Dear friends,

Advent and Christmas time are fast approaching and with it the excitement of the anticipation of the greatest celebration of all times. For months, Bethlehem has been swarming with tourists and every single hotel in the town’s vicinity seems to be fully booked. In fact, the atmosphere around here very much resembles what it must have been like at the time of Jesus’ birth when there was no room in the inn for Mary and Josef! The current situation is especially positive for the natives as many of them make their living from tourism. They are happily anticipating a profitable Christmas season.

At Beit Al Liqa’, we are also looking forward to Christmas and are slowly starting to make preparations for the various special events scheduled in our groups. It is our desire to help people grasp the true meaning of this season amidst all the hustle and bustle. Please pray with us that many will come to our Christmas activities and that Jesus will find room in their hearts!

The Christmas schedule at Beit Al Liqa’ is as follows:

December 3: Christmas craft session with the ladies’ group. In our culture, doing

crafts is not common so this will be special to them.

December 10: Ladies’ Christmas Party with festive music, a particular Christmas message, Christmas biscuits and fellowship.

December 14: Christmas Worship Evening to which all members of the various churches in our area have been invited. A band from Jerusalem will be responsible for the meeting. We expect our meeting hall to be packed.

December 18: Kids’ Club and Teens’ Group Christmas parties

December 19: Beit Al Liqa’ staff Christmas party with a festive meal, devotions, games, gifts and fellowship.

December 20: Youth Group Christmas Party

January 2: Big Kids’ Christmas Party for children from various churches with Nazareth Child Evangelism Fellowship Leader Fadi Hanna (the orthodox Christmas is on January 6th, so January 2nd is perfect for this Christmas Party).

Another joy of Christmas for Palestinian Christians from our area is the rare possibility to visit the Israeli territories. However, as of this year only those will be granted the necessary permits who have applied for a specific identity card, the so-called ‘magnetic card’. But such a card – issued from the Israeli Military Authority - is hard to come by, since there are always crowds of people waiting there. Still, one puts up with a lot of trouble just to be able to leave Bethlehem province for a few weeks!

For the time that will be hopefully granted to us, we have planned various day trips for some of our groups. The ladies, for instance, will head north on December 29th, to visit Nazareth, Tiberias and of course to go on a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee. We already are so very much looking forward to this day and hope that it will be something very special for everyone.

Our teenagers and youngsters will leave for a three-day trip to Israel at Christmas time. So far the exact dates and destination are yet to be decided, but we hope to find something suitable for this particular group. It is high time that the young people get out again!

These are our Christmas activities. Thank you very much for all your prayers during the upcoming weeks.

In just a few days, our staff member Maike Fethke will return to Germany, where she is needed at the German headquarters of Samaritan’s Purse in Berlin. We are very sad to see her go and are very grateful for her help over the past eleven months. We will miss her very much on our team. Please pray that we will find someone to fill Maike’s position.

That’s all for today. Many thanks for your interest in our ministry and for your prayers. Have a blessed Advent time!

Best regards from Beit Jala -

Johnny & Marlene Shahwan and the Beit Al Liqa’-Team