Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you! I know I am a few months ahead or behind, whichever way you think about it..... but today we celebrated the Birth of our Savior.

We went to the Church of the nativity which is a multi-religious church that commemorates that area where Christ was born.  It was a rough start because I got "shushed" by the priest for laughing but once we got away from the his death glare it got better. Here is a picture of a Cathedral with a beautiful stained glass window portraying the birth.

  we got the entire chapel to ourselves because there was not a lot of tourist,  so we sang Christmas hymns and had a mini devotional

The church is built over the grotto so you walk down a few steps to the underground shrine. It was so toasty down there that we could only last a few minutes before we had to go up and get air and they were starting mass but I got this picture right before. It is a gold star which is typically thought to be the birthplace.

Then a few steps away is the traditional manger which is where another shrine is located (and then the next room is the stable). I am not really sure how it all works out and how they know the specific different locations of each one. Especially since I thought it was an all-inclusive deal but I guess they just want to spread the love all over. 

This is the manger where he rested after the birth.

Here is the stable and also the location where the angel appeared to Joseph to tell them to go to Egypt

After a long process of going through the separation wall we went to a shepherd field that overlooks Bethlehem. We had a musical devotional and a spiritual devotional at the overlook. This is what Bethlehem would have looked like when Christ was born, it had natural terracing with lots of trees and shrubs. While we were there we actually saw a shepherd and his flock roaming the area. Many shepherds actually keep their sheep here by night.

So the field trip uniform has really caught on and it is the new fad. Check out everyone today in their "plain white tees"and this is only half the group!

But happy fourth of July to everyone, I am not going to lie but I am a little sad that I am missing the fourth ( which includes all of the chips and salsa, BBQ, and hamburgers) but at least we celebrated another holiday. This friday the center is throwing a fourth of july bash for us so at least we will get a little slice of home. Being here on the fourth has made me appreciate being an American that much more. I am so grateful that I do not live in constant fear and that I am not restricted to confined areas. I thought of all the Palestinians who are not able to leave the area of the West Bank or Gaza and how they are constantly fighting with the Israelis.  We are so lucky to live in a country that we are free and have a democracy. Another cool thing that we realized today is that this is the and of our old and original fore fathers and it is a unique experience to commemorate the sacrifices they made for us. 

Well everyone be safe out there and enjoy the fourth of July!