Editor's note: Freelance writer Barb Sieminski of Fort Wayne is traveling with representatives from HearCare Audiology of Fort Wayne on a mission trip to help people with hearing impairments in the Palestinian Authority territory in the Middle East. She shared this report on their first few days there.

Lost luggage, a five-times-daily call to prayer, a marriage proposal, and the jubilant tears of a sheik made our first few days in the Holy Land memorable ones. This first entry will share a few of our mission experiences; following reports will detail more Holy Land observations.

After our flight from Paris last Friday, we landed at Tel Aviv and went to pick up our luggage. And of course, my lucky comrades, Angelina Boungou and Patrick Paris, both of whom are affiliated with HearCare Audiology, retrieved their bags; mine was not there.

We filed a claim with Air France, in case the suitcase turned up, and then a driver took us to our lodgings at the International Center of Bethlehem, where we will stay for the next few days before moving on to the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem.

We soon all became familiar with the Muslim call to pray five-times-a-day every day – at sunrise, noon, 3 p.m., once in the evening after sunset, and two hours after sunset.

They either gathered for prayer at mosques or stopped what they were doing wherever they were, and knelt to pay homage. Some prayed in cars, others lay down prayer mats whenever possible.

Saturday, we left for the Dheisheh Refugee Camp to begin our mission of conducting hearing tests for those with the greatest need, creating custom-made ear molds on-site for those who required hearing assistance, and finally fitting them with donated hearing devices.

Patrick, a hearing instrument specialist with HearCare Audiology, and Angelina, the executive director of HearCare Connection, the business' nonprofit affiliate, came to forge a relationship with the Palestinians with the goal of returning each year to continue to provide hearing services.

We are grateful for having a congenial translator, Husam A. Yacoub, who not only facilitates conversations each day between the patients and us, but also writes the patients' names in English on their medical charts, as they are all originally written in Arabic.

What is even more remarkable is that Husam did all of this while still managing the ICB Guesthouse where we are staying. He is so interested in what we are doing, he made himself available to help in any way possible.

Without Husam, we could not have been able to accomplish the task at hand, and he is looking forward to helping us on future mission trips.

Some of our experiences so far:

*A grandmotherly refugee wearing the traditional white garb and headdress, upon receiving her free hearing assistance, was so awed when the volume of her new hearing device was turned on, that she proposed to Patrick on the spot with her family joining in joyful laughter.

*After the sound was turned on for the first time on his new hearing instrument, Mufadi Subeh, a stately Arab sheik, began to cry, and with tears, gave Patrick a kiss of thankfulness on both cheeks, and clasped hands with us, beaming with gratitude.

*A father and two hearing-impaired sons were so gratified by our help that they returned to the camp to present Patrick and me with native hatah scarves, which another native resident assured us was an extremely high honor.

*Finally, we have been astonished at the volume of patients who came seeking assistance, with some waiting patiently all day for their turn.

The Palestinians are friendly and appreciative of the fact that we've here. Though the Palestinian Territory is a spiritual and cultural melting pot of Muslims and Christians, they co-exist harmoniously inside the separation barrier of the West Bank walls.

A note on the traffic here: There are few "Stop" signs or traffic lights. Pedestrians walk in the streets, which are extremely narrow and twisting with few sidewalks to be seen. Or, to put it another way, it is beautifully-choreographed traffic chaos.

Steep inclines recall the streets of San Francisco's, "little cable cars climbing halfway to the stars." Spectacular architectural views include areas that were blighted; yet the true beauty of the city is seen in the people.

As Patrick noted, "We came here with a goal to touch lives by enhancing their hearing, and yet we've been the ones touched by them, with all of our lives being changed for the better . . . ."