Journal of Day 9 by Sandy Messick

At the start of this journey, we were asked to name our hopes for the trip. I said I wanted to hear stories that I could share with my region and the wider church. That hope has more than been fulfilled. On our last day in Israel we heard yet more stories of hope, despair, and ministry being done by faithful, committed people with our support and on our behalf.
First thing, we visited Rawdat El-Zuhur, a primary school operating in East Jerusalem. This is a Child Sponsorship program of Global Ministries. There we met Salwa Zananiri, the principal who showed us around the school. In each classroom we saw the beautiful faces of children eager to share with us a song, or practice their Arabic reading skills, or demonstrate their Palestinian dance or music skills. The children are taught Arabic, French and English. As has been true throughout the trip, hospitality was abundant as we were served tea or coffee and cookies, and welcomed enthusiastically by students and staff. Mounting the stairs, we came upon a value tree with paper ornaments naming some of the values they are trying to teach: peace, responsibility, compassion, respect, public welfare, and optimism.
Sabeel was our next stop. Sabeel is the Palestinian Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. There we met the founder and director, Naim Ateek. He shared with us their three areas of focus: Building up the Body of Christ through ecumenical conversations among women, youth, and clergy; Christian-Muslim Relations; and Peace and Justice through introducing people to Palestinian Liberation Theology. He said, “It is not enough for just peace or justice, we need to move on to reconciliation.”
Our last stop before heading to the airport was to visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. It was rightfully a moving and troubling visit and a reminder of a shameful part of humanity's history. It was also a reminder of what happens when racism is not only accepted but legitimized and legalized and a call to prevent such an event from happening again.
As we headed to the airport, the stories from the past 10 days washed over us. We shared some that were most significant for each of us, and we promised to tell what we have heard and seen. One of the questions we often asked as we met with our mission partners was “Where do you find hope?” The answers varied, but one of the places I found hope was at the Rawdat El-Zuhur school. When the class of older students were asked what they wanted to sing for us, they responded without hesitation. Then they stood and sang together in English, “We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome some day, O deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.” By God's grace, may we overcome the walls that divide, may we live in peace, and may we walk hand in hand. In closing, I share with you Salwa's request of each of us, “Pray for us, for hope, for peace, to keep loving each other.”