Day 1

March 26, 2008

Bible Study Theme: Say “Yes” to the Lord. Lord help me to say yes to your commands!

Places Visited:
Joppa
Netanya

We landed in Israel! The flight over was not so bad in comparison to our first leg, (PHX to London 10hours). This flight was 4 ½ hours and went by pretty quick. The Lord granted us sleep and rest on the way. We left London at 8:30 London time and arrived in Tel Aviv at 2:30 pm Israel time. Going through customs was easier than I thought it would be, no problems with luggage or finding our guide. Our guide’s name is Nir. He is really nice and makes lots of jokes that take a few seconds to sink in. Our bus is really nice too. We each have 2 seats to use to spread out. Mom and I have the back of the bus so we have an extra seat. There are 24 of us, 19 from Roswell, 2 from San Antonio, 2 from Nevada, and Me.

The first stop was in JOPPA, which can be found in the Old Testament in the book of Jonah. When Jonah was asked by God to go to Nineveh and deliver His message, but instead Jonah boarded a ship and tried to run away and hide from the Lord. So there are lots of thing depicting the “Big Fish” in Joppa. In the New Testament it was the home town of Peter (Acts 10:5). He had a vision from the Lord to go and eat of what was previously unclean for a Jew to eat. There was a church there in Joppa that we stopped to take pictures and have a short bible study. It over looked the Mediterranean Sea. Someone tried to charge us 1 shekel to use the toilet, at that point we didn't even have shekels. Our bus ride to our hotel was uneventful.

Our hotel is called The Seasons Hotel. It is located right on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. We ate an array of foods (tasted one of each to say we tried it). Then we took a stroll to the beach. Mom and I had to say we were in the Mediterranean Sea! It was quite warm about 68 or so (I think), I was pleasantly surprised. Our rooms are two bedroom suites, we have an awesome view of the ocean with a balcony and window that opens. So I’ll be listening to the waves tonight as I fall asleep.

Thank you Lord for the wonderful blessing!

Things I learned in Israel today:
Gas is about $7.00 gal
The shekel is 3.5 to 1 verses our US dollar