In November we found out that some close friends were going to be out here as well. We’ve always wanted to visit the “Holy Land” and we enjoy traveling with other people so this seemed like the excuse we needed. What ensued was a 7 day chaotic rush to get passports (for all 6 of us), buy plane tickets ($6500 total!) and find a place to stay. We ended up securing a 2 bedroom apartment 2 days before we left. It’s $2300 for our whole stay.

We had am intentional 9 hour layover in Amsterdam but besides that our trip over was pretty uneventful. Also over here are Kami’s brother’s family (Jeremy, April, Kelsey, Jack, Sydney, Elli, Kaira)  and the Mowry’s (Stephen, Tiffany, Angus, Desmond, Ivy). They are 2 of the business partners who I do Epipheo with.

Originally, our plan was to just live life over here and do some touring about, since we have never been here before. After seeing the first few sites, though, it became pretty apparent that sightseeing out here wasn’t so much what we were excited about. Arranging transportation, (we do not have a car out here) to arrive just to see a stack of cathedrals all fighting over the same rock, doesn’t seem to hep us progress in many of our spiritual goals. At this time we were also presented with the opportunity to join an UlpanOr which is a really intense Hebrew training school. Normally it’s pretty expensive but Jeremy and Stephen had worked out a deal for us to make them an Epipheo and they would give us a substantial amount of training credits.

Studying Hebrew

So, that’s our life here. We eat, we work, we study Hebrew and we learn. One of our primary goals for coming over was to spend time immersed in the Jewish culture. We have observed that much of the Jewish culture and belief system has ingrained in it, very deeply, a blueprint for life, family, and business. Historically, we have had very little exposure to Toraic beliefs and practices as most churches we were raised in focused 90% on New Testament. We will be back in mid-January with 3 weeks before Kami’s due date (the airport permission paper required a little fudging). If it was not for Kami’s due date we had considered staying for 2+ months. So far it’s been great, challenging and valuable.

WesternWall

Here are a few practical goals while we are here:

• Build a solid enough foundation in the Hebrew language that we can continue Hebrew with the children back in the states.
• Ben would like to spend some time reading the Old Testament at the Western Wall in front of the temple mount (20 minute walk from our house)
• Ben and Kami plan on going to Yad Veshem (Holocaust Museum)
• We would like to spend the day with the family at the Dead Sea (45 minutes drive with rental car)
  

  Kosher Pickles

• We would like to develop some business contacts in Tel Aviv. So far we have been quickly accepted and have a meeting scheduled with 15 different entrepreneurs this Monday.
• Learn from the cultural and Toraic rhythms that reinforce a healthy family and spiritual culture.  These guys have been at it for a while.
• Establish a bit of a foundation for potential return trip.
• Ben wants to buy a juicer and consume as many pickles as possible.

You can view more pictures on our Facebook Album HERE.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting some thoughts and specifics on this trip over at bencrawfordlife.com

ALL OF THE VIDEOS CAN BE VIEWED IN HIGH QUALITY BY CLICKING “HQ” (in the bottom right corner)

This video was sped up 400% so the entire process took place under 6 minutes. Not bad for kids that can’t reach above the counter.