Georgia Trip - Sunday

Got up, ran and came back to room to shower & have breakfast. Almost done packing, but decided to finish after breakfast since we would have plenty of time ‘til noon to pack.

We were to head out to Omar’s place at noon, but Nino showed up at the hotel with 2 taxis to take us to her apartment because Omar wouldn’t be able to come for us until 7pm.

Spent the afternoon getting to know Pasha and Spasenie, attended the worship service at Nino’s dad’s church. Pasha was asked to sing a song near the end of the service.

We loaded up the van to head out to Omar’s place about 7pm and arrived at his place at about 12:30 am. He fed us and we went to sleep by 1:30am.

As we stepped out of the van, we were greeted by some folks who informed us that the electricity had been turned off - I guess because Omar forgot to pay his electric bill.

Georgia Trip - Saturday

Today, we arrived in Tbilisi at about 4:30am, slept until 10:00am and after a late breakfast, went for a walk through the city and saw a new Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

We spent the afternoon at a youth meeting from the Baptist Church here in Tbilisi. Baptists are considered a sekt and even called a Satanic cult.

We met & spent time with the following young people:

Nino
Nino
Taruna
Taruna
Ana
Zurabi
Tatiana
and a couple of others whose names I didn’t get. We arrived before 3:00pm and left just after 6:00pm. It was a good time of fellowship.

I discovered that there really is no youth ministry training, no youth networks. It is a country with lots of potential and tremendous need.

Help me, Father, to know what I need to do, how I need to connect & create support/networks, etc. Please give me wisdom to say “no” and “yes” according to Your will. Amen!

Israel Trip - Day 11

Mount Arbel
From this vantage point, it’s possible to see where Jesus walked from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee. How cool it must have been to walk with Him on these longer journeys!

Nazareth
Mark Edwards spoke this morning about Jesus and His upbringing. Just a few thoughts from his talk:
        Jesus was not a common name in Jesus’ day - He probably was teased because of that
        He was born in a cave - He was probably teased because of that as well


Caesarea Philippi

Grand Beach Hotel
Even in Israel - the Promised Land - there are homeless people and other religions practiced. Check out these photos:



2 ladies meditating on the street-side in Tel Aviv



A homeless person catching a few “zzz’s” on a bench on the street in Tel Aviv

And last, but not least, is a picture with our guide, Andre. He’s excellent!