It's Gabi today, sharing our adventures on the Mount of Olives.
We started the day by driving to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, which overlooks the eastern walls of the Old City and is only separated by a small valley. It is actually very close. The Mount of Olives is where Jesus wept for Jerusalem, where the Garden of Gethsemane is located; and today it is also the home for Augusta Victoria hospital where we started our day.
Augusta Victoria is a very special hospital, especially for Lutherans. It is supported by the Lutheran World Federation (www.lutheranworld.org) and the United Nations. We met Mark Brown, the LWF representative at Augusta Victoria, and some other volunteers from the U.S. Mark gave us a brief history of the hospital and its relationship to the Lutheran World Federation. The hospital originally was built by the German Kaiser Wilhelm as a guesthouse for important royal visitors. Since 1950, it has been a hospital for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem.
After this brief history, we met with Augusta Victoria's CEO, Dr. Tawfiq Nasser. Dr. Nasser shared with us the importance of this hospital today for Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and the West Bank. The hospital focuses on providing the best care available and specializes in cancer care and kidney dialysis for adults and pediatric patients, as well as many other areas. There is a residency program for medical students from Birzeit University. There are bus stations to bring patients from the West Bank to the hospital, and by offering this, the hospital tries to provide medical care to all Palestinians wherever they are located.
We got to tour the hospital, as well as the Mount of Olives housing project, another LWF project that is building affordable housing that would help Palestinian Christians to live in Jerusalem. Nearby was the Chapel of the Ascension, a beautiful chapel. We prayed and read Scripture together and sang a few songs.
Next, we walked across the street to the LWF olive orchard that overlooks the Old City. Our group picked olives from about 10 trees. Many of us were doing this for the first time in their lives (not me.) For about two and a half hours we picked olives, collected them and put them in big sacks. After that, we were invited to meet the volunteers and have a picnic together on the Mount of Olives. We enjoyed grilled chicken and kefta kebabs.
Around 4 p.m., we finished our time at Augusta Victoria and we ended our day by visiting the Upper Room, the chapel that remembers the place of the Last Supper. We returned to the hotel for rest and dinner and look forward to Sunday worship tomorrow.
Peace,
Pastor Gabi Aelabouni
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