Saturday, February 28, 2009

Saturday, February 29th

Saturday, February 27th

We arrived in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem around 3:00. Unfortunately, though I arrived safely, my suitcase did not. So….I will be wearing the same clothes until it gets here. I am part of a group of 22 and about 6 of us do not have our suitcases.

We got on a big, bug bus. Much nicer than a school bus, but it does not have a bathroom on it. It does, however, have a refrigerator stocked with water bottles that we can buy for $1.00 in American money.

The money used in Israel is shekels, but we have been told that most of the places we go, if we want to buy something, we can use American dollars.

It is raining here today, but our guide, Claudia, says it will get sunnier and warmer through the week. To arrive here in the rain made me wonder why the people who told the stories in the bible didn’t say more about the weather. When Jesus and the disciples were walking all over the place was it mostly sunny? Did they have to make stops because of a thunderstorm? There was the time Jesus stopped the storm when he and the disciples were out on the boat. What are some other weather moments in the bible?

We are about to drive along a road where we can see the big wall that was built to separate Israel from Palestine. Walls, walls, walls. Lots and lots of people do not like the wall. They feel that it keeps neighbors from working out differences. I can tell you it is ugly and grey and feels bad. It looks cold. If I could get out of the bus, I would go put a hand on it and say a prayer for the people on both sides of the wall. I would pray for peace. It makes me sad to see the wall.

When we get to the hotel it was dinner time. We are all very sleepy because no one slept very much on the airplanes. But….dinner….was a huge buffet. All different kinds of foods…fruits, vegetables, soup, meats, desserts. It was unbelievable.

It is expensive to go on the internet everyday. I will either need to share internet time or figure out somewhere else to go to get online. But, all that is for tomorrow. Now, it is time to sleep.
We arrived in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem around 3:00. Unfortunately, though I arrived safely, my suitcase did not. So….I will be wearing the same clothes until it gets here. I am part of a group of 22 and about 6 of us do not have our suitcases.

We got on a big, bug bus. Much nicer than a school bus, but it does not have a bathroom on it. It does, however, have a refrigerator stocked with water bottles that we can buy for $1.00 in American money.

The money used in Israel is shekels, but we have been told that most of the places we go, if we want to buy something, we can use American dollars.

It is raining here today, but our guide, Claudia, says it will get sunnier and warmer through the week. To arrive here in the rain made me wonder why the people who told the stories in the bible didn’t say more about the weather. When Jesus and the disciples were walking all over the place was it mostly sunny? Did they have to make stops because of a thunderstorm? There was the time Jesus stopped the storm when he and the disciples were out on the boat. What are some other weather moments in the bible?

We are about to drive along a road where we can see the big wall that was built to separate Israel from Palestine. Walls, walls, walls. Lots and lots of people do not like the wall. They feel that it keeps neighbors from working out differences. I can tell you it is ugly and grey and feels bad. It looks cold. If I could get out of the bus, I would go put a hand on it and say a prayer for the people on both sides of the wall. I would pray for peace. It makes me sad to see the wall.

When we get to the hotel it was dinner time. We are all very sleepy because no one slept very much on the airplanes. But….dinner….was a huge buffet. All different kinds of foods…fruits, vegetables, soup, meats, desserts. It was unbelievable.

It is expensive to go on the internet everyday. I will either need to share internet time or figure out somewhere else to go to get online. But, all that is for tomorrow. Now, it is time to sleep.

Shalom (peace) from Israel, Pastor Laurie

Saturday, February 29th

Friday, February 27, 2009

I'm Off...sort of....

Well, I've made it as far as the Jacksonville Airport so far. I leave Jacksonville in a few minutes and go to Atlanta. We fly out of Atlanta at about 6:00 tonight to Frankfurt, Germany. We have a little layover and then get on a plane to Tel Aviv, Israel. Then, we get on a bus and drive to Tiberius, which is a city on the Sea of Galilee.

Hopefully, I will write an entry soon after we arrive at our hotel in Tiberius!!

Peace, Pastor Laurie

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Technical Issues and Tests

Part of the interesting thing about this blog is that I do not know how to blog. I am learning as I go.

I bought a flip (which is a mini-video recorder) and will be taking it with me. So...I've done some tests to try and learn how to download from it. I successfully put a video of the Vancini pets (dog-Lady and cat-Aslan) on YouTube.com You can view that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu5RkdK6JEk

Now, I am trying to figure out how to publish video segments to the web that I don't want to put on YouTube. I have a segment of Abbie and have succesfully saved it to my desktop. I tried to join MSN Web Publishing Wizard, but the Wizard doesn't seem to like me and keeps giving me a "an error occurred when verifying your login credentials" Whatever. I better spend time with my family while I'm still here and not on the computer.

5 days to go....
look here, I might have figured it out. Here is Abbie, being Abbie. Maybe not...now blogspot seems to not like my video, either.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Mardi Gras Week

Today the children in our mid-week LOGOS program celebrated Mardi Gras. We dressed in purple and green and ate king cake and had a parade. It was a fitting celebration as next week at the same time, we will join together at our Ash Wednesday service and mark (and be marked) the beginning of Lent.

Two days after Ash Wednesday, I will leave with the group for the Holy Land.

My "to do before I leave" lists for home and work seem to be growing rather than shrinking. Instead of eating and drinking before a fast, I am rushing and scurrying before a sabbath pilgrimage.

The local beaches paper ran an article that appeared today. It can be found at the following link:
http://www.beachesleader.com/articles/2009/02/18/ponte_vedra_leader/beach_living_-_entertainment/doc499c37f4ea114225777143.txt

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Prayers for the Journey

Here’s a traditional Jewish prayer for safe travel (of course, it’s better in Hebrew):

God of our fathers and mothers,
Set us on our journey and guide us
that we may reach our destination joyously alive and at peace.
Deliver us from all dangers on the way.
May we merit favor, kindness, and compassion in your sight and in the sight of all who see us.
Blessed are you, God, for hearing prayers.

PSALM
From the Songs of Ascent, Psalm 122:6-9 (NRSV):
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers."
For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you."
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.