Greetings Friends,
Well today was my final day in Israel. I have dual emotions. On one hand I am sad to leave this special place that has transformed me significantly, on the other hand I am thrilled to be heading back to be with my family again. As special as the Holy Land is, it is no substitute for Kealy and our kids ;)
Today was a 'free' day. We had no guide, no itinerary, just a day to go wherever we liked to as a group. We had some discussions last night about what people were still hoping to do and, other than shopping, no one had any great ambitions.
So we started later today and it was really quite nice. The itinerary is rigorous here because there is so much to see and do each day so to move at a slower pace today enabled everyone to catch up a little bit. I am feeling mugh better today and will hopefully be 'phlegm phree' ;) by tomorrow when we travel.
We began our day with a walk along the ramparts of the old city. It was really cool to see the views from the city walls and think of Isaiah 62:6-"I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night."
We also had an opportunity today to visit a special shop and place for discussion called, "The Shorashim Shop," where we listened to and spoke with a Jewish man whose family came to Israel from Canada thirty years ago. We talked about the Land, faith and the Bible. It was a great conversation.
After that we had a nice lunch under a canopy while it rained, then decided to finish our shopping and head back to the hotel. It was fun visiting all the shops again and enjoying the mix of locals and tourists from all over the world. This truly is an international city!
We enjoyed our final meal together as a group and are now each packing and preparing for a short night. We leave our hotel at 3:30am tomorrow morning for the Tel Aviv airport. From there we fly to Turkey, then LAX, the Portland where we will hopefully arrive at 10:30pm Thursday night. I'll be staying the night in Portland after the long travel day then driving home Friday morning to Corvallis.
Please pray for safety and health during our travel time as we return from this amazing and life changing experience. I will post a follow up blog next week when I've had a chance to process a bit more all the experiences we've had here in this special place. Thank u for your prayers and support and for following along during this amazing adventure!
Shalom,
Ryan
Well today was my final day in Israel. I have dual emotions. On one hand I am sad to leave this special place that has transformed me significantly, on the other hand I am thrilled to be heading back to be with my family again. As special as the Holy Land is, it is no substitute for Kealy and our kids ;)
Today was a 'free' day. We had no guide, no itinerary, just a day to go wherever we liked to as a group. We had some discussions last night about what people were still hoping to do and, other than shopping, no one had any great ambitions.
So we started later today and it was really quite nice. The itinerary is rigorous here because there is so much to see and do each day so to move at a slower pace today enabled everyone to catch up a little bit. I am feeling mugh better today and will hopefully be 'phlegm phree' ;) by tomorrow when we travel.
We began our day with a walk along the ramparts of the old city. It was really cool to see the views from the city walls and think of Isaiah 62:6-"I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night."
We also had an opportunity today to visit a special shop and place for discussion called, "The Shorashim Shop," where we listened to and spoke with a Jewish man whose family came to Israel from Canada thirty years ago. We talked about the Land, faith and the Bible. It was a great conversation.
After that we had a nice lunch under a canopy while it rained, then decided to finish our shopping and head back to the hotel. It was fun visiting all the shops again and enjoying the mix of locals and tourists from all over the world. This truly is an international city!
We enjoyed our final meal together as a group and are now each packing and preparing for a short night. We leave our hotel at 3:30am tomorrow morning for the Tel Aviv airport. From there we fly to Turkey, then LAX, the Portland where we will hopefully arrive at 10:30pm Thursday night. I'll be staying the night in Portland after the long travel day then driving home Friday morning to Corvallis.
Please pray for safety and health during our travel time as we return from this amazing and life changing experience. I will post a follow up blog next week when I've had a chance to process a bit more all the experiences we've had here in this special place. Thank u for your prayers and support and for following along during this amazing adventure!
Shalom,
Ryan
1 comment:
Hello Ryan and Kealy Thorson. So good to know you through your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am so glad to visit your blog post which gives me an opportunity to comment on your blog post. Though you have not visited this blog post almost a year still I am tempted to comment on your blog post with the hope you will visit your blog post and read my comment. I feel privileged and honored to get connected with you because of you being in the Pastoral ministry. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India and I love to get connected with the people of God around the world to be encouraged, strengthen and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 36 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai to Mumbai to work with us and also know different cultures in one city. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends and also wishing you a blessed and a Christ centered rest of the New year 2016
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