Coming Home

Well, we are currentlt in London during our journey home. I actually haven't seen Barbara since our last flight, as Heathrow is a huge maze and not organized in any sense of the word, really. I'll see her at the gate though. Our final days in Israel were awesome. We spent the last day at Ceasarea mostly (due to time, we cut out our trip to Haifa). Caesarea was awesome! We both really enjoyed it there, and we hiked on foot the entire length - from Theatre to Aqueducts, we walked it all! There's just something about being in the presence of history that just gets me and Barbara was enamored with the coast. We both liked it a lot!

After our time at Ceasarea, we drove on down to Tel Aviv to check into our hotel, which was on the beach (Thanks John!!). Barbara did a great job at navigating even though she'll deny it, and I only freaked out driving once - we both did great! We checked in, walked around the hotel a bit and then hit the beach. There's a place where you can walk all the way from the beach to the rock-bar and the water never really gets above your knees, and even though I did it in jeans, it was still fun! We were sitting on the beach, awaiting a marveloud sunset when a man approached us and started asking us if we knew about Isaac and Jacob from the Bible. We affirmed that we did and then he proceeded to tell us that he met Isaac a few months ago and helped him get out of the mafia and off drugs so he could be with his girlfriend again, then he said he met Jacob and Jesus too....it was weird. Besides our "interesting" company (who didn't stay long), we watched the sunset and then went to hit the sack because we were going to have to get up early!

We woke up on time but left a little bit late because they couldn't find our car. When we finally arrived at the airport, we returned the car to the wrong place and sat in security check lines for over an hour. At which point, my tennis shoes were tested positive for explosive residue and are being shipped seperately (they can't travel in my suitcase) and I don't for the life of me know how in the world that could've happened. My shoes went everywhere Barbara's shoes went and all they checked on her was her book about the Holocaust... then we had to split up because she had to return the phone and I had to go through more security checks. I think we've been apart for most of the day so far, and I've seen more than a handful of security personnel! Anyway, we're on our way home... Luis and Nora are picking us up in San Francisco and we are extremely excited to be coming home.

Thank you to all of you who have written to us, via comments or emails - it is seriously such a blessing to know you are not forgotten while you are away! We have greatly appreciated your love and support over the past few weeks! We look forward to telling you everything we've experienced, though we are both in need of time to process certain things before we will be able to do so! We'll see you all soon enough though! We love you all!

A Friendly Welcome

This morning we waited for 2 hours for breakfast and then decided to take off and start our day. We had made a date with Galit and wanted to make sure we could spend quality time with her. Galit is an amazing woman with a true heart for the Lord. She was such a joy to be around and talk with. Very open about her life and what God has done for her, we enjoyed our morning with her. Our conversation with her went everywhere, and we talked about everything. We truly enjoyed our visit with her and hope to see her in the future!

Now, after leaving her house, we are about to embark on the Galilee Experience and spend some time on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. We have a funny story about sacrificing for the good of others (my friends really) so sit back and have a good laugh: Earlier this morning we were trying to find jars so I could get some sand and water from the Sea of Galilee for a couple of people back home, and after trying to find anything in jars for days now, to no avail, we finally decided to park in an area near the Sea and near some markets we saw. After parking we made a quick trip to a place we thought may have a map of Tiberias and came back to find two men walking around our car and about to write us (another) ticket, so off we go - running towards them to try to get out of a ticket. Come to find out, we can't read Hebrew signs and needed to get a pre-paid ticket to park there and they decided not to write us a ticket - thanks to Barbara's pleading and full cooperation in getting a proper metered ticket.

After this fiasco, we went inside a market and found no jars of any kind (at this point, I was just looking for jars, whether or not we actually liked what was in them). In this market, we couldn't find any jars, so we walked some more. The next market was bigger and after going through it's maze, we found one thing that was contained in jars and we bought two of them - the contents inside - Gerber Baby Food. So we brought two jars up to the man and paid for them and then he says "You want to stay young! Here, take some spoons!" After purchasing the baby food (apple flavored), we walked over to the ruins of ancient Tiberiaas and chowed down on the baby food - Barbara let me know it was "strained applesauce". It didn't taste incredibly bad but now we are both suffering from heartburn. No wonder babies cry a lot. Now, due to our sacrifice of good food, I will be able to collect some sand from the Sea of Galilee for my friends (Your Welcome, Mom and Jon!) - no pictures of that though - sorry.

Well, we need to get going. But thank you to everyone who has been posting comments and emailing us, we have enjoyed reading your words! We are looking forward to coming home as our time here winds down. Tomorrow we are off to Haifa, Ceasarea (by the Mediterranian Sea) and Tel Aviv for our final night in Israel. We'll be home on Friday night.

Picture from our Day Trip

The view of the Sea of Galilee from the Mount of Beatitudes
Barbara and I when we were almost done with the trails at Tel Dan
An old flour mill at Tel Dan
On the trails of Tel Dan (MARVELOUS!) We were walking on stone paths most of the time, and got to tour the "Garden of Eden" here.
Nimrod's Fortress - massive!
Banias (where Ceasarea Philippi was located)
Me at the cave entrance to what used to be a monument to Ceasar Augustus and a Temple for Pan, also the place where Ceasarea Philippi once stood.
The way back to the car
Barbara at the Waterfall trails
Banias Waterfall, absolutely beautiful!

Going Further North

Well, we called Galit and found out that today was Lev’s funeral so we made plans to get together with her on Weds. Today was full of beauty and reflection as we decided to get our traveling to the north finished. We hopped in our car, and started off. After getting a bit lost in Tiberias (not bad but there’s not many signs to navigate well) we drove past the Mount of Beatitudes and headed toward the far north border of Israel, towards Mount Hermon. Our first stop was the Banias Waterfall. It was extremely muddy as we made our way down steep stones and under giant oak branches until we reached the falls. Absolutely lovely! After seeing the falls, we made our way to the Banias Springs. Here we found a huge cave, and you can imagine my excitement at the thought of possibly getting to enter the vast cave but those hopes were dashed as well when we approached and it was roped off. It is here, at Banias, that Herod built a monument to Augustus Ceasar, and also a temple to the god “Pan”. It is also here that his son, Phillipus, resided and called the area Ceasarea Philippi. However, due to the pagan worship of Pan, the name stuck in reference to this place (originally called Panyas, but the Arabic rendering of this word is Banias).

After the location of Ceasarea Philippi, we ventured up to Nimrod’s Fortress. This was huge! Nimrod is a listed descendant of Noah’s and actually has the title “the first human on earth to be a mighty man” (I may not be remembering it exactly). On our way back towards Tiberias, we stopped in at Tel Dan and this is such a wonderful place! I am in love with Northern Israel partly because of this place! We got to tour a wilderness area that is absolutely lush with vegetation and stone paths. This is where the Tribe of Dan conquered the Canaanites and overtook the land (of course that was after they rejected their allotted land of inheritance and decided to find their own land). This was a marvelous joy for us, with beautiful springs and ruins.

Finally, we headed back toward the Sea of Galilee and stopped at the Mount of Beatitudes. It was quiet reverence as we walked the area and gardens. The panorama view and significance of the Sermon on the Mount being preached there stilled us. It was a great treat. This was our last stop before heading back to the Kibbutz, for supper and sleep.
Please continue to pray for our health, I am still fighting a cold that has now moved to my chest and we are both very tired. Please also pray for our conversations with people, we are finding it difficult to strike a conversation, and it seems the nicest people to us has been Germans and Hasidic Jews. We are eager to talk with people and have been trying to seek them out but to no avail really. Pray that God would grant us the words to say when we can find someone who would be willing to talk with us. Pray also for our visit with Galit tomorrow – that we would be learn from her and encourage her (and Hava if she’s able to meet us as well), as well as our time in Capernaum. Thanks!

Pictures of Journey North

More of the view from our stay at the Kibbutz. We get to wake up to this every morning while we're here.
View of the Sea of Galilee from our door at the Kibbutz, AMAZING!
View from Megiddo - that's Mount Tabor (the one that looks like a big dome).
This is a view from Megiddo, yes, that's me inside the milling stone - pretty massive.

Onward Toward Galilee!

Today started with excitement and then disappointment as we planned our first adventure of the day, and then had those plans crushed by bad weather. We were originally going to tumble through Hezekiah’s tunnel (you know, the one he built to re-direct the water to the city, referenced in the Bible). I’m an adventure nut so I was looking forward to this small trip before we left Jerusalem, however because it was pouring down rain, we decided to skip the tunnel navigation…bummer!

So, after breakfast we initially headed toward the nearest police station (we got two parking tickets yesterday that we wanted to see how in the world we get them taken care of - - it’s funny how our car’s the only one that gets tickets on it in all the places that we parked, either it’s because we can’t read Hebrew signs or there are no signs and it’s an “unspoken rule” that you can’t park there – even though there are spaces). Anyway, after walking in the rain for almost an hour, and asking countless people for “mishtara” (police), it seems no one knows where they are and we gave up after being told so many different and contradicting directions (after trying them of course). We then headed north, out of the city. We got gas (expensive!) and headed in the direction of Tel Aviv. We made great time, in such a small country, and stopped in at Megiddo.

Megiddo is such a beautiful place; the Tel overlooks a vast valley (the Jezreel Valley). In the Old Testament, this is where Joshua defeated the Canaanites (Joshua 12:21) and is believed to be the future location of the battle of Armageddon as “the battle to end all battles”. It is absolutely beautiful here, with rich forests and amazing foothills all around. We ate lunch at the restaurant located here – it was the most delicious food we’ve had since we arrived! Extremely yummy! We also agreed that Israel has the best fruit juice and nectars that we’ve ever tasted as well!

We finally arrived at Kibbutz Allumot this afternoon to a wonderful and marvelous view of the Sea of Galilee (Yam Kinneret) as our wake-up-and-look-out-the-window landscape. Adriana runs the place and she is stinkin’ awesome! She’s a true joy to be around and even though she can’t speak much English, she’s still so much fun to talk to, she pronounces my name “Joly” (like Holy with a J) and laughs every time she says Barbara’s name. She’s wonderful, and we are so incredibly blessed to be staying here, hopefully conversations with her will continue during our stay.

Tomorrow we are planning on visiting Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes (where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount to the multitudes) and then to Tiberias to visit with Galit, and possibly Hava (we’ll call them). The next day, we may go up to Tel Dan, Nimrod’s Fortress and Banias Waterfall, around the Golan Heights. Again, we covet your prayers, and are so grateful for your faithfulness in keeping us lifted up to the Father. Until next time friends!

Some Photos

This is of a street in the Old City byb the Armenian Quarter.
This is looking down from the Mount of Olives onto all the Jewish graves of those who want front row seats when the Lord returns. You can also see the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Church of All Nations.
This is the Western Wall, with the Dome of the Rock also.

The Last Three Days

Shalom! Sorry we haven’t been able to write very much. We are having a really hard time finding hot spots to connect to the internet, and some kids broke the hotel’s kiosk so that’s not an option either. In the past few days, we’ve been everywhere. The first day we went out (Thursday) – we toured the Old City. Aram, our guide, took us all over all four quarters of the Old City, down Via Dolorosa – the 12 stages of the cross, the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulctre (sp?). We were able to grab lunch and had schwarma (great tasting stuff, I say!). We also hired him privately to help us tour the Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We are incredibly glad he offered to do, as we would not have gone to those places without a guide. Then after all that touring and walking around, we walked him back to his family – who were amazing! His kids are such cuties (Simon (10), Arthur (8) and Mary (1)). He gave us some insight into this place.

After we left him with his family, we were able to go and tour the underground tunnels of the Western Wall. This was one of the highlights for me, as ancient history met modern circumstances. Our guide for this tour was Ariel. He gave us such a deeper understanding of the hope of the Jews, it was incredible to listen to him speak about this place and his people! Ariel is actually from Brooklyn, his mother is Israeli and he moved over here 9 years ago with no thoughts of returning to the States. Some things that Ariel said to me that we will probably never forget are: “This place, like eternity, is etched into our hearts. We are all connected to each other and we are all connected this place. It is a spiritual connection that can never leave us.” He also said “the parallel between destruction and hope, between demolition and triumph are existent here, in both the material and physical world as well as with the spiritual world. It is all connected.” Ariel was amazing, and we are incredibly thankful for our time spent with him.

On Friday, we went to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum). This was a touching and heart-breaking time. It was very difficult for me at times. I’d read about the atrocities committed during that time, yet nothing prepared me for the personal testimony we would read, hear and see. I was broken, but at the same time I was rejoicing in the faithfulness and strength in the Lord displayed in the lives of the Jews. Never have I heard about such honor in the midst of mass annihilation. It was encouraging, even through heart-break. We called Elah’s parents, and actually had a funny some-what conversation and then we headed to Latrun (which was actually closed but we were able to walk through the first part). Latrun is a monastery and garden…VERY beautiful! Then we ventured over to Modi’in and actually got lost in the city. All the buildings looked the same in Modi’in so we couldn’t really determine where all the stores were, we were actually looking for a café. After all this traveling, we went back to Jerusalem where we rested.

Saturday was the Sabbath, and we actually saw that the Israel Museum was open, so we went there and had fun seeing the artifacts of the past. It is one of the best museums I’ve ever been in, so I completely enjoyed it! We then went driving around, and I must say, God is totally with us! We have yet to get really lost! We then returned to the hotel and rested.

Today is Sunday, and our first trip was to the Western Wall. Today is Barbara’s sister (Belinda) birthday. So we ventured to the wall so we could pray for her among other things. I must say, praying at the Wall this morning was absolutely amazing. My experience (Holly) at the Wall was relieving (weird word I know). When I approached the wall, I was overwhelmed with the reverence and honor there is in that place. I was struck by the magnitude of the heart of the Jews toward their God. I approached the wall praying, for Belinda, for Barbara, for Israel, for the Jews, for myself and I could not help but be moved by the presence of the Lord. Not to say that He is not elsewhere because He’s everywhere, but in the reverence and focus of that place, I was more aware of Him, one can’t help it really. I also could not help but be moved to pray fervently… sure, I pray, I love to pray but sometimes it seems that my prayer life is mundane, ordinary, not captured by the awe of Him whom I seek. Today it definitely was, and I was able to forget all the newness and distractions around me and actually seek Him fervently. I became one of those who move, bob in a way as they seek His will and His face. I couldn’t help it; I didn’t want to hold back for the first time in a long time, I did not hold back.

My experinece (Barbara) was similar. As i gazed at the wall I was overcome and began to weep at the nearnes of God in this place. He is in me, but he is here in a very special way that happens nowhere else. I am drawn here in a way I cannot describe, but I can say that it feels like home. Even though I am way out of my comfort zone, I am comfortable here, how much more so when I learn to read and speak Hebrew! I give God my life to do with what He wants and I look forward to hhat he has for my future. Kevin, I love you! See you all soon!

Finally, here we sit, on Ben Yehuda Street at a café. Barbara is drinking mocha with double shots of espresso and I’ve got hot chocolate. Observing the people, observing the culture. We are truly thankful for the people we’ve met so far in our wanderings; we have come to a point where we are comfortable here. We are hoping to be able to sit with more people and get more great conversations before we head up to the Galilee area tomorrow. We are truly blessed, thank you so much for praying for us, please continue to do so...

Face Masks and BBC

Well, we arrived and we are safe. Aside from being 100% exhausted, we did have a relatively good time traveling. London was good, we didn't do a ton, besides walk around - oh and get our faces on the National BBC station (they were broadcasting the funerals for those who died in the July attacks and we were there). We walked London on foot, saw the Parliament, the Abbey (they closed just 2 minutes before we got there), the National Museum, had fish and chips for supper, it was fun. We went back to Heathrow and met a few Jewish people waiting for the plane to Tel Aviv. We had truly great conversation with them and were blessed by their relational and accepting demeanors. By the time we arrived in Tel Aviv, we were grossly exhausted, with about 2 hours of sleep between us.

When we arrived, we went through the process of customs and all that, which turned out to be relatively fast. We got money exchanged, rented a phone (some of you have recieved calls from us), rented a car and started our journey to Jerusalem. Driving was a piece of cake, until we got almost to Jerusalem, then it turned out to be tougher. I was the navigator for our trek across the city, while Barbara drove. We got lost a couple of times but quickly found our way again (Praise God!). We arrived at the hotel in no time just before 8am, only to find out that we couldn't check in until 12pm. We were dilerious and just couldn't hold ourselves together to walk anywhere, much less drive so we took a nap in the car until about the time we could check in. When we got our room, I was blown away by the view - our room is situated so we overlook the Mount of Olives and the Old City. We couldn't see the Dome because the Church of the Dormition is blocking it, but we are fine with that. We both took showers, took pictures and then we crashed - we were trying to remind ourselves to stay awake but it didn't work too well and we ended up sleeping all day. Barbara woke me up at 10:30pm last night to drink water and have something to eat - we didn't do either in more than 24 hours and then we called some people, journaled, and prayed together before crashing again.

I woke up at 5:00am this morning and got dressed, woke Barbara up at 6am, watched the sunrise together and are about to eat breakfast. Sorry, there are no pictures right now, I am on a hotel kiosk because I can't get a signal anywhere. Pictures will soon follow, probably later today! Today, our plan is to walk the Old City, call Elah's parents, and just get engulfed in this blessed land and people. We will write again soon, I promise. Thanks for all your prayers, kep them up please!

Cutting in front of a band

So, we are off! We tried to get lost a couple times on the way down here but we managed to find our way very shortly. After arriving at SFO, we returned the rental car and rode the Light Rail to get checked in. Everything went without a hitch (we both got stuck with middle seats on the flight to London though) and when we were on our way to the security clearance, we noticed a band (obviously by the mounds of musical instruments they were carrying with them) in front of us. One of them lagged behind and he ended up behind us in the long line to wait for security clearance. I asked him if he wanted to be back with his buddies and he said "No, I'm with them all the time." The rest of his posse was in front of us...

Then my attention got diverted to this cool machine that sounded like someone was being warped to a new dimension and I was asking about it with Barbara when the lady asked me if I wanted to try it. I asked her what it was and she said that it's an "Air Puffer", and it's used to check for explosives on people. So, me - being me - quickly agreed to try this contraption out just because I've never done it before. In I go, standing on this metal grate (and I didn't have to take my shoes off!) and I get puffed with 5 blasts of cold air. I had to stand perfectly still and wait to leave until there was a green light. Light turned green and then the nice lady took my bag and my laptop and put me in front of this band to go through the metal detector (still had my shoes on). I went through with no problem, it seems the air-puffer people get bonuses and can just waltz through the process with no trouble and ahead of where they were before. So, there I am sitting on a comfy chair waiting for Barbara to get through the security measures, when two of the band members came and stood behind me...

They were complaining a little (not bad at all really but making some comments about how it's not fair that they took me out line and then put me back in line in front of them). I thought it was a little comical. Little did I know who they were. When Barbara finally joined me, I asked her if she knew who the band was and she simply stated "Green Day". I had just cut in front of one of the most popular secular bands in America, and didn't even know it. It was pretty funny.

Anyway, we're here quite a few hours early and trying to kill time. It's pretty cool that this whole airport is wireless, even though I had to pay for an hour of service. And we're still trying to kill time... keep praying for us as we make our way around the globe to the Holy Land! So far, so good. We spent our first drive of the trip talking about what to expect when we each get tired and hungry and what to watch out for (symptoms) of crabbiness. We apologized in advance to each other and said we would call a "time-out" if we needed to. More to write later, especially with a trip that start out this hilarious!

Shalom!

Welcome to our blog! We are definately going to be communicating with you as we undergo our trip throughout Israel. We are incredibly excited and are looking forward to what God will be showing us, teaching us and growing our hearts to a deeper understanding of Himself as we join His chosen people on their turf! Stay tuned to upcoming news from us as we make our way through the land and tell of our interactions with the people! Though, please keep in mind that we may not be able to post regularly, keep checking in!