Welcome to Jerusalem!

Alright, it's official: I'm in Israel.  

We had an awesome week of YAGM Orientation stuff, where we built relationships with those around us, as well as have sessions on security, racism, and globalization.  It was a heavy week, to say the least.  There were a lot of conversations where I walked away feeling totally drained.  I loved it, don't get me wrong!  We had a lot of time talking about the problems within the church at large, as well as the world.  A lot of the topics were new for me (i.e. the International Money Fund, etc), but I loved talking about it.

We flew out of Chicago around 5:30pm GMT (I think that's the time zone Chicago is in), had a brief layover in London, then onto Tel Aviv.  We arrived at Tel Aviv around 3:30pm in this time zone, which is a seven hour difference from home...I think.  Needless to say, we've been traveling for awhile and I am beat! 

After thorough questioning in customs, we were warmly received at the airport by our country coordinator, his wife, and the wife of a pastor serving at one of the churches in the ELCJHL, which is the synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land.  This synod as six churches (I think...I could be wrong right now), in the area.  We drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and found our place on the Mount of Olives for the next two weeks or so.  We're staying at the Augusta Victoria Guest House, which, as I mentioned, is on the Mount of Olives.  Yes, my friends, I can see the Dome of the Rock from my window and apparently the "old city" too.  The guest house is a part of the Lutheran World Federation campus in Jerusalem, which includes the Augusta Victoria Hospital, a kindergarten, and some other buildings I'm sure we'll tour tomorrow.  

I still really haven't fathomed the intensity of this experience.  In fact, I'm not even sure I believe that I'm going to sleep in Israel...on the Mount of Olives.  We could hear the call to worship tonight off in the distance for one of the muslim mosques; it was beautiful, but hard to hear.  I just still don't know how real this is to me, versus how insanely wild this is.  I'm not sure.  I really need sleep though, so I'll try to update sooner rather than later on our first adventures.

Dear God,
Thank you for safe travels today.  Please give us energy to go forth and see where you want to use us for this year and this lifetime.  Be with my family and friends as they experience this through me.  Please be with all who suffer from the political situation here.  Amen.

Much love,
Meredith