Today was a nice day- starting with a trip to the Samaritan community at Mt. Gerizim. The Samaritans are similar to Jews, but with some differences- they believe in one God, one prophet (Moses alone), one book (the Torah, and none of the rest of the Bible), one holy mountain (Mt. Gerizim, not the mountain where the Temple was in Jerusalem), and one final day/judgement. We then went to a beautiful church at Jacob's Well. The well is still there (though it's not original, but you can still draw water from it with a bucket, and we did). The church is adorned with many beautiful icons written (painted) by the local priest. We then finished today up with a visit to St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. This is a wonderful parish in Palestine and the priest told us about the many wonderful ministries the church is doing. It said it was also wonderful to have other Christians visit, knowing that they are not forgotten. They also made us lunch, a traditional Palestinian meal- bread with olive oil and chicken, it was very tasty. Tonight we'll have a Eucharist and our closing reception.
Tomorrow is then the final day of the course, then off to Petra for a few days, then back to Greensboro. Shalom.
