Monday, August 6, 2007

Lutheran youth from Michigan visit Palestine

A delegation of youth and adults from the Southeast Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) visited youth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem and the Holy Land (www.elcjhl.org/) this summer.

The group spent three days with the youth of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, working at the Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour - http://www.elcjhl.org/ed/schools/sahour/sahour.asp - painting lines for the soccer field and planting and cleaning the grounds. They toured the Separation Wall in Bethlehem and a refugee camp there and added their creative expressions to the wall.

In Jerusalem, the group helped with a day camp and were welcomed to the home of a member of the congregation for a meal. They were led on a tour of Jerusalem by Shukri Merizian, tour guide extraordinaire. They worshipped at the Lutheran Church of Hope in Ramallah - http://www.elcjhl.org/cong/ramallah/ - and went with the youth of that congregation to a local village park and pool.

The Southeast Michigan Synod - www.metrodetroitelca.org/ - is a Companion Synod to the church in the Holy Land.

For a look at the ELCJHL's newly-designed web site, go to: www.elcjhl.org/

No comments: