The Golan from our Kibbutz Tel Qazir

A Trip Around the Kinneret

For those who don't know, the Kinneret is the more common name for the Sea of Galilee here in Israel. Yesterday we drove around it's perimeter checking out some of the interesting historical places. It's crazy how many tourists are around. I guess technically we are "touring" as well, but it feels a little different as we are living with the people and staying for an extended time. I found the busloads of people with their fanny packs and video cameras to be a little disheartening. Perhaps I'm a hypocrite....I know I can be a cynic. Maybe it's the tourists sites that are what get to me, and not the people. I guess for me the power and heart of the history of these places is in their simplicity, not huge iconogenic temples set up to bring in tourist traffic and money. I didn't take many pictures today....

Here are a few I did take:

This is the synagogue at Capernaum,
where Yeshua spent much of his time in ministry.
It is quite likely he taught at this very place.

Here Rivkah and I boat around the
Kinneret with some of our friends.

Some tasty St. Peter's fish anyone? Mmmmm.
These are a couple friends we met the day before.
They spoke very little English, and we had fun
trying to communicate anyway.

I would say about 3/4 if not more of those we interact with speak English. We're quite grateful for it! All for now.

We're here!

We arrived Sunday, quite tired from all the flying and jet-lag. It seems we've all adjusted to the time difference pretty quickly, although I (Ryan) picked up a cold during the travel. Blah. Working in 100 degree weather with a cold isn't the greatest, but my energy level has held up. Bekah and I are in a little apartment on the Kibbutz, and our friends are in another house. The other girls are working in the "factory", which is actually a small air conditioned room where medical cloth/material is folded and packaged. Bekah (Rivkah in Hebrew) and I are helping our friend Israel (a man, not the nation) with the gardening and ground work. He is a fun personality.

Here are a few pictures for you:

First, here we are on our way to our Kibbutz, overlooking the sea of Galilee. The Kibbutz is at the top right of the sea.

Here is a closer view from the same vantage point. We are the cluster of trees, buildings, and houses between the mountains and the sea.

This little guy followed us home the other night. He was a brave fellow.

Here is our little friend, chomping my hand. Apparently he doesn't like to have his picture taken.....

Flying Across the U.S./In Ohio

It has been a while since I have been able to connect to the internet. We made it to Ohio! We will be leaving for Israel Friday morning at 6:30AM.

Here we are at the Portland airport, last Saturday with our friend Ariel:
We all flew into Chicago, and then Ariel flew straight to Ohio, whereas we had to fly to Maryland first. Airlines are strange. Here are some pictures from the airplane window as we flew from Chicago to Maryland:

From Maryland we flew to Ohio, where we have been learning a bit about the Israeli culture and some of the other friends we are going with. Here we all are:


More to come.
Love,
The Lanes

Joyful Farewell

Thank you so much, all of you, for your friendship, kindness, and support over these past months. It has truly been a "joyful" time. Both Bekah and I were thrilled and grateful for your financial contributions to our trip! It is hard saying goodbye, but as most of you know we will be returning to the Portland area, and I'm sure I'll pop in every once in a while to say "hi!".
I'll miss you guys...

Jason & Christine's Wedding

We are back from California! For those who didn't know, we shot a lovely wedding for Christine and Jason Reando down in Sacramento. Our flight down was on Saturday where we were treated to a tasty dinner of steak, venison, salmon and halibut. Wow....
We shot for 12 hours on the wedding day, and needless to say, we were tired! After going over the shots, we both feel really good about everything we were able to get. I'm in the process of finishing the editing, and hopefully we will have the pictures mailed off to them before we leave this Saturday.
Here's a few sample pics...