Full day in Bethlehem - the birthplace of Jesus

Breakfast consisted of boiled eggs, thin slices of toast, red and green peppers, small cakes, yogurt with different toppings. We set out on the bus at 7:30 and met our local guide, Bassem, for the first time. Bassem lives in Bethlehem, so I surmised he was a Palestinian Christian. In ancient times, Bethlehem was called "the least of Judah." The name, "Bethlehem," means "house of bread" in Hebrew. At the time of Jesus' birth, it was a small village on top a mountain, and the population was only about one thousand; now it tops 60,000. The city has more Christians here than other areas in the West Bank. Bassem (he said to call him "Sam") said that ten years ago the area was 75% Christian, now it's 32% The Holy Land itself is home to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Christians are caught in the middle between the Jews and the Muslims and many have left the area. Christians also have less children than the Muslims, so the number of Christians in the Holy Land is decreasing. In 1948, Christians numbered close to 18% of the total population in the West Bank and Gaza, now they are less than 2%. The Christians are a double minority. One Catholic priest has said, "We are rejected by the Israeli Jewish people and the government because we are Arabs, and we are rejected by the Palestinian Muslim people because we are Christian." A major discovery I made on this trip is that somehow, we need to stop the exodus of Christians from the Holy Land, where Christianity began. This is one reason why I'm writing this blog. Not every Christian realizes this.

In Bethlehem

We finally got to check in to our hotel, the Paradise Hotel in Bethlehem. Although we were told not to expect "luxurious," our room was clean, pleasant, with plenty of hot water. Dinner was an enormous selection of fish, hummus, pita breads, all kinds of relishes and veggies, mashed and boiled potatoes, fruit, chicken, yogurt, and I don't know what else! I had always heard that the Mediterranean diet was healthy for you with a lot of fruit and vegetables and little fat, but if I ate all this, I would soon gain several pounds! Dessert was a small banana and a baby pear.

There were 142 pilgrims on the trip -- it took three plane flights to get us all to the Holy Land, and three buses to tour. We were on the yellow bus; others were on either the blue bus or the green bus! Most of the pilgrims were from Arkansas, but there were people from Virginia, Minnesota, and even California. So many people required extensive coordination, so each bus had along with the driver, a local guide, a volunteer to keep us together, and one of the leaders who alternated between buses. Our volunteer was Dawn, and she did a great job! The leaders were Cackie Upchurch, Father Alex, Bishop Taylor, and sometimes Melea Hargett, the editor of the Arkansas Catholic.