There I was at two in the morning laying on the bathroom floor waiting to get into the bath tub if the shells hit. Yes, this really happened to both of us. Serving in a place that is at war probably isn’t the smartest thing to do but when God says go you go. Continue reading
West Bank
Showers
Every day we step into the shower and never think about it. Most of us don’t bother to thank God for the opportunity or the shower we are in. Having traveled I have been in a lot of showers. The first one I was in was in Russia. There was no shower stall, just a shower head in the bathroom so when you took a shower the whole bathroom got wet and if you weren’t careful so did the towel you were supposed to dry off with.
In our first place in Jericho there was a hot water heater but you had to build a fire under it to get the water hot. Bob fixed a gas container under the hot water heater that ran on bottled gas and when we wanted to take a shower we had to turn the gas on and wait for the water to get hot. Now while that is inconvenient we did have a tub with a shower curtain and it was pleasant when the water was hot.
I have also been places where there was no hot water. Now to me that was miserable. I love a nice hot shower. I have also been where the shower head was so stopped up that not much water came out of it.
Over the years, things have improved over seas and in the Middle East especially. When we were in Bethlehem in September we stayed in a fairly new apartment building. The apartment we stayed in was so new no one had lived in it before. But the shower was different.
As you can see it has no doors. Oh it is a modern shower stall but no doors and no where to hang a shower curtain. So when you are done with your shower you take the squeegee push all the water that got out down the drain in the middle of the floor. So in reality you can work up a sweat before you get dressed or get your shoes on. But it is clean and you can be careful not to get water all over the bathroom.
When we went to Kurdistan in November we stayed in a nice hotel in Duhok. When we got to our room we looked at the bathroom and we were excited to see the shower stall had doors.
So when Bob got up to shower the next day we found full technology had not yet arrived. Yes, the stall had doors but they didn’t close all the way. In fact they were open about two inches on the bottom and an inch on the top. There was no way to get them to close any more than that. Now in all honesty they did have shower shoes for you to put on when you stepped out of the shower so you didn’t have to get your feet dirty on the wet floor. But of course you still had to get the squeegee and push the water down the drain.
When we got home I was so happy to get into my shower and know the water wouldn’t run on the floor. But I also thank God whenever I get into a shower where the water does not run on the floor.
Thankful for modern conveniences,
Jan
Crazy traffic
When ever we travel I marvel at the traffic. It seems in the West Bank there are no Rules of the Road . The first thing I had to do was remember you don’t stop to look both ways before you cross the street. It makes no difference because the cars will either stop or go around you even if it means driving on the sidewalk. In fact in most places the people walk down the middle of the street ignoring the cars. They wouldn’t dare do that in this country. Continue reading
Good friends in Jericho
When Bob and I went to Jericho, West Bank for the first time it was 1997. Another couple were there from Kentucky and we became good friends. So in the evening when we were free Bob & I and Steve and Karen would go into town and walk around. We met a young man named Kahlil. He had an old green car and offered to take us to see the sights we couldn’t see just walking. We piled into his car and when he started it, every light on the dash board came on. We mentioned we didn’t think they were all supposed to be on but he laughed and said it was okay. Every night we would meet Kahlil and he would take us somewhere else to show us different things. Continue reading
Palestinian Christian TV
We just got back from a trip to the West Bank. I know many people think that is not safe but it really is. There were six of us who went. It is the six who have worked there for some time. About a year ago Terry McIntosh had the opportunity to get a TV station in the West Bank. One of the things we wanted to find out is how the TV station is doing. Continue reading
Jacob’s Well
As one visits Israel and The West Bank you can seem to relive Bible stories. In John chapter four we read about Jacob’s well. Jesus was resting near the town of Sychar when a woman comes to the well and Jesus asks her for a drink. There is quite a discussion between her and Jesus and she ends up believing He is the Messiah and runs to the town to tell everyone about Jesus. Continue reading
Nablus is Sychar
One of the joys of visiting different countries is seeing the old and the new. Cities in the West Bank are a real contrast. When we were in Nablus we saw that contrast. Nablus is the biblical town of Sychar where Jesus talked to the woman at the well in John four. It is a much bigger town than Jericho and the terrain is not flat at all. In fact I got the feeling I was either walking up or down but never on flat surface. Continue reading
Living in a tent
I wrote some time ago about the Bedouins. They are a nomadic group of people who live in the Israeli /Palestinian area. They are neither Israeli nor Palestinian. However, most of them are cultural Muslims because that is what has been in the area for a long, long time. We had a couple of Bedouin ladies who came to the Jesus House for the Bible Study. Continue reading
Music the universal languagepart 3
When you have music playing in Palestine you are going to have dancing. I can’t tell you how many birthday parties I went to where the radio was playing and every one was dancing and that included little kids too. It is just a part of the culture.
On Saturday morning after we had finished passing out the guitars we had our regular Bible Study. Now we had guitars so we had music and we could sing. On Saturday we started singing and one of our dear saints got up and started dancing. It wasn’t long before several of the ladies joined her. Before long I had joined, Karen had joined and even Terry McIntosh, who founded the Jesus House, joined in the dancing. Continue reading
Rejoicing in Baptisms
One of the greatest joys of being a Christian is watching new believers being baptized. And we were blessed to rejoice in baptisms often.
Jericho has several springs so finding a place to baptize new believers is not a problem. After people accepted Jesus we began to explain to them about being baptized.
Some of them took quite awhile to decide to be baptized, and others said yes right away. When a person said he wanted to be baptized, we immediately made plans to go to a stream! We would tell the believers who was being baptized and where it would take place and invited anyone who wanted to come witness the event. Continue reading
Tales from the Mission Field 