Off to South Dakota

I cannot believe that I have been in North Dakota for almost two weeks now. The time has gone by so fast. I guess that is a good sign that I have not been bored. I wondered how much empty time I would have, and as it turns out I've had about zero.
Before I left Alaska I read a paper about deputation in which a preacher said (in large bold letters) that deputation will be the hardest thing you ever do. Now, I know that I have not been "on deputation" (I still feel weird saying that) for very long, but I don't know how this could be so hard. I can understand that with a wife and family it would be more difficult, but come on. Some people spend their whole lives waiting for a chance to travel around the US. I not only get to travel around the US (or a small part of it) but I get to meet all kinds of incredible people. If there is one thing that is difficult it is meeting people who you wish you could stay with longer, but know that you have to move on. There are so many people already in Grand Forks that I consider true friends. Pastor Custer had to leave on Saturday, so I didn't get to spend tons of time with him, but the little time I did I enjoyed greatly. I hope I will get to see him again before I leave. I was out in Larimore all day on Sunday with Pastor Shaffer (that is the church the Taylor's came from), and had a marvelous time. He let me take all of Sunday school hour to do my presentation, and it went very well. After the services I went to brother Shaffer's house. I had an awesome time getting to know him and his family, or part of it, only his daughter, Cherith (which I thought was a very cool name) still lives with them. Oh and I got to meet brother Silcox and his wife...I felt like I got wisdom just listening to them; it was really neat.
Last Tuesday I drove down to Fargo and met the Langes and the Paulsons and dinner with them and another family from the church in Fargo. Brother Lange had just come back from Thailand. I also got to meet Mark's family (Mark is the guy I stayed with in Chicago) and hopefully will get to spend friday evening with them. Monday, Memorial Day, the church in grand forks had a big picnic at one of the parks. I wish I could accurately describe how awesome it is to meet so many great people. And then to be told that I have been a blessing to them, when they have been such a blessing to me...well it is humbling to say the least.
I go to Fargo on Saturday and from there to Sioux Falls. I found a bus that will take me there for 55 bucks, which is cheaper than the gas it would cost to drive (gas is 3.25 here).
Thanks to everyone who has emailed, called, or left comments...I appreciate it.
Until next time
Sorry I don't have any pictures...

NOTE: Since this website is public domain from now I am not going to be including any specific details about the Middle East. Most notably peoples real names, city names, locations, or dates. Not that it is dangerous now, but it could be in the future, and it is a good habit to get used to. So, please don't include any "sensitive" information in the comments you post.

On the road again

Hey everyone, as promised I am going to start updating my blog again. I am currently sitting in the Seattle/Tacoma airport. You all won’t see this until sometime later, because the wireless internet is not free here, and there is no way that I am going to pay eight dollars for internet. I only have a three hour layover here in Seattle, then I fly to St Paul where I have a five hour layover there, then finally over to Grand Forks.

I had a wonderful time down in Ninilchik. It was really great to see the mission work, and be able to share about the middle east with them. As well as just spending time with them. I was able to spend a bit of time with the Lamberts. They are great friends, and I love them very much. They have been so instrumental in my Christian life. Aside from my pastor Ron was the first person to congratulate me after I was saved. He was also the first person I talked to about being called to the ministry. I’ll miss them…

I also got to spend quite a bit of time with my sister. Not as much as I wanted to, because she had to work, but we were able to spend at least a little time. Plus, she let me take care of Devynn (my niece) while she was at work. She is a beautiful little girl and she has an incredible smile (apparently George girls get all the pretty genes and the boys get…nothing). She is over 7 months old now, is 18 pounds, has two teeth, and is pretty close to walking. The next time I see her she will be walking and probably talking (which she does already, just not in a language I understand…a phenomena which I am pretty used to by now).

Most of my short time there was spent with my mommy. She only had to work one of the days. We didn’t do anything special per say, but we didn’t need to; just spending time with her was special. We went to the beach and walked for a while with Devynn. The beach was really nice and it made me realize that I miss the ocean…and commercial fishing on it. I guess no matter how far a fisherman is taken from the ocean part of it never leaves him. I got to see a couple of old friends from high school. One of the meetings was completely unexpected, but incredibly delightful. I was really glad to be able to see people who I grew up with; it really puts things in perspective. Jacob Klapak was one of the friends I saw. He and his wife are running the Boardwalk restaurant for the summer.

Other than that not a lot happened. I spent a lot of time thinking, wondering how many more times I will get to see the little town I grew up in or the people I grew up with. My mom said she never expected me to be the one to leave, she always thought I would come back and live near home…I thought so too, but God has a way of changing lives. And I would have it no other way. I would give a thousand lives for Christ as long as I might serve him and further His kingdom. I think right now I am too excited to be sad. The incredible possibilities that lie ahead of me spur me on to an almost dream like state at times. I expect God to do a great work in the Middle East, and it is my greatest desire and privilege to be a tool in accomplishing that. God forbid that I would ever doubt His great plan by allowing my zeal, passion, or hope to fade. If we do not dream, then who will. If we do not yearn and believe that God is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” then we ought not call Him the Almighty.

It will be interesting getting to the states and visiting churches. I am excited about that too. I only hope that I can relate the burden and the vision that God has given me to the churches.

I uploaded a couple of pictures of my niece, mom, and sister. I guess you could say these are the women in my life.

Until next time…

Very early in the morning they came unto the sepulchre…

Hi Everyone,

Happy belated Easter. Jerusalem was pretty lively during the ‘passion’ week. On Friday me and the two girls from Poland went to the old city where thousands and thousands of people gathered together to commemorate ‘Good Friday’. They all start in one place (which ironically is now a Muslim school) and walk through out the old city, singing and chanting the whole time. There are fourteen stations that have some special significance. The final stop is the church of the sepulchre, where orthodox Christians believe Christ was crucified, wrapped in the grave clothes, and buried. They believe all of that took place where the current church is located. The whole trip takes around two hours. While we were walking I started to get hungry so I started singing about being hungry, to the tune of whatever the crowd was singing, and the guy in front of us started laughing and turned around to ask where I was from. He said he could tell I was American from my song…because he was thinking the same thing hahaha. As it turned out he was from Alaska too, or sort of. He lived in Wasilla for 17 years. He was a pretty devout catholic and showed us all around the church and explained the significance and history of all the different rooms and what not. It was all very interesting, though I don’t know how much I believe it.

Sunday Elias’s father and I went early to the garden tomb (the tomb outside the city walls where most protestants believe that Christ was buried). They garden is run and maintained by an association from England, and they had a service at 6:30 in the morning, just as the sun begins to rise. There was about 1,500 people there. Almost all of them foreigners. The service was of course in English. It was actually pretty neat. The held services through out the day in a couple different languages. The last service was the Arabic service at 3:30, which we all went to. It also was pretty neat. There was not nearly as many people there, maybe 300 or so, but at least a hundred of them were foreigners. There were also a number of messianic Jews there. Unfortunately most of the service was translated into English. I mean it was good that it was translated so that the people could understand it…I just don’t like that everyone caters to the English language.

I would post pictures of the Tomb, but again, the internet is not cooperating with pictures...

Monday was more or less a normal day, so I stayed home and studied and practiced Arabic. That night we went to al-ram to visit relatives. It was a lot of fun. Now that I’ve been here so long I feel much more comfortable. There was a family visiting them from Germany. The father was originally from Jerusalem, but he converted to Christianity from Islam and left for Germany because it wasn’t safe any more. Now he is a missionary in Germany. He is not Baptist, but it was very interesting and helpful to speak with him.

Well, I don’t have much else to say. I come back to Alaska late Thursday/early Friday (right when brother Harbin leaves…) I am looking forward to coming back, even though it appears that it will only be for a short while. I miss every one up there. See you all soon.

Back From Jordan

Hey everyone, I know my posts are getting farther and farther apart, but that is because I am finding more and more to do. The beginning of the last week some of Elias' friends came to visit, one American guy who is studying with him in Germany and two Polish girls. So we spent a couple days going around Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. Until now I really haven't seen any of the 'tourist' sites in Israel. We went to Jericho and to the Dead Sea. It was quite interesting. Apparently you can go see the ancient walls of Jericho, but we didn't have time since it was quite a distance from the city. However, there were some other ruins that we were able to see, and learn about the history of the region. Also we saw the sycamore tree that Zachaius climbed up to see the Lord, or at least it is believed to be that tree.
Thursday we went into Jordan. The girls from Poland really wanted to go to Petra. I had planned on going to Jordan to visit a couple Universities, so it turned out well. Unfortunately schools in Jordan are closed on Friday and Saturday, so I had to go on Thursday, and I only had time to visit one of them. Elias' parents have a friend in Amman, so that is where we were staying. The University I went to was the University of Jordan, in Amman. It is a very large University, and one of the best in the Middle East. They have a very good Arabic program for teaching international students Standard Arabic. The program is a year long and quite intensive; 15 hours a week. I also checked at the Physics department to see whether I could help out there. The department chair said there is a possibility, but it would be unofficial, and I wouldn't be able to teach a class by myself, since the official language of instruction is Arabic. That University also has a masters program for physics, as well as a masters program for teaching physics, and a new program for medical physics...all of which may be useful for future residence in the middle east.
I was actually quite impressed with Jordan. It is a nice looking country, and seems pretty stable. But probably what caught my attention the most was how friendly the people were. I met a few people at the University who were quite helpful and very happy to meet an American who was interested in their language and culture. There was also a man at a donut shop who helped us very much with travel arrangements. He said that if I come back to Jordan to come see him and he would help me find a place to stay and what not.
Friday we went to Petra. It was incredible, I would try to describe it, but I don't think I could. You'll just have to wait to see the pictures. There are alot of bedouins who live in the area. Most of them work as shepherds, living a simple nomadic life. Most of the women make hand crafted trinkets and things to try and sell to tourists. I wonder how many people have tried to reach those people with the gospel...not very many I think. They live a very hard life. I wish you could have seen them, and looked into their eyes. Surely our Lord would have wept over them.
This is Easter week, and I hear that Jerusalem is pretty lively during this time. I guess there are alot of events commemorating the Passion Week. I don't think it makes any difference. Many of the Christians here have special celebrations and fasts during the Easter season. I would rather celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord every day of my life rather than a few weeks a year. Hopefully there will be a lot of people coming to the church.
OK, I've gotta get ready for church. I'll see you most of you in a couple weeks. I leave Israel the 14th and leave Germany the 18th. I'm not sure exactly when I arrive in Alaska, but probably some time on the 19th. Until then, everyone take care...

Noah

sorry, the internet is not cooperating with pictures, so you'll have to wait for pictures.