In the Waiting for 2009!

So it's a year away, but I'm in a prayerful mode considering the 2009 trip to Palestine. God has layed on my heart to minister in Palestine, and not a day goes by where I am not praying for their country and the people, and friendships I have.

But what has happened in the last 6 months....

• God has provided me with a great Discipleship Group.
• I am starting Evangelism Explosion for 13 wks. to prepare for 2009 trip.
• Friends adopted from Guatemala, and God is doing a work in our church with families adopting.

Please be in prayer for our next trip to Palestine. God is doing a mighty work, and has allowed us to minister in a mighty way. I'm praying for the team that will go and for the people in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Palestine will be opened to the Gospel.

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Post-Trip Blog

Our travel was difficult as most of our team was ill from food poisoning the night before. Touring Jerusalem for me was difficult and i found myself asleep in the van, being taken care of by team members. Many of us felt very ill and weak, but God is always faithful and took care of us. We thank you for your prayers...we could really feel them this week.

We saw the power of prayer as many were saved, and in the smallest ways of getting through the checkpoints with little hassle and at times, no passport show. God showed us his love through the hospitality of the Palestine people. They definitely fed us well! We ate all the time, they wanted to be sure we had enough to eat even if it was at 11pm, when we were tired and ready for bed. The kids showed us that we need more patience for language barrier. The adults showed us their need for further explanation of the gospel. They understood that God loved them, and that they sinned. But truly believed that works was enough to get to heaven. It was like a lightbulb went off when they realized that it was by grace we are saved, and not by works. The families needed Christ and through our words and interpreters, God answered our prayers, even when it was just seeds that were planted.
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This experience in the holy land is one that will never be forgotten. Seeing where Jesus walked, lived. The dead sea, the sea of Galilee, seeing many professing faith in God. It was a joy to be with an amazing team that loved that Lord and wanted to serve Him. My life is changed and I want to continue to follow in His footsteps.

A Marathon Saturday!

We are up early and ready for our travel. Today was a very fun and exciting time as we traveled to many different places. Some of which I can't even remember. Our first stop was Jericho...where we saw the ruins of the wall. Then it was the Jordan River. What an experience to travel to so many places that Jesus had been. I have never been so blessed in my entire life as I experienced where Jesus was baptized. How amazing it was to obey God in his command to be baptized in the Jordan River. We traveled to tiberias, the sea of galilee, the sermon on the mount, The mount of temptation, Mt.Carmel...and more. So much that we learned and pictures won't do you justice.

Shopping Day!

Finally a day of rest. Our camp is over and what an amzing time to see the work God is doing. Today were were able to shop.....It was finally a moment of relaxation. Time for the weary group to rest. The afternoon was pretty much ours till evening. We met to practice our songs for sunday, and then it was our last day of home visits. We only had 1 visit each, so that we could rest and be ready for our marathon travel day on saturday. We wanted to see as much as time would allow.

Another Day

So the days are going by fast and there still is no time for the weary. Our team is talking that we need time to ourselves. Time for swimming again today, but we had less kids. It was still a good group. We had some stay at the YMCA and a few of us worked at the church. I cleaned the church floors, washed some windows and learned the process of cleaning floors. They use water, then pine sole soapy water, then water again, then a towel dry. All of this cleaning done with a squeegie.
So today I went to our visits at night with Katie, and I had a great time listening to her share the gospel. She shares it so beautifuly and I was blessed by her. She and I shared together, and though we didn't have acceptance with the husband, the wife prayed in her heart.

My host family has been great. I have a young girl Alia who is 25 and lives with her dad Samuel, and her uncle Abed. They are strong believers and i thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. Alia is one of our translaters and doing a great job. She says her english is not always good but it's been great for us. She spent a year in England and returned just before we arrived. The people have been wonderful to us. We have enjoyed them so much. Our trip was going to end soon, and we just wanted to stay. It was the second day and I felt safe and at home. God was taking care of me in so many ways. I often had to take a taxi in the afternoon back home. And they know taxi drivers. Magid was usually who i got, and he spoke english and so that was a blessing.

The Dead Sea

I'm was so excited today to go traveling. It's a good break in the afternoon for us. We ended camp a little early so we could load our bus and see some sites. I felt like i had half my suitcase in my bookbag, as we needed towels, change of clothes for both the dead sea and evening, seeing we had home visits tonight as well.

Our tour guide was awesome! He's a born again christian and has many years on him as a tour guide. He had lots and lots of information. There was so much to see.... and so much to learn. My head my explode with all the information.

We first headed to Masada....it was extremely hot. I felt like the sun could just burn me in an instant. It wasn't my favorite spot looking around where Harrod lived/very dry and hot.

The dead sea was so amazing!!!! I think i finally started using that word lots. Everywhere I went i was like aww amazing. It felt like home to be seeing all these sites. What an experience to float in the dead sea.

We were wanting to visit Jericho today as well. But the pastor Basamm wanted us to do home visits tonight. There was much talk to our Andre our guide and he said we could squeeze it in on saturday if we left early. Sometimes you just have to compensate when your doing work for God, but want to see sites. No rest for the weary we were beginning to see. I was exhausted from the day and not feeling the best, so i took a little nap on the couch. But was woken up to do a home visit. I so was not in the mood to go, but there was no convincing Basamm that I could stay. I tried to wake myself up and go. It was a mom with 4 children with her husband in the states. We shared the gospel right away with her, and you could see in her eyes that she was beginning to understand, and she said she has faith because her son when he was born had to have heart surgery...and not supposed to live and he did. And then he was going in to surgery again in a few days for his foot that his toe needed to be lengthen. The boy wasn't nervous at all about it, and it was an opportunity to talk about miracles. We shared that God can still heal and perform miracles. And that gave me an opportunity to share my story when i was a baby and not supposed to live unless i had a family of love...and i was able to share my testimony.

The daughter said she read her bible every night, and she prayed with us tonight as well. We gave them a bible and you should have seen the girl's eyes. Her bible was damaged because she reads it all the time and was in need of a bible. God is answering our prayers. So many people praying for us!