A Post by Karen

The following is post that Karen Yoder wrote with more details on the first few days. She will probably be doing the majority of the writing from here on. Enjoy!

Here’s a hello from the Israel Tour! First of all, we apologize for this being our very first detailed blog, we really are sorry it’s taken us this long…but, before you criticize our long silence, let me hasten to make a number of very valid “excuses.” For many of us, our trip did not begin in the normal, “let’s board the plane fashion.” Our group of 60, congregating from all over the U.S. and Canada, were all scheduled to fly into JFK Tues. evening and then from there to Tel Aviv. Due to weather issues at JFK, some us never flew out of our starting point and some of those who were able to leave, fervently wished themselves at home until the JFK issues were cleared. Delta was not particularly sympathetic to our plight, so there are stories of sleeping on airport floors, being flown to Paris, Cairo and other unique routes to Tel Aviv. To complicate matters further, Delta has major luggage issues, so quite a few folks came to Israel with nothing but their carry on luggage. They have been remarkably amiable about it and you do not hear them complaining. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have luggage, have been trying to provide for them, but then, who really wants to borrow another person’s deodorant?

Our group of ten from Millersburg left a day late, thus missing the first day and a half of teaching…we flew out of Columbus Wed. evening, from there to the dreaded JFK airport, then into Amman Jordan, then crossed the border to Israel via bus. At JFK we met others who are with our tour. The bus trip over was interesting, but unless you have boundless energy I wouldn’t recommend it. We were beyond tired when we arrived at the Leonardo hotel beside the Dead Sea. It’s amazing what warm food, a shower and rest can do, and we all bounced back beautifully!

Last night we were in Ramon and the internet service was terrible so we never did update. So there you have it, all my “very valid excuses.”J I wish I knew exactly what all those of you who are watching our blog want to know. Do you want to know exactly where we are? Do you want a dizzinging array of details? Are you looking for a brief overview? If you want to leave us comments regarding what exactly you wish to know, that would be wonderful.

So far Ray has us in the desert….let’s just say, I’ve read stories about the desert and watched movies…foolishly thinking I’m prepared and know what a desert is. Wow…I publicly want to say that God helping me, I will NEVER think of the Israelites in the same manner. Wow…I believe Ray said there is no record of them complaining about the heat, only food and drink. The heat and barren, rocky, ugly landscape are impossible to explain, it must be experienced. And this is what 95% of that Promised Land was like! My view of the land flowing with milk and honey was woefully wrong. I’ve been stunned at how many, many perceptions I have of Biblical stories and truths that are so wrong when viewed through the cultural and rabbinical settings in which they were taught/experienced. I look at my notes, then at the clock in dismay. We get up early and we have long days so I can’t be up all night, which is what it would take to go through my notes and put it all on here. Ray has a passion to bring the story of the Bible alive and in doing so, making it thoroughly applicable to the 21^st century. I will attempt to make a brief overview of our first two days here and bear in mind that we missed the beginning of the tour.

Day One – Friday, October 1

We spent the morning and early afternoon at a “wadi.” The heat was quite intense, to state it mildly, but we did get occasional breezes that we were very grateful for. Our first lesson was the acacia tree…an amazing lesson on what is really meant by being  tree planted by rivers of living water. It was a far cry from my perception of a huge oak tree beside the Mississippi. Here the water flows through in what we know as flash flood style. During the season in which it rains, the tree gets enough water to survive. This tree brings life in a number of different ways; this was likened to us. And from this, Ray began building a theme woven through so much of his teaching…”God would rather have us in His arms in our personal desert, then have us live in the promised land thinking we have need of nothing.” Somehow Ray makes the desert into a beautiful land of relationship with Him, instead of a land to be resisted, dreaded and escaped.

Sorry folks, that’s all for tonight. Shalom to all of you from Israel!