We’re writing today with a prayer request from our medical team preparing to visit Bethlehem in November.  The team recently submitted the credentials of the doctors to the Ministry of Health for approval; these documents must be approved before the physicians will be allowed to treat patients.

Please pray for the applications to be approved as soon as possible.  Please also continue to pray many will come to the Bethlehem Bible College to receive treatment.

Finally, please feel open to contact us with questions you might have about the medical and gift delivery teams.  We love to hear from you!

It is now September, and Christmas is fast approaching.  This is an exciting and busy time for The Bethlehem Christmas Project as we work to put all the pieces in place for this year’s BCP teams.  Yes, we said teams; it was not a typo!  There are indeed two BCP teams heading to Bethlehem this year.

The first team will be at the Bethlehem Bible College from October 30^th to November 7^th.  Their focus will be to provide medical services to Bethlehem’s local community.  The team’s medical personnel include a cardiologist, registered nurse, an emergency room physician, an orthopedic surgeon, a pediatrician, and internists.  We are grateful for Mike from the BCP 2008 Team for spearheading this endeavor and for the other members of last year’s group who are joining him.  We are encouraged to have others come alongside us in our work and thrilled to see last year’s team members pick up the baton and run with it.  The “workers may be few,” but their numbers are growing!

Please pray for the medical team’s safety while they are on the ground.  Specifically, pray for many to come to the Bethlehem Bible College for treatment and to receive the love of Jesus through those willing to be His hands and feet.  Contact us if you’d like to learn more about Mike and his team.

The second team, led by Ali and Jennifer, will be delivering gifts to children in December.  This team, traveling the 4^th through theh 13^th, is comprised of ten people from California, Florida, Iowa, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  There is still some space on the team, so connect with us if you’d like to help deliver gifts and experience Israel and Palestine in a unique way- through the people.

Please pray for the gift delivery team to reach more children than last year and that God will be preparing divine appointments for us in advance.  In 2007, we were able to deliver gifts to over 200 children.  Last year, God surprised us with last-minute donations that enabled us to reach over 300 children with His love.  In addition, He provided enough to bless a kindergarten in the Dheisheh refugee camp with $750 for much-needed educational supplies.  Furthermore, BCP was able to provide food baskets for 25 of the neediest families in the Bethlehem area in the name of Jesus Christ.  Praise God!  We look forward to all He has in store for us this year!

There is more to come.  Ali is planning on visiting Iowa in October.  The tentative dates are October 9^th through the 11^th.  Please drop us a line if you’d like to connect with Ali while he’s there.

Finally, we started a facebook fan page.  Join us there if you haven’t already done so.  We’re also on twitter, if you’d like to follow us.  The gift delivery team will be using twitter again this year to provide a live feed while on the ground.  We’re also hoping to send video- more on that as it develops.

Be blessed!