Bread of Life - Mary Letter Day 31

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down
from heaven’?”

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:35-42, 48-51 

Dear Momma and Poppa,

We are still in Bethlehem, surrounded by good caretakers and a city exploding with people. I have never seen so many people in my life. The crowds seems to get larger every day in the market place and the vendors are charging high prices for simple things like bread. I have walked a bit with the baby, but we have been cautioned to be careful as some of the police are said to be lawless and pickpockets are everywhere. Our accommodations are still very basic but our hosts have made them clean and safe. There is so much dust and noise on the streets! I thought the smells might overwhelm me the first days here, too. It is amazing what you can get used to.

The little boy is a good baby, sleeping and eating well. He seems to get bigger and stronger by the hour! The women nearby have given us some baby things, and there is a safe place for me to go wash his clothes and diapers. We have an enormous amount of visitors, often at night, and everyone, despite the city's crowding, has been kind and supportive. We really want for nothing right now.

Cousins Micah and Rebekah found us and they told us they had seen you some time ago. They came the other night, bringing dates and persimmons, and sat with us in the cool of the evening. They marveled at the baby, and gave us some good advice about taking care of him. I miss having you by my side, Momma! We have had many kind helpers but there is no one like you! Poppa, Joseph is doing a wonderful job as husband and father! I know you worried but we are doing even better than I expected. That is not to say that there aren't hard moments. We are still learning how to be together, as we had so little practice before going away from home.

love to you both, always,

Mary