Here in the Holy Land

  MarHaba! Hello! And welcome to my first full newsletter. I am writing this from a cafe in Beit Jala at the end of my second week here in the Holy Land. Orientation has come to an end, and tomorrow I and the rest of my cohort will finally move in with our host families for the year.  For those reading who are not familiar with the Young Adults in Global Mission program, here is a brief overview: YAGM is a program within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that sends out young adults aged 21-29 into different global communities to experience a year of accompaniment with their host communities. We are missionaries, but we are not evangelizing; rather, our focus is on accompanying and building relationships with the communities in which we have been placed. I have been placed with the cohort living in Jerusalem and the West Bank, a place of deep religious, cultural, and geopolitical significance.  The last two weeks of orientation have been so very full: full of new ...

 Pre-Departure, Post-Orientation Hey there! Welcome to my first blog post! I'm glad you could make it. I have never had a blog before, or even really kept a journal, so bear with me as I get the hang of airing out all my thoughts and feelings here on the Internet. It is currently about four days post-orientation and now that I have had some time to recover from the intensity of that week, I am anxiously awaiting the day I fly out to meet my cohort in Washington, DC for our consulate appointment. From there we will all fly together to Tel Aviv and begin our in-country orientation. The whiplash of being at orientation with all the other YAGMs and then suddenly quarantining back at home, alone, after having made all those new connections and budding friendships... has proven tough. But on the other hand, now I am looking forward to re-entry, to see all of them again and hear their stories! Since the end of orientation, I have had a knot of nervous excitement that has invaded my stomac...