Experience Mission Blog

Choosing one side and shouting down the other is what maintains silence in the presence of injustice and allows oppression to continue unchecked. Silencing voices will never create a path towards a just peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land.

Jesus knows what it’s like to be a nobody in the midst of chaos. He understands the plight of the weak, the lowly and the marginalized. He lived it.

Before coming to the Holy Land, I remember the time I spent just staring at that little map in the back of my Bible. I remember just sitting in my living room in little ol' Cleveland, TX, smiling at a map of a place thousands of miles away.

What a challenge it is for me (and hopefully for you!) to realize that our life legacy is written day by day, minute by minute, friend by friend, stranger by stranger.

I am living with two Palestinian grandmas who go to sleep at 8pm. Who knew I would be going from Senior year to the Senior life?

Though they live in a land with a wall that blocks them from the rest of the world, there are no walls in their hearts, there are no walls toward me.

I don't have those answers. But I am choosing to immerse, challenge myself to put myself second, and to be vulnerable and uncomfortable for the sake of others.

What started as a means of wanting change, a distraction and getting away, I believe has transformed into something with great purpose and intention.

While we played, the barriers disappeared. It didn’t matter where we were, where we were from, what we did... we were simply four people laughing about silly mistakes and teaching each other new games.

Grandma's intimidating, direct, and sassy, but man, when she smiles, the room feels lighter. She's pushing us outside our comfort zones and leading the way to find the best fruit.