Nablus visit

Bringing donations
to Nablus

 Yesterday morning was rather busy. I had to bring donations of clothes and food to the MC convent in Nablus. It's far and yesterday's car ride took 2 hours. Getting out of Jerusalem was a nightmare because yesterday was the 1st day of Eid al Adha - the muslim feast recalling Abraham sacrificing Ishmael (not Isaac). Over 100,000 muslims from around the country converged into the Al Aqsa Mosque and our streets were packed. All the roads around the Old City were blocked with tour buses bringing muslims from all over the country. And police were everywhere.

But once out of Jerusalem, the streets were very empty ... and the only road that leads from Jerusalem to Nablus across the Samaritan mountains was easy to travel. In Nablus, I saw for the 1st time, the city empty. All shops closed. All businesses closed due to the Eid. It was easy to reach the convent. I had brought along our 2 sisters working in our kitchen as they have never been here. We had Mass at the convent and then a visit to Jacob's Well where the parish priest - an old greek orthodox - showed us around and explained many things that I did not know. He actually painted all the icons in the church himself. The well is ancient and believed to be dug by Jacob himself ... and later Jesus met the Samaritan woman here.

At Jacob's Well

Back at the MC convent, the sisters cooked lunch for us which was always very nice. Then we left for Mt. Gerizim and visited the ancient sanctuary of the Samaritans. The weather was scorchingly hot at 35 degrees or more but there was a strong cool breeze in Samaria. We got home by 3pm ... we started at 8am - and I was very tired so I slept through the rest of the evening.