February 14

Delightful Ones,

On Thursday a group of seven of us took meals to elderly people in the Old City. It wasn't so much Meals on Wheels since there are no cars in the narrow, windy Old City streets. Meals on Feet. We picked up the meals in this tall, narrow building in the Christian Quarter. On the first floor were board games and couches where the elderly can come and lounge, as well as a lot of wheelchairs with "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" on them. Apparently the Church gives wheelchairs to the organization.

We sat for a while with a man who asked us to call him Abu Balak. He told us about all the things his organization does: sending a nun out to check on people living alone, carrying people in wheelchairs down the many steps of the old city.

Then he led us out into the Christian Quarter. The streets were narrow, like in the Muslim Quarter, but felt more open to the sky, like in the Jewish Quarter. Graffitti crosses were everywhere, and icons hung on the walls. We ended up going to two apartments where old women lived, sitting with them and singing cheerful songs--"There is Sunshine in My Soul" and "Count Your Every Blessing."

One of the women only spoke Arabic, though she seemed to really enjoy us, and we exchanged pleasantries with Abu Balak to translate. The second woman spoke some English. She clapped and danced when we sang and then talked--mostly to me and my friend Kate, since we sat on the couch beside her. She asked Kate if she wanted to get married while she was here, and then recommended her son Jimmy. "If you see Jimmy, you would love him." Then she asked me where I was from. When I said, "Mississipi," she exclaimed "Mississippi!" Then she and Abu Balak laughed very hard for a very long time. It was mysterious.

-Stella