Today was 100% focused on Jesus. This was refreshing for my soul. I sometimes tend to lean to heavily on the Old Testament mindset. I think like one who has not received the greatest news in the world. This trip has refueled Justin & I’s desires to enter into full time ministry. Our calling oversees is one that we have both felt for our entire lives.

          Today I have heard and felt the words of Jesus more than ever before. I found his teachings and miracles playing over and over in my head as we walked from sight to sight, or as well sailed across the Sea of Galilee. It made Jesus seem so real and so human to me. I pictured him sitting in the boat or up on the mountain teaching the people. I could hear his words accompanied by the rustling grass, the crashing waves and the singing sparrows. The pages of the bible became alive.

           The humanity of Jesus really came alive to me today as we were sitting on the Mt. of Beatitudes and visited the church of the feeding of the five thousand. Justin asked me what I was thinking... and I was thinking that Jesus was looking across these hills and looking into the peoples eyes and having compassion. He looked in their eyes and did not send them over the rolling hills, to walk miles for supper.. No he cared for there needs there. He spoke to them and did not turn them away. He sat in the heat and taught for hours... until his throught was dry and he longed for a cool spot of shade! He traveled back and forth on the same lake to reach all of those he lived around. Jesus was human and saw the humanity of those around him.

          There is something about being where the stories all happened that makes you unable to disconnect yourself from the ‘realness’ of the text. These stories did happen here, to real people so many years ago. And for years and years Christians like me and visited these sites and heard the same words, read the same words, and sung songs on the hills of Galilee. 

There are of course more thoughts and prayers to tell all of you about... but I am finding myself asleep by 9:30 every night. I am so stinking tired! getting up and going going from 7:00am to 6:00 pm in 90 degree heat really takes it out of you. Our group jokes and says “we sweat where Jesus sweat” :)

Todah Rabbah (many thanks) for your time

and Shalom for now.

Leah Lechner

Hey everyone!

Leah and I are back in Jerusalem again after a fast trip through southern Israel. We keep saying to ourselves that the days cannot get any busier than yesterday and somehow our guides figure out how to pack more in. I love it though, and so does Leah. We feel so blessed to be learning so much (our guide is Dr. Rassmussen, who wrote a Bible atlas at the request of Zondervan publishers), and we are not only learning it but experiencing it. Leah and I have made a habit of going through each days pictures with each other and we get so excited to show this person or that person, and are especially excited to use certain ones for teaching someday. Leah takes some awesome pictures and procrastinates homework by adding captions to them once they are on Facebook. Sometime she gets tired of carrying the camera around but then she gets so excited about something (who wouldn't get excited about ancient ruins and biblical landmarks?) that she takes the camera right back.

This short trip of ours took us from the valley of Elah, where David fought Goliath, to the Mediterranean sea, to the Dead Sea, and back again to Jerusalem. Because we saw so much and visited so many sites it felt like we were gone for weeks. Temperatures consistently over 100 degrees makes time feel slower I guess.

Anyway, we visited the valley of Elah, which is located in an area known as the Shephelah, or lowland, as it appears in most Bibles today. This lowland is comprised of disconnected but rolling hills and is the majority of the land designated to Judah in the tribal allotments on the west it turns into the coastal plains, the east the infamous Judean wilderness where David hid and Jesus was tempted also the Dead sea, to the south is the Negev and the Sinai peninsula, and to the north is ofcourse, Jerusalem.

The coastal plain in the south was the area that the Philistine cities were located, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, Ashdod, and Gath. We saw Gath from the vantage point of Azekah, overlooking the field where David fought Goliath. It was amazing to see the hills that opposed each other and how because of the shape of the land it would not be difficult at all to estimate where the Philistine army would have stood facing Saul's army. Throughout the rest of the valley there are many, many, Judean cities that were preserved enough to confirm and further biblical stories and understandings. We observed Lachish, Socoh, and a few others on our way to Ashkelon. Ashkelon is the only one of the Philistine cities to be located directly on the sea shore because the coast in Israel does not lend to shipping at all. Here at Ashkelon we were able to swim and that was so extremely refreshing.

As we moved back east we stayed the night at a place called Mitzpeh Ramon, a city overlooking what is known as the "super bowl" - no connection to the nfl. It's essentially a tear in the earth the drops a thousand or so feet. This significantly altered trade routes in Israel, even still, it alters travel at 28 miles long and about 12 miles wide.

The next day we saw Oboda/Avedat, an important, (formerly) wealthy, east-west trade city. The primary event on this day however was our "wadi walk". A wadi is where water runs through during the winter and typically dries up during the summer, this one had a small stream in it. Here we experienced why most of the travel routes existed at the tops of these wadi's. We had a blast hiking through and then almost straight up to get out, but it was clear that it was not the preffered place to travel.

Im running out of time now, but I will be writing more soon! If you wouldn't mind praying for us that would be excellent. We are starting to feel a bit worn out, I am not complaining, but some rest from God would be great. We will pray for you too, if you send requests!

      Today was the ‘Jerusalem approaches field day’. This day consisted of visiting many sites, all in the view of Jerusalem. Our main stops were Mt. of Olives, Herodium, and Bethlehem. We were able to spend a good amount of time at all three of the places. I found today to be a refreshing break from what we have been doing. The past few days have consisted of visiting many spiritually heavy areas. Walking on the Temple Mount, praying at the Western Wall... and more. They left me a bit somber, and I know Justin expressed the same. While we weep with Jesus over the lost state of Jerusalem, we were able to see sites of our Christian faith today. Visiting these sites helped boost our spirits!

     

        The first stop was the Mt. of Olives. We were able to see beautiful views and I enjoyed looking out over the city. Perhaps my favorite part of the Mt. of Olives was the reflection given by Dr. Rassmussen (our leader!, who also wrote our Bible Atlas from Zondervan... he’s legit!). He gave a biblical overview of the importance of the city of Jerusalem. He started with the importance during the time of David. How it was a place for God to come and be able to dwell with his people! Then he talked about when the Assyrian’s came the spirit of God left, over the Mt. of Olives and into the wilderness. Then came John the Baptist, a voice in the desert calling “prepare the way for the LORD”... Jesus came over the Mount of Olives and wept over Jerusalem. After his death and resurrection Paul tells us that now, instead of Jerusalem, we are the temple of God. His spirit dwells in us and we are the new Jerusalem for all people. The way that the Jews used to cleanse before coming up to the Temple is now our responsibility to keep ourselves clean every day! He said this and much more, email me and I can ramble more and more :)

Supper time!

The rest will be quick, we saw the Church of all nations, garden of gethsemane, Herodium, and Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.

Leah Lechner

The stories come alive!

     Today was our first day away from Jerusalem and it was surprisingly different and in a great way. Leah and I agree that today brought a lot of life to many of the stories in the bible. Jerusalem does this though it is in bits and pieces, covered by a new and extremely busy city. We made it to several different tells (archeological dig sites) that featured popular stories and characters such as Samson, Solomon and his encounter with God where he received wisdom (I for one wanted to spend the night there but the bus was moving on). As we continued on we made stops at Gezer, where there are remains of a fortified city dating to Solomon's time (confirming the Biblical narrative 1 Kings 9:15),we stopped at Jericho which is in Palestinian territory, and ended our trip with a stop in the Judean wilderness where Jesus was tempted.

   Not too bad for one day on a bus huh? There are so many things that I could talk about for a long while, we did after all travel the routes and visited the cities where most of the Old Testament unfolded. Gezer for instance was the front door to the hill country (the majority of Israel), keeping this city was crucial for defending the well being of Israel/Judah. Looking out from Beth Shemesh it was easy to watch Samson catch a fox or wander towards the Philistine Cities, or for the bulls to come carrying the captured ark of the covenant that had been plaguging the Philistines... While Leah was diligently taking notes on a lecture the field director was giving, well, he mentioned at the beginning of his lecture a cistern dating to the earliest Israelite settlements and pointed it out. Our prof said no time for that, but I let Leah take notes and made my way down. I'd say we are an excellent tag team, she takes excellent notes and I have excellent adventures.
     
     Certainly the icing on the cake called today was experiencing the wilderness in the heat of the day. Wondering and imagining Jesus and being awed by His incredible humanity and marveling at his power... what a Great gift we have been given to know that he experienced a far greater temptation than we can imagine and that because of his sacrifice we have been "given the mind of Christ" to overcome. What Good News!

Wow. So much has happened it's hard to think about what to say!

     So far we have had our introductory walk through Jerusalem Old City and I have already been so overwhelmed. Jerusalem is a unique mix of religions and people groups, all squashed together in an ancient city that is easily walked across in only 15 minutes ( if you call walking through crowded markets easy)

      I would like to highlight one experience of my day so far, walking through the Church of the Seplucher. Built in 300’s AD, this church has stood over the traditional spot of the burial and crucifixion of Jesus. After walking through a crowded market, you make a sharp turn and find yourself in the courtyard before the church . It was hard to me to appreciate the place that Christ had victory over sin because of the history of the church and its present day condition. Each part of the church, dedicated to different parts of the crucifixion, is owned by a different church. Greek orthodoxs lay claim to the majority, but coptic’s from Egypt and others all lay claim to their own part of this ancient church. 

     Sadly, these groups often argue and fight over who gets to do what inside the church. Can the Greek orthodox’s ring bells? Can the catholics play the organ? and so forth. The ladder in the first picture has stayed for years on account of the fighting, whose job is it to take it down? Police are often called in to break the fighting Christians apart. And this is what happens on the ground on which Christ was crucified. Yet, the beauty of being where Christ conquered sin was still evident and I value my chance to see this beautiful city. I just wish there was more of a Christian presence in the city. Or at least a presence that was more positive and less ‘touristy’. 

      Now to breeze through the rest that Justin and I got to see today. There was so much that it is hard to pin-point anything! We saw ancient tombs from the time of Christ, walked over Byzantine period stones in the middle of a market place full of scarves (!), talked to an orthodox Jewish man, saw the Church of St. Anne (ancient church dedicated to the mother of mary)next to the pools of Bethesda (the pool at which Jesus healed the lame man), saw the Western Wall and the Mt. of Olives from the distance, and more!

Damascus Gate

Justin and I infront of the Pools of Bethesda

view from the Old City across the valley to the Mt. of Olives

just a glimpse of the old city markets!

the outside of the church of the holy sepluchre

This is all I have time to write tonight, as I have some school work to do. Pray that we will be able to learn more about our God and have a chance to love on so many of his lost people, especially the heavy Jewish and Muslim population we are in contact with.

It's Justin here. Reporting in from Chicago, just about to head to the airport.

     It is great to be travelling again though entirely different than my last adventure. I have a wonderful wife to share in this one! I have decided that all of the extra things that I get to carry on my wife's behalf are well worth the experience of travelling with such excellent company.

 To say we are excited is an understatement. The whole idea of travelling to Israel is more than exciting, in fact it is entirely overwhelming.

Need to run, please be praying for us as we travel

Christ's Love,
Justin

We are down in Indiana! 


It feels nice to be in our own apartment and to be using all of my wonderful cooking pots again. I am able to cook away while Justin and Tuiny are finishing up their homework :). This morning we got to have breakfast with our wonderful newlywed friends Chris and Amy and in about 10 minutes I am able to meet up with my friend Anna for lunch. I have missed my Indiana friends!


Classes start at 1:00 today and I can't wait to dive into all of our Israel learning... 


The coolest thing that I have learned so far would probably be the massive amount of finds from Israel that connect to the bible! Did you know that they have found the bones of the High Priest that tried Jesus? Or a boat that would have been the exact same type that Jesus and his disciples rode in? So many cool finds like this have made the homework process fun. Justin and I both cannot wait to take off and see these finds and ancient sites in person!


-Prayers are still needed for our preparations, I want to remember everything (but not pack too much, just ask Debby I love to bring everything :)


Saturday we hed up to Chicago to see a few museums ( apparently a museum in Chicago has a brick from Egypt that was made during the time the Israelites were in captivity!) and Sunday we fly out! We will arrive in Tel-Aviv on monday and will arrive in Israel monday night.


Leah & Justin Lechner