Shalom From Tel Aviv

Hello from Tel Aviv, Israel!  Joe and I have spent the last few days in Tel Aviv touring around the city, eating lots of tasty Israeli food and enjoying more time with our dear friend, Ulrich.  Tel Aviv has such a different feel from Jerusalem.  Tel Aviv is a very lively city with people out and about all night long.  We are staying at a lovely hostel right on the beach and have enjoyed daily swims in the ocean to cool off :)

Last night we got to join Ulrich at his church he attends here while in Tel Aviv.. it is a Messianic church so essentially a church of Jewish men and women who have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.  It was such a wonderful experience.. singing praise and worship songs in Hebrew was a blessing! (And it helped that the songs had English translation plus Hebrew words written with English letters so we could try and follow along).  The people were so kind and they happened to be having a potluck last night so we got to eat large platefuls of Israeli food and desserts =)

Next door to our hostel there is a restaurant where we are able to get half off breakfasts all day by staying at this particular hostel.  The breakfasts are amazing.. shakshuka (eggs poached in tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, garlic..), salad, smoothies/juices, breads with jams, hummus, tahini, plus coffee or hot chocolate.  Yum!!

Another highlight was going out for ice cream with Ulrich yesterday.. we found an Italian ice cream shop with homemade cones and some of the best ice cream I've ever had (I had oreo and pistachio..)

As you can tell, we've been using these past few days in Tel Aviv to rest up, refuel and gear up for some more adventuring.

We miss everyone back at home very much but have been treasuring this time together to enjoy God's creation, many blessings and challenges too that we know are growing us and shaping us.  We are learning to take life one day at a time and focus on what God has for us each day and not worry about what will come tomorrow (since often we don't even know where we will stay tomorrow ;)).

Last week in Jerusalem, I was struck by the incredible devotion of the Orthodox Jews.. on our bus ride from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, there was an Orthodox Jewish gentleman sitting in the seat in front of me and the whole 2 hour ride towards the Dead Sea hew as uttering scripture he had memorized in his heart.  Joe reminded me that the Jews see themselves as receptacles and vessels of God's word to continually be ingesting and outpouring His words.  I was inspired by this and reminded of the gift that knowing God's word is and have been using the extra time on buses, etc, to work on some more scripture memorization and meditation as well.

I've also been so thankful for the BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) I was in last year studying the book of Genesis!  So many of the names and locations here we read in Genesis and it's so fun to have a visual for some of these places (such as the Negev desert, Hebron).

Thanks again for following our blog and for your thoughts and prayers!!
with joy,

carol and joe