A special visit...sorry we didn't have time to share.

Janet at the kitchen table... both of us on a computer.

GBGM Missionary Janet Lahr Lewis is visiting with us this evening.   Janet is itinerating in the US for the next 3 months and she needed to get from Chicago to Indianapolis.  Well, sounds like a great road trip for Bonnie.   After church today we drove to Chicago Temple UMC and gathered her up.   We stopped at our favorite Thai restaurant for lunch and then on to our house for conversation and rest before going to Indianapolis early in the morning.

What a blessing today has been.   Since the middle 90's Janet has served the UMC as a missionary in Palestine/Israel.   Conversations around the issues that face the people living in the that area of world have been enlightening and sometimes troubling.  

• Did you know that our tax dollars ($8.2 million) are used every day to support in just the military aid in Israel?  
• Did you know that Israel receives more military support than all the other countries in the world combined?  
• Were you aware that Palestinian land owners with deeds in hand often times have no rights to their land when it comes to Israeli occupation? 
• Palestinians do not control their own water supply even in the West Bank.   They must buy their water back from Israel even if they are sitting on top of the aquifers.

Janet is on her last itineration visiting supporting churches around the US between now and late summer.    She will soon retire from her job as a missionary but indicates she will stay connected with the issues and people of Palestine in what ever she does following retirement.  Her knowledge and spirit of cooperation will not be lost but rather just take on a new audiences or focus.   

We are sorry that there was not time to set up a meet and greet with you all. Janet is someone you would have enjoyed in sharing an evening of conversation.  Another time.