May you have a Merry and Blessed Christmas with your friends, family and loved ones.   Enjoy celebrating the day of the Lord!

Ali & Jenni

Last update from Tel Aviv! Thank you for your prayers, we made it through security a-ok. One of our team members was held up but Ali and Jenni were ok.

We’re coming home!

Dear friends, we are writing you from the Bethlehem checkpoint with a prayer request.

We will soon at the airport where we will be questioned by security prior to being allowed on the flight home. Ali was held up for four hours on the way into Israel; please pray we will have an easy time on the way out.

Many thanks to all of your prayers and words of encouragement during our time here. We are looking forward to connecting with you when we return to the US.

Blessings to all of you!
Ali, Jenni and the BCP team.

Greetings from a bus winding through the desert on the way to the Dead Sea.  The team is in good spirits and looking forward to the sites and sounds we will experience today and the people we will meet.

I promised yesterday to give you a recap of the day on the way up to Nazareth.  Yesterday was a great day that started with gift delivery at the Al-Basma Center for Children with Special Needs.  Al-Basma, as some of you may recall, is a center which gives job training for children largely excluded from society because of the stigma associated with their disabilities; the children learn skills such as making carpets, olive wood Christmas ornaments, and Christmas cards from paper they recycle by hand.  

The team loved being at Al-Basma and we  enjoyed giving gifts and sampling the amazing food Al-Basma’s staff prepared for us.  The children and the team played and danced together and everyone had a great time getting to know one-another.     

Following Al-Basma we visited the Dheisheh Refugee Camp Kindergarden.  What a blessing it was to be there!  Last year, the team was in tears when we left because of the disrepair the center was in and the lack of educational materials available to the children.  This year, we arrived to children singing and dancing as they danced with a clown we were able to provide for the school.  The children enjoyed a  fun party with music and puppets, some sandwiches, and finally Christmas gifts! 

The school’s principal was grateful for the gifts and for the heater and gas BCP will be providing for the winter.  One of our friends made this purchase possible.  You know who you are and we are grateful for you, just as we are to everyone who made the project possible this year.  We very much wish all of you could have been with us to see how happy the children were.

We finished gift delivery for the day with a great meal at the SOS Children’s Village- an orphanage for Bethlehem’s children.  At SOS, the team split up and went into homes for a nice meal and to give gifts.  Later on, we played with the children in the courtyard before heading to Jerusalem for some down time. 

It was a good day.

By the time you get this update we would have already visited the Dead Sea, Qumran (site of the Dead Sea scrolls) and had dinner in Nazareth with Messianic and Arab believers.  I will not be blogging tonight and it may be difficult to do so the next couple of days.  I will try but it may be difficult to do so with our schedule.

Many thanks for your prayers, the team sends their greetings!

Dear friends, we’re sending a short update today.  We had a long day delivering gifts and are preparing to leave for Nazareth tomorrow.  We plan on stopping at the Dead Sea before having dinner with Jewish and Arab believers in the evening; we just finished preparing for tomorrow and, unfortunately, we won’t be able to update you today.

We will have an update about today’s events tomorrow evening (it’s a long ride to Nazareth and I will have time to write along the way).  For now, we hope you enjoy the short video we took today at the Dheisheh Refugee Camp Kindergarden.  Here’s the link to the video.

Today, we toured Jerusalem today and, for the first time, I was able to see the Temple Mount.  So, what was it like?  In one sense it was beautiful; the architecture and engineering were awe inspiring.  But, at the same time, the visit was a sad one.  As we made our way up to the Temple Mount we saw the riot gear lined up along the rampways ready for the next conflagration of violence.  We were simultaneously in a place of historic importance, a place where some of the most moving stories of the bible took place, and a place that is the flashpoint of the world. 

After the Temple Mount we visited Bethesda where Jesus healed the man who could not walk.  I love the Pools of Bethesda because there is not doubt: they are where Jesus healed a man.  Many locations of biblical events are approximations: “somewhere very near to here Jesus did x y or z”.  It is impossible to tell exactly where Jesus’ last footprint on earth was, but with Bethesda, the architecture remains there for us.  We know where the edge of the pools was.  I love being there; it is a tranquil place.

Near the pools is a church from the time of the crusaders.  We visited the church and enjoyed its ancient but simple architecture and (in my own mind) redeemed its painful memories by singing Amazing Grace.  I know it is just a church, not a person, and needs no redemption- it is silly to think so.  Nonetheless, it was  a satisfying experience to juxtapose the violent memories of the crusades with the beauty of Amazing Grace.

Following Bethesda we visited Bethany and stood in the Lazarus Tomb.  The team also had fun riding a camel.  We also visited the Mount of Olives to look over Jerusalem before visiting Gethsemane. 

Yes it was a touring day.  These days are fun days, but they also give the team an opportunity to process their emotions and thoughts from the gift delivery days.  Something that is very much needed in a place where every answer begs new questions and every emotion is a moving one.

It was a touring day, but it was also a learning day.  After a long day in Jerusalem we visited the offices of Musalaha, a ministry of reconciliation.  Our team listened to Dr. Salim Munayer discuss Musalaha’s work with Israeli and Palestinian believers.  Our team was challenged and given a charge to take ownership of the ministry of reconciliation given to us by our Lord.

In the evening we had some Middle Eastern pizza before going to the home of some local believers for tea and dessert.  We finished our day with friends and returned to the Bible College.  Tomorrow, we’ll be delivering gifts again.  We’ll continue to update twitter as we move along. 

Greetings to all of you from Bethlehem!  Also, many thanks to everyone leaving comments on the blog.  We can’t always respond, but we are reading them and are encouraged by them.

It was a busy day for the team.  Our day began with a quick breakfast and an early morning ride to the Holy Child Program where we delivered toys, dolls, and soccer balls to children suffering from post-traumatic stress.  The children greeted us with Christmas songs and we sang songs to them in return beginning with one of Ali’s favorites: “Joy to the World”.  We also had quite a giggle singing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”; the children just loved seeing us act silly!

The soccer balls were quite a hit as one of our team members said: “the kids LOVED these balls, you’d think they were gold!”  The children enjoyed themselves, we enjoyed our time with them, and Christ was glorified.  All in all, a great start to our day.

After Holy Child, we visited House of Hope: a center for children with mental and visual impairment.  We were blessed to be a part of House of Hope’s Christmas party with the children and their parents.  We again had a wonderful time seeing the joy on the children’s faces as we distributed gifts and candies.

Following Holy Child was a visit to Jamima: a center for children with severe cases of downs, autism, physical deformation and other mental disabilities.  We were encouraged by our meeting with Raed, a 26 year old Arab believer who began working at the center with a great deal of trepidation, but now is the center’s director saying with enthusiasm: “I will be here for the rest of my life, it is my passion.”  He said these words with love and conviction.  It was as we were transported to the first century to meet Peter and hear him say: “I will be feeding these sheep for my Lord until my God takes me home.”  It was a blessing to see the powerful healing faith of this believer in Bethlehem.

Last on our stop was the Frare school where we met a passionate young teacher who has committed herself to making sure each one of her students knows the love of Christ.  None of the children suffered from any disabilities but they were children in need.  We delivered warm winter clothes for them and were touched by their songs, their joy, and their inspring teacher.

In the late afternoon we returned to the Bible College for a lecture from Alex Awad before going to dinner with several of the students from the Bible College.  Many of these students have been with us in the past and we were honored to have them with us as our guests.  We also had quite a bit of fun listening to them sing along popular Arabic pop songs in the bus on the way back to the College.  It was one of those fun driving and singing experiences- just a Middle Eastern version of it. 

Now, it’s off to bed.  Tomorrow we will spend time in Jerusalem and will receive a lecture from Salim Munayer at Musalaha’s offices.  Musalaha is a ministry of reconciliation dedicated to bringing together Arab and Israeli believers to promote forgiveness, understanding and unity in Christ’s body here in the Holy Land.  What a day it will be for us. 

More to come tomorrow!  Pray for the people of this land.

Today was a busy today.  Our day began with visiting an Arab church in Jerusalem where we e saw some of our old friends and worshipped God in His city before going to lunch and walking around the marketplaces on the way to the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Following the church, the team visited a couple of sites (most notably Pilate’s Palace) before visiting the Western Wall.  Afterwards, the team had the opportunity to see beneath Jerusalem while  I (Ali), remained behind to help our team member who missed her flight yesterday make her way to the rest of the team. This gave me the opportunity to interact with some merchants and to see Jerusalem at night after all the markets have closed.  I very much enjoyed the dimly lit empty streets as I made my way back to the team.  It was a special and quiet time for me (excepting dodging the cars racing through Jerusalem’s narrow streets).

After the Western Wall, we went to the YMCA in West Jerusalem to have dinner with Arab and Israeli followers of Christ.  It was a precious time: a Palestinian believer and pastor opened our evening with prayer, a Messianic  pastor closed our time together.  Our team was blessed to be with Arab and Israeli believers, to hear the stories, learn from their struggles, and learn how we can better help them do God’s work in the Holy Land.  Our time was too short and we had to return to Bethlehem.

In Bethlehem, we put together gift bags for our first gift delivery day tomorrow.  The team is tired but in good spirits.  Please pray for the team and the children who receive the gifts in Christ’s name tomorrow. 

Blessings to all of you back home from the birthplace of Christ!

Greetings from the road!  As I write this, I am in a cab en route from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv to the Bethlehem checkpoint where I will have to leave the cab and cross into Bethlehem on foot.

 Our flight arrived at 9:15am.  I may have slept 30 minutes on the flight as I just could not get comfortable.  At security, Jennifer and the rest of the team were allowed entry while I was left behind for questioning.  I was finally allowed to leave 4 hours later. 

During my time with security, I was asked: why are you Christian?  I explained, giving as much detail as I could, after all, we had time.  I am thankful for the opportunity to speak and consider my delays and frustrations at security a small price to pay for the opportunity.  Who knows, perhaps a small seed was planted today,..

 All in all, I am tired, hungry but I feel blessed to be here.  Now, we can be underway, doing what we were called here to do.

The rest of the team I traveled with (including Jennifer) are waiting for me in at the Bible College in Bethlehem.  The second part of our team will arrive this afternoon.  I am looking forward to a nap and a good meal in Bethlehem tonight.

Many thanks for your prayers.  I’ll have twitter and the live feed up again once I get into Bethlehem and will send updates throughout the rest of the day from there.  If you have a twitter account, follow @bcProject.  You can also keep track of us on facebook or by using the “live feed” link on our website.

Please keep us in your prayers…

Edit: Since I wrote the above, I have arrived safely in Bethlehem.  The rest of the team is on the way in from the airport save one person who missed their flight and is still in the States.  Please pray for this person, it is a very stressful situation.

The day is finally here! The team will be departing for Bethelem shorty. Please pray for traveling mercies and specifically for us to have an easy time with Israeli security. Last year, we spent five hours in questioning. It was an exhausting time (especially after a long flight). Pray for God to ease our passage. We are excited and ready…Can’t wait to see what God has in store.

Last time we wrote, we promised to tell you about our new initiative: Prints of Peace. We had hope to write about this a week or so ago, but some unexpected circumstances prevented us from doing so.

So, what is Prints of Peace? In short, it is a picture exchange. Children from the US have created Christmas-themed artwork to send to Bethlehem. We will be decorating a classroom in Bethlehem and returning with artwork to decorate a classroom here in the States. This is our first year with this new initiative, we hope to expand it next year.

We will keep you updated through the blog and Twitter. Please keep us in your prayers. The best is yet to come!