Tuesday, September 20, 2011

I'M HERE!

So after a long (for this impatient American) and quite stressful border crossing... I'M IN PALESTINE! The border crossing here is quite an interesting process, with bus changes and no-mans-land and other interesting facets. But I'm exhausted, and so that is a story for another day (maybe tomorrow?). I got a 1 month tourist visa, but I will inshallah (God willing) have a work visa after my appointment at the Ministry of the Interior next week.

My month of language training in Jordan came to an end after our fantastic IIJP regional retreat (with the MCC staff from Iraq, Iran, Jordan, & Palestine). I had an absolutely incredible time (even though there wasn't any reliable internet... hence my lack of blog posts), and I will definitely give you a summary of the retreat later. In fact, I feel like there are a few blog posts that I need to write in order to officially bring my time in Jordan to a close, but again, those are going to be put off for another day.

It is only 10pm here, but I'm both physically and emotionally exhausted. This day definitely took more out of me than I was expecting. I am currently staying with Ryan and Ingrid, the MCC program administrators in Palestine. They are lovely people and have a beautiful home here on the Mount of Olives. I, along with the other Palestine SALTer, will have a few days of Palestine orientation, and then will be moving into my new home on Friday. I will be living with a host family, but in a separate part of the house. Basically, it is the best of both worlds. I'll have a family to connect and spend time with, but I will also have a bit of privacy and quiet.

I promise that I'll write more once I've had a bit of sleep. Thank you each for your kind words of encouragement, your support, and your prayers. I couldn't do this without you.

1 comment:

  1. So thankful you made it to Palestine ok. We are eagerly waiting for the rest of the story. We love you and pray for you often.

    Love, Dad

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