Nancy Slater recently came to Nazareth as part of the visiting group from Hope International University. She has written a helpful reflection on her time here. Here is one portion of her reflection:
To say that my time in Nazareth as Hope’s first student to stay three months has changed my life is an incredible understatement! One of the things that encouraged me to register in the Master’s program at HIU was the opportunity for international studies. I was thrilled to join the other students on this adventure that began for me on January 1, 2014. It is my hope that after you read a bit of my adventures that you, too, will consider planning a life-changing adventure of your own!
My life began to change when the reality of actually being in the Holy Land finally set in. The class “Christianity and Islam” reground the lens of my worldview and presented the reality of Islam as it impacts the Middle East and the world. I learned that in order to bring the Word to Muslims, we must first understand their beliefs, establish a relationship based on respect. We can then ask, “Why do you believe as you do?” in order to open the door for an exchange of beliefs that lead to conversion. The lectures presented so thoughtfully and thoroughly by Azar Ajar, Brent Neely, and Makram Mesherky, were even more impactful because the presenters are Christian citizens of Galilee who live as a minority often are persecuted by others.
I discovered that there was no better way to know the Bible than to see it in living color--to walk where Jesus walked at Magdala, to visit the location of the fishes and loaves miracle, to stand on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and look east to the Golan Heights as He might have done. In Jerusalem I had to look beyond the sea of noisy pilgrims from every corner of the world, ignore the din of souvenir sellers, and concentrate on the very spot where I was standing in order to focus on the historic significance beneath my feet. I was standing at Station VI of the Via Delarosa. [...]
Read the rest of her reflection by clicking HERE. We also look forward to visits from other students.
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