Pictures from our travel day and the first day in Israel!

Heading off! 

Our food on the plane. 

Arriving in Tel Aviv 

Welcome to Israel! ❤️🇮🇱❤️

Me and my family in Tel Aviv! 

Archway at our hotel 

This is honestly the fanciest YMCA I have ever been in. 

Aroma coffee

About to enter the Jewish quarter 

In the Jewish quarter 

Everyone celebrating finishing another Torah scroll at the Wall.

The sign at the YMCA. 

Beautiful Israel flowers 

Septemeber 14th- Israel travel diary Day 1

September 14^th, 2016 Shalom y’all! It feels so good to be back. The last two ½ weeks has been so crazy but wonderful. August 20^th-22^nd was my brother and now sister-in-laws wedding at a ranch close to the border of Utah and Colorado. They had their ceremony at Rifle Falls, Colorado. It was a beautiful (but quick) ceremony/wedding. I had a blast staying at the ranch, goofing off with my siblings and niece and enjoying the beautiful scenery with my wonderful family. I will possibly be giving a blog post about the wedding or at least show the pictures. But I first want to share about my and my family’s two week incredible adventure to… ISRAEL!!! God’s Holy Land! Wow! All I can say is… wow. Our family experienced and did so much in just a two week period. We met so many wonderful new friends, saw amazing beautiful places that major events took place at, ate really tasty food and more. I will be sharing more thoughts on the trip itself after I give you a little taste into our days while being over there. So, lets get started.  

 On August 23^rd at 3:00am our family headed out to go to the airport. The day before leaving for Israel, we left the wedding celebrations, drove 5 ½ hours back home, cleaned, packed last minute things and slept for a few hours. Basically, it was all crazy! When we got up, though it was early, we had smiles on our faces with ready hearts for our much anticipated trip. We first drove to my sister and brother-in-laws house so that my older sister could take the car back after dropping us off at the airport. In the car my mom shared with us that she wants us to come back to America and be like Joshua and Caleb, sharing the truth and good report about Israel. Psalm 48:12-14. The news here in American doesn’t tell the truth at all about Israel. There aren’t bombings exploding everywhere you walk, or people betting stabbed every where you turned. No, most of the people were so friendly. Jews, Muslims and Christians are all walking on the same street into the same stores. The Jewish people, as a nation, are being mistreated by the extremist Muslims of the world because most of the Muslim world just hates them. In Israel, the Jewish people still live their lives. They don’t live their lives in fear, yet with caution. They try to live as normally as possible. It was so beautiful to see how life actually is there.

Anyway, 10 spies in the Bible came back with a false report saying that there were giants filling the land etc. but after Joshua and Caleb saw the land, they came back with a good true report. That’s what we feel called to do now that we are back. We are called to spread the truth about Jerusalem and Israel and show the people in America how 1. important the Land of Israel is and 2. how much the Jewish people need our support. America has begun to turn her back on Israel, which makes me so sad and they don’t deserve any of the hate they get. I just want you all to know that America is dangerous too. We aren’t safe anywhere. There are shootings happening in Chicago, Orlando etc. etc. I was telling a friend the other day that I felt safer sometimes in Israel then I do in Denver. You do want to use common sense in Israel, just like you do any where else. For instance, you don’t go to the Muslim places that have signs for Jews and Christians that say “go at your own risk, for you may be killed” but it’s the same with Denver and any other major city. Obviously, I wouldn’t go down a dark alleyway in the middle of the night in a city. Part of the reason I felt so safe in most parts of Israel was because 1. the people are so friendly and 2. there is literally IDF (Israeli Defense Force)  or city police soldiers everywhere you go. If something happens, there is most likely a soldier nearby to help you.

My little sister also shared in the car a verse that she read that morning in Exodus 33:14, “And He said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”” My sister shared how this really touched her because all of us were tired that morning but His presence goes before us. He gave us the strength and rest that we needed. We said our goodbyes to my older sister, checked in, bought breakfast, went through security rather quickly, ate our breakfast and boarded our plane to Newark, NJ. On the plane I slept, ate, had a little “dance party” with my sister, listened to music, journal led and read. The flight went by really quickly which was nice. Our plane landed safely in Newark and we bought some really tasty New York pizza for lunch. It was crazy to see New York from the plane and then eat their pizza in New Jersey. Our family arrived to our gate 2 ½ hours early. At our gate, security guards came and told everyone to move somewhere else. They shifted our Tel Aviv gate - which was a little concerning. Once it got closer to time to board, we went through a small international security area. We had to set our bags on a table. They scanned the bags, scanned us and we gave them our passports. Everyone was able to sit down at the original gate again. I’m glad they had the extra security.

It really hit me that we were going to Israel when we were standing in line to board the plane, seeing all different kind of Jews, a few Muslims, and hearing the Hebrew language all around us. I could pick up some words here and there which was encouraging. It was so interesting seeing the different kind of Jews boarding. There were the ultra orthodox  Jews with the kippah, tzit tzit’s, black tall hats, long beards, and for the ladies long skirts, long shirts, and head coverings. Then there was the traditional, modern orthodox Jews who wore skirts and modest shirts but the men only wore a Kippah and tzit tzit’s. It was sweet that some of the children matched too.  Most of the ladies and girl children were wearing modest clothing with long skirts and longer shirts.  For my mom, sister and I it was really encouraging to see young ladies wearing modest clothing. Since we wear skirts the majority of the time, it was comforting to not be the only women wearing a skirt. I have never seen that many ladies and children on a plane all wearing skirts. Seeing the children run around wearing Kippah’s and tzit tzit’s or skirts was so sweet and it melted my heart. Also, hearing children call “Ima” or “Abba” was so sweet. We boarded the plane, had a kosher meal of chicken, rice, vegetables, bread and chocolate pudding. It was so nice in Israel that all of the restaurants we went to were Kosher so I didn’t have to worry about the pork or shellfish issue.

On the plane I did the same things that I did on the Denver to Newark flight and I also read a couple of verses that a very dear friend of mine gave to me before the trip. She had made this packet full of verses that really encouraged me so much. It was really sweet of her to think of me and do that. On the plane I got about 3 ½ hours of sleep and it was great waking up that morning seeing the sun rise and seeing Jews praying on the plane. Many of the men were covered in their prayer shawl and using their prayer books and many women were praying using their prayer books as well.  I felt very safe and comforted on the flight because so many people were praying, ha ha!

Alright, so now we are going into the 1^st day of the Israel adventures. Yay! When we landed into Israel many people was clapping, which was so fun! I was SO excited that we landed! I couldn’t keep the excitement in any longer. When we got off the plane everything was in Hebrew, even the exit sign! The Tel Aviv airport was so nice and clean. We found our way to where we needed to go very easily, thanks to the help of some English signs, praise God. It REALLY started to hit me that we were finally in Israel when we were driving and seeing all of the Hebrew and Arabic signs. My dad was very brave to drive on that trip. He did such a wonderful job, and we were all proud of him. If you ever go to Jerusalem, just a warning, people love to honk their horns there… even if you are doing nothing wrong. It was so funny to hear the horns honking everywhere you go. I will say I witnessed lots of impatience! As we drove up the hill we started to see “The city on a Hill” a.k.a. Jerusalem! It was amazing coming over the peak and seeing houses, lots of construction going on, tall business like buildings, brick walls etc. I can’t explain the sight but it was beautiful seeing so much life in the city. Our family had a lot of confusion driving around trying to find our hotel but we all stayed calm and finally found our way around. We checked in, met up with a friend of several of our Colorado friends, talked a little bit, and headed out. Our friend took us through a park called Teddy Park. Teddy saved over 3,000 Jews during the Holocaust time through an under ground tunnel. They made this park in remembrance of him. Fountains were on in the park and there was at least 100 children (and some parents) laughing and having a blast in the fountains. I noticed in Israel that so many of the Jewish families are so family oriented. It is really nice for a change. Everyone was having a great time. Our friend told us that it was the last week of summer so everyone was out enjoying fun activities before school starts. I have never seen so many Jewish families at one place and enjoying life together. It truly warmed my heart!

 We then walked through a fancy mall that has the best coffee I have ever tasted. For the Starbucks lovers out there, it was so much better then Starbucks. The coffee shop was called Aroma and I can’t tell you how many times our family got coffee there while in Jerusalem. It’s kind of embarrassing how often we went, ha ha! We soon had the joke: “when tired in the morning-afternoon-or evening, drink Aroma. When it’s hot outside, get Aroma. Need a small treat, get Aroma.”  This first time, we all got regular iced coffee, and chocolate croissants for a little snack. Everything was so good! With coffee in our hands we headed through the Jewish quarter. How beautiful it was through there. Everything was so clean and there were beautiful flowers growing. Also, seeing the Israeli flag is so nice and comforting. On our way down to the Western Wall, we passed a lot of Jews trying to hand red strings out. A friend of mine suggested that we don’t take anything that is handed out, especially the red strings that were being handed out in Jerusalem. When we arrived down to the wall, there were at least 2,000-3,000 Jews celebrating with singing, dancing and waving of flags and a gigantic video screen displaying the key people. We asked someone what was going on and they said that for about three years they have been working on a new Torah scroll and they had just finished it. Every letter and detail on a Torah scroll has to be perfect and there was about 30,000 shekels ($7,500 dollars) poured into this. How exciting it was to see many people rejoicing and celebrating God’s Word. It was really inspiring to me seeing that many people rejoicing for God and His Word. If only we all rejoiced and celebrated like that too. We overlooked where the City of David was and where David would’ve come up singing the Psalms of Ascents. That was a cool image in my mind and another goose bumps moment (I had many of those on the trip J). Our friend then pointed out to us the Mount of Olives which has a pretty amazing significance to it too.

Our family had a lot of tears on the first day just seeing the Bible come alive in such an amazing way that I could never put into words.

 We then hiked back up through the Jewish quarter. There are a ton of stairs and hills. Some days we got very sore and tired. We found our way by ourselves and I think we did a good job for our first time. For dinner my sister and dad had Israeli pizza and my mom and I had the best chicken schwarma and humus sandwich that I have ever had! The humus in Colorado is so fake now that I have tasted the real stuff.  We arrived back to the hotel safely and a crazy thing happened while we were walking up in the Jewish quarter. We passed a HaYovel group. This is a ministry we are fond of and where many friends serve. By the time it all registered, we wondered if one of my friends siblings were in that group and we didn’t realize it until it was too late to go say hi. We considered running down, but the streets are hilly and sometimes slick. I was so bummed, but it was so fun to see/pass people we know from the USA in Israel already. On a transparent side, I did have some thoughts and some fears back home knowing that we were going to be seeing and be around Arabs. But when I came into the land all of my fears went away and I felt so joyful and brave. It was a really great comforting feeling.

 I hope you all enjoyed the travel days + the first day in Jerusalem. I hope to be posting a lot these next couple of weeks of our adventures in Israel. I will also be showing some photos on here of our trip. Hope y’all will come back for more.

 Shalom and Blessings to you,

Kaila

Pictures for the last day of South Dakota on July 10th, 2016.

Lily's little sister Bailey with the dog. 

My little sister with Bailey. 

Charlie and Jill LeBlanc.

Addie, my sister and I with our milkshakes. We enjoyed our car ride so much!

Dinner back in Colorado.

August 11th, 2016 Last day of South Dakota on July 10th, 2016.

This is for the last day of South Dakota missions trip on July 10^th, 2016.

My meal team and I set out cereals, toast etc. which was so hard! Ha ha! I’m just kidding. ;) After breakfast we all got ready, and drove 30 miles to go to a church where Mrs. Porter’s close friends were playing worship for that morning. Their name is Charlie and Jill LeBlanc if you want to check them out on YouTube. They have performed with some really famous Christian artists and they played really powerful wonderful worship songs themselves. I was really encouraged and blessed by them, I am so thankful we were able to go and see them play as well as hear the message that morning in church. Our choir sang Amazing Grace during the offering time (spontaneously) and Mr. LeBlanc gave the message.

The message was SO good, uplifting and encouraging. The message was about loving people and after the message it really made me realize that sometimes I wasn’t the most loving towards my choir “family.” Sometimes I can get a little controlling and when I do, I can tell some people don’t like what I am saying; I then start holding a grudge towards someone for a little while… which I am working on getting better. Here were my notes from the message, sorry if they seem a little scatter brain. “Life isn’t over when you go through a tragedy. You only go through this day once, don’t spend it all on being mad or sad. Keep your heart in the right direction, guard your heart and follow the ways of the Spirit. We sometimes don’t want to move forward and dig deeper into His word and prayer. But He is calling us to thrive for Him and dig deeper each day in an even more personal way. When we draw closer to Him it helps us to press through the pain and move forward. Let God hold you up even when you want to give up. Run to Him instead of running away from Him.

If a brother or sister in Christ is going through a hard time, be there for them. Don’t tell them, ‘well if you had done this differently’, ‘I knew this was going to happen’ or even telling them ‘it’ll be ok, you’ll get through it.’ Our words can be like sharp daggers, instead of throwing words at them just have love towards them. When people are hurting all they need is love. Sometimes they don’t even need words to comfort them, just love. Whenever people are going through something we are all so quick to judge. But let God be the judge. He knows all that is going on in their life and how to handle it. Encourage each other even though you might be struggling with something too. Don’t focus on yourself, but focus on others and on Yeshua. Be a beam of light for the people around you. We are like light sabers (from Star Wars) shinning our way through the darkness. Be the arms of Yeshua when people are hurting around you. Turn around and give someone a smile offering. J Smiles bless and help people; they also can change the world.”

The LeBlanc’s prayed over our team and then we headed on home. Our family plus Addie (she was driving home with us) got ice-cream for our 6 ½ hour drive home and once we got into Colorado we stopped for dinner with some of the other choir members. Even though South Dakota wasn’t over seas like Vienna, we still did a lot and had a powerful time there. I am very thankful we had this opportunity to be able to go and be a light. Exciting news… I am going to Africa next year with my choir and I will definitely be blogging about my experience there and taking pictures. It has always been my dream to go there and severe at an orphanage, and now it is finally coming true!

Blessings and Shalom ,

Kaila    

Pictures from July 9th South Dakota day 3

The fish in the fish hatchery 

Kira and Megan chillin' out of the hot sun

Mrs. Porter and Emma 

My sister, my mom and me. 

Jackson felt a little left out, I feel bad that he is the guy in the choir. :(

Some of the choir

My mom, Mrs. Bore , Rebecca and the two girls below... Abby and Addie!

A beautiful little area in the garden at the fish hatchery.

Rebecca and I relaxing at the river.

The river was so peaceful, it kind of sounded like the ocean... It was so nice.

Singing in the Band she'll.

Waiting in line for 9 square.

9 square with the choir and church.

Maiza, Abby and Jackson enjoying some good cotton candy.

Megan REALLY enjoyed it.

I love my dear choir family! 

August 7th, 2016 South Dakota entry day #3

This is for July 9^th, 2016 after breakfast we all got ready and had the morning devotions. Here were my notes from another lovely devotional: “My inheritance was purchased by God’s grace. No one, not even Satan’s evil power could ever take or separate us from God’s grace. ‘I have loved you just as my Father has love Me.’ Think about how much Adonai loves Yeshua. He loved His Son so much and He loves us all so much that He was willing to give Yeshua and see Him go through pain and suffering all for us. 2 Cor. 5:21. His love will affect your life completely. If you always think about how much He loves you, you won’t have to care what anybody else thinks or loves you.” I thought this was a great encouragement and a wonderful devotional. Mrs. Porter then told each of us to go to separate spots outside or in the house. We each sat for 20 minutes just sitting in His presence either journaling, worshipping, meditating in His word, praying etc. It was so nice to 1. Sit in His presence on Shabbat and 2. Do nothing choir related and just relax. I’m not going to share what I felt like God was telling me because it was a private time, but a lovely time indeed. I am so glad Mrs. Porter asked us to do this.

We then visited a fish hatchery and took some group photos of the team. I found out from my parents that the town name Spearfish came from the Indians. They would use spears to catch the fish for their meals. After touring around the hatchery, we broke up into teams and with our teams walked around the park where we would be performing  that night. We went around praying for the performance and praying for the people that were coming that night; that they would be encouraged, touched by God and coming away with a peace within their soul. After praying we all dipped our feet into the cool river, which helped with being a hot day. There was a man there that had a puppy so some of us girls went to pet the puppy and talk with the man. I invited the older gentleman to come to our performance. I could just sense that he needed Yeshua.

Back at the house, we played a short game of soccer, which was a blast. We also practiced for the performance, relaxed a little and then headed to the park. At the band shell we sang our eight songs, fellowshipped with people, had some yummy cotton candy and played a really fun game called nine-square with the people from the church that hosted the concert in the park. The man that I had invited at the park earlier that day actually came. I sure hope we were able to touch his heart. Our concert and time in the park was definitely a highlight for us all-- being able to play a really fun game, meeting new friends and just having a good time. I was talking with a guy named Dillon and I asked him if he played any sports. He said no because when he was 24 days old he had to have heart surgery and now 16 years later, he is still healing and getting back to normal from that surgery. When I meet people like that it makes me realize more and more how everyone has a story. Someone may be going through something and even just a smile could brighten their day. I really hope we reached people in the park that night and I hope we shinned the light of Yeshua. This is one of those times we planted seeds of faith, hope, and joy, along with the message of the gospel and trust that God will do the watering His way and His timing.  
Blessings and Shalom,
Kaila 

Pictures from the second day of South Dakota!

Practicing outside for the Assisted Living later. 

The falls

Emma, Addie, Abby and Maiza beside the river. 

Me, Kira and Megan at the falls. 

Me in front of the falls :) 

Rebekah and I infront of the falls praising God. 

Poison ivy on the trail... Thankfully none of us got poison ivy. 

A beautiful sight on the hike. 

Me, Kira and Megan on the car ride back to the home. 

"The Spice Girls" at the Assisted Living. 

Our team singing in the Assisted Living. 

Our team singing in Down Town Spearfish. 

Worship time! 

Devotional time.