tis the season

Christmas will never be the same. Today we had our field trip to Bethlehem and it was so great. Bethlehem is in the West Bank so this was our only chance we have to go there even though it’s only 5 miles south of Jerusalem. But it was a great way to kick off our New Testament class! We’re just finishing the Old Testament and finally moving onto Jesus! I’m sure going to miss Papa Hunts though…
We started the day by going to the Herodian. This is one of King Herod’s many palaces he had built on a hill overlooking Bethlehem and it was elaborate! He even had a pool that was bigger than any swimming pool I’ve ever seen. Not the humblest man… The thing I found interesting about it though was that Mary and Joseph would have seen the palace on their way to Bethlehem. And then when you compare that to the humble circumstances Christ, the true king, was born in, it’s very enlightening.
After that we went to Bethlehem University which was really interesting. We got to talk with students and learn more about them and what it’s like to live in the West Bank. Bethlehem University is a Christian school, but 70% of the students are Muslim and all of them are Palestinian. So when I’ve thought about the separation wall before I usually think about it in broad, political ways. You hear the reasoning of why it exists to keep suicide bombers out of Israel and other things like that, but you don’t think much about how it affects people’s daily lives. Many of the students at Bethlehem University live outside the separation wall so they have to go through checkpoints everyday to get to school. They may live just a few miles away from the campus, but they have to leave 2 hours early to make it through the checkpoint and get to class on time. They told us that some students have to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to make it on time to class. And all I have to do is walk up two flights of stairs… Another thing that was interesting was how difficult it is for Palestinians to travel. There are so many steps they have to take and lots of planning for them to be able to leave the West Bank. The West Bank is TINY and it all pretty much looks the same. I just think about how easily I can get in a car and drive all the way across America and see so many different landscapes without any issues. I can’t imagine being stuck like that. Anyways, it was a very enlightening experience and it helped me gain an even greater love for the Palestinians.




Finally we got to go to Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity! We stood in line for 45 minutes to get to see the supposed place of Jesus’ birth and manger. But hey, if I can stand in line that long to get on a ride in Disneyland, I can definitely do it for Jesus. And whether or not that was the actual spot of Christ’s birth, it was really neat to see all the people that had come from all over the world to worship the same Jesus Christ.



We ended the trip on a definite high. We drove to a shepherd’s field overlooking the town of Bethlehem right at dusk and had a devotional there. Brother Harper and Brother Huntsman both said a few words and read a few scriptures and then we all sang Christmas songs. After ending on Silent Night, no one said a word and we all split up and contemplated the birth of our Savior as we looked at the site where it occurred. I tried to memorize everything I saw so that every Christmas for the rest of my life, I can picture that beautiful site. I thought about Mary and Joseph coming into Bethlehem and finding no room in the inn and how devastating that must have been to them. I don’t know this, but I would think that Mary and Joseph probably felt really bad that they could not provide a better situation for the Son of God to be born into. They might have even felt that they were failing in their calling as Christ’s caregivers. But as I thought about it right there, I realized how important and inspiring it is that Jesus Christ, the only God to ever be born on this earth, should be born in such lowly and humble circumstances. I thought of the words, “fall on your knees, and hear the angel voices.” I love the imagery of that line. So even though Christ was born in such a simple way, He is still the king of kings and we must fall to our knees and worship Him. It was such an incredible and sacred time for me their on that shepherd’s hill. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that He was born in Bethlehem and came to fulfill all righteousness. He is the Savior of my soul and my best friend.