5. May: Great finish at the Kinnereth

With a very nice day my trip ended. We started at the Mount of Beatitudes were Jesus preached about what he expects how we should live as disciples. We split up in teams of two and each team had a verse from Matthew chapter 5, we talked about. Trevor and I had verse 5: Blessed are the gentle ones, since they will inherit the land. We found out that gentleness or "Sanftmütigkeit" in German is this attitude which is not pushing things ourselves, but is trusting and expecting God to bring things in reality. This trusting spirit is an approach of brave faith. We found out that Josef of the Old Testament was such a gentle person. During our teamwork we were walking down to the Kinnereth / Lake of Galilee.

After this we went on to the so-called Worship boat which we entered in Ginosar. Daniel a messianic believer is offering boat trips on the lake which includes a joint worshipping time. This was a very nice and special experience, to be on the lake were Jesus was with his disciples quite often and worship him together. Conny was sharing about the story of the bible when Jesus was commanding the storm to be quiet. She pointed out that we can trust him that he is in control even in the stormy times in our lives.

We went to Tiberias for a lunch break. Anis was recommending us the best Fallafel place there, the Yakov restaurant close to the central bus station. Nobbi and I had our last one together. Then I had to say goodbye from the group. 

I went to Tel Aviv by bus, which worked out very convenient.

I stayed again with Arik, my close friend and headquarter during my 8 weeks long stay here in Israel. We walked the dogs Louis and Meran. had some Omelett together and went to bed early.

4. May: Haifa, Shefar'am

After a very nice and later Shabat breakfast we started off for Haifa.
We had a short bus tour through the city and then went to the russian congregation of Victor Doroskin named "Blessing Israel". This is a very close and long-term partner of Philippus-Dienst. Victor was a mechanics who worked on big ships and was based in Murmansk. When he was on a trip in Holland a team of believers was distributing bibles. Victor was interested and started reading the bible and became a believer.
He became a pastor in Belarus close to Tschernobyl and started new congregations, than he came to Israel. It was amazing when he told that a congregation in Haifa was already waiting and praying for a pastor and so he was welcomed with open arms. The congregation is very active to bless the society in Haifa and to spread the gospel.

Then we went on to meet the Arab brothers and sisters of "House of light" from Shefa'am. We met on their property and were invited to a delicious barbecue. We had very nice fellowship and had nice chats with all people there. The group was mixed with young teenagers, families and seniors. Anis and Nawal Barhoum the founders of "House of light" are real pioneers and great people. They shared that they are an Arab couple with refugee background, once they decided not to be victims any longer but to love and forgive. So they started being positive influencers in their environment. They raised their kids in this spirit and are now a family who are befriended with a lot of messianic Jews. In my opinion this spirit of reconciliation is a strong message to the nation of Israel.
The projects they are doing, are:
- childrens ministry
- youth ministry called Kings Kids
- mercy ministry to needy families
- prison ministry
We were praying together and blessed our Arab brothers and sisters. This was a wonderful meeting.

After we came back to Migdal, Nobbi and I decided to walk to the Kinnereth and I used the opportunity to swim in the lake.

Unfortunately we were informed about the nearly 200 rockets which were shot from Gaza to Israel today.

3. May: Jericho, Lake of Galilee

In the morning we went back to Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. Our goal was the Ascension church which was founded bei Kaiser Wilhelm and his wife Auguste. We wanted to meet a couple David and Franziska who are working as volunteers in the Cafe Auguste Victoria on the facility. The Philippus Dienst had supported them before they came here. They gave us a tour in the church and on the tower of the church with a spectacular outlook in all directions. We had some time for prayer and had a nice tea and german carrot cake. David is from Zschopau the home town of my wife.

Arch of the covenant brought to Israel as act of repentance for crimes of the Holocaust

We went on to Jericho and had a short stop there, to look at the sites like the mount of temptation and the springs of Elisa. In the city center we had a little lunch.

Then we took the road 90 along the Jordan river and the border to Jordan. In the afternoon we arrived at Migdal. The location was great with an outstanding view at the Lake of Galilee.

We relaxed a little, before we had Kabbalat Shabat. We sang songs, prayed the blessing, ate the bread and had the wine. The dinner was amazing with fresh and tasty food like filet from St. Peters fish.

Afterwards we had a time of worship and prayer together.