Sameer's Market is the largest supermarket in our neighborhood. There are four such markets in my village of about 4,000 people in the West Bank about 15 miles from Jerusalem, which is visible on a mountain ridge across a few valleys.
It's not a Costco or Walmart by any means. It's more the size of a 7-11. They recently started selling fresh American coffee. I buy a cup almost every day.
I've been here since mid-March. It's my fourth trip to the Holy Land to help care for my aging father. I came in 2013 when he first had a stroke. I stayed three months. I came back in 2016 after he fell and broke his hip. I stayed for five months. I came back in 2018 for another three months. And this is my fourth trip.

Dad is very weak. He can't do anything by himself, even stand up from a chair. Recently it was discovered he has prostate cancer. At 85 years old, they are not sure what they can do about it here.

I came to replace my younger brother who helps his mother, (my step-mother) to care for my dad.

Today, I bought the black American coffee from Sameer's Market and came back home. Dad looked at me as I was drinking it. 

"Do you want some?" I asked. He shook his head, "Yes."

"This is American coffee Dad," I said. "Like you used to drink in America. Remember you drank it at Denny's."

"Denny's" he mumbles as he drinks the coffee.

"And remember Sambo's?" I asked as he drank.

"Sambo's" he mumbles. Then he starts on a lengthy talk about America. I don't understand anything he's saying. The first stroke took his ability to talk. He only mumbles and grunts for the most part unintelligible words.

I shake my head in agreement. Then I say a few names he'd remember from his three decades in Lodi, California.

"Remember Lodi Avenue, Dad?"

"Lodi Aven....."

"Remember Mr. Evans?"

"Mr. Evans....."

He is animated when mentioning these names. They clearly spark pleasant memories to him.

I am planning to be here until April 24. While I am here I will preach at some local churches in the Holy Land. I get small offerings that help pay for some of the expenses of being here.

It's an extremely daunting time in the Holy Land as well. There has been a lot of problems on the Temple Mount which to the Muslims is called the Haram al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary). It is also known as the Dome of the Rock. There is a gate of the Old City called by the Jews "The Eastern Gate." The Muslims call it the Gate of Mercy. This particular gate has been sealed shut for centuries because it is believed by the Jews that it will only be opened when Messiah comes through it. The Prophet Ezekiel said:  The Lord said to me, “This gate will stay shut and will not be opened. No one may enter through it because the LordGod of Israel entered through it. It must be kept shut. 3 Only the prince may sit there and eat food in the presence of the Lord. He will enter through the entrance hall of the gateway and leave the same way.”