We drove to Jericho to meet one of the members of
the branch. Blaine has been in touch with Maher via e-mail. This was
our first chance in a long time to go to Jericho. Jericho is the oldest
continuously inhabited city in the world dating back 11,000 years. It is
about 17 miles out of Jerusalem in the Jordan Valley. Because of a
spring there, it has lush vegetation and is an oasis in the desert. There are a number of Bedouin villages along Highway #1 to Jericho.
Jericho is below sea level. There is a stop along the road that sells camel rides at the sea level marker.
The Judean Desert is barren....
with herds of goats and sheep wandering the hill sides.
Maher, Linda, Maher's mother Minerva, and sister Maha. Minerva is in her 80's and still works everyday in her fabric shop. She broke her arm 10 days before but is still at work.
Maher owns a computer shop in Jericho. His uncle is a member of the church in Eagle Mountain, Utah. When Maher was a young man, his uncle encouraged him to go to BYU. He went and during his second year of school he joined the church. He graduated from BYU and returned to Jericho to help his family. They were originally from Lod, where Ben Gurion airport is now located. The family was forced from their home and their land was confiscated during the War of 48.
Blaine and Maher in his office.
Jericho is mostly Palestinian Muslim and is the oldest city in the world dating back 11,000 years. The Christian population is just 1%. It is near the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Jericho is mentioned many times in the Old Testament- Joshua and the battle of Jericho, Christ's temptations, the well at Jericho, etc.
This is the access road to Highway #1 with an Israeli outpost on the left. This is the area where the story of the Good Samaritan could have taken place.
The Palestinian people love Yasser Arafat and still display pictures of him.
Bedouin children playing in their neighborhood.
This is the Bedouin village we helped with school supplies. The school is around the back of the hill. We stopped to ask them if the school was still there. They said it was and asked if we wanted to see it. We told them we had already seen it and they invited us to have coffee with them. We declined and kept going.
Highway #1 is a modern highway. Ma'ale Adumim is a Jewish Settlement off Highway #1.
We stopped at a grocery store at a mall in Ma'ale Adumin.
What a contrast from the Palestinian villages just a few miles away.
We go through the checkpoint on our way back to Jerusalem. We've always been able to go through easily because we have Israeli license plates and look like Americans.
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