Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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It’s been a whirlwind of a week. First things first, I’m in Israel!

I love this country and am in constant awe of God’s creation, even more so the story of Jesus. I feel like there is so much more of the Bible and Christian history I want to learn and just can’t absorb enough in one month.

Anywho, like I said, it’s been a crazy first week here. Within 24 hours of arriving we cleared customs at the airport with zero problems, toured the city of David, ‘survived’ Hezekiah’s tunnel, ran into a guy from Austin whose sister went to high school with me (mind you we were on a bus in the middle of nowhere, crazy huh?), ate the most amazing falafel ever and our bus run over a donkey. It was a bit traumatic, but alas, a story to tell.
Squeezing through Hezekiah’s Tunnel while looking stellar with my headlamp.
Honestly, I was upset about a whole month without technology. It’s one thing to not have Internet access, but no computers, no iPod, no movie nights, nada. Sometimes your only means of mental escape is the ‘official Race sign’ of putting in headphones. It’s somehow less effective without an iPod attached. But, we’ve been granted a reprieve from fasting on Christmas to call our families which will make talking to them even better. I’m trusting God has some awesome things to teach me this month.

God has my heart in a crazy season. One I can’t particularly place my finger on. The novelty of this journey has begun to wear. I find myself more annoyed at living out of a backpack and constantly moving. It’s in those moments God whispers to me,  reminding me of his faithfulness. It’s hard to complain when I do a reality check and think about Jesus walking where I walked.

Some other things my week has consisted of:

-Jesus healing my teammate Bethany’s eye after she had a painful yet comical injury. Read her blog for more info. It was quite the day.

–Birkleigh and Bambi were baptized in the Jordan where John the Baptist baptized Jesus

Jen reading a passage before the girls were baptized in the Jordan River.
Dipping my feet in the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized.
 
-Went to the Sea of Galilee and dipped our feet in the same water Jesus walked on.

Beatiful Sea of Galilee. I was surprised by how small the sea was, felt more like a lake.
-Toured the city of Capernaum where we walked the grounds of Peter’s house and the synagogue. The ruins are amazing and weren’t a part of the Jewish revolt so they’ve been kept intact. You can see the original stones at the bottom that were there when Jesus was.

-Saw the Church of Multiplication where Jesus took a few fish and loaves of bread and fed the masses.

-Drove by the Mount of Beatitudes.

-Went to Nazareth and saw the Church of Anunciation. There is now a huge church there and underneath is the remains of Mary’s house where the angel appeared to her.

-Began our ministry of teaching English to Sudanese refugees and holding a computer lab.
Me and Gloria playing and practicing our numbers in English (and Hebrew for me).

-Had a traditional Shabbat dinner with a family of Messianic Jews. I’ve done Shabbat before with some Jewish friends back home. It was really cool to be able to do this with believers. We played the guitar and sang some worship for them and they taught us some traditional Hebrew Shabbat songs and we enjoyed an awesome dinner.

So as you can see I’m incredibly blessed. To physically see places I’ve only read about. Makes the Bible come alive in a new ways. Can’t say there is much else a girl could ask for then to spend a Christmas in the country where Jesus was born.

I wish I could provide more details as to where I am and all about our ministry but I can’t in order to protect our contacts. We’re teaching English at nights and our contact is amazing! He holds classes for us in the mornings to teach us more about the Bible, and is anxious to show us more of the Holy Land.

I hope you all find yourself in the midst of a beautiful holiday season. Be mindful that despite the craziness this time of year offers we have much to be thankful for, and above all let us remember the ‘reason for the season’ as they say.

P.S- Another awesome Christmas present Jesus decided to give me is EGYPT! If you remember, we were supposed to visit Egypt but were rerouted. Well, unfortunately, the cheapest way to get to Uganda, which is where I’m headed next, is through Cairo. Don’t you just hate when that happens? I’m not sure we’ll have time to see anything but I’m praying I can see a pyramid or something on the way. From Cairo we’ll fly to Nairobi (I’m more than acquaintances with this airport after hours of intense flight problems getting to Africa last year) then we’ll bus to Uganda.

Mom and Dad- Can’t wait to talk to you on Christmas!