June 9th

Today started our day of mission work. We began the morning at the elderly center in Beit Sahor. They were delighted to see us. We said hello to all them(mostly women)and shook their hands. We taught them how to play spoons which was a lot of fun, but difficult because of the language barrier(they knew no English!).It was great to see them laugh and smile with us while we played cards. We served them lunch and helped the staff clean the kitchen. After the elderly home we went to the church of the nativity and saw where the manger laid and all the beautiful mosaics. We took a quick trip shopping at a jewelry and olive wood store. Then we went to shepherd's field and had a little time to reflect and paint and draw the beautiful scenes we were seeing. This was important because it will mean more then any picture. We ended our tour at the palestenian peace center where a man spoke to us about the civil unrest in Israel. We went to our homes and ate a quick dinner and then went to MaryPat and Donnette's host family's home because they invited us for dessert. Abdullah is the man's name and he was very inspirational to all of us and we are excited to share our stories about him with y'all.
Tomorrow we will be visiting with the elderly again and shop in the afternoon around bethlehem!
Love and faith Elizabeth and Katherine :)