Some Acknowledgments

Well it has been quite a journey. One we can hardly believe. We are so thankful and feel quite blessed that the Most High God chose us to live, study, explore and love on the people in Jerusalem. Two years passed by very quickly, yet it is hard for us to even remember what life was like before we got on the first plane June 14, 2006. We have learned lots and we have many stories and experiences and memories we will be excited to share with the people God puts in our path. There were many times over the past couple years when we would begin to worry about something – school, or money, or housing, or… - but then God would show up and demonstrate His continued faithfulness, love and care for us.

We took this calling to study in Israel seriously and tried to give it everything we had. Prior to moving to Israel we sold and gave away most of our stuff, emptied out our bank accounts and even tapped in to some of our retirement to keep us going year two. We left great jobs, communities, friends, and family we love. But this is NOT something we did, nor could have been done, without great support from SO many people. Many, many thanks to you all who prayed often for us - for our school-work, for our marriage, for our finances, for our safety, for our future (keep praying about that one ☺). Many thanks also to those of you who gave of your finances, sent us mail, shared encouraging heart-felt words, etc. Again, we did not, nor could have done this without you. There are so many people of which we could not count or list – but regardless, here’s a few people (in no particular order, and far from complete) we want to say thank you to:

The Swan Family (Mom, Dad and Chris)
The Post Family (Mom, Dad, Corey and Sara)
The Zwyghuizen Family (Chad, Kim, Dallas, Justin, Mikayla and Sawyer)
Paul and Diane Wright
Cyndi Parker
Mike and Sue Shirkey
Jason and Lisa Schrader
Mark and Amanda Brown
Brian and Katie Hamm
James and Laura Granger
Marc and Shelby Andreas
Con and Judy VanderWerf
Jack and Cindy Ippel
Larry and Linda Doornbos
Tom and Carolyn Kragt
Bill and Sandy Cooper
Ray VanderLaan and That The World May Know Ministries
Amy, Marty, Tom and Dot at GTI Travel
Kent Dobson
Boaz Shalgi
Allen Levi
Heidi Walberg
Dave and Jan Stravers
Randy and Gretchen VanHeukelum
Wayne and Debbie Wolfe
Joel and Lisa Meyers
Kenny and Leanne Grimes
Ryan and Amy Blackburn
Mike and Amy Krick
Acey and Sarae Martin
Enoch and Joan Olson
Michael and Denise Perry
Brian and Barb DeMann
Corky and Debbie Erickson
Dan and Jodi Johnson
David and Kelley Shirkey
Scott and Cindy Pontier
Larry and Jana Plaisier
Joey and Katie Allen
John and Melanie DeKruyter
Marlin and Sally Vis
All our great friends from JUC
Brian and Amy Moore
Mark and Michelle Trescott
Michael and Breanne Fuelling
Thor Sawin
Hayley Wilton
Rod and Irene Wilton
Tom and Cathy Tomasik
Lauren Tomasik
The Read Family (Steve, Rita, Stephen and Shannon)
Travis and Mariah West
…

But most of all, thanks be to God – the Creator, the Caller, the Sustainer, the Lover, the Rock, the One who was, who is and who is to come. We give it all back to Him.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty,
dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
-Jude 24-25

Shalom

It was still pitch dark at the sound of an alarm. Dark because it is was only about 3am, and the alarm wasn’t ours, but belonged to the Bet Sefer (school) across the street. About 25-35 minutes later a series of a few other alarms went off as well, these alarms were ours. Time to get up. Big day today. The alarm across the street was still going off, piercing the quietness of 4am when our taxi driver, Ismael, arrived at our house. Four heavy suitcases were packed and loaded into and onto the car and we exchanged hugs with our friend Mark who stumbled out of bed early to say “Lahitraote” (good-bye) to us one last time.

From Jerusalem we rode west towards the coast. Our friend Ismael seemed to do most of the talking…all in English this time. It was much too early to for us to give much effort into speaking Hebrew or Arabic. Besides, Ismael enjoys using and improving his English as well. As we began the descend down the hill country out of Jerusalem, we passed a sign with huge Hebrew block letters. I remember this sign from when I first came in to Jerusalem, it’s along the main route and we have passed it many - many times over the course of two years. During my first few months in Israel I always wondered what those crazy white block letters (or symbols) were communicating. This time, more than any other, I spent a few extra minutes thinking about those words as we drove past.

“Yetset le-Shalom.” Go in Peace.

Ismael was still talking with us, but now I was a bit lost in my own thoughts. This is it. Our day has come…for us to go in peace. I can’t believe it’s time to go. I can’t believe we ever came. What’s happening?

After waiting in a slow line for an extra inspection of one of our suitcases (the one filled only with heavy textbooks) we dragged our bags up to the ticket counter. Stacie kindly asked the lady behind the counter, Yael, for a pair of good seats for her and her “really tall husband.” After a quick glance at me, and a verbal “Wow,” Yael picked up the phone to see how she could help these long legs for the long ride. God bless her.

As is our custom, Stacie took the window and I the aisle, but it didn’t really matter this time as our legs were well stretched out in front of us near an “exit”. Thanks be to God. ☺ The two gentlemen behind us were strangers to each other playing the “lets get to know each other” with some small talk. One guy was from the Bahamas, the other from Brazil. I didn’t eavesdrop on them to know anything more than that, but I am sure they had some interesting and enjoyable conversations during the duration of our trip.

Before long we were moving slowly, then quickly and ascending in elevation. Stacie’s eyes were fixed on the tiny little window, but I don’t think it was the clear glass she was focusing on. I was leaning far forward in my seat in order to see it too. As I peered through the window, there it was…the land of Israel. These ten minutes or so seemed to pass by ever so quickly, yet frozen in time. On our very first geography field study with Dr. Wright he told us it is always good to get high in order to get a great perspective of the land. The skies were crystal clear as we could see in the distance the hills of the Shephelah, the flat, green coastal plain, a small strip of white sand along the coastline and then the vast sea of very salty water, the Mediterranean. Our eyes didn’t move as we studied the view one last time. Stacie bit her lip as tears welled up in her eyes and then slowly picked up speed as they rolled down her cheeks. I squeezed her hand. She squeezed mine back as her watery eyes briefly made eye contact with mine. I don’t think we even said anything. We didn’t need to. Again we both turned to gaze out the window for as long as we could. It’s time for us to go “home”…whatever and wherever that is…for now.

“Yetset le-Shalom.”

Pictures!!!

Many new pictures have been posted - click here to see the following picture albums

• Hiking Nazareth to Capernaum
• 3 Days of Adventure
• Spring Fun '08
• The Last Field Study
• Golan Getaway

Dinner Guests

Long before actually moving to Israel, we came up with a fun list of "Top Twenty Reasons to Move to Israel." Many of the items on this list included places to see, things to do, experience, etc. - and I think we have now checked all of them off the nearly forgotten list - except for one thing - of which will not be discussed here. Aren't you so curious???

Anyway, one of the things we were excited about as we dreamt of one day living in Jerusalem was living in the "Shephelah" or crossroads of 3 monotheistic faiths - Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Living in Jerusalem sure is a unique experience in that way, and we are blessed to have become friends with a few locals from different cultures and religions. Since the completion of our studies (now about a month ago already!) we knew the remainder of our time would pass us by quickly, so we again came up with a "Things To Do Before We Leave" list. This list includes places to visit, trails to hike, items to purchase - and most importantly - people we really want to spend time with. Within the past week we were richly blessed to spend time with the following dinner guests...

Boaz, his wife Magie and their two sons

Ismael, his wife Ronia and their four beautiful children.
They all piled in Ismael's taxi & drove from their house on the Mt. of Olives.

Cyndi, Dawn and Andrea (now living in Bethlehem) and Stacie -
enjoying tacos on our roof.

Thanks friends for wonderful, memorable nights. Stacie and I sincerely cherish our friendships with you all. You will be missed. May God continue to bless each of you on your journey! And -

"Bizrat HaShem" (Hebrew),
"Inshallah" (Arabic),
"God-willing" (English) -

we will see each other again!

Jesus Trail

Two of John's disciples came to Jesus and said:

"Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" (Or maybe, "where do you live?") Jesus said to them, "Come and you will see" (John 1:39).

We decided to take Jesus up on His offer. On Wednesday evening, May 21st, our friends Tim and Kristi Knipp along with Stacie and I took a bus from Jerusalem, north to Nazareth and spent the night there in a hostel. The purpose of our trip? Backpacking the "Jesus Trail" for a few days. The Biblical Text says Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum - but if you read that one verse (Matt 4:13), don't you sometimes just wonder what would that journey may have been like? How long did it take? What did He see or who did He encounter along the way?

We purchased a very detailed map of the region (available in Hebrew only), the route we mapped out was to hike from Nazareth, north to Zippori (aka Sepphoris - the capital of the Galilee during the early years of Jesus, before it moved Tiberias...but not mentioned in the Gospels), on to Cana (John 2, and 4), then west through the Bet Netofa Valley, through the Arbel Pass approaching the Sea of Galilee and finally following the northwestern shoreline to the city of Capernaum. A total distance of about 35-40 miles.

"Whoever claims to live in Jesus must walk as Jesus walked" (1John 2:6)

This, I might add, always has been, and always will be more important than walking where Jesus walked, but being blessed with the opportunity to do both...we set out.

Stacie and I walking to Cana -
the tel is the small brown hill directly in front of us

After hiking for about 10 hours the first day, we arrived at the base of the tel and set up camp for the night there in an already harvested wheat field. Tim read the two stories of Jesus in Cana - first at the wedding banquet where He performed His first miracle turning water into wine (John 2), then just a couple chapters later Jesus again visits Cana, a city of miracles.

"Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” The royal official *said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off."
(John 4:46-50)

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him.

Tim, Kristi and Stacie at our campsite the second night -
a couple miles west of the Arbel Pass

Hiking through the Arbel Pass -
the most likely ancient route to the Sea of Galilee

Mount Arbel behind us

"Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
“THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI,
BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES—
“THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT,
AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH,
UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”
(Matthew 4:12-16)

Wilderness Wanderings

Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, “Aaron will be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. “Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up to Mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be gathered to his people, and will die there.” So Moses did just as the LORD had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. After Moses had stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

- Numbers 20:22-29

So Steve, Hayley, Stacie and I headed to the Negev in search for Mount Hor - one of the traditional sites anyway. The place was quite unique, and not exactly along the well traveled tourist sites.
We like that.

Stacie and Hayley with Mt. Hor in the background

Our car is the gray dot in the middle of the picture -
not exactly a frequently visited tourist site


Hayley, Steve and Stacie reaching the top - nice work!

Hayley and Steve walking along the flattened mountain top

Not sure what Stacie and I are doing here, but...thankful to be here

Cheese and Crackers

David vs. Goliath.

Almost everyone has heard of the story, even if they have never actually read the written account in 1Samuel 17. Every Sunday School teacher has taught the story to their class. Even sports analysts use it every once in a while to try to suck people in to a big game between a heavily favored team vs. an obvious "underdog."

It's the story of a young shepherd boy, who stumbles on to the battlefield with a sling and a stone killing a giant warrior. It's a great story, and if you hadn't heard it before, I just spoiled the end of the "movie" for you. Sorry, but you should still read the story anyway.

There is so much more history and background packed in to this story, of which I won't go in to all those details here, but there are a couple things to note. David is a shepherd boy in Bethlehem. His brothers and the rest of the Israelite army are fighting a battle against the Philistines in the Shephelah (western foothills), which is midway between Bethlehem and the Coast (where the Philistines lived). Then, in 1Sam 17:17 - Jesse, David's father, tells him to take about 22 liters of roasted grain, 10 loaves of bread and 10 cheeses to his brothers who are fighting in the Elah Valley. The distance from Bethlehem to the city of Azekah in the Elah Valley is about 17 miles.

Sometimes I wonder, What would it have been like to be bringing cheese and crackers to your brothers in the middle of a war zone? Was he nervous or just doing what his dad told him to do? Did he have a donkey or something to help carry the food? Were the cheeses different kinds? Did his feet hurt by the time he got there? Was he practicing slinging stones along the way?

Being intrigued by David's life story, which enters the biblical scene with this journey carrying cheese and crackers to his brothers, we decided to explore the Elah Valley ourselves. Now we did not follow David's footsteps entirely with a walk from Bethlehem to Azekah (partly because of political reasons) but a few of us did hike from Azekah, along a ridge above the Valley and then back through it, for a solid 5 walk. Just trying to get a better "feel" for what it would have been to walk in David's sandals.

Hayley, Ben and Steve overlooking the Elah Valley

The Elah Valley, with the Tel Socoh (brown hill) in the background

A shepherd boy with his flock we met along the way

Steve and Ben walking through the Elah Valley along wheat fields

"Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”
- 1Samuel 17:45-47