Day 21 - Jerusalem

Week 3 has come and gone in this experience. That is crazy. Crazier is that I'm halfway through college at Valley Forge and starting my junior year this fall. And that I'm working as a Children's Pastor. And that the Lord is working in me and calling me to things that I never could dream of. Just wow.

Today we had a slower day in comparison to the others that we've had. We didn't have anything planned in the morning, so we got to sleep in, which was a HUGE blessing. Both of my roommates left me though, so I didn't really have anything to do for lunch. So I stayed in the room and watched the Olympics. The US stunk it up in the rowing competition. But later I saw that Michael Phelps won a gold already. Oh yeah! When we all get together in our room, we scream and cheer for the USA. It's weird because we only get Euro and Israeli channels, so the US isn't always on every network. But when we find them, we scream and cheer loudly. The US girls gymnastic team is going pretty well - they're in second tonight after 4 rotations. They need to step it up and beat the Chinese.

Anyway, onto Israel things. I only ate starbursts for lunch and then we had a meeting at 1:30 with Dr. Petra Helt. She is a German Executive Secretar at the Ecumenical Theologial Research Fraternity of Israel. She survived a terrorist attack (suicide bombing yards away from where she was standing) and now works in PR and research and combats "Palestinian Liberation Theology." She spoke to us about Dhimmitude, and the treatment of Dhimmis, or non Muslims, in the Muslim world. It was very interesting. Some of my pre reading had to do with this, but she shed more light on it. There are laws in Muslim countries, enforced by radical Islam, that basically deny any rights to those who aren't of Muslim religion. These people are tolerated, but they have no legal rights. They cannot complain or file complaints against the government, and always praise their oppressors. They also pay a lot of extra taxes, and have to endure humiliatiing public ceremonies that showcase them to the rest of the community. Plus, if they resist, they can be killed. It was very interesting to hear about all of this. She said that this is what is causing the decline of Christianity under Islamic rule. I know that Christians and Jews are oppressed, but I don't know that every community does this. I think it might be in the more radical versions of Islam. She compared these countries to Israel, which is democratic and anyone can speak out against the government. It just made me think, I guess.

We had a 20 min break after this lady spoke, and I ventured the streets of Jerusalem alone to find a McDonalds. I found it and bought a snack wrap for 10 sheckels (they have a 10 sheckel menu like we have a dollar menu). It was spicy and I think had a little curry in it, but after my starbucks lunch, it tasted AMAZING.

Our second lecture was from Yoram Ettinger. He is the Chairman of Special Projects and the Ariel Center for Policy Research. He spoke to us about the Palestinian Refugees. How this is the ONLY refugee situation in the world that has their own council in the UN. Which differs from the normal Refugee council in that it perpetuates the Palestinian situation, it doesn't settle the situation. We learned about the REAL figures of the refugees, and where they all came from. The total figure comes to about 300,000 being generous. The same amount of refugees were created from Kuwait after Iraq's invasion. But the whole world didn't jump on Iraq. Right now there are about 100 million refugees worldwide from the past 30 years. And most of these situations have been settled. But the one in Palestine keeps going. It is the only refugee situation that gives to all generations, without generational limitation. Most refugee situations involve training and assistance of the refugees, and possible relocation to find jobs for their newly aquired expertise, but nothing is being done with the Palestinians. They just sit there and get paid and live in their camps. And the Arab worlds don't want to asorb them. So its kind of lose-lose every way you look at it.

He also mentioned the fact that Jordan is a Palestinian state. 75% of Jordan is "Palestinian". So we don't need to create a palestinain state. There already is one. So if we're gonna reference that, we're creating ANOTHER palestinian state. But most of the Arab countries are virtually empty. So they wouldn't have a problem accomodating the refugees.

It was a good speech. I really enjoyed it. I wish we could figure out a way to settle the situation already.

After that, we had more free time til dinner. We went to the post office, but it was closed. Then we sat and watched the Olympics on TV and watched the American girls gymnasts. They better win. We were definitely cheering loudly.

Dinner at 8, Worship in the basement with Ben @ 10. Good time of fellowship.

I can't believe I have less than a week here.

Lord, Bless me and help me gain everything I can out of the next 4 days. Amen.

(Pray that too. I need all the prayers I can get).

Blessings to all.