By Brenda Mehos

We had to think seriously about whether we should come on this trip because of the violence we were hearing about in the media, but we are so glad that we’ve come.  The Living Stones tours introduce us to the other side of the story and the peacekeepers in that story and that is even more important as the days go by. Many people take a tour bus to the holy sites, briefly get off, and then go back to Israel. In our trip we’ve had many chances to meet people who live in Palestine and we’ve had a chance to hear their stories.

Yesterday (Friday, 10/23) we were lucky to have the chance to stay with a family in the town of Zababdeh. This is an ancient Christian town with ruins of a 5th century church behind a current church. Overall Christians only make up 1.5% of the population in Israel and Palestine.

We were in Zababdeh to visit Abuna (Father) Firas’s family and his Melkite Church. Abuna is in the United States on a speaking engagement and we are in his home visiting so we had a Skype session with him.  Abuna shared with us that he tells people who ask him if he was born Christian, “No, I was born a baby”!  He also shared with us via Skype that we must “build bridges for peace” and “we must cover the ugly wall with hundreds of bridges”.

We then took a walking tour of Zababdeh with Abuna’s children as guides, and we settled in to either Abuna’s house for the evening or his parents’ home.  It was a treat to experience the wonderful Palestinian hospitality with tea on the back deck, candles when the power went out, a delicious meal inside, and then more tea and wonderful conversation.  Mr. Diab’s English is excellent and we were able to talk about all sorts of things including how hard it is for their young people to find jobs, healthcare, and how the elderly are cared for. The Khoury’s 24 year old grandson stopped by to visit as well and he was curious what jobs are available for girls in the U.S.

This morning we enjoyed a beautiful spread of traditional breakfast foods (that I will miss) including olives they cured from their own trees, orange marmalade from their orange trees, something like a rolled omelet, and the strained yogurt called labneh that I’m loving.  Then it was time to say goodbye, a kiss on each cheek, and we thanked them for the gift of kindness and hospitality.