JOURNAL PART IV
December 12, 2008- January 10, 2009
He shared that he would be going to a Christian village in the northeast of Ramallah called Taybeh on Christmas holiday. This town is famous for being 100% Christian despite of the Muslim towns around it, tracing their origin back to the apostles. Until now, they refused to sell land to Muslims and non Christians. After the Novena at the Comboni Sisters, I stayed a bit longer to check on my emails on their computer. I was happy to see the letters from Dina, Suki and Esmie.
The Filipinas in Jerusalem singing Christmas carols
with Sr.Rebecca, SPC at our dining hall.  December 21, 2008, Sunday. At 11:00 am, together with the usual crowd of Comboni Sisters, eight Filipinos together with Sr. Rebecca, SPC attended the Mass. Again, they provided the music for the Mass. They brought food and asked us to join them for lunch. Even my house companions enjoyed eating pork adovo, dinuguan, paksiw tilapia in coconut milk, fried chicken legs, and rice. After lunch, they sang Christmas carols and that gave us a little Christmas spirit. In exchange we gave 500 shekels for the group and 200 shekels for Sr. Rebecca. While we were still having Mass, some visitors from the Vatican came, together with Msr. Paolo Giorgio, the Nuncio’s secretary. They wanted to see the area where the military asked to use and where we had an on-going negotiation.
December 22, 2008, Monday. At 11:20, I went to Notre Dame Center to see the lawyer, David Botesessan, a Jew, to help formulate the MOA with the military. We talked at the restaurant over a cup of coffee. His asking price was 275 dollars per hour. After agreeing what to do and exchanging information, I went home and I was able to join the community for lunch at 12:45. At table we had a lively discussion on how to spend our Christmas. In the afternoon I prepared for the Novena for it was my turn again to give the homily. After the novena, we prepared supper by heating left- over food from the refrigerator.
A pose with Sr. Rebecca, SPC and the group she
brought to sing on our Sunday Mass
 December 23, 2008, Tuesday. In the morning, I worked on the Christmas message that my sister Suki was asking me for the family gathering on the 24th. Many times I attempted to connect to the Internet but failed. I was getting impatient for the time is very close already. In the afternoon, the connection was back. I get an email from sister Suki and and other friends and immediately responded. At around 4:00 pm, Mr. Said of the military and the Contractor, Mr. Huffer came to the house ready to sign the agreement and to start the project. We told them that our lawyer was still working on the documents. We went to see the Nuncio had another round of talks. We called our lawyer and he promised to work on it the next day. We left there at almost 5:30, but still made it on time for our Novena at the Comboni Sisters.
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