Shot At Climbing Walls to Church for 12 Years: Palestinian Woman Discovers She Belongs to Christ

Picture this: You wake up on Sunday morning knowing that getting to church means climbing a 10-foot wall, paying a watchman five dollars to spot soldier movements, hiding until military shifts change, and risking arrest or worse. You do this not once as an adventure, but every single week for 12 years. One day soldiers spot you on a hillside and open fire. A stranger you barely know says he will distract them so you can escape. He runs toward danger. You run toward church. You never learn what happened to him. This is not fiction. This is Sahar Qumsiyeh's testimony of what it cost to worship.

In this episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Sahar Qumsiyeh shares her transformation from depressed Palestinian teenager who thought God had abandoned her people to woman of profound peace who discovered her true identity at Golgotha. Sahar is the author of Peace for a Palestinian: One Woman's Story of Faith Amidst War in the Holy Land and assistant professor of mathematics at BYU Idaho. Her testimony demonstrates that following promptings over logic transforms lives, that sacrifice reveals devotion, and that belonging to Christ transcends every earthly identity.

Turning Down $56,000 for a Feeling She Couldn't Explain  

Sahar grew up in Beit Sahour, a town five minutes from Bethlehem, during decades of conflict. Demonstrations, curfews, gunshots, and turmoil were normal. As a teenager she was depressed, almost believing God had abandoned her people. She couldn't understand why He would allow such hard things. When she graduated from Bethlehem University, which had closed for two years after a student was killed, she received a full scholarship to an American university worth $56,000 per year. She was thrilled to escape. Then she saw a tiny ad in a newspaper about a university called Brigham Young offering scholarships to Palestinians. She applied with no intention of attending. After acceptance, a feeling she couldn't explain told her she should go to BYU instead. Her family thought she had gone crazy. She followed her heart anyway, not knowing this feeling had a name. She had never been taught that God actually speaks to us. She didn't know there was something called the Holy Ghost that prompts us toward things.

At BYU she was shocked by how nice people were. She wasn't used to kindness. When President Hinckley referred to her country as Palestine during general conference, something shifted. If a church leader acknowledged her identity as a Palestinian, maybe this wasn't a bad church. A friend sat her down and explained everything from creation to fall to restoration. For the first time, someone explained why we have trials. In Palestine she thought trials meant God hated her or was punishing her. Learning that earth life is meant for testing, that we had a pre-existence, that we're working toward returning to Heavenly Father, changed everything. It was logical. It was simple.

Locked in Her Room Until She Prayed  

Sahar read the Book of Mormon cover to cover during her master's program. Every time she learned something about the gospel it felt right with all her heart, every fiber of her being. She told her family she wanted to be baptized. They freaked out, tried to talk her out of it, and succeeded temporarily. She decided to believe without taking the step, not wanting to make her family outcasts. Then she attended a friend's baptism. She could not deny that Heavenly Father was telling her this is what she needed to do. She went to her bishop who told her not to join. The church wasn't strong in Palestine. It would be hard. She completely ignored him, went to her room, looked up the missionaries' phone number, and contacted them herself.

The night before her baptism, her roommate discovered Sahar had never formally prayed to ask if the church was true. Her roommate locked her in the room and refused to leave until she prayed. When Sahar finally knelt, the confirmation was so strong she didn't want to get up. Her roommate had to come get her because they were going to be late to her own baptism. For the first time in her life she found peace and joy. It was night and day between who she was before and who she became.

Twelve Years of Walls and Gunfire  

Sahar returned to Palestine as the only member of the church in her region. The only branch in the entire country was at the BYU Jerusalem Center. As a Palestinian living in the West Bank, she wasn't allowed in Jerusalem. So she sneaked in for 12 years. She climbed hills and walls, hid from soldiers, paid watchmen to spot military shifts, and somehow made it to church many times. Sometimes she didn't. One method involved taking a taxi for an hour and a half to reach a hole in a barrier, waiting for soldiers to change shifts, climbing through, scaling a 10-foot wall, hiding, then waiting for a bus. On rainy muddy days when watchmen warned that soldiers were coming, she had no idea what to do. She would hide behind something and wait, then keep moving.

One day before the wall existed, she was climbing a hill toward Jerusalem with a man from her taxi. Soldiers spotted them and started shooting. The stranger said he would distract the soldiers by taking another path so she could escape. He did. He saved her life. She made it to church that day because of his sacrifice. She never learned what happened to him. After 12 years she received what she calls the miracle job with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. It gave her a permit allowing her to be in Jerusalem from 5am to 7pm. She could finally attend church legally. She held that job for four years until she felt a prompting to quit. The same week she quit, she received a second prompting to serve a mission at age 41.

Leaving a Sick Mother for London  

Serving a mission at 41 was not normal. People serve at 18 or 19 or after retirement. Sahar was in the middle of her life, without income, and her mother was sick with Hepatitis C. Her mom was bedridden, unable to move from the medicine. Sahar was her sole caretaker. Her mother could not understand how Sahar's God would tell her to leave. Her mom attempted a hunger strike to stop her. Sahar was worried until she forgot her phone at home and returned to find her mother eating breakfast. Mom wasn't actually starving, just applying pressure. Sahar went to London South Mission anyway. Every week her mother called saying she was alone.

During the mission her mother stopped taking her Hepatitis C medicine. The disease wasn't curable at the time. Stopping medicine should have led to liver failure or cancer. Instead her mother was healed. She had a healthy liver until the day she died years later. Sahar still doesn't fully understand why she needed to serve that mission, but she knows the prompting was real and following it brought miracles.

You Belong to Me  

One day Sahar received permission through the checkpoint and arrived at Jerusalem early. She had time before church. But walking through her beloved city, she felt out of place. Israeli flags everywhere. She felt her city had lost its Palestinian identity. She was sad, feeling she didn't belong to her own country. She went to the Garden Tomb near a hill in the rock shaped like a skull where some believe Christ was crucified. Walking toward Golgotha, she felt transported to the day Christ carried His cross down that same road. She sensed the mocking crowds, the criticism, the silent suffering Savior.

Then it dawned on her. The Savior didn't belong either. He didn't belong to Jerusalem. He didn't belong to this earth. He was different. He did things differently. He taught differently. They criticized Him. They killed Him for it. But then she heard divine words: You belong to me. That changed everything. She realized her identity as a daughter of God was more important than any nationality. She had never had a nationality until recently becoming a US citizen. Palestine isn't recognized as a country. She had been trying to belong her whole life. Now she knew she belonged to God. That's what matters. If people outcast you, if you're alone, if you have trials, The Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are there. You belong to them.

Walking How He Walked  

Sahar offers an insight that reframes discipleship entirely. Many people want to visit the Holy Land to walk where Jesus walked, hoping geography will deepen their relationship with the Savior. Sahar grew up there. She could walk to Bethlehem. She saw the shepherds' fields. None of it gave her peace until she traveled to Utah and learned to follow Christ. The insight she gained: walking how He walked matters more than where He walked. You don't get closer to Christ through tourism. You get closer through obedience, service, love, and living as He lived. That's how you find peace and joy. That's how you actually know your Savior.

Belonging Changes Everything  

Sahar's testimony demonstrates that belonging to Christ transcends every limitation. No nationality? You're a child of God. No safe path to church? Climb walls and dodge soldiers. No logical reason to follow a prompting? Follow it anyway. Bishop says don't join? Contact the missionaries yourself. Mother threatens hunger strike? Go to London and watch God heal her.

What's keeping you from full devotion? What walls do you need to climb? What promptings are you ignoring because they don't make logical sense? Sahar turned down $56,000 for a feeling. She climbed walls for 12 years. She left her sick mother for a mission. And she found peace she'd never known, identity she'd always sought, and belonging that transcends borders, checkpoints, and bullets. You belong to Christ. That's enough. Now walk how He walked.

Ready to hear Sahar's complete testimony of climbing walls for 12 years, hearing divine words at Golgotha, and discovering that walking how Christ walked matters more than where He walked? Listen to the full episode and discover why she believes despite trials most of us will never face.

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