'See You Later' and Lessons Learned

Nahalin Village, Palestine

Today we leave Palestine. We will say goodbye to the family we have lived with for the past week and the friends we have made during our time here. However, we have learned not to say goodbye but “See you later,” as we know in our hearts that these are relationships that will continue for a lifetime, God has been good to give us this gift.

We will spend our last evening in Jerusalem, where one more rendezvous with friends from the farm will emphasize something very special about our time in this land. Most travel experiences include meeting new friends and having fast connections, only to face far too sudden goodbyes and a saddened longing for considerably more time together. These few weeks have been very special in the way we have been able to have continual visits with the new friends we have made, allowing for genuine growth of relationship and fulfillment in connection.

I walk away believing that Maher, the wonderful friend who just so happened to cook us delicious meals at the farm, and his sweet wife May will be the kind of friends that bring us back to this land time and time again. This fun and loving couple invited us to their beautiful home overlooking the more deserted hills of Beit Sahour Wednesday evening. His family opened their doors to us as we sat down to an unforgettable dinner that clearly took hours of laboring to prepare. I will never forget watching the sun fade into the night stars on the breezy balcony, as Maher and May showed us the video of their wedding. We laughed and talked as if we were neighbors who had these kind of gatherings on a common occasion.

It will also be strange to not wake up to a foreign family coming in wanting to make us breakfast, or kids pulling at our shirts to play every half hour, here at our home-stay in Beit Sahour. The Palestinian culture is quite different from our American independent way of living. Sometimes it feels like the bathroom is your only place of privacy, which can be of course trying, but it is the kind of thing you walk away from missing. The disruption of convenience with cute little kids, overly caring mothers, grandmothers and funny young boys is a part of the engaged and social family life that makes this place unique and special. This family really feels like family to me, ones I hope to keep coming back to.

Our transition from the farm to staying with a family in Beit Sahour was not easy for us. Needless to say, constant running water, real toilets and cozy beds gave us a luxurious feeling not normally felt in the West Bank… compared to the farm’s simplistic lifestyle and desperation for resourcefulness, we sure felt like queens when we first got here. However, the most significant transition from farm to family life in Palestine was coming from a place obviously affected by the conflict, facing demolition orders regularly and the occasional surprise destruction of fields of crops, into a place that is less directly, but still clearly affected by the occupation of Palestinian land. While this Palestinian family we have been with the past week has their struggles with sparing resources, they have seen wars, they have witnessed bloody Palestinian uprisings, they deal with the unfairness of rights, yet they still have a sense of security with their home. The Nasser family at Tent of Nations Farm doesn’t get to feel this security, and are daily resisting the occupation in the most peaceful and optimistic way possible.

Joining the Nasser family in their hopeful pursuit, being a part of the protection and care of their land, walking with them through their struggle, learning from and encouraging them as they shadow Jesus’ peaceful way gave us the sense that we were part of change here in this conflicting land. Daily, we were taught how to channel fears, aggression and passion into cultivating something productive and helpful for the future.

Being in Beit Sahour the past week, we have had to take the transition with God and realize another part of His pursuit here, which is simply about relationship. With the conflict less observable, we got to cultivate in a different way, through relationships with people. Although the stillness can feel ineffective at times, we have come to realize that the friendships we are creating and building here are just as important as the daily perseverance it took to plow football fields of wheat to support a family and their land. Here, in common Palestine, we are just living normal life with people, going to community futbol games, sharing meals with friends, playing games with kids, walking the streets and meeting people, listening to the often political things they want to say to us internationals. It all has its purpose and is all important to what God wanted for our time here.

But now we say “See you later,” to new friends and to growing friendships. We continue to take new concepts, struggles, inspirations and revelations with us and keep digging deeper with God to reveal more about our time here. This time in Israel and Palestine has been unforgettable, I don’t believe I am at the processing place to explain all the ways why, but God has been so faithful to us girls and the intent of our journey here.

Now, we take another step… off to Turkey. The only thing we know at this point is that the first four nights will be spent at a hostel in Istanbul, and as for the rest, I am pretty certain God will fill in all the unknown.

Beit Sahour, Palestine

Hebron, Palestine

Hebron, Palestine