Another warm day in paradise. Mid 90's. Our travels took us to Kana (where Jesus turned water to wine & where he changed our plans significantly), Haifa (to meet up with the deLeon's, acquaintances who are now friends), Mt Carmel (where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal in a battle of faith), a Druse community, and to Caesarea (more archaeological stuff, city where Paul was imprisoned before taking his cruise to Rome).
On the matter in Kana (Cana is how we usually spell it; they pronounce it with 2 short "a's"), we drove into the town knowing there was a church marking the supposed spot of the wedding feast. We saw a sign saying "Churches Street", deduced that must be it, and headed down this narrow cobblestone street, getting narrower by the yard until someone had left their VW blocking the road (little did we know that beyond the VW were rocks that would have required we turn around anyway). So we turned around. As we made our way back we came to the 2 men we had seen sitting across the narrow street from their gift shop. We made eye contact, rolled down the window, and they were (in English) inviting us to park in their driveway next to the shop. We did so, went to tell them thanks, only to hear the one man tell us he was a pastor at a Baptist Church in Kana. That lead to conversation, a ride to his church, meeting some of his family, hearing about the church and ministry, and a wonderful time of prayer. And that was pretty cool.
So was our time with Daniel and Christy deLeon, their son Azariah and Daniel's grandmother Malia. They are from SoCal, studying in Haifa, and working alongside a church and seeking to share Christ with those who are willing to hear. After conversation we went to Mt Carmel, perhaps the top Biblical sight of the day (to me anyway). While there we recorded Daniel reading the Biblical account of Elijah as we shot a movie of the Valley of Jezreel (Esdraelon, Armageddon, same valley we saw yesterday but from a different direction.
We had lunch at a Druse cafe. The Druse are an interesting religious group and we will let that be enough on that subject for now.
Better go. Tomorrow hope to be a little more laid back, perhaps a swim in Lake Genesseret (Sea of Galilee). Perhaps.

Wednesday Sep 29 was great. Besides getting to know Tiberias a little better our primary visits were to 2 Israeli Nat'l Parks: Tabor (Mt Tabor) & Tel Megiddo. Tabor is the traditional site for the transfiguration. Great views from the top in all directions. It sits at one edge of the Plain of Esdraelon (Jezreel, Valley of Armageddon or Valley of the Mount of Mediggo). From Megiddo great views of the entire valley and Nazareth, Mt Tabor, Mt Moreh, the mountains of Gilboa. Anyway, we also got a few pix of Nain where Jesus raised the widows little boy.
Looking forward to tomorrow in Haifa and meeting Daniel and Christy DeLeon & family (Christy is Carol Wms grand-daughter ... more on that when we get home).
It's hot here! Reminds me of Imperial Valley. But it is so productive. We saw cotton fields, olive orchards, corn fields, and a whole bunch of other things growing. And I had 2 pieces of herring for breakfast, one in oil, onew in water and other spices. I'm not much for raw or cold fish; and sure enough, this was pretty good all day long!
Now time to try to put some pix on Facebook. God bless in Christ!

Monday, Sep 27, 1PM: Well, we’re in the air. Apparently over Nebraska. . We had an equipment problem at Salt Lake City so had to return to the repair shop. Either the wing fell off or it was some piece of online-equipment they had to have that wasn’t coming up on the screen. To quote the cap, “Good news. They had the part in stock. We’ll be on our way shortly.” Really wasn’t that bad a situation but we have 1 1/2 hrs in NYC to catch the plane to Tel Aviv. As we were getting ready to take off cap said we’re half an hour late but by our watches it was over an hour. Oh well, who knows? Prob the cap. Nice to know the Cap is in control anyway.

6:30PM EDT Cap says there’s some plane in the driveway, not moving, has a medical emergency and we just have to wait on the tarmac. After 25 min the other plane moves & we reach our gate. Now less than an hour to catch the next plane.

7:00PM EDT We have been standing in the aisle of our airplane. The door is not open yet after 15 min or so. Apparently the thing-a-ma-bob that runs the jetway isn’t working right and a repairman has been called to rectify the situation. As the stewardess says, “When it rains it pours.”

7:35PM EDT We were not the first off the plane. And when we got off took 5 min to find a screen giving us the gate for our next plane. We did an O. J. Simpson 62-yr-old style (no, we did not kill someone; we ran through the airport … okay, walked fast.) But alas, the gate was already closed. But 2 people besides us were already there pleading the cause. And believe it or not, they re-opened the gate to let us through. Had to go through security again but we are on board, sweaty, huffing & puffing, hungry (we were going to eat at JFK but the Lord knows Ron didn’t need to eat).

2PM Israeli Time Let’s see, another extra 30-40 min delay leaving JFK. The delay at least gave the luggage guys more time to get ours transferred. Arrived 1:40, security was surprisingly easy … once they knew we were part of a tour group they passed us right on through. Long wait for the 1st of our 4 bags to come crashing onto the carousel. But the ALL arrived, PTL. And NO CUSTOMS. Just welcome to Israel. 95 deg F. Muggy. Warm breeze in Tel Aviv.

Went to the Old Port of Joffa (Yafo, Joppa … think Jonah and some other OT stories). Then headed for Tiberias. Roamed around Tiberias (see photo from hotel room), which is on the Sea of Galilee. We can hardly wait to get to bed. It’s 8:45PM now which is 11:45AM Tues in Kalispell. Been up 31 hours. In the dark we drove through or past Caesarea, Nazareth, Nain, Mt Tabor (in the dark it was impressive, drove right by it), and a bunch of other places we are eager to see. But tomorrow. Gotta get some sleep! Had an Israeli lunch (don’t ask me what I had but Cindy had stuffed zucchini). And a milk shake & ice cream cone in the McDrive. Yes!!!!!

Enough for now. Will report less tomorrow!

It was early this morning. Cindy woke me up to pray about 3AM ... she was awake and realized someone 2 time zones away was having an early morning c-section. I was glad to pray with her but then I couldn't go back to sleep. So I'm laying there, thinking about Gospel of John which I'll be teaching in Zaporozhye. I realize that there are some things that are coming together in my thinking about John and the point of the gospel (John 20:31) and the ebb and flow of the entire book. One thing I've learned is that there are often some clear thoughts that come at that time and that I should get out of bed and do something with them. So if you have been praying about my studies thank you. It's later in the day and I've checked the work and it seems to make perfectly good sense to me. :) But keep praying for us. Fri & Sat are "packing" days. That won't be stressful. Although pray that Cindy knows which shoes to take. It's so easy for me: one pair in the suitcase, one on my feet. That's all the shoes I own.

Let's get ready to BLOG

Welcome to our page for communicating with you on our upcoming travels and ministry in Israel, Ukraine and Sri Lanka. We are 8 days away from departure. We are excited. And we are trying to be orderly about our packing plans. We have less luggage on this trip than on previous trips because several of our flights originate outside the USA where the baggage restrictions are significantly tighter. Yet we have books and other weighty materials to carry, some to Ukraine and some to SL. So if you have any tips on traveling lighter leave a comment and let us know about them. Otherwise, we hope to update you with short blogs and pictures as we go along. Pray for us as the Lord lays us on your hearts.