Complete Surrender: This is it...

Outreach has come to an end, and it's time to part ways. Sadness is lingering in the air. Our team has slowly been getting smaller and smaller. Two left about a week ago to go to staff training back in Kona, two left last night, and the 6 of us that are left will say our goodbye's in an airport tomorrow morning. This truly is bittersweet. I can't wait to go back home, but at the same time I know I'm going to miss my team a lot.

We've had a lot of fun here in Israel. Here's some of the things we did, besides what I already said in my previous post.
- We went to help pick olives at an olive grove near Haifa. We started picking olives in the afternoon as soon as we got there and woke early next morning to do the same thing. We slept in a guest house they had. Not only was it a lot of fun, but it was nice to be able to bless the people in the land. The same scripture kept running through my head the whole time "I well bless those who bless you [Israel]..." Gen 12:3.
- At noon we left for Haifa to this refugee center to help with whatever they needed. As we were getting closer and closer, the sky got redder and redder. Thick clouds filled the sky. It looked like a constant sunset. When we met up with our contact who would lead us to the place, she told us there was a fire near Mt. Carmel, where we were staying. Long story short, we got to the place, left our bags, went to town to get some food, roads were closed on our way back, somehow our team got split up, we ended up meeting up again at 3 in the morning at some hostel, woke up 7 hours later, drove back the long way where the roads were open, and finally got to the place in the evening. This is said to be Israel's largest forest fire ever, you probably heard about it in the news. Though our time there might seem unfruitful, God used it to refine us, putting us through a rough situation were our flesh would come out, but in the end, we each learned how by putting the needs of others before ours, ours would be met in the end.
- We made a lot of friends in the Old City in Jerusalem, with a lot of shopkeepers. We went to visit often just to talk to them, and even had dinner with one of our very good friends Hashem. Once you get past the business level, you find their friendly side. This is probably my favorite thing to do, talk to people, be their friends, love them like Christ would.
- We partnered with a house of prayer here called Succat Hallel. One of the things we did with them was a short burn of 8 hours from 12 am til 8 am, contending for the Jewish people and the land of Israel.
- Etc... these are just some of the things.

Written on: 18/12/2010

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Now I'm back home, after 7 airports, 7 flights, and 97 hours of travel. And I want to thank everyone that's been reading my blog to keep posted on my life. It's been a good season. I know I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Next in my life, I'm thinking about studying photography in Costa Rica. I feel like that is what God wants me to do next. My long term vision is to use photography to expose justice issues and bring them out to the light. I'm probably not going to have a blog about my exciting life in college, but I'd love to catch up with anyone that is interested. I'm just a phone call or a facebook message away.

Thanks from the

deepest places of my heart

Sincerely,

-Julio-

P.S.