I am back in the USA...regrets....hmmmm....sirens and missiles....no not in the least! Sunday was a nice relaxing day...after breakfast I walked down to the beach and watched as the waves rolled in...it was very windy and not many people were enjoying the sun and surf! At the Banana Beach  cafe I enjoyed another mint lemonade, yes I really like that! 

I was so excited about coming home that I woke up at 3:00 am and there was no more sleep! Had one last round of eggs Benedict and met my taxi at 8:00 a.m. to Ben Gurion airport...got through the first wave of Israeli security, then had to wait a half an hour before United Airlines  opened up. All security points went smoothly! As the boarding process began, a security agent came running telling us, in Hebrew (of which I do not speak) to move away from the windows and further into the airport as the airport was under Hamas missiles, I heard 2 booms and someone else said that they heard three, Iron Dome won again! After a 15 minute halt we were back loading. Good thing I left yesterday as they are restricting flights out of Ben Gurion today until further notice. Good flight, delayed out of Newark and arrived in Kansas City at around 10 pm...it was so good to see Terilyn there to pick me up!

Had a good nights sleep...lunch at Five Guys and now enjoying coffee at the Lawrence Dunn Brothers, safe and sound!

Reflecting on the past two weeks...It will take some time to digest all the experiences and knowledge that will enrich me as a pastor. Going on an archeological dig has been a lifelong dream...mission accomplished! Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, hopefully I was able to capture some of what transpired over that past 2 plus weeks! And yes I would still "choose rockets."

This will be my next to last blog entry as my archaeological adventure is rapidly coming to a close. I had a great nights rest...much needed and didn't have to get up at 4:30 a.m. Had a great breakfast: Eggs Benedict, side salad and coffee! 

After breakfast, I headed for Old Jaffa...it was a wonderful mile and a half walk along the beach. It was very windy, the whitecaps were great for those with surfboard. The beach was busy, as the young and old were enjoying the beautiful day.

As one enters Jaffa you see the Clock Tower,  (The Jaffa Clock Tower is one of the seven clock towers built in Israel during the Ottoman period and stands three-stories high, topped with a multi-gabled roof.) Strolling through Jaffa I realized that not  many shops were open, either because it was too early or because it was the sabbath. As I continued to walk around the city I came upon St. Peter's church, (St. Peter’s, which holds daily Mass in several languages for a lively local congregation, was built in 1654 over a medieval fortress. In the late eighteenth century it was twice destroyed, and the present structure was completed in 1894. World history is never far away anywhere in Israel, and Jaffa’s St. Peter’s is no exception: a room at the church reportedly hosted Napoleon Bonaparte when he came to the city in 1799.)


Stopped at an ice cream shop and enjoyed a great bowl of dark chocolate ice cream! Enjoyed the walk back and enjoyed resting and relaxing at the hotel.  On Sunday I plan to Skype with the folks from Village Baptist, hopefully there will not be any sirens like last week! I think my final entry will be when I am in Lawrence, Kansas, USA!

Happy 38th anniversary to the love of my life and my best friend, Lynda. This is one day, I truly wish I was home!

Unbelievable to think that two weeks have evaporated and there is only one more long walk to Area F! I do have to admit that the walk up is getting easier...guess I'm getting in better shape and I still do "choose rockets" even as we had one siren go off and we again used the Bronze Age and Iron Age for cover...we heard the boom a few miles away.

Today we didn't dig anything new, instead of trowels we used brushes and cleaned up our areas so that they could be photographed and protected for next year. The volunteers received a very nice memento from the staff...it will hold a very special place on my desk. 

We ended our time with Dr. Jeff taking down the flag, while humming the theme song from Pirates of the Caribbean, the pirate flag was retired, so was my archaeological experience at Tell Es-Safi. This has been a blessed time of work, learning, and a little stress! 

The taxi came at 2:00 and I was at the Eden Hotel in Tel Aviv a little over an hour later...my room is small, but very comfortable! Since I didn't have a time to shower before we left the kibbutz, that was first on the list...the fine dust from Safi is really nasty. Since I'm only a couple of blocks from the beaches I wandered there and had a great burger at a beach cafe called the Banana Beach...they also have this lemonade with mint leaves is awesome! In Jerusalem I had this, and it was kinda like a slushy with mint leaves...this was squeezed lemonade...I'll be buying some mint leaves when I get home....wonder how Caribou Coffee with mint leaves will taste? 

In the evening I tried to Skype with Lynda in Montane...bad connections...sorry. Used FaceTime with Joyanne which was fun! Watched some Fox News on the tv and I think I fell asleep about 9 p.m. And didn't wake until after 6 a.m.  Much needed rest! After breakfast tomorrow I'll desire what I'll do on Saturday.

it just does not seem possible that after 24 years I'm not at Sonshine in Willmar, Minnesota. Sweating in the Minnesota sunshine rocking with FF5 or sweating at Safi? Glad I'm here! 

Same routine...as every day...but the experience of walking up the Tell is new every day...trying to imagine what was built here thousands of years ago and how those people lived their lives. Looking over the Valley of Élah. In I Samuel 17 it says..."Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp."

So I overlook that valley where this event happened. Dr. Jeff Chadwick gave us a demonstration of sling throwing and can see that it was a very dangerous weapon even today. Palestinians use it against Israeli police in riots...we were told that they cut the tongue out of old Nike shoes and use the laces for a primo weapon. Imagine getting hit in the forehead with a rock the size of a racquet ball thrown by Nolan Ryan, that would ruin your day..it did Goliath's. Dr. Chadwick mentioned that David was not the underdog, in fact it was Goliath that brought a knife to a gunfight....David knew how to use the sling, as a shepherd he had practiced, had killed a lion and bear according to scripture. What David really had going him was skill and as scripture says, "David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands..." Ah...how the between the lines of scripture comes to life!

Today in our area 26D of Area F we opened up a new locus site and used pick axes and dug down about 6 inches and found the tops of the city wall...it was one of the answers to the questions the team leaders were looking for. So wether these were Late Bronze Age or Iron Age 1 the pottery will tell the story. It is interesting how from lower F to middle F (where I'm working) you can follow the city wall of Gath. cool! so very Cool! I'm glad we "chose rockets" rather than giving up on the dig!

Got back, lunch and pottery washing and got my luggage together for the last day and trip to Tel Aviv. We had our farewell party to tonight with make it yourself Falafel, if you don't know what they are Google! 

After supper had our usual Iron Dome viewing party on the lawn in front on our home sweet home and Hamas sent up their usual volley, which was spiked by Iron Done.

Sorry I missed blogging yesterday. Usually, day at the Tell, there was talk of a cease fire, but that didn't last long as the siren near the Tell went off mid-morning. When we got back at 1:30 p.m. I noticed that my ankle was a little swelling and a bruise developed on my right foot. I had noticed earlier that my sock was a little tight and was cutting off circulation, fixed it and continued working. I then skipped lunch to put my foot up. One of the staff stopped by and saw the bruise and got all excited, she talked to one of the people in charge who said that I needed to go see the doctor. Before long I was being driven to a nearby hospital...long story short the doctor said that because of the heat, the walking and climbing, and the tight sock, it caused a small blot vessel to break...rest it, elevate it and ice it, bit no doffing tomorrow. Wonderful!

Let's back up to Sunday...we left the Austrian Hospice in Jerusalem at 9 am, walked out the Damascus Gate and caught the light rail for Central Station, walked to our waiting bus...arrived at Revadim where the kibbutz is located in an hour. We washed pottery for an hour...had lunch and washed more pottery and yes we are now caught up. At 6 I Skyped with the folks at Village, sorry about the siren, those darn rockets! Called back...was really fun to see and hear familiar faces and voices! 

Got a pretty good nights sleep...up at 4:45 am and on the bus at 5:15 and up to Area F by 6! The walk up is getting a little easier every day...by my last day on Friday it will be easy, well not really! If you look at the picture on top Area F is at the very top.

Today the area I work in, we found a section of the city wall. To those who are studying Tel Es-Safi they were pretty excited, because they can see how that Philistine Wall is continued from the middle section of Area F to the lower section. And it is pretty cool to uncover something that has been buried for some 3000 plus years. I am becoming quite adept of using a small hand pick, trowel, picking out pottery fragments, bone, flint, etc. the day goes so fast! 

We had only one siren go off at the tel, we hunkered down in the 9-10 century b.c. remains and watch as the Iron Dome does its thing! After lunch at the Kibbutz I wanted to take a name, but didn't happen, got in a shower and rinsed out some clothes and Jesse the office coordinator stopped by and told me that I was changing rooms...so I packed up all my stuff and moved from a room with 5 guys to one with few people and more room...score!

At 4 we went to tour Tel Burna, when is the Biblical city of Libnah, Numbers 33:20; Joshua 22:9 and many other references. It's exciting when archaeology confirms the Biblical record! Got back for the same old Salad Bar supper...every meal is the same. When I get back to Newark airport I'm going to have another smash burger classic!

After supper we hung out on the lawn watching for rocket...as of yet not a one! I Skyped  with Lynda, that was fun and the I did FaceTime with Joyanne while she was at work...sorry Joyanne, but how many times do you get a call for Israel?

Howdy everyone! Saturday in Jerusalem was very relaxing! Breakfast served at 7, then several of us walked around the old city, had a  falafel or lunch and then went shopping. Returned to the Austrian Hospice, rested and hung outside in a very nice garden setting. There is certainly tension in other parts of Jerusalem but near us its relatively quiet. Sunday we leave here at 9 a.m. and take the light rail to where we will meet our bus back to the kibbutz and lunch and pottery washing. It really does not seem possible that one week is already gone and will be on the downhill slide come Monday.


Besides the rocket attacks and that whole excitement, I've come down with a cold and not much voice today...not great sleep, lots of fine dust at the dig site has a lot to do with it. Hopefully when I Skype with the folks are Village tomorrow I'll have some voice back. 

We ended the day yesterday with a pizza party, got my bag ready to take to Jerusalem, watched more rockets...we find ourselves sitting on the lawn at night, watching...like it's the Fourth of July.

Today started early again, had to drop off our luggage to the office that we were not taking to jerusalem then on the bus at 5:15 a.m. and began the long climb to area F. Today, Dr. Mark and I cut down to another level, dropped down some 3 feet, sifted through the dirt, finding lots of pottery fragments and a very nice very sharp flint knife head, from around the 9 to 10 century bc. Also found a piece of flint about the size of a tennis ball..very unusual. We stopped early, 11:30 a.m. And took a tour of the other areas, then back to the kibbutz where we had 30 min to unload our stuff and get ready to take the bus to Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem the bus let us off and we took the light rail to the Damascus Gate and walked to the Austrian Hospice. Took a much needed shower and a nap. Walked up to the rooftop to a fantastic view of the Old City Of Jerusalem. Tomorrow I'll look around with others from our group. Next week I'm going to Tel Aviv for a long three day weekend, before flying out on the 21st. Appreciate your prayers! 

Had a meet and greet in the shelter at midnight! Then Hamas took the night off, or rather the Israel's Air Force bombed them back to Iron Age I. Up at 4:30 a.m. Actually I was up at 3, ya...3 and off to Tel es-Safi at 5:15. To get ready we have to load many jugs of water for drinking and and washing of hands. Then the area F crew hike up to the top, it was spectacular this morning as the sun was coming up, we could almost see the coastline to the west and the hills and high hills to the east...great way to see the geography of the Bible. Then we raise our tent like shelter that covers the did site, the Jolly Roger is raised and we go to work. I have been working with Dr. Mark Jenkins from Evangel University in Springfield, MO. Great to work with and learn from a gifted Christian scholar. 

Today we cut down into an area that comes from the 9th or 10th century b.c. Exciting to realize that we are handling pottery, bone (not human), flint, rock and charcoal from the tine David was in Gath and ruled Israel. We dug for some three hours then hiked back down, about a mile for breakfast...salads, yes lettuce, cucumber, peppers, etc...a few different kinds of breads, cottage cheese, yogurt, honey, peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, cereals, hot water for tea or instant coffee, and of course tune fish, there is tuna in the morning and tuna for supper...good thing I like tuna. We then clean-up and hike back up the rocky trail to Area F.

At the end of the day Eric Welch and his crew uncovered a floor, since it was at the end of the day they will examine it closer tomorrow morning...also Mark and I uncovered a softball sized hunk of charcoal, the largest he had ever seen and a rather interesting rock...again we will spend time checking it out tomorrow.

Everything that is collected is marked with several identification points, so if it is bone, pottery, stone...it is given a number...so today I learned to mark each group of items...very meticulous work, this archaeology thing.

We then clean up at 12:30 lower the flag and our tent and carry everything we collected back down to the bus. There are 4 other areas that are also working at different points on the tel. One area uncovered two sets of complete pottery, some 6-7 pots total...I believe they are looking at the Philistine era. 

The day was clear and quiet until we reached the bus and off in the distance we heard 3 booms and saw three puffs of white smoke...all that remained of a rockets after the Iron Dome took iout. Oh ya, we did have have some 30-40 Israeli soldiers come by on patrol...we were safe!

This afternoon after lunch I began packing up my backpack for the return trip to the Old City of Jerusalem...then back to the kibbutz Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow we lose almost half the group, they are leaving because of the tensions in the area and their governments would like them to leave, not forcing but strongly encouraging. I however feel very safe, secure in God's protection, no matter where I am.