Welcome to Israel

20:48 PM (New York City)

After being served drinks and mini bagels (at least they look like bagels; reading Hebrew isn’t one of my strong points), our group of twenty-four is settling in for the rest of the 9 hr. 5 min. flight to Tel Aviv.

10:30 AM (Tel Aviv-Yafo)

We are now flying over the Mediterranean Sea, just past the southern tip of Italy’s “boot.” This may seem close to Israel to you, but to those of us who have been trying to sleep this long and pitiful night in a very warm aeroplane, it feels like…I don’t know, a lot further. In reality, we have two hours to go.

overlooking Tel Aviv from Old Jaffa

5:41 PM

Welcome to Israel! Most of us are settled into our rooms at our first hotel here in Tel Aviv. We look forward to a good supper at 7, after which those of us who can still see straight will venture outside to the beach area, where we can watch the sun go down in the Mediterranean Sea.

the Mediterranean Sea at sunset

7:30 PM

Several of us did manage to rush out after supper just in time to see the sun disappear over the horizon, and then sit and watch the waves until dark.

Tomorrow we head south into the Negev Desert. We don’t know what all Vernon has planned yet, but as we adventure together, we want to use our eyes to see and our ears to hear what God will show us on our 14-day tour in the Land of the Bible.

-Kyla Hostetler for Talmidim Studies