My List

I got really bored the other day so I made a list of all the things I want to do before I die. I came up with 47- I'll give you the Reader's Digest version

1-Visit every continent
2-Get arrested in a foreign country
3-Live in a different country for a year
4-Write a book
5-Be on TV
6-Learn another language
7-Read Gone with the Wind over the summer sitting in a hammock in Savannah Georgia
8-Spend New Years Eve in Time Square
9-Eat at 21 Club in New York
10-Attend Mardi Gras
11-Run the LA Marathon
12-Spend the night in a haunted house
13-See the statue of Liberty
14-Catch a baseball at a major league baseball game
15-Throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain
16-Learn how to find complete Joy in the Lord
17-Dress up and go see Rock Horror Picture Show
18-Be present at a major historical moment
19-Memorize a poem and pass it on
20-Ride a motorcycle
21-Feed the Homeless
22-Join the Peace Core
23-Buy a one way ticket to anywhere in the world
24- Have a beer with Donald!

Some More Pictures from Negev

Just floatin' in the Dead Sea.......that's pretty much all you can do

Some male bonding outside the Hai Bar Animal Park
Swimming in Nahal David
Bathing suite Bellies!

Audra and Patrick waiting to go on the ride of thier life in Eilat!
Oh, look! A really small cave, lets go in!
Yeah, it's pretty much disgusting
Isn't he soooo cute?
When we arrived the at Desert Night Life Kelly and I were sad to find out that it was not a club. Todd the bouncer didnt seem too amused.

Me shimming down in the Red Canyon
Some of the guys here think their pretty hott
My group of 8 girls going to Italy, sad because Egypt is right behind us and we may never see it!
Adam and Todd's son Mark in the Red Sea
Me and El Tigre on the beach at the Red Sea

To the Negev and Back

I have just returned from spending four days in the Negev. What is the Negev you might ask? Well, let me tell you! It is basically the wilderness where the Israelites wandered for 40 years, where David hid from Saul, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, where Joseph was sold into salvery, and where every IBEX group spends four days of fun!

The Negev is dry, hot wilderness. But it was a nice break from the rainy weather here in hills. I wore shorts and t-shirt every day. I have a Teva tan line, and a burned scalp, which means summer is near!

We left Tuesday at 8am and headed toward Beersheba, which was about an hour drive. At Beersheba we had a little skit about Abraham and Sara, with AMAZING acting by some of our own IBEX students. This site use to be an ancient community and there are still parts of houses preserved there, which reminded me of a life size Rox-A-Boxen.

Then we went to David Ben Gurion's house, who was the first Prime Minister of Israel. Then went for a hike through Nahal Zin, which was beautiful! And finished the day off at Avdat where they have huge Iron camel statues that you can take pictures on! And oh yeah, some ancient ruins!

Day two was AMAZING! We didnt take notes once that day! I started off my day at 5:45am with the sunrise at Machtest Ramon which is a huge crator formed naturally. This sunrise was amazing and just reminded me about how gracious God is to show me such amazing things! Then another hike through the Red Canyon where we shimmed and squirmed our way through tight spots. I believe that this canyon would have remided me of The Grand Canyon except I've never been there!

Then we went to Eilat! Oh Eilat, Eilat Eilat...........how can I even describe you? This place was amazing! Eilat is about 4 and half hours from Jerusalem and right on the coast of the Red Sea. It was beautiful! The weather of course was amazing and the water as clear as glass! I could have stayed for weeks in Eilat, I loved it! I highly recommend it as a vacation or honeymoon spot!

To add to it's spendlor we also got to snorkel in the Red Sea! It was really cool. The water was so warm and the fish so beautiful! Then I laid on the beach for the rest of the afternoon and just took in the sun. And to add to that, we stayed at a really nice hotel that night, in room with a balcony! We hung out on the boardwalk, where hippies sell jewlery and dresses and Audra and Patrick rode the scariest shooty uppy thingy ever, and then bought smoothies and sat on the balcony of my room until 11:30pm in shorts and a t-shirt overlooking the night life below! I must go back to Eilat!

Sadly, we had to leave at 8am the next morning to go to Timna where there are ancient copper mines, Solomon's Pillars and a life size model of the Tabernacle. "Tom" the desert rat gave us a totally tubular tour of the Tabernacle complete with every kind of symbloism you could pull out of your butt for everything from the giving of mirrors by women at the entrance of the Tabernacle to a throny tree being the picture of humanity. The guy was out there, to say the least.

Then we went to Hai-Bar wildlife center, which is a preserve for animals who are being re-introduce to the Israeli land, like Leopards, wild asses (sorry mom), and Ostriches. This was straight up safari on a bus. It was cool, but we mostly just saw asses. Alot of ass.

Then we went to Yotvata, which sounds like nothing to you, but believe me it was amzing. It is a resturant that is connected to a dairy farm, so they have amazing milk products, which is really hard to come by here in Israel. I had a turkey sandwhich, and chocalate milk (totally not kosher, which is why it was sooo good) The rest of the day was spent driving the hostel where we stayed that night.

Day 4 was an amazing day! This say started at 4:30am with the climb up Masada for the sunrise. Masada is a fortress on top a huge mountian built by Herod the great, but is famous for being used by the Jewish people during a revolt against the Romans. It was physically taxing to say the least. It took Kelly and I thirty min to walk up the mountian complete with 890 steps! The view from the top, however, is well worth it!

After a tour of the fortress and a close run in with the park ranger we left Masada and went to Nahal David. This is the spot where David hides in a cave while fleeing from Saul, only to have Saul come into his cave and "relieve" himself not knowing that David was there. To show he meant no harm to Saul, David cut a piece of Saul's robe off and showed it to him later, which basically perserved his life.

Then we got to swim in the Dead Sea, which I dont even know how to describe if you havent done it. The mineral count in the sea is insane so basically you have more water in your body than the sea has, so you float! The water literally picks you up as soon as you get far enough in. It's really hard to turn from your back to your belly also! It's crazy! Also if you get positioned just right you can put your legs directly below you (like your standing) and you dont even have to kick, you just stay there! Everyone should experience this! And yes, it is EXTREMELY salty and if you get it on an open cut it hurts like the dickens!

Our last spot on the trip was Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We hiked up ( and I mean straigth up) to Cave one where the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. These scrolls are the earliest manuscripts (250 BC-70 AD) of the bible that we have, and match almostly perfectly with later manuscripts.

This is basically just a summary of what we did in the last four days. Even if I wrote a ten page paper on everything I saw and learned, it still wouldnt be adequate! How do you describe what it's like to walk into the cave where the earliest copies of the bible were found, and what it's like to float on the dead sea, and how it feels to snorkel with gorgeuous fish in the Red Sea, and how tiring, and hot it is to walk through the wilderness where the Israelites wandered for 40 YEARS, and to finally understand God's faithfullness to provide for a people despite thier frustrations and lack of trust! I cant.....even if I tried, I can't, and I may never be able to. And you know what? Thats alright.

There are Some Things Money Can't Buy......

Snorkeling in the Red Sea: A sore throat


Climbing through so many Wadi’s that I can’t even remember their names: One sunburned scalp



One orange, peach, and banana smoothie on the Boardwalk in Eilat: 14 Shekels



Walking up Masada to see the sunrise: Two aching legs



Four days in the Negev with the best IBEX group EVER: Priceless



More to come later…….

I am sooo Blessed

I was making an album today of all my favorite IBEX photos. If there is one piece of valuable advice I could give to future Ibexim it would be to keep track of your photos. Don't let them build up on your computer in folders with no names, because I promise you a week after you upload them you would remember half the things you took pictures of!

So anyway I was looking through all the pictures I have taken so far and it was so strange for me to look back at our first field one month ago. I hardly knew most of the people in my group, let alone thought I could be friends with them. I was confused, jet lagged, and totally clueless to what the semester would hold for me.

And I now I sit here, one month into my study aboard adventure, and I realize just how blessed I am. I am so blessed to be here in Israel. To see where my Lord walked, and to learn about what he did. I mean, I go to class and learn about Jesus healing the lame man at the Pools of Bathzeda and then I do there........for crying out loud, how cool is that!!!

I am so blessed by EVERYONE in my group. These people are so amazing, and I thank God that He saw fit to put me with them. I have so much to learn from these people, and am benefiting so much from their friendship!

My professors are amazing men of God, who care so deeply about their students. I love the fact that they are so approachable. I love that I can spend a Saturday afternoon with my teacher and then laugh about it Monday in class! I love that they so graciously let us into their homes, and share their families with us! I LOVE playing with their kids, and learning from their wives.

I AM SO BLESSED!

And yet I constantly find myself worrying about trivial, trivial things. Like, what I'm going to wear, and how I look, and how much I would kill for a cheeseburger, and how small my room is. I should just be happy to be here!

Pray that God will continue to show me how contrite and stupid these things are which worry me. Pray that myself, my entire being would be wrapped up in Him alone. Pray that I would know that I am blessed!