Dear faithful,
Today is the second day of the trip. The landscape in the sun transformed into layers of avtivity and made it clear that this is the home of our Lord. As we organized the day the crew of college students began to clean and give a face lift to a neglected storage unit. Bishop Savas and I left to get supplies in the city and passed the church of Lazarus' tomb. Yes that is the tomb where Lazarus laid dead for 4 days. Earlier in the day we received our orientation from a man whose family maintaned the upkeep of the tomb of Christ for the past 2,000 years. We are in the midst of people who have learned the Gospel through oral tradition because their ancestors lived with Christ. The historical Christ is truly a reality here in the Holy lands.
In the afternoon we finish our work around 3:00 pm. It was perfect because the winds had picked up and dust was everywhere. After cleaning up and resting, we went to spend time with the physically handicapped patients. We ended up helping feed the womem who have been confined to wheelchairs for decades. The most difficult part was spending time with the children who had been abaondoned by their families. They would just stare into space until you would start playing with them and they would give out a semi laugh mixed with a grown. All that went through my mind was the fact that in these same hills Christ healed so many handicapped suffering people just like the ones to whom I was helping . It was good to do God's work in the Lords country. Tomorrow we continue to clean. Please continue to pray for us.

In the Holy Lands with Christ,
Fr. Nick