Last day in Israel (tear)

Hello everyone back home, hope you have all been well.

Well today is our last day here in Israel, it's hard to imagine. It has been an awesome trip and time has just flown by. Now the next couple months will be spent processing what we have seen, heard and experienced. Everyone has been affected dramatically by this trip. It has shaped the way we think and perceive things, opened our eyes to the complexity of the conflict here and has shaped how we see the bible and our faith.

Pretty much this has been an awesome life changing trip.

To recap what we have done over the past couple days:

Two days ago we hiked to Jericho. This was an intense hike through a desert and canyon. It was several hours of intense heat. I have never drank so much water before. We hiked along cliffs with a couple hundred foot drop just a few feet away. I definitely got reacquainted with my fear of heights, and I have never been so happy to get to the bus. We then visited the old site of Jericho. At this site we saw really old walls--the oldest walls in the world--and a tower that is even older: at least 6000 years. A bunch of us ran around the old city of Jericho (to be honest, I don't know how, seeing how tired we all were after the hike but we did it). Oh and in spite of the story in the Bible where Joshua and the Israelties trash Jericho, that wall is still standing. If you want the full story, though, you will have to talk to us when we get back. I am really proud of everyone for surviving that day, it was quite something.

What we did yesterday, on Friday:

We spent time visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem. It was quite a moving experience, hard to explain properly. You really have to be there to feel what it means. I guess that is really how the whole trip was, it can't be explained easily in a short space. That evening we celebated the coming of the Sabbath (Friday night to Saturday night) and had a ceremonial Shabbat dinner to wrap it up. The Sabbath, the practice of a day of rest for God, is a lost art I feel in western society. It is really important to have a day off to relax and recuperate, to reevaluate where you are in life and where you are going, to take time to be with family. In our rushing society we never take the time to slow down and do that. And because of this people are losing touch with themselves, causing major problems with stress and stress related illnesses.

Today we are packing up, relaxing and seeing some last bits of Jerusalem before we fly home. Not everyone is going directly home right now. There is a group going to Turkey for a week and a few others are doing further travel as well.

As for the rest of us we are all heading home tonight and will be arriving at 6:20 in Pearson Airport Toronto. Anyone who feels like getting up that early to welcome us home is free to do so.

I would like to take this time to really thank everyone who has been apart of this whole trip. Thank you everyone who was part of the organization of this trip, taking a dream and turning it into a reality. Thank you to all who have supported us with prayers and money and just general support: it has meant so much to all of us and made it possible for us all to go. Thank you to all who have been reading our blog, we hope that it has been interesting. Thank you to all our leaders on this trip, Ellie, Allan, Jaimie, hiker Dave and of course Linford (he just has so much energy) for all the work that they have put into this trip, making everything run smoothly and making this trip absolutely awesome. And I would personally like to thank everyone who came with us. All the young adults are what made it. There was great chemistry with everyone, I have made tonnes of awesome new friends and strengthened my relationships with old ones.

See you all soon.

Peace,

Derek Alton