Israel: The Old City of Jerusalem

The journey with YWAM is nearly complete. We are now in Jerusalem for 10 days of debrief, touring the sites, and hanging out with one another. Over the past few days we have all had the chance to visit many of the historic and important sites of this city and of the area around the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Our time here has been amazing - it is an amazing place!

It's difficult to summarize things in words at this point in time. I won't try. Right now we (and I) are trying to make the most of our opportunity to visit this place. The Old City of Jerusalem is lovely, captivating, and completely confusing. Do travel here sometime if ever you have a chance. I would further recommend staying within the Old City as it adds much more to the experience.

Following our travel from Nepal and arrival in Cairo both Trevor and I became patients in hospitals within Cairo for a number of days. At this point we are both doing much better and returning to health. The hospital and sick adventures in Cairo were the focal point of our group's time there as Trevor and I relied heavily upon the grace and mercy of the Lord and others. Let's just say that the hospital experience in Cairo brought two extremes - the absolute worst even requiring jail-break like actions, and the absolute best of a highly rated facilities. Such extremes also brought about due stresses amongst the team members who were trying their absolute best in a situation that is very undesirable. Their a team of hero's.

So, the week in Cairo with all of the varied extremes really tainted the view of Egypt that I left with, and the same is true for some of the team. We found ourselves crossing the border at Tabas into Israel and plopped down in a nice hostel near the beach of the Red Sea in Eilat, Israel. These few days were set aside for our team debrief and a bit of a holiday - most welcome after Cairo. The staggering aspect of arriving in Eilat was the fact that it is nearly a completely Western place - something we had not been around for some months. And, so, there was even a bit of culture shock entering a place and a culture that is rather close to that which we come from.

The bus from Eilat to Jerusalem provided a welcome view of Israel and the area around the Dead Sea. It was a trip made on my 29th birthday - scary to think that 30 is so close... We arrived in Jerusalem and began anxiously awaiting the remaining three teams which we had not yet had contact with (out of five other teams). It was a good day.

It is now a week that we have been in the Old City. Such is hard to believe. We will complete our school with a graduation on Thursday, and Friday, we will all begin making our way in many different directions. I will stay until next Sunday and depart Tel Aviv for Barcelona.

I am not going to summarize the last 6 months into a short paragraph - in fact, I cannot. Words are not adequate in any length, nor can the real experiences ever fully be captured with simply just words. It's life changing.

Thanks for your interest, thoughts, prayers, emails, and any other support. God is much bigger than I thought and He is so much more than you may imagine. He will change you and your life if you wish, but it's your decision, your choice, your life. It will be lived and it will end. How do you want to live it? How do you want to end it?

P.S. The photos have finally been uploaded. Right now there are around 95 photos from the Outreach months. As I said in my last post many are nothing that capture the ministry, but more the sights and people of the team. You'll have to ask to see others that I will hopefully collect from my team in the next few days...

Outreach Photos?!

Out the back door of the guesthouse in UB, Mongolia

Ah, a chance to upload a few photos to the picture album - well, maybe more than a few...

Click here or copy and paste this into your web browser address bar:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=10647013&uid=3614333

If those two options don't work than just click on the Photo Album link on the right side bar - it's over there somewhere...

There were around 95 photos uploaded - yeah, don't ask. I am going to work over the next week or so to organize, name and drop into the YWAM DTS AW80 Outreach photo album. Thus, what you may view over the next few days may not be as complete.

The photos were primarily taken on my camera, with a few thrown in from Trevor's camera. I have realized after taking the chance to review my outreach photos in full, that I have not done the best job of using the camera to capture this outreach. I think that our group's photos together will certainly present a more complete photo diary of outreach, however, there is some time before we can consolidate our worthwhile photos. In any case, please be aware that my photos only represent a fraction of what our outreach has meant to us - in fact, we can never really capture how outreach has affected our lives - I only hope to give you a glimpse of outreach, a picture if you will.

It's a work in progress - we're just pressing on... Enjoy.

Kathmandu & dysentery

It would seem that the water here is not the safest to drink. Or the vegetables and fruit the safest to eat, that is, without first a bath in iodine water. To date, while here in Nepal at least five out of eight of our team (Trevor is planning to catch up with us tomorrow!) have had some sort of trouble resulting in the general diarrhea or the more problematic dysentery (not confident in the doctors conclusion however).

The sickness in the group continues to ebb and flow (uh, literally) as our time in Nepal begins to wind down. I had a couple days of my own where the bathroom was frequented more than it should have been. Much prayer has been put towards defeating the sickness within the group and such has made a marked difference. Additionally, we are very thankful that "over the counter" here extends to many drugs which would require a prescription in the states - thus I am very thankful for Ciproflauxim (sp?) and have a healthy additional supply.

Our days here have been good. Nepal has a rich cultural and people history. The people here are a blend of people types - some Indian, some Mongolian descendants, some Bhutanese - just a blend of people. And, so, to be Nepalese could mean any of many people groups. We have had a little interaction with the local people through our activities (visiting Bible schools or colleges) and those whom some of us speak to in the streets outside our accommodation. Our contacts have been especially inviting and hospitable. In any country we have visited, Kathmandu, Nepal included, the contacts have really made the experience what it was - I am thankful for that.

Today is our last full day in Kathmandu, Nepal. We depart tomorrow and will arrive in Cairo a day later. Nepal is a beautiful place to which it would be great to return some day. The current governmental status is in flux but seemingly headed towards a democratic republic (I hope - a few iterations may be required) - and such may take some time. Our experience here has been a bit impacted by the current political action, but not in any serious or harmful way. We were requested not to be out after dark (even our hosts don't appear to care to travel after dark either, unless by taxi) for safety - such appears more related to petty crime. In any case the time here has been a blessing and we are very thankful to have had this opportunity.

Trevor was able to meet up with us just a couple days ago, however, he is still on the mend and we try to talk him into taking things easy. It is grand to have him back in the group as we missed his company.

A couple of us went out to a viewpoint today. A couple more are celebrating their 2 year wedding anniversary with a flight around Everest. The rest are just chilling and packing. The Thamal area markets here are wonderful - beautiful and quality products for a price that is nothing like we would find back home. Thus, there have been a few of us who have made purchases far exceeding the available space within their personal backpacks - watching the packing today shall be entertaining... As for me I have opted out of any adventures and thankfully have room in my pack for what I now own, and am now spending HOURS at the internet attempting to make reservations for after DTS travels - it's a much more time consuming job than first thought...

At this point in our travels the team is excited to continue our travels, adventures and seeking God, however, there is a definite weariness present. Our itinerary has been a bit less hot and humid than other teams, and our accommodations have probably been a bit different as well - we all really feel blessed for the locations and accommodations in which we have stayed. That said, it would seem that this type of traveling takes a toll on one's body. We have probably all gained a bit of weight, lost muscle, many of us ravaged with sickness at times, and become weary of the adjustment to new places and new cultures. This isn't to say that the experience hasn't been absolutely amazing and enjoyable - just the honesty of where I (and others) are at. We have experienced God in many ways and been witness to much of His work and glory in the lands. We look forward to staying in one spot for more than 10 days in Jerusalem.