After a rocky start and missing our first day of ministry due to Friday’s cancelled flight, all four of us arrived in Israel.  Nicole actually arrived from South Africa on time…and a day ahead of the rest of us!  Thankfully, Sheila, a good Israeli friend of mine, took her in and gave her a place to stay for the night.

Beyond that, Sheila is an Israeli archeologist and happened to have a dig the following day. So, while the rest of us traveled, Nicole was blessed to join an official excavation project…with news cameras rolling! Perhaps she wins “best supporting actress!

Unfortunately, there were still some rocky patches for the 3 of us from the US.  Nancy and I, both from Phoenix, were successful in meeting up with Gina, our “Israel sister” from Utah, at Washington Dulles Airport. From there, we traveled to Frankfurt, where we (unknowing at the time) encountered our next challenge.  Somehow, one of our bags did not find it way to Tel Aviv.  I’ll let you guess who is at the mercy of others for clothes the next couple days!  Hopefully that bag finds us very soon!

A final challenge was the rental car and ensuing  1.5 hour trip to Bethel Center in Haifa.  Rental car companies are notorious for add-ons, so they informed me there is mandatory insurance in Israel. Not a problem…I already bought insurance. But not so fast. Apparently I did not buy the “right kind” of insurance!  So a few hundred dollars later, we were on our way.

We found getting to and out of the rental car lot a challenge, then GPS wanted to send us to Haifa via a toll road. With little traffic, it would have saved us only 10 minutes, so we opted to avoid the toll and the 15 shekel surcharge from the rental car company and take a route by the Mediterranean Sea.  That didn’t work out so well either, so we ended up on the toll road and 30 minutes behind!

Why do I share all that? To say this: when you are ON MISSION with God, you can expect distractions and discouragement because evil works against good!  Nevertheless, everyone is in high spirits and ready to go to work!

Our first project will be a shortened stint at Bethel Women’s Shelter. Once a men’s shelter, God changed the need and the mission during COVID. Our host, Karina, and her husband run the shelter, ministering to Russians, Palestinians, Jews and any other woman who needs encouragement and a place to live. They come for many different reasons and all need to know the love of Jesus. That will be our mission as we serve here on Monday. We are staying onsite and will have opportunities to engage and be the channel of God’s love to these women.

Continue praying for us and for those we encounter to know the love of Jesus!