Into the Desert

Well I don't have much time before I head out, but I wanted to let everyone know I was safe and alive.

I've been staying in Beersheva for the past two nights with friends of the Hewerdines, Matt and Robin Umbarger and their kids Hadassah, Matan, and Gabriel. I attended a Hebrew-language Catholic Mass with them upon arrival on Sunday, which was simply spectacular. After a year of hosting Friday night Shabbat dinners in my apartment at Messiah, you can really, really hear the continuity between the Jewish liturgy and the Mass.

Yesterday I went to Tel Beersheva, which is truly impressive. I also went to site of Abraham's Well and the Museum of Bedouin Culture. Cool stuff.

Today I'm off for my first week of the desert. I'll be two nights at Succah in the Desert in small tent-like cabins to experience desert life near the Ramon Crater; then two nights at Chan Hashayarot, a Bedouin complex where I'll sleep out in their large tents. After that, on Saturday night, I'll (hopefully) be in Taba, the border in Egypt on my way back to St. Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai, where I'll (hopefully) have internet access.

So here begins my desert Lenten experience.