Israel – Part 1

Now that Jody is home from the hospital and things are slowly returning to “normal,” I’m ready to share our trip to Israel with you.  The trip started with the hardest, most intimating airport security we have ever experienced (apparently the Israeli airline is known for having some of the toughest security around).  Thankfully we didn’t have any issues with our suitcase full of medicine and other CF related supplies, and 11 hours later we found ourselves on holy ground (in the Holy Lands, that is).

The first three days of our trip we worked at a private school in Jerusalem.  Our church supports volunteers Zach & Shellie Maddox who work at the school.  Each day we began our time at the school with a devotional given by Zach and we were all incredibly blessed by this time.  Because it was summer break and the students were gone (except for a few taking summer school), we didn’t have as much interaction with the children as we had hoped.  Regardless, Zach had a to-do list of things needing done around the school so the tasks were divided up, and the work began.  The biggest project needing to be completed was creating the Peaceful Playground.  We also cleaned/swept, painted the cafeteria, painted lines for a soccer & volleyball court, inflated LOTS of balls (soccer, basketball, football, four-square, etc.), organized the PE closet, setup one of the classrooms, and hung curtains in the café.  Take a look at a few of the pictures to see for yourself (click photos to enlarge).

Morning Devotions

The soccer & volleyball courts before & after (lines painted & nets attached)

Giving the school cafeteria a fresh coat of paint

Organizing the PE Closet (before & after)

The new basketball area

Creating the Peaceful Playground

The finished playground. When the school year ended this area was rough, uneven land so the concreted area with the play activities we painted will be a fun surprise for the returning students.

The Crew

As you can see, we worked hard those first few days, but the end results made it all worth it.  We hope the kids will be incredibly blessed by our efforts, and wish we could be there to see their faces when they walk in on that first day of school.  As our time at the school came to a close we grew more and more excited about the Holy “Bible” Land tour that followed it.  Check back for Part 2 of our trip to hear about this awesome experience.