Doolittle News

NOVEMBER 2023

Dear friends,

Thanks to all of you who wrote to us to express your concern. We appreciate you so much.

We have been living in the Middle East for nearly fifty years now and we have never seen anything like the catastrophe that we are seeing now. The situation is so intense that it is affecting every area of our lives. And we personally are facing huge challenges as we try to run two schools in different cities.  Let me tell you about these challenges, so that you will know how to pray for us:

1) The roads between the cities have been blocked. So, we are obliged to find long detours on bad roads that may not be safe and may not remain open.

2) Clashes and violence are taking place in an unpredictable way. So, we need to follow developments and constantly be on the lookout for danger, so that we can warn others in the school.

3) Our school days may change from in-person to online on short notice.

4) The psychological toll on students and staff alike is tremendous. And you can see its effect in the eyes of the children.

5) The local economy has been devastated, because workers cannot reach their places of employment and tourism has been shut down. As a result, parents are unable to pay us (e.g. we received no fees in Hebron last month), while we still have the responsibility for paying the salaries of a hundred employees.

6) Finally, there is there is the sound of the sirens and the constant threat of a missile attack.

In the light of all these challenges, we would like to ask you pray for the following concerns:

• Pray for the safety of the staff and students

• Pray that the Lord would give us wisdom as we try to run two schools

• Pray that the Lord would give us words of comfort and encouragement for the people around us

• Pray for the financial needs of the parents and our schools

• Finally, pray for an end to the fighting and a return to peace and stability

A Narrow Escape

On a day that we managed have in-person instruction, the bus for the Hebron staff succeeded in traveling safely from Bethlehem to Hebron in the morning. But in the afternoon, they had to pass through a crowded entrance to Bethlehem. They were relieved when they got through, but just minutes later they heard a loud explosion and turned around to see that the entrance that they had just passed through had been hit by a missile! Thank you, God, for your protection!

NASA Challenge 2.0

You may remember the NASA challenge that our students participated in and won last year. This year we participated in the same event and sent three different teams to compete with college and graduate students on a variety of challenges related to space travel. But on the second day of the challenge, war broke out and we were obliged to bring our students home. However, that didn’t stop them! They continued to work together on Zoom to complete their projects and submit them to the judges in time. And, surprisingly, one of our teams was still able to win the competition in spite of the obstacles! Needless to say, we are very proud of them.

Water

Our area is currently suffering from a shortage of water and this is affecting our schools. After a period of six months of not receiving water, we were close to running out and the local municipality had none to give us. So, we were obliged to buy water from a private company at a high price. Pray with us then that we would find another less expensive source of water.

Student Relief

The staff and students are weighed down by news of all the tragic events taking place in Gaza. They feel compassion for their compatriots and would like to show their support for them in a practical way. So, the school will be organizing a humanitarian relief project for the children in Gaza, so that the staff and students will have the opportunity to send relief packages to the needy. But for the time being we must wait for the conditions to improve and for the border to open before we can put our plan into action.

Thanks to all of you have written to express your concern and share your encouragement with us. We are indeed living through sad and difficult times. But with your help, we believe that we can be the personification of God’s love and care for the needy.

Your co-workers in the harvest,

Gregg and Rawda