Hey, friends!
It's our last day in Bethlehem, and we just wanted to give you a little update. On Thursday we had the opportunity to see a few sights in Bethlehem. We went to the Church of the Nativity, which is shared by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, which makes for a hodgepodge-looking church. Each side had people lining up to go underground to view where that church claims Jesus was born. It was kind of crazy!
After visiting the church for a bit, we drove down to the Beit Sahour section of Bethlehem to visit the Shepherds' field where the shepherds may have seen the star that led them to the manger. It was much more peaceful here, and we almost had the place to ourselves. We were able to go into a structure where shepherds kept their flocks around the time of Jesus. The book of Ruth is also set in the fields at Bethlehem, and her grandson, a pretty important guy named David, was also a shepherd in Bethlehem. So although most of the city is developed, we were able to see a few fields where these stories either took place, or close to where they took place.
The last couple of days have been spent either at Melissa and Terri's home teaching, or spending time with the teachers and students at the school. We've really enjoyed getting to see the school and all they're doing. We even got to see the high school basketball teams play! So, I think we're all going to be sad to leave, but today we'll be heading up to see King Herod's summer palace and heading back to Terri and Melissa's for the last day of teaching before departing tonight.
We fly out of Tel Aviv at 12:40 am, so pray for safe travels home!
Anne
It's our last day in Bethlehem, and we just wanted to give you a little update. On Thursday we had the opportunity to see a few sights in Bethlehem. We went to the Church of the Nativity, which is shared by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, which makes for a hodgepodge-looking church. Each side had people lining up to go underground to view where that church claims Jesus was born. It was kind of crazy!
After visiting the church for a bit, we drove down to the Beit Sahour section of Bethlehem to visit the Shepherds' field where the shepherds may have seen the star that led them to the manger. It was much more peaceful here, and we almost had the place to ourselves. We were able to go into a structure where shepherds kept their flocks around the time of Jesus. The book of Ruth is also set in the fields at Bethlehem, and her grandson, a pretty important guy named David, was also a shepherd in Bethlehem. So although most of the city is developed, we were able to see a few fields where these stories either took place, or close to where they took place.
The last couple of days have been spent either at Melissa and Terri's home teaching, or spending time with the teachers and students at the school. We've really enjoyed getting to see the school and all they're doing. We even got to see the high school basketball teams play! So, I think we're all going to be sad to leave, but today we'll be heading up to see King Herod's summer palace and heading back to Terri and Melissa's for the last day of teaching before departing tonight.
We fly out of Tel Aviv at 12:40 am, so pray for safe travels home!
Anne
