Jaffa

We have now been in Israel for a few days, we are staying in the Jaffa area which overlooks Tel Aviv on the Mediteranean coast. Jaffa is mentioned a handful of times in the Bible. In Acts 9 & 10, where Peter raised a woman from the dead named Tabitha and he also stayed with a tanner named Simon. This is where he had the vision of the sheet being lowered, which ultimately opened the door of the Gospel to the gentiles. In fact, as we were wandering around the old town of Jaffa, we came across a little house that is thought to be Simon the tanners house, which is the picture you see. As we looked over the ocean, we also realized this is the place that Jonah fled from God and was swallowed by the whale. Amazing! As you see the ocean, you can also imagine the log rafts that came into this area for the building of Solomon's temple. We find it exciting to imagine all of the things that took place in history in a place like this.

Our accomodations are at Beit Immanuel Hostel for a few days, which is a great place to rest and relax before we join up with a tour group in a few days. The hostel serves as a place of prayer and worship. It was so refreshing to go down to breakfast the first day and hear worship music coming out of the kitchen. We were invited to attend their Messianic Jewish service since we were here on the sabbath. The worship was so beautiful, all in Hebrew, but made us miss our BCF family all the more!

We have been wandering the streets during the day, stumbling upon little shops, flea markets and Biblical sites all around. It is very warm and muggy here so we are always drinking lot's of water and spend short shots of time outside for now.

Until next time, be blessed in every way!

Pastor Dave & Kimi

John's Cave

We will be traveling today back to Kos Island by ferry after finishing our time here on Patmos. The picture you see is in John's Cave. On Sunday morning, we were able to go back to John's cave for a church service with the Greek Orthodox Priests. We couldn't understand what they were singing, but it was beautiful as it echoed out from the cave. After their service, we were able to take communion together in the cave. We spent some time reflecting on what we were experiencing while we were there. We believe in time there will be other things revealed to us about what was imparted to us while being there.
We have so enjoyed our refuge and quiet place here on the Island of Patmos. It is slow season, so few travelers, at times we have felt we had the whole place to ourselves. We were upgraded to a nicer room, a really nice room. We found out today, that it is saved only for "special guests", which has confirmed once again that the Lord's favor is resting on us. Thank you Jesus for your continued goodness to us.

We love and miss you all! God Bless you TONS!!

Pastor Dave & Kimi

God IS Good To Me!

It's been about 5 days since our last blog. Since then, we were able to catch up on some much needed rest after traveling for so many days. We have heard from the locals that the weather actually changed the day we got here. We heard reports from a lady on the ferry that they had been sailing with 12 foot swells the week before. I (Dave) made a log in my journal that said, "perfect weather, great smells and beautiful song birds singing, God is good to me!". What a great way to rest.

Our game plan before going to Israel (where Harlee says, Jesus lived) :) has been to go to Greece and spend some days catching up on the time travel and acclimate to the area. We love visiting Biblical sites because of the sense of reality that comes to pass when you stand in the place of those well known Christians that have gone before us. That is what we are experiencing here on the Island of Patmos. Whether visiting with the locals and listening to their views of how majestic and divine this place seems to be even to the present day. Or sitting in the cave where tradition has it that John received the "Book of Revelation" it's hard to explain the experience. It just seems to be amazingly good. Our hotel manager, JoGina, says this Island is "Blessed". We can testify to that personally, she even upgraded our room to an upstairs room with a beautiful view of the pool and the Aegean Sea! Dave keeps saying.... "God is good to me"! Kimi says a BIG Amen!

Texas BBQ

We've begun our travels, in fact we are sitting in the Athens airport checking in with all of you! It's been a long time traveling since we left early Thursday AM and it's now early Sunday morning. In a few more hours we will to our first destination on a Greek Island called Kos where the Hypocratic Oath originated many years ago. We will be able to rest there a few days before we head to the island of Patmos.

On our travels, we had a layover in Texas and were able to go to dinner with Isaac and Kailey at Papa's Texas BBQ! We had such a great time with them. They look great! We even had a homestyle Texas breakfast at the Waffle House! :)

Much love to you all! Have a great service at Bend Christian Fellowship this Sunday! Our hearts are right there with you!

Pastor Dave & Kimi

In Search of a Solitary Place

As we ventured out for the first time during our season of rest, we went to Duncan Reservoir to find a solitary, quiet place. We were not disappointed, we hiked up a draw to find a beautiful view of natural beauty. As we took time to look close, the tiny things that God has made seem to become "big". We enjoyed, rest, reading, hiking and even some fishing.

The Lord blessed and refreshed us for 3 1/2 days. We are now home, doing last minute planning and packing as we leave May 12th for our trip to Israel.

We would treasure your prayers so that we remember all of the things necessary to take with us, and especially for "protection" and "connections" as we venture away from home. As always, you are near and dear to our hearts.

Pastor Dave & Kimi

Wonderful!

We were so blessed today, we are still in town working on details for our Israel trip and haven't made it to the "woods" yet. Waking up this Sunday morning, our hearts went quickly to Bend Christian Fellowship. With no plans to leave town today, we were excited about getting ready to go to church. The simple things of God and family are being appreciated and enjoyed so much.

We love our family, friends and church. Thank you for letting us be a part of your lives!

Pastor Dave & Kimi

"Checking In"

Here it is our first week on sabbatical and we just want to give all of you a quick report on how things are going. We have had Bob & Lori Mehan and some other friends from Adel with us for a few days and even had a lunch with some of the staff at Chan's! We are spending this time resting and preparing for the last minute details of our trip to Israel.

I've (Dave) had some great times with the Lord already this week. He has been filling me with faith that He is very much in charge and watching over BCF. He has been giving me great words of encouragement to be refreshed. I think I've had a divine appointment with an old book of my Great-Great-Grandmother's published in 1900 that was on our hearth, called "Christ's Object Lessons". It speaks about the lessons we can learn through His parables and nature.

We love you and wanted you to know that you are close to our hearts and as names and faces come to our minds, we are praying for you. Congratulations to the Buntjer & Hernandez families as their little boys have arrived on the scene! Until we write again, blessings to all of you!

Pastor Dave & Kimi