El Amal school camp group pic
This is a guest post from JMU student Anna Hornberger. We are leaving at 5am tomorrow morning so thanks for going on this adventure with us. It’s all real and it’s all true.
Marhaba! (That’s “hello” in Arabic). As this is our final day of Young Life camp, our hearts are full of love, our minds are full of biblical knowledge, and our stomachs are full of pita.
Two days ago, we said goodbye to our Capernaum friends, and almost immediately welcomed a new Young Life camp from El-Amal (meaning “Hope”), a Palestinian school for grades 7-12. Honestly, we had so much love for our previous group that I wasn’t sure how we would have space in our hearts (not to mention energy) to love 50+ new kids! Thankfully, our love is not our own, but rooted in Jesus. As the day progressed, local leaders from Zababdeh came to lead the campers, and together we welcomed them with open arms. Our new campers spent the day relaxing by the pool, and later were ushered into club to hear a wonderful talk by our own Matt Craig (translated by Hiba, a Zababdeh leader). We finished off the day with an obstacle course, which naturally ended with everyone getting pelted by water balloons mixed with flour (which, by the way, is still not out of my hair).
Yesterday, our JMU group ended our tour where it all began — the Shepherd’s Field and Church of the Nativity (traditional place of Jesus’ birth)—both in Bethlehem. Here, we learned that God chose to share the good news of Christ’s birth first to some of the most despised and lowly people in society — shepherds. We also learned that Jesus’ genealogy included people from different ethnicities, genders, occupations, and societal status — many of whom were outsiders. The point? God’s kingdom is for EVERYONE. All are welcome — from the lowly shepherd, to the prostitute, to the king. God’s kingdom is for the disabled, for the angsty teenagers, and it’s for you, too.
It has been so incredible to learn more about Jesus and how we can glorify Him in all things that we do, wherever we are. I’ll speak for all of us in saying that it’s bittersweet to be leaving the Holy Land, but we’re looking forward to sharing all we’ve learned about God’s love (and half-learned Arabic pop song lyrics) with our loved ones.
“…to the ends of the earth.” Micah 5:4