April Gathering is tomorrow night!

Good morning! One more day until our first gathering. Kay and I are excited to have this first dinner and discussion group at our house. It's going to be warm and hopefully the possibility of rain will remain further west so that we can take advantage of space in the yard as well as the house for dinner. We've heard from several of you, but not all, that you are coming. We hope everyone can make it. Remember, this is very casual. We'll be dining with paper plates and plastic forks and spoons. We want to set the precedent for convenience so that no one will hesitate to participate in these in the future. So plan to bring a simple cover dish meal or desert. We'll furnish drinks, ice, etc.

This first gathering will primarily focus on travel tips because the first two days of the trip will be involved in traveling from Raleigh-Durham Airport to Tel-Aviv. Several of us have not flown out of the country before so this will be a good time for those that have to give recommendations for traveling. Bring your passport if you have it because there have been some questions about what information from it is needed on ACTS registration form. We will also have other forms, like the Travel Insurance form, and discuss these.

ACTS has sent a second video for us to review. This one is from the Tourism Department of Israel. In order to get a sense of the study we will have for the future we will take a look at Jericho, one of the places we will tour on our first tour day. We have a plan for these studies now. I will review the places from their significance in the Old Testament. Jim Leudtke will teach us about them from the New Testament and Jesus day. Russell, who has taken this trip before, will give us a cultural and geographic perspective. And Mike Koch will talk about the places from a historic perspective. Tomorrow night Mike has a special website that shows the significance of the Middle East in all of the world powers of western culture. We're going to be very enlightened! In April we will be ready to really begin our study of the other places we'll visit on our first tour day.

We will also review the Blog that I'm using to keep folks up to date. I'm not sure how many of us have visited the Blog but only very few have registered as "friends." My goal is to use it as a repository for all of our journey, including the studies, so that our families, friends, Sunday-school classmates, and church may follow and participate in the experience if they want too. As we complete this pilgrimage we will then have a repository of stories, pictures, and even video to refer to. You may not have ever participated in a Blog before so we'll review how it works and you can then sign up with confidence if you want too!

Looking forward to tomorrow night. Please, I'll remind you once more, send me a response by e-mail or phone call to let us know if you are coming. We will have a better idea of how many to prepare for!