Just as the word says, if you follow the Lord and continue to run after His own heart, then He will bless you abundently. We are here in the “mother land” and loving every minute of it! Our teams split up in a small town and I think Oasis got the best end of the deal. We are living at the contacts’ house, overlooking the Negev desert. Every morning Erin and I wake up grab our coffee and read a few chapters while staring off into the vastness that Jesus wondered himself. Oh soo cool. The other morning Erin saw a horse and after we stared further we saw twenty camels that were being hearded right to us. She ran and woke everyone else up and grabbed her camera. I ran down to greet these funny looking creatures. The shepherd boy stopped them and I got to pet and see up close this wonderful creation. I even jumped on his donkey and hearded the one lost camel. Yes, I rode a donkey in the Negev desert! Just trying to be like Jesus every chance I get. Anyway…so life at the house has been a blessing. Oasis is helping out at a soup kitchen and also watching over a laundry mat for all the teams. Serving great food to the locals is really fun. The culture here is quite different from the states. Lines are non-existant and yelling is not that big of a deal. Personal space is really not a concept to them either. Not very many people speak English in this village, so spreading the good news is a little harder than expected, but just showing love is always great. The contact here is a very very smart man, and that doesn’t even do him justice. He has lived here for ten years and is married to his perfect mate. They use their house as a retreat and a learning center. His extensive library and personal knowledge is greatly appreciated by many people on the squad. Everyone meets here just about every day for a Bible lecture or some type of lesson.
It hasn’t been all work and study and no play by any means. We have been to Jerusalem and seen some of the many sites there. Hopefully we will going back soon to do more exploring. We went through Hezekiah’s tunnel and saw the church where Jesus ascended to heaven. There are so many places to see that are biblical and only so much time we are given here. Oasis took an afternoon field trip to the Dead Sea last week. Yes, everyone floated! The water felt very slimmy and it hurt a lot if it splashed into your eyes. At any point you could reach down and pick up a salt crystal the size of a golf ball! The weather was beautiful that day, and it was nice to just be on the beach soaking up the sun. Yesterday we went to Masada and Ein Gedi. Masada is not in the bible but a very historical place. Basically a mountian where King Herold built a city so he and his people were safe from the Romans. They ended up dying a soldiers death and not by the Romans sword. Ein Gedi is a tropical waterfall in the middle of the desert. A series of three waterfalls with spectacular foliage. We saw some local wildlife and even jumped in for a swim to freshen up after our earlier hikes.
We plan on going up north to the Sea of Galilee next week but plans change all the time. Life here has been great and the whole internet, ipod, and computer fast has been pretty good. There have been times when a movie sounds like the perfect thing but just relying on God and seeking him has been better. Erin and I have been reading more and had plenty of talking time, which she really likes. We are eating pretty basic food since we have our own kitchen. And last week, four nights the soup kitchen provided dinner for our team and we usually had extra.
It is great to be in the same places that so many people we read about in the Bible have been. Please continue to pray for us and we love all of you soooooo much. Christmas day we will have access to the internet and skype. So please please have yours on and ready and email where you will be! We can give more details about this next week. Love ya, miss ya, and can’t wait to see ya.
