When two worlds collide…

On the other side of the wall…

As South Africans we are familiar with the concept of having a country within another country, but this did not prepare me for what I experienced crossing the ‘border’ into Palestine. Bethlehem is about 7,1km outside Jerusalem with a large 8m high wall dividing the one city from the other. Imagine a scene out of the Hunger Games with the towering wall, barbed wire everywhere and people with guns patrolling the area. And so we drove through this scene only to be met with gas bombs, tires burning and people with gas masks on the other side, throwing rocks at cars. But God is with us and there was no fear among our group. So we got dropped off and started walking to our new hosts, the Coptic Nuns. Strange as it might sound, I felt more at peace and at home here among the rioting Arab people than on the other side of the wall with the lofty Jews. So this was our new home.

Once we arrived at the church, we were met by the Hidden Worlds team, a hand full of friendly nuns and a room bursting at the seams with chocolate….literally all you can eat!! We also met an ex-global challenger who decided to continue the lifestyle of traveling with God, who totally just adapted and became part of our group.

During the day we would serve the nuns by either gardening (pulling out weeds) or helping to complete their church that they dug out of the mountain. They literally drilled into the rock and hollowed out a cave to create an ‘underground’ church. It looks amazing!!! Our men spent the full week working in the cave, while the ladies finished the gardening after 2days. For the rest of the time we did prayer walking through the streets, visited the Bible College, and visited some families in the refugee camp area. This ‘camp’ belongs to the UN and hosts many families that were refugees from the independence war of 1948. Since then they have been ‘trapped’ here, not being able to buy property or move from here. So they, and their families, are stuck in time. It is also custom in this area to paint faces on the walls of all family members who died during the war or protests, so as to never forget them. As my team (4 girls) walked through the camp, we soon found some kids and started playing with them. Then the mothers start emerging from their closed doors and soon we were spoiled with water, cookies and an invitation to enter one family’s home. Once again I am reminded that love transcends all differences and breaks down walls put up by fear and ignorance. Even though we couldn’t communicate with the children or family, everyone was always smiling and laughing.

As we returned to our chocolate factory home, I couldn’t help but thank God for all He has done. He is going beyond provision at this point and is flat out spoiling us. This revelation is not in reference to the fact that we have more than enough food, or that we had beds to sleep in, or that we were surrounded by more chocolate than we could eat. This was referring to how we saw His presence in every child’s smile and felt it in their laughs. And also the lecture we had the privilege to attend: Raavi Zacharias, the apologist, was for one night only in Bethlehem at the Bible College and we were invited to attend!!! WOW!! What a night!!

I also fell in love once again with the simple life of bucket showers and spending most of the time out on the streets connecting with people. One such man was Sammy, who walks up and down with his tray of teas, inviting people to come to his little ally. This is how he approached us too, so we followed him to his deserted ally where he packed out some chairs and brought us the most amazing tea ever: cinnamon, ginger, lemon, mint, sage and tea. Wow! As I looked around a little I soon realized that Sammy only has a little room with a kettle…no shop or restaurant, just the kettle. And this is how he makes a living. But it is real and honest and amazing!

What I have learned:

1. Simple living makes more room and time for God. It is easier to see and hear Him when there aren’t lots of stuffs in the way.
2. Love really can cross borders and break walls…even this massive wall.
3. Holy is not being perfect and doing everything right, it is about living close to God
4. Living close to God is not a feeling, it is being obedient
5. God doesn’t have to bless us, we don’t deserve anything. Everything is a gift, so be thankful
6. We see God in our image, so we expect Him to be like us: unforgiving, without mercy, untrustworthy, and unfaithful… Instead we should see each other in His image.
7. If you stand before God one day and He asks you this one question ‘Did you believe that I loved you?’, would you be able to say yes??? ……
8. God calls everybody but not everybody responds…

After a week of working, learning and even a braai (wow), we left the nuns and our new SA friend, and headed back through the wall (scary) to Jerusalem. There we took a bus to just outside the city, broke up into 4 groups and started hitch-hiking to get to Tiberius – aka sea of Galilee! This is with all our bags…jip, carrying everything. My team got 5 lifts all together and after 4hours we had completed our 200+km. Amazing! We met up with some of our team members and camped just outside the city next to the see. Wow, to wake up with that fresh air, knowing that Jesus walked here and did most of His miracles here. The next day we hiked another 8km to a better camping spot, but it was Shabath….so naturally my team walked the entire way….with bags…at this point my bags all together way about 28kg. But it was amazing, the scenery, the conversations, wow. We even stopped half way to try and milk a cow next to the road…hehehe yeah not such a good idea…

Finally we reach Ginnosar, a man proposed to me (not a new thing, but my first one in Israel) and in the rain we found a spot to camp for the night on a lawn outside a pub in a kibbutz….random, I know. And so the next morning we took a few busses back to Tel Aviv, where we are sleeping at the airport tonight. Why? Because it is free. Yes, simple living at its best, hehehehe.