Greetings! After two days of trying to figure out how to change the "dashboard" tags that were in Arabic to English, I am now on, thanks to Edmund the late night watchman at the hotel- a genius!

After a good night's rest in Jerusalem and a walk around the Sheik Jarrar neighborhood where settlers have ousted Palestinian families in the past year, I caught the local sheroot to Beit Jala and walked up the steep hill that enters the town of Bethlehem, my sort of home away from home. As I climbed the hill,I wondered how long it would take me to adjust to walking the hills here. It usually takes a good week of marching around. As I entered the hotel, the desk clerk greeted me with "hello William" it's good to see you back! I knew was at home again and a good place to "lay my head" so to speak. It's so nice to be able to hang a few clothes and stow some underwear and know where it will be tomorrow. This will only be a brief respite as I leave for the farm on Wednesday to greet friends from Arlington, and the IFPB delegates.
I met my friend Christy today, and accompanied her down to Hebron to discuss publicizing the Wheel Chair Project that she has launched. There were members
of the Hebron government there as well as people actively engaged in the project who represented several interested parties. Watching Christy manage the various permissions required and the numerous actors involved was sterling. After a year of talking with local village health care workers and identifying needy clients; getting permission from the ever present Israeli authorities, local government officials, customs agents, Palestinian Authority officials, ministers of government in Jordan etc. the project may actually happen this week! Such persistence and skill,
and a male world too! She is very respected by everyone, and that is impressive. My church is supporting the project and it was great to see how the funds will be used. There was also a role for me to play too as a teacher of special needs students for most of my life, and of course the experience of having a brother who was disabled also helped. It was a good day!