Holy land

Palestine, what can I say. My heart breaks for you. I see you, I stand with you and I love you. I truly believe the lack of education and fear are the biggest reasons there is not peace in Palestine/ Israel. I don't want to get into politics too much because I am slowly realizing that there are greater things here than the government. The people of Palestine are genuinely some of the most welcoming and loving people I have ever met in my entire life. Walking down the street I hear "welcome to Palestine!" About every 10 feet. I love getting to talk to people and hear their stories and learn about their lives and their culture. The culture here is very genuine and authentic. If it wasn't as physically obvious you would never know how much oppression and tragedy these people have suffered. Their hope is unmatched and is something I haven't experienced anywhere else. Historically speaking, Palestine is the epicenter to all things religion and faith; which has given me the amazing opportunity to learn about Islam, Judaism and Christianity though new eyes and discover for myself what faith really means. I am learning what it truly means to follow Jesus and take up my cross with him. Before coming here I thought I had a small idea of what it means to love Jesus, but in the last five days my horizons have been expanded so much and my mind is constantly filled with new questions I want to ask and learn about. One of the biggest things I have learned is that it is more helpful to my faith to leave a conversation with more questions than I started with. Waking literally where Jesus literally was born and then where he carried his cross and where he was crucified gave me a certain validation that it was real and it did happen. Not that I didn't know that before but there is something special about seeing the physical evidence and history of it that makes me feel the presence of God in full force. Jumping back to the first topic I talked about, I truly hope people back home in the US can learn to learn about the conflict from both sides and realize what the people here in Palestine are going through. I am trying to keep an open mind because I'm sure there are so many things I don't know yet and I am very ready to learn more about it. Palestine, my heart breaks for you, I see you, I stand with you and I love you.