From a Bomb Shelter to a First Century Tomb

There’s a title we never thought we’d use! Hello, Friends and Family! We wanted to catch you up on the last month of happenings and, most importantly, to share with you pictures of our new apartment! As we mentioned in our previous entries, we moved on campus in June and have been slowly working to move into our oncampus apartment, which boasts of a first–century tomb inside of it. We know that everyone has been eager to see pictures, and after a bit of paint, plaster, calking, scraping, and moving in, our new home is (mostly) complete! We still have a few pictures we want to add to the wall, but we are really pleased with how the renovations turned out. So, we enjoy sharing our pictures with you!

In addition to our renovations, we’ve also been working to get familiar with the students who we will be welcoming on campus, and getting the campus ready for their arrival. They now arrive tomorrow, and we are working diligently to get the final pieces into place! We appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks, for us and for the students. Specifically, we would ask you to pray for:

1. Safe Travels. Please pray for safe travels for the students, and painless trips through Israeli customs.
2. Adjustment and Culture Shock. Traveling to the Middle East is such a challenge, and the students here really “hit the ground running” with their classes. Please pray for smooth adjustments and peace for everyone working through culture shock. Please also pray for us to be sensitive to any needs the students might have.
3. Family, Work, and Personal Space. Justin and I will also be starting classes on Monday. Please pray that we can ease into our positions without too many stresses, and that we can find a good balance between our work and our own personal time.

We appreciate your prayers so much, not only for us, but for the new students and for the new staff who are working diligently to prepare to serve them here. We are both excited and a little anxious, and we know that God will be with us and will use us in our own ways to be a voice and support for the student body. We love each one of you! Until next time…

Mandy & Justin