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friends and such

hello friends :)
i must say that i am missing you all.......but i'm not quite ready to leave yet :)
we are leaving the hostel on tuesday for good to meet dave and friends at the airport, and then we're going to be traveling and stuff for the last week we're here.....
which means that we are having to say goodbye to our friends over the next couple of days :(
i will truly miss the friends we have made here.....they are wonderful people, a God send for this trip.....i have learned so much from them and through being with them....God has definitely used them in my life......and i'm not ready to say goodbye to them!
anyway.....
we went to eilat last week for a couple of days.....eilat is a resort town in the southernmost part of israel, on the red sea.....we could see both jordan and egypt......i was told that on a clearer day, we would have also been able to see saudi arabia.......there are so many people there, it was a tad too crowded for me at night where all the shops are :) we were able to stay in a friend's neighbor's villa, which was amazing! it was a really nice place and we were able to swim and stuff without braving the crowds and heat at the beach.....
i also got to go scuba diving! that's not something i ever thought i would do, but we went in the red sea! we went with guides and a photographer.......he took pics of us underwater! the dive shop we went through was really laidback and seemed like it was simply run by a group of friends......people just hanging out, having a drink, enjoying the day :) they showed us what to do and how to do everything.....while he was talking to us about how to breather underwater, i started feeling like i wasn't going to be able to breathe! but no worries.....once we got underwater, it was completely natural to do it the way we're supposed to.....it was pretty underwater and there were lots of cool fish to see....i'm so glad i did it.....and i recommend it to all of y'all!
i think the coolest thing, though, was to see the red sea and think that long ago, God parted the waters for the israelites to come from egypt......i swam in that sea.....it gave me chills to think that i was in the same place that that had happened, possibly walking on the same ground......God is amazing :)
we went to church tonight and then had a last dinner with daniel and sam, our friends from the hostel. we met them the first few days we were here and have been able to spend a lot of time with them, so we had a final meal together.....which is something we've done for almost all the departing members of our hostel family......tradition, i guess :)
we feel as though we're in a whirlwind of things that need to get done for the next few days before dave comes.......seeing people for the last time, packing, taking care of things at the hostel, last minute shopping, going to the church for the last time, etc.....it's a little overwhelming, but all will be well :)
i have started reading the sacred romance, by brent curtis and john eldredge......it's about the heart of God and i am so glad i'm reading it.....i have tried before, but i think sometimes, it just isn't the right time, you know? anyway, the book has been talking about how it is sometimes hard to see God as something other than the author of the story, and many of us question whether the author of the story is really involved in our lives.....when you read a book, you relate to the characters because they are in the story -- you don't really relate to the author, who seems distant.....so today, i was reading and they took the story and put God as the hero, the central character of the story -- to get a look at His heart as someone who is in the story, not simply behind the story.....it's hard to explain, but i really connected with it today......and i just wanted to share that........i feel that God is doing something in my life.......
"God is a lover at heart, from all eternity."

i love you all :)

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