In no way do I claim or pretend to be a Biblical scholar, a historian or a political activist. I am writing this as an ordinary person, admittedly ignorant of much of what has gone on in the “Holy Land” save the things I have heard in sermons or statements made by Evangelical Christians. I […]

Our last bit of luggage has finally arrived. The luggage was delivered at all different times of the day and night, but everyone received theirs. We had packed three boxes which have also arrived. One of them came via India, Nashville and Atlanta! It even came on a different airline! […]

We left Jerusalem at 2:30 a.m. and went by van to the airport. It took us not quite an hour to get there. We began experiencing Israel’s security even before we got off the van. Once inside the airport we were questioned, our bags then put through an x-ray machine and then […]

This morning we went to the Mount of Olives. What a beautiful view of the city of Jerusalem. One could almost hear Jesus’ words, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem… I would have gathered you as a mother hen….” Pastor again read us scripture there and in the Garden of Gethsemane. The olive trees are over 2,000 years […]

Yesterday we traveled by van for two hours to the Sea of Galilee. It was a beautiful trip through the Israel countryside. Our first stop was in the “wilderness.” Pastor David has preached several times about the “wilderness” times in our lives as well as Jesus’ time in the wilderness. It really bought it to […]

I must admit that I was happy when Pastor David asked me to be the team ‘reporter,’ but I found myself yesterday having second thoughts. Trying to understand what the conflict is about becomes almost overwhelming.
Yesterday we visited a refugee camp. We sat in a Women’s Center and talked to the Director. The doors were […]

We stayed our first night in The Jerusalem Hotel. It is a really interesting building made of stone and furnished with beautiful wood furniture from Egypt. It is not as quiet as BBC in Bethlehem, but some say it helps to have the ceiling fan on, as long as you don’t mind feeling like you […]

We are now in Jerusalem.
We left Bethlehem by van and had no problem at the checkpoint. Al and Todd walked across the check point and had a much different experience. There was no ‘problem,’ but they understand better now the difficulty of daily life here.
We had two lectures today, one on reconciliation and the other […]

We are busy packing up our things and moving to Jerusalem. Our time here in Bethlehem has been amazing. The people we have met, the amazing stories will be with us forever.
Last night we took four students out for dinner. We interviewed them so we can bring their stories home. We also invited a Pastor […]

We just returned home from an all day trip through the beautiful hills of Israel.
We left this morning by van with our driver, Sam. He drove us to Hebron in the West Bank. We did quite a walking tour through the marketplace towards the old city center. It was a pretty typical market scene with […]