At the hotel in Tel Aviv

Yossi and Bevi, associate directors of the MJBI, met us at the airport in Lod. We rented a car and have settled into our hotel room in Tel Aviv. We will pick up Glenn and Cheryl today at the airport. We will have a few days of traveling before we arrive in Jerusalem. Yossi and Bevi will join us for the Galilee portion of the trip, for which we rejoice. For details of our arrival please see my blog Culture vs Content for my post today.

Yossi and Bevi in Tel Aviv

Western Wall, in Hebrew “Ha Kotel”

Soon we will join the worshippers at the Western Wall!

Wayne and I will leave tomorrow for Israel. We will join Yossi and Bevi for the opening of the MJBI Jerusalem. I will try to live-blog our journey with commentary and photos, so you are invited to check in from time to time and participate with us.

In our mid-lives–the time when most begin to think about retiring someday–God called us to the mission field. We had a lovely home, and Wayne had a fulfilling job. He served as an elder at Shady Grove Church for nearly a decade. We had led many short-term missions trips. We especially loved visiting Eastern Europe, and we felt that God had someting for us to do concerning the Jewish people someday.

Well things came together. In case you haven’t read our humble beginnings, please check the Beginnings section of the blog.

We tearfully said good bye to family and friends and boarded a plane for Ukraine. After flying and connecting and flying and connecting, we arrived in the former Soviet Union about 24 hours later.  

Valentin and Tatyana taken at MJBI banquet, 2006

Valentin and Tatyana helped us pioneer the first Messianic Jewish Bible Institute, first in Myaki, Ukraine, and later in Odessa, Ukraine. Valentin grew up in Chmelnitski, Ukraine, and Tatyana grew up in Moldova.

After they met and married, they sought immigration to the United States. In the 1980′s, the Soviet states released many Jews to make immigration to America and Israel.

 

Work horse in Myaki, Ukraine

 

Nothing prepared me for life in Myaki, Ukraine. And yet conversely, even ironically, everything in life prepared my family for the spiritual marathon that stretched before us during our first year as missionaries in the former Soviet Union. Today we look back on those cold winter days of hardship with great warmth—even exuberant praise—as we remember the life that sprang out of the death of our feeble efforts during those difficult times. 

Thatched roof house in Ukraine.

The first MJBI began in a small, fishing village about 50 kilometers outside of Odessa, Ukraine, in an old, Communist indoctrination camp for Russian youth. It was located at the end of an unpaved road that was lined with homes made with mud bricks and thatched roofs. The village resembled something out of “Fiddler on the Roof.” It was about 100 years behind the United States. 

Forget the scary hair and concentrate on the joyful faces!

This photo was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia, in April 1996. This was our first, fact-finding trip to the former Soviet Union at the invitation of Jonathan Bernis. We were invited to oversee a Bible school for young Messianic Jewish believers, but we did know where it would be and how it would all come together. Our hearts soared with joy and expectation as we took our first steps into a new world and a new life.