It's good to be home (and to be able to eat real American food)! The team is going to leave comments about some of their experiences from the trip here. Enjoy! Thanks for all your prayers and support, we couldn't have done it without you!

Top Photo: Picture with Woman we cleaned Home

Middle Photo: Presentation to Arab Children in Old City

Bottom Photo: Picture of group and Jerusalem from Mt. Olives

We have returned from a terrific pilgrimage together. Here are a few more photos, we will share with you in the next few days more photos and thoughts. Thank you for your prayers and support, they made a great difference.

They are off! It appears everyone made it off just fine and are in flight to Newark as this is being updated. I believe everyone was sufficiently tired to rest well on the flight. Here are few pictures for your enjoyment and confirmation all are well.


Pictures from the Garden Tomb

It is Sunday morning and our last day in Jerusalem. We had a wonder day as we toured the city yesterday. We started at the Mt. of Olives and a walk the path Christ took. We went to Dominus Flavit (the Lord Wept) and then to the Church of All Nations (Garden of Gethsemene). We had lunch and shopped at an Olive Wood store. Next we went to the church of the Holy Sepulcher the to the Western Wall. (Kotel) Our last stop of the Day was the Garden Tomb where we had communion and a time of prayer. We returned to Hotel for show and diner followed by a farewell party. We will miss our new friend. Today is a free day to shop and tour and we will leave for the airport at 8pm. Keep us in your prayer. We are aware of all the event taking place here and are blessed.

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem! It is late Friday afternoon. The streets are quiet, the shops are closed, and we have arrived at our Hotel for a special Shabbat Dinner.

On Thursday we had a "Hands On" Option day. Some of us visited with the survivors of terrorist attacks and then went back to our hotel for dinner. In the evening, as a group we attended a Young Adult Worship Night at the King of Kings Assembly.

This morning, Friday, we began the day after breakfast hearing a Hebrew University Professor, Moshe Sharon. His subject, "The Two Faces of Islam" which was a very informative and thought provoking lecture. His summation: Strengthening Christianity is the only answer to Islam.

From the lecture, we boarded the bus and drove to Yad Vashem, (The Holocaust Museum). From the Museum, we went to a Maale Adumim where we enjoyed lunch and heard a local Israeli explain the community to us. We are looking forward to a pleasant evening - a special time to be in Israel. Thanks to all of you who made it possible for us to be here!

Wednesday evening here... Our Jerusalem hotel is very comfortable!

On Tuesday, we spent the morning at the ICEJ headquarters learning about current events in Israel and the Covenants of the Bible. Later in the afternoon, we worked in the gardens surrounding Hansen's Hospital. In the evening, we rehearsed a street presentation of "A Wise Man Builds His House Upon the ROCK."

After breakfast and a lecture this morning, we cleaned houses in the Old City. This was an experience that really touched our hearts. In the afternoon, we made our Presentation in the Christian [Arab] section of the Old City where children with sparkling eyes, shinning faces, and happy hearts were seated in the open area surrounded by buildings where they live as families. Many mothers were watching from the windows one, two, and three stories above the street area. We sang together, danced together, and the Drama was a smashing success. We did some face painting and shared candy with the participants. As we made our clean-up, drummers played, and we left feeling we had been in the presence of someone greater than ourselves.

This evening we had free time - experiencing the famous Ben Yehuda Street! It is time for rest. God bless you, with love from Jerusalem!

We have settled into our hotel in Jerusalem. We are at the Jackson's Apartment where we are having spaghetti and homemade pecan pie. It is a little taste of Tennessee in the heart of heart of Jerusalem. We have a guest speaker tonight so we can't stay long but have had a refreshing time. Tomorrow we go to the International Christian Embassy to have a tour, hear international speakers and have lunch with some of the staff. In the afternoon we will have a "Hands On" program at the Hansen's Hospital gardening and then back to the Hotel for some time with the other attenders discussing what we have experienced and planning for our day in the old city. Thanks for all your prayers and comments. Our time together today touring the old city was exciting. We made our way from one side to the other. We had a time of worship and prayer at the site of the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2)

Blessings and Pray for the peace of Israel. Our scripture has been Isaiah 40:1-2. Please join us in ask God to help us see this come to pass with the people we care for and minister too while here.

On Sunday morning, we drove from the Bedouin Camp in the southern part of Israel to the Coastline city of Netanya. We arrived at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village [originated as a center for the children orphaned by the Holocaust, for new immigrants, and for the poor of Israel].

Israel's population consists of 7 million, 2.5 million are under the age of 18. The challenge at the center is to offer opportunity for change. Some of the best athletes in Israel come from this Center.

We cleaned the streets, the gardens, and washed the windows in the dinning hall.We had dinner with the students and swam in their pool. In the evening, we gathered for prayer and sharing.

On Monday morning, we had breakfast and some time to spend at the beach in Netanya. We have since arrived in Jerusalem where we had lunch in the Old City. Thank you for your prayers for our effectiveness. We are enjoying good health and trying to learn as we move forward.

Water Baptism was very meaningful for all of us!
We had a fabulous drive down through the Jordan Valley [seeing fields of
watermelons, grapes, and date palms] from the shores of the Galilee to the
far tip of the Dead Sea.

Our swim in the Dead Sea was alot of fun, and very exciting!

We traveled on through the wilderness [look at the maps in the back
of your Bible]. We were six miles east of Arad when we arrived at the Bedouin
Camp. We could see the back side of Massada to the east from our camp.

We then rode camels and donkeys and enjoyed a tasty dinner in a tent.
We had a time of fellowship, bible teaching, worship, and prayer time.
Our sleep was pleasant and something we will probably never forget.
Our breakfast - scrambled eggs, an assortment of breads, jams, cheese,
cereal, juice and coffee.

We had a wonderful rest here on the Galelee and are off to baptisms and then to swim in the Dead Sea and spend the night at a bedouin oasis. I am not so sure there will be internet at the Oasis so it may be a while before we post again. Blessings from Haeretz! ps. all are healthy and doing well.

We have had two wonderful days since first arriving to Israel on the 14th. There has been a bit of trouble getting onto the Internet, however, and that is why there has not been an update.

Thursday the 15th we worked in inner city Tel Aviv and later enjoyed some downtime on the Mediterranean beach. Today we moved up the coast and stopped briefly at Mt. Carmel, traveling from there on to Galilee. Upon our arrival, we took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee and visited the Mt. of Beatitudes, which rises above the north end of the lake. We will spend the night here and have an evening of worship together on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

We are doing well and the Lord is blessing us!

We spend tomorrow night in the desert and will do our best to update when we have a chance!

Greetings from Israel! We have all arrived in what was a very uneventful trip. Our flight from Newark was only 9 1/2 hours. We were greeted at the airport by Dr. and Mrs. Jackson. We spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine at the pools at our hotel (Ma’ale Hachamisha on the Kibbutz of the same name). We had dinner and a meeting with the others we will be serving with on the trip. They come from around the globe… New Zealand, Australia, Finland, South Africa and of course the United States. Keep us in your prayers that we will rest this evening and have a successful day as we will serve in Tel Aviv tomorrow.

The Morning Prayer group along with
the parents and the students gathered
this morning to pray for the trip.

What we are doing...

Our team will be in Israel from June 13-26, 2006 to work with the ICEJ (International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem). The focus of our trip will be service and missions oriented, though we will also have the opportunity to tour the Holy Land and visit the places described in the scriptures. You can find out more information about our trip at the Grafted (ICEJ) website, www.grafted.org. Click on 'Hands-on Project 2006' for details, as well as our daily itinerary.