Dear Readers,

I thought you all might enjoy an approximate reproduction of the conversation I had with several people at church today.  If you were one of the people I spoke to, I enjoyed talking to you and I'm trying to include a few details below that I may  not have mentioned in case you want to know more.  If you were not one of the people I spoke to, feel free to ask these questions yourself in person later if you want.  Otherwise, maybe this will help fill you in on my past, present, and future.    

Church Friend (CF): Alana!  You haven't been here lately.

Me: Nope!

CF: Where have you been?

Me: I was in Israel!

CF: Oh, how fun!  What were you doing there?

Me: I was there for about 2 years total (it's been 11 months since I've been back here), working on a master's degree in Biblical History and Geography with an emphasis in Historical Geography.  

CF: Oh, how interesting.  Did you like it?  What school were you at? What did you learn?
Me: (*How do I sum up what it took me 2 years to learn?  Oh well, I'll try*)  I liked it a lot.  And I learned a lot.  I was at Jerusalem University College (JUC - highly recommended).  We basically try to integrate our understanding of the Bible with the history, geography, and culture of the land.  So we studied a lot of Biblical routes and how people lived and moved and got food and fought and how the land affected life and how those images are used in the Bible.  Uh...if you want more details, we'll sit down sometime and I'll give you some examples. :)

CF: That sounds really great.  Are you going back?

Me: Well, hopefully.  I finished my degree, but I'm hoping to go back to volunteer at the school and help out there for a year or two, if and when I get a visa.  (So, you know, if you want to pray for me, you can pray that I'll get a visa sooner rather than later or never.)

CF: So how long will you be here?

Me: Not really sure...It depends on when I can get the visa.  Probably a couple months at least, maybe more. (So you can also pray that I will have wisdom to use this time well, especially as it is hard to plan since I don't know how long it will be.)

This brings me to the second main point of this post.  I am not really sure how many people read this blog, between blogger and facebook, but I had a number of people tell me today something along the lines of, "Oh, I read your blog!"  I am very glad that people read my blog (after all, I write it to be read), but if you are one of those people, I have two favors to ask of you.  Ready? :)

1. Please forgive me if I don't know as much about you as you know about me.  You might feel like you know me quite well and  are familiar with my life, thoughts, plans, etc.  I will probably not feel the same way about you, unless you are really good at emailing me or keep up a blog of your own.  Which brings me to the second point.

2. Unless you are a creepy stalker, if you read this blog, I probably want to know you better.  There are a number of ways for this to happen.  If you live in Montana, maybe we could get together for coffee or dinner or something while I'm here.  I even have a phone now and am willing to give out the number to people I know, so let me know if you're interested.  If you don't live nearby and/or want to remain more anonymous and impersonal, you can still participate by leaving blog comments.  If you are extremely lazy, I even added buttons below the blog which you can click to mark that you've read it.  I mean, it's kind of no fair that you know all sorts of things about me and I don't even know who reads this...so some sort of response occasionally would be nice. :)

Thanks in advance! :)

And now, to conclude this eclectic post, here are a few more random observations and mini-adventures as I adjust to life back in the States.

1. Holy huge washers and driers and ovens!  I was blessed to have all three of those things in my apartment in Israel, but the appliances here are about 2 or 3 times their size.   

2.  On the same note, I guess it's been striking me a lot how much we do have here.  You always hear how people in other countries think all Americans are rich...and I can see their point a lot better now.  Stores are huge and filled with so much...stuff...  We have so much space - houses are bigger (to fit the larger appliances), kitchens, bedrooms, yards...So much space.  So much stuff.  We are so blessed, and yet we forget so easily.

3. I may have walked to and from church today.  You know, just for fun, just to keep my "Jerusalem legs" in some sort of shape, just to remember to not take easy transportation for granted.  Do you know how blessed we are to have cars?  Admittedly, in Israel you could get by without a car fairly easily.  Things are closer together and there is better public transportation.  In America, cars are much more of a necessity...but they are still a huge blessing.  I don't want to forget that.  

4. Whenever I go to the bathroom in a new place, I have to remember that I CAN throw the toilet paper IN the toilet.  Craziness.  Is that gross?  Sorry...I may have forgotten some social norms too. :)

5. Whenever I plug something in I'm still slightly surprised that I don't need to go find an adapter first.

6. Whenever I start a car I'm still slightly surprised that I don't have to punch a code in first (as was necessary in all the rental cars in Israel).

7. I do love the smells of Montana.  Ah...fresh, clear, mountain air.  Nothing like it.
8.  Still SO GREEN.  Still loving the greenness, clouds, even occasional rain.  Hooray for variations in weather!  Hooray for sunsets and rainbows!

9. My parents are great.  Really, my whole family is great.  Yeah.  I'm pretty blessed.

10. I'm still processing...trying to keep the good and avoid the bad in both worlds, so to speak.  So please be patient with me and I'll try to be humble and not bore you with too many tales of "In Israel, we..."

Thanks for reading and please click one of the reaction buttons below! :)

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig!

And so it is, after nearly a year (ok, 11 months) away, I find myself back in Montana.  Though the term "home" can mean several different things to me at this juncture, there are many ways in which Montana is still "home."

The familiar green, mountainous landscapes thrill the little parts of my heart that have been longing for these mountains.

I love the fact that it rains here in the summer, and I love the resulting rainbows. 

It's been good to be away, but it's good to be back.  I think in many ways my life in Montana prepared me to see and enjoy many of the different things in Israel.  And now, back in Montana, I am reminded of so many things that I love here that were missing in Israel.  The contrast reminds me to enjoy both places, to revel in the differences, to try to live life to the fullest, wherever I am.  

Lord, help me not to take any of your bountiful gifts for granted.

Samaria - Joseph's Inheritance

This impression report is rather long. I apologize. I will try to add some pictures to help break up the monotony, though. If things decide to work better than they have been. Bear with me. :) I might have to post first and come back and add pictures tomorrow.

Samaria Field Study (Ephraim and Manasseh)
September 28, 2008

These days are so full; when I come to write it down it is difficult to clearly and cohesively organize all the random swirling thoughts in my head. Perhaps I should start journaling as we ride along.

I would have to say that today was one of my favorite days in the field so far. I must admit that part of my enjoyment probably stemmed from the break in the unrelenting heat – I really enjoyed the clouds and wind and even a couple rain drops. The rest of my enjoyment, though, was based in two areas. The first is the land itself. Of all the areas we’ve been in, I think that this area of Ephraim and Manasseh is one of the most beautiful. It’s not majestically beautiful with high mountains and sweeping vistas, nor is it exotically beautiful with tropical plants and flowers. Actually, it was rather rocky with brown, prickly plants. Some plants were green, though, and in spite of the drought, there were still little yellow and purple flowers that bloomed on the rough hillsides. Then there was the fresh scent of the wind. It reminded me a little bit of eastern Montana – beautiful in a lonely, deserted sort of way. Of course, that area is anything but deserted. It is contested territory to this day.
My dad may want land in the Judean Wilderness:

But if I were to choose a place to live, the hills of Ephraim and Manasseh would be higher on my list:


The second thing that made today enjoyable might sound a bit odd, but it was the emotional response I had to some of the stories and places. I will explain that further as I go along.

The first major stop of the day was at Elan Moreh, a Jewish settlement overlooking Shechem. It was a high point and we were able to see various towns (Tirzah, Sychar, and Shechem, surrounded by the Mountains Ebal and Gerizim)


and routes/valleys (Michmethah Valley, Wadi Beidah, Wadi Faria, Salim Valley, and the Shechem Route) through the region of Samaria. It is clearly a much more open area than the Judean hills, or even the Benjamin plateau. It makes sense that many would try to rule a kingdom from this region. It also has good soil and better water than most of the region ‘down south.’ Lots of advantages, and yet for some reason, its position in history was usurped by Benjamin and Judah and Jerusalem. I wonder if the failure of the Northern tribes to follow God (as compared to the rare but occasional success of the Southern tribes) is due in part to the land. Life in the north would almost certainly be easier. In the south agriculture is more difficult, trade is more difficult, and the desert is ready to gobble up the fertile land. Perhaps this difficulty in life made the southern tribes more dependent on God by necessity whereas the northern tribes found it too easy to trust in the richness of their inheritance.

One of the unique opportunities at Elan Moreh was Phineas (I think that would be his equivalent name in English, it was pronounced more like “Pinkus”). He was the guy who allowed us onto the settlement and who then showed us around. He mostly told us what we were looking at (for the views) and gave a little bit of the Jewish history in the region (or at least his version of history…I’m sure there are many who would disagree). He did not talk very much about his own ideology or the ideology of the settlement to the group, but a few people asked him questions about that so we were able to hear a little. It was interesting. And rather tragic. I’ve always had sympathy for the Jewish point of view, but I’ve been trying to see all points of view and remain mostly neutral for now. The thing is, Jews and Arabs are not all that different in many ways. They both value the land, and have somewhat similar reasons why it should belong to them. Perhaps one side is more right than the other. Perhaps not. I really feel that I know too little to be saying anything, but my impression is that both sides have this attitude: “The land is our and ours alone. We should not have to share with anyone. Our claim takes precedence. Our rights are the only ones that count – you are not even human and therefore don’t matter.” It reminds me of 3 year olds trying to hog all the cookies. There are enough cookies for each child to get one or two, but each child is trying to take all of them and will not be satisfied with only one or two. I suppose this is true of most interracial conflicts. There is room for everyone to live and there is really no reason for segregation - only the human propensity to hate anyone who is different from you. It’s tragic.

From there we went to Mt. Gerizim and listened as Brad proclaimed the blessings from Deuteronomy 28.
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God.”
This almost made me cry. God promised the people of this land so much, and they failed so bitterly. We were overlooking modern day Nabulus with the attached refugee camp. We heard the blessings of peace and prosperity promised on this hill over 3000 years ago, only to see the reality of conflict and poverty (at least for some people). How badly the fulfillment of those promises is needed! Also, what a warning it should be to us as Christians: the grafted in olive branch is easily cut off again. May God use us to bring His truth and peace to this region.

On Mt. Gerizim we also talked to the High Priest of the Samaritans and saw where they sacrifice the sheep every year for Passover. He told us that the five tenets of their faith are (as I understood them):
1. There is one God
2. Moses was the prophet of God
3. Mt. Gerizim is the holy place (it is where Israelites built their first alter after entering the land, its where the Temple of Moses stood and where the temple will be rebuilt, and it is where Abraham brought Isaac for the sacrifice)
4. The five books of Moses (the Torah) are true
5. In the last days another prophet like Moses will come
There are only about 700 Samaritans around today. Their story is also rather tragic, in many ways. They are so close to the truth, and yet so far.

The last stop of the evening was at Shiloh: the location of the Tabernacle and the cultural center of Israel following the conquest. I really liked that area. It may be considered the remote interior of Ephraim, but perhaps that’s why I liked it. We talked about the Philistine capture of the ark and the evidence that they then came and destroyed Shiloh. Later Jeremiah uses the example of Shiloh to warn Jerusalem that they too will be destroyed if they don’t repent. Yet another tragedy: they don’t listen.

To sum up the lessons from today: it is absolutely vital to obey God and to teach the next generation to fear and obey God. The land of Ephraim and Manasseh, both past and present, gives numerous examples of what happens when God is pushed aside, forgotten, or even used selfishly. We must take Him on His terms, not ours. Only in Him is there hope for Shalom.