Grace Blogspot

A good day! We are all well in Bethlehem. We have heard the sad news of the bombing in Jerusalem today. However, we are all safe. Our guide is very experienced.
Today, we visited Dar al-Kalima, the House of the Word, the only Lutheran college in the Arab speaking world. We have actively supported this ministry for several years and were excited to see Pr Mitri Raheb in his context this time. We also had time to sing in beautiful Christmas Lutheran Church.

Beautiful and wet mining today in Bethlehem. Looks Luke the rain is going away, but not until after Fuad and I took a long morning walk in it! Today will have many stops. In particular with Pr Mitri Raheb of Christmas Lutheran Church and seeing the new Lutheran college here.

Today we were up early, but it wasn’t considering the jet lag. We began at the Shepherd’s Fields and then to the Church of the Nativity. We then had Filafel before heading to Hebron to talk with Peacemakers. We passed many villages as well as settlements and outposts. Today was clearly the day for plowing fields as we saw many Palestinian men in fields with donkey and plow. Tomorrow we will spend some time at the new Lutheran college here that we support at Grace.

We made it! All is well and we had a brief stop at the security wall in the Aida Refugee Camp. Good start . . . now dinner and sleep!?

Boarding for Philadelphia then on to Tel Aviv. We should arrive about 5am PST on Monday. More to come soon!

GREAT lunch today with John Hoyt. He spent time in a Japanese prison camp in China as a young boy. Fascinating stories! His family were medical missionaries in China and he was in boarding school 2000 miles away. He spent 3.5 years in the camp without his parents from 8-11 years of age. Incredible!

It’s hard to believe, but in barely over a month we will be in Jerusalem. Certainly the news from that region of the world reminds us of the complex history that these lands possess. However, we are confident and excited! During the next several weeks, you will see posts to this blog in preparation of our travels and during. Feel free to post questions here and I will try to answer them during our travels. More to come!

This coming Sunday, the 30th of January, 2011, is a day to celebrate! Dr. Phyllis Anderson, the President of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, will be preaching. Our very own Rebecca Swee will be present as we add our prayers and support to her new studies for the ministry at PLTS. We will also spend time in our annual meeting celebrating the success of 2010 and the great promise of 2011. We finished slightly better than plan, oh, and raised more than $150,000 for our imminent landscaping and bathroom renovations as well! Pledges were strong for 2011 so our budget for consideration includes a seminary intern/vicar (a full time 11 month position with a 3rd year ministry student). This is yet another tie to PLTS an will be the first time since 1964 since Grace has had an intern/vicar!
These are VERY exciting times, so make sure you’re there this Sunday!

Landscaping is coming this fall! We are beginning to save on water and you will notice our grass begin to fade. Very exciting!

Jerry Butler and David Vroom leveled out a bench in the courtyard that was looking more like a piece of art than a place to sit. Good stewardship of the facility we have is a part our faith. It shows gratefulness to God for what we have received. We look forward this Fall to an exciting improvement of the landscaping at Grace as well!