon in a Jerusalem home looks like.

It's a Small World After All!

Yes, you can thank me for getting that song stuck in your head for awhile. But seriously, this has been more true today than ever before!

I went on a little outing around Jerusalem today with my mother and two other co-workers. Our adventure started with a tour of some famous sites in the city. We walked through Hezekiah's Tunnel. That place is super sweet but really dark and really tight. I never get claustrophobic, but I found myself a little on edge if I stopped to think about our situation for very long. But all in all the tunnel is so cool I had to just marvel at it. If you ever go to Jerusalem, it is something you gotta see!

We also stopped by the Wailing Wall (aka Western Wall). We visited it last Friday evening, but it was resting because Shabbat had started so we couldn't take pictures of it. This afternoon was much less busy so we were able to walk right up to it. This is one of the few places in Jerusalem that I can really feel a Holy Presence despite the busyness that surrounds. Also a good thing to put on your to do list if you come here. 

Then we had to make our way home so that we can buy food for dinner. On our way back we stopped at a store owned by a man named Shaban. He is Old City famous so if you come here make sure to stop by his place. He always offers us something cold to drink! Today we had a delicious strawberry-banana juice. In his store were half a dozen other students, one of whom was waring a Jerusalem University College (JUC) t-shirt. My first time in Israel was 3 years ago when I took a 3 week course at JUC. We struck up a conversation with them and quickly found out some fascinating things....

"Hey, where you guys from?"

"Oh, the four of us are from Indiana."

"Really? Where?"

"Marion."

"IWU?"

"Yeah....?"

"I'm from Taylor!"

Look at that... Jesus bringing about reconciliation between rival schools in the middle of Old City Jerusalem. 

Then we turned to the other girl in their group.

"Where are you from?"

"I go to school at Bethel in MN."

"Really? We know tons of people there!"

We then proceeded to list of names of a bunch of people we knew before discovering she was actually roommates with one of my brothers good friends from high school! It's really a small world after all!

As we left one of the girls said, "Bye! Oh this is sad, we might never see you again!"
"That's ok." I replied. "I'll see you in heaven."
"Amen!" she cried after us.
And so we will. It's sad to say good-bye to friends, but I know I'll see you on the other side. 

It Comes Down to Love

There are two rabbit trails that my mind has been down the last few days. Very, very different trails. But both come back to the central idea of love.

The first makes me angry. I'm not very good at being angry. It's one of those emotions that the Christian church really suppresses, probably for good reasons for the most part. But there are times we are supposed to be angry... a righteous anger, it is sometimes called. My frustration is toward one of the mothers here. Her son has recently suffered some post-op complications and has to stay longer than expected. She, however, desperately wants to go home. This is understandable since she has been here for a couple months and has left 4 other children at home. We are really trying to talk to her and see what is causing her such distress. This culture doesn't always treat women the best. Some of these women have very supportive husbands, others not so much. This mother refuses to share any details with us that could clarify why she is so upset and wants to leave so badly. This week they were supposed to go home, but her son relapsed. When we took him back to the hospital, she wanted to leave him there and come back to Shevet. She even said she didn't care if he died. She wants to go home. My heart breaks for her son. She sad this right in front of him. I know there has to be a deeper issue... something she isn't saying. We pray for her constantly. If you think of it... would you as well? This is the first time I have seen this problem. Most of the mothers are so loving and tender towards their children. Even if they really want to go home they put on a good face for the kids. There has to be a bigger problem here... A reason she cannot love.

The other trail my mind is on has happened during my morning workouts. Thank you to my soccer coach for motivating me to get up early and stay in shape! These times are great for thinking and processing life. At first this made me nervous. I asked a friend earlier this spring if questions are a good thing. I'm still asking that question. Sometimes I feel like people don't want to ask really hard questions. They are content with the answer they have, however shallow or deep it is, and don't want to evaluate if they have it right. I have felt belittled the past couple months when I wasn't willing to accept the answers people want to give.
Then I thought back to something I had studied with Professor Loy in Political Philosophy that John Stuart Mill had written. He talked about opinions and how all should be listened to, but the thing from his writings that I took away during my morning musings is that questions are a good thing. If we question a fact or opinion and find it to be true, great, it's still true. If we question if and find it to be false, we can throw it out. But few things are usually completely false, instead there are glimpses of truth in them that must be considered.
Living in this city where three religions clash has made me sincerely question what is different about Christianity. On our street I can find orthodox followers of each of those religions, and I am sure if I asked them all, they would insist they knew the truth. How then do I know that this religion that I claim is different? Especially since each of these share similar elements. Which has partial truth or no truth vs. the whole truth? To go on a full explanation of my wandering mind would take far too much time, but the essence of what I came down to is love. All three of these religions have laws, rules everyone is to live by. But Christianity is the only one where God came to us. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am not perfect. Never will be no matter how hard I try. But God knows that. He knew that I  could never be enough. So He gave me Jesus. Jesus is the solution to my imperfection and the answer to all the questions I have. So for now, I am content with the basic truths- I am a sinner, Christ is a Savior- and seek answers for the other questions I am puzzling over.

How M&M's Saved My Hair

With the language barrier, sometimes it is difficult to communicate serious things with the kids. How do you explain the concept of sharing with a limited vocabulary? Still working on that one... 

However, communicating funny things is really easy. Kids talk in gibberish half the time anyway! So for example.... "Nom nom nom"is a pretty easy way to express eating if you are putting whatever is "nom nom nom"ish in your mouth at the same time! Right? Well, Sarina thought this was great fun and decided everything under the sun was good to pretend eat! The food. They toys. The sand. My hair. Yep, the list goes on from there, but you get the idea. So what to do? This child is ready to consume my locks! Well, thankfully we had brought along some M&Ms! Now, when I eat some of these colorful candies, I can consume dozens. But this is an unfamiliar treat that when handed out one at a time can last forever! So we sat on the floor of the hospital. Sarina got one. Sarchil got one. Mom got one. I got one. Then you had to stick out your tongue to show you were done. Then the whole process repeated. But then mom got distracted. I was in the middle of a round of m&m distribution when Sarina stopped me, grabbed mom's hand and pulled it down. Bo to! (For you!) She was not going to allow anyone to be missed! So cute! 

The funny experiences like this one are non-stop. I just have to chuckle through them all and pray that through these ridiculous experiences, the kids learn how much we love them. 

Always Waiting

Waiting can be one of the hardest things to do. For the mothers here, they are in a perpetual state of waiting. Waiting for surgery to be scheduled. Waiting for the next doctor appointment. Waiting to go to the hospital. Waiting to leave the hospital. Waiting to be discharged. Waiting to go home. The average stay here is probably 2-3 months... a long time for these women, most of whom have several other children waiting for them at home.

For Sarchil's mother, the waiting has become almost unbearable. She has a breakdown almost every day now. She and her son have been here for over 2 months now. I also found out today she has a three month old baby at home. Poor woman! Sarchil has been discharged from one department in the hospital, but in a new twist, we have to get permission for him to leave from a second part of the hospital. His blood was too thin so they put him on medicine to help with that. Then it bounced too far the other way and became too thick. Now they are trying to make the sure the balance is in the perfect range. It's tricky stuff, but zor gringa (very important)!

We thought that we might be able to help cheer their spirits with a trip to the beach! Who doesn't like the Mediterranean, right? It worked out beautifully. They had a wonderful time splashing in the waves, collecting sea shells, and chilling out in the sand. It was so good to see Sarchil's mother smile and laugh. After all the tension she has held inside the past few weeks subsided and she was able to just enjoy life.

We also had to stop at the hospital on the way to the beach for Sarina to get an echo. We thought it would be her last one, but turns out she'll need another on Thursday. I think it was good for Sarchil's mother to see her son isn't the only one with complications. Waiting is normal around here. The question is, how will you bear it? With joy? Or despair?

My Confession

I am so excited to have my mom with me here in Israel. But I must confess, back when we first decided she was coming, I wasn’t so sure about it. You can judge me because I know I am a selfish daughter. But I wasn’t sure how I felt about having my mom volunteer for the same organization I am. You see, I crave independence. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s a normal part of growing up, or maybe I’m just weird. But I love the freedom of going to a new place without connections and seeing how it goes. I know if it flops I can always go home and be safe, but this desperate part of me that wants out of my safe box has to try. So when we decided she was going to come to Israel for two weeks, I wasn’t sure how I felt. I wasn’t opposed to the idea, but I wasn’t ecstatic about it either. It was going to be different having her where I lived and worked and had grown so much the previous summer. It was going to encroach on my independence.

But then my world changed. The past two months have been hard. I lost a dear friend and didn’t want independence. I wanted security. I didn’t want to leave my friends. I especially didn’t want to leave my family. For once, all I wanted was security. I almost didn’t come back to Israel this summer. I didn’t know if I had the courage. But I knew God had told me to come here this past winter. And I knew He, being all-knowing, was aware of how my world was going to change in April. And yet, He told me to go. So I came back. Fearful. Insecure. Broken.

I didn’t come back to complete strangers. There are a handful of staff members I knew last summer and the other new people I have met here have quickly become good friends. But when my mother stepped out of airport security yesterday, I have never been happier. I am so glad to have her here in Israel.

God is everywhere. I know that. And have not been alone the past two weeks. But God gives us family for a reason. He knows we need people here to hold us up when we are broken and love us unconditionally. I appreciate and love my family now more than ever before (and I never would have dreamed that is possible). I loved getting to play tour guide today and show my mom around the city. I loved getting to show her why I love this place so much. I loved getting to see the city through her eyes, falling in love with it for the first time just as I once did. I love having her here.

When I set out this summer, I knew I was going to blog about my life at Shevet just like I did last year. But I knew that it would be different because I am different.  I am sure I will share many more funny, sad, or boring stories of daily life here. But I hope you also will accept my introspective thoughts. My confessions. I live in a world where many people try to appear perfect. I have tried to do so as well. But I am not. I pray this summer I grow in many ways. But I know the only way to do this is to accept some simple truths. I am a screwed up sinner. I need help. Jesus is the only one who can fix me.

Pink is Better than Blue

One of the interesting parts of this job is learning fancy doctor words that make me sound way smarter than I am. For example.... Before surgery, Hewa was quite cyanotic, but now his lips and fingers are much more pink as his heart  is able to properly circulate blood. Are you impressed? Probably not, but that's ok.

Today we went and visited Hewa at the hospital. Due to the severity of their heart conditions, it's not uncommon for these children to have a bluish tint to their lips and fingers where the body unable to deliver enough oxygen. This was particularly true in Hewa's case. His surgery yesterday fixed the circulation problem and when we walked in to visit him today, I was immediately struck by how different he looked. The pink color to lips was remarkable! You would never realize he had a serious heart problem if you looked at him now. It's truly amazing.

The children are kept sedated for a few days while their body recovers from the surgery. Because of this as well as the tubes running into all different parts of them delivering medicine, giving blood transfusions, and removing fluid around the heart, they cannot eat or drink anything for a couple days. This was not ok with Hewa though who was constantly demanding juice! It is actually good to see him so insistent. I would be more worried if he was completely docile. The fight in him that wants juice is just what he needs to push through and recover quickly.