Sunday, April 20, 2008

I was in Gaza two weeks ago.

A lot has happened since I was there, but I wanted to give you an update of what I saw in Gaza. Every time I go to Gaza I think, “It just can’t get any worse”, but then the next time it IS worse. There were few cars on the street. The taxi driver that took me from the border, Erez, to Gaza city told me that he was using diesel fuel that he got when the wall at the Egyptian border was broken. He had one more container and then he didn’t know what he’d do. A limited amount of fuel has been coming in on Mondays. I was there on Sunday and when I left in the late afternoon that were cars parked for several blocks in front of the gasoline stations in anticipation of the fuel coming the next day. Yesterday, I talked to a friend in Gaza who told me that gasoline was selling for about $8 per liter. Yes, liter – NOT gallon.

The situation with gas is just an example of how life has become. (Friends did tell me that the electricity supply is more stable.) There is less and less money and food and other essentials (if available) cost more and more.

And yet, people carry on. Friends that I talked with were doing well. I worshiped with a small group at the local church. It always amazes me how resilient and strong our Palestinian friends are. Please continue to pray for the Believers in Gaza. Next weekend is Orthodox Easter. Many of the Christians have applied for permission to leave Gaza to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem. Pray with us that the necessary permission will be granted.

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