Working at Nazareth Hospital

The normal routine is developing that on Wednesdays and Thursdays we are at Nazareth Hospital doing our duties. I have been visiting patients and having to learn names like Nehi, Husam, Mahmoud, Thabit, Xair, Delal, Belal, Hani, Yosef, Tarek, Suheil, Simon, Rose, etc., I generally need someone to translate for me, which is very awkward. There are some English speaking patients, and with them I get on quite well. I hear quite the stories. Today I met a man that said he was in the army in Gaza five years ago, and he felt the Lord telling him he had to leave, He spoke to his commanding officer who let him leave the army and Gaza. Three days later, his close army connections were all dead. This man felt that God had preserved his life, and is living near Nazareth, with his wife and children. No more war for him as he wants peace, and to serve his Lord. There are chapel services to attend, it is all in Arabic, with some translating into English, They use chorus books which you open from the back. All tunes unfamiliar to me! They sing with conviction and passion, and tell of God's goodness and their conversion to Christ. Truly my brothers and sisters in Christ! Everyone I meet is friendly, hospitable,and very helpful. We have had a couple of unusual visitors. One afternoon as Margaret and I approached the door to our flat, a grey lizard, about 10 inches long scurried away, and headed into the underbrush. Today, in chapel a six inch lizard appeared on the horizontal beam of the cross and disappeared behind the vertical one! I found it quite amusing, and was going to point at it, but no one else seemed to notice, so I just let them carry on! Margaret worked the last two days in the maternity ward. She had to bathe, change and dress the babies. She quite enjoyed herself, though it was quite busy with about 10 newborns with lots of black hair!

The chapel at Nazareth Hospital