First Steps Back to Israel/Palestine

It's been quite an eventful week! A lot of the things that I have been praying all semester about were answered in one week.

All semester I have been thinking and praying about the possibility of getting ordained through my Anglican church here, Church of the Resurrection (Rez.), in order to eventually go back to Israel/Palestine as an ordained minister sent out from Rez. This last week I was finally able to meet with the pastor of our church who is in charge of the ordaining process. He asked a lot of questions about my vision to work in Israel/Palestine and ended up getting very excited about the possibility of partnering with Rez. in this work. Rather than go through the lengthy process of getting ordained now, he said that his and Rez.'s priority was getting me out in the world to do ministry. He said he would love to see me in the Middle East and soon. Later after some years of experience I could come back and get ordained. Wow! He recommended some next steps including writing a proposol to give to church leaders as well as getting together with another one of the pastors.

I sent this other pastor an email asking if we could do lunch in the next couple months. The next day I heard back saying "how about tomorrow?"! I then ended up having lunch with him on Thursday and he got really excited about the possibility of ministry through Rez. in the middle east as well. He committed to praying as well as talking with some of the big Anglican leaders to see how this could work out, given that it's pretty uncharted waters for Amia (the Anglican Mission in America of which Rez. is a part).

The last big thing that happened was finally hearing back from the Grad. school at wheaton and getting all my classes registered and everything for next semester. I hadn't heard back from them since i had re-applied in October. Long story short, I'm in and good to go next semester!

So in many ways the first steps in my journey back to the Middle East began this week. In around 18 months, God willing, I will have an intercultural studies degree and be back in the Middle East sent out from Rez. One part of this whole picture, that I haven't mentioned yet, is that after this last summer which was so hard and so isolating, I decided to not go back to the Middle East alone. Who I plan to go back with is Justin, another latin american MK who also is at Rez and who also has spent time in the Middle East. We have nearly identical life histories, though he is several years older. Our plan is to go together as a team sent out by Rez and to minister together in the Middle East. So here we go!

One thing that is still hanging in the air is sub-letting our city apartment for next semester when we move back to Wheaton. If we don't sub-let it, we can't move back. This would be a disaster. Please be in prayer that we would sub-let our apartment and be able to move back to Wheaton after Christmas! Thanks so much.

Jonathan

PS. Here's a link to one of my close friends' blogs: www.elhaya.blogspot.com
He is also in the West Bank doing a lot of the same things that Idid when I was there. He has some informative posts about the situation there now.