We have returned!

We have returned! After over 24 hours of travel, we have made it back. The girls are happy to be back, but also very tired. We can't wait to share our story! Please sit down with us and hear about everything we have done and learned. We asked TONS of questions, so feel free to do the same. 

On a fun side note, this was the first restaurant we saw at the oasis in Chicago after we left the airport. Needless to say, the girls were ready for different food, but we couldn't believe that we could get shawarma and falafel here!

Travel

We are beginning our travel home! See you all in about 24 hours!

Final day in Israel

Today was a sad day since it is our last time in Israel, however it also was an extremely moving day as many of the team felt God's presence. 

We began our morning by waking up in Rimonim Hotel in Nazareth where we had a yummy breakfast to fuel us for the day ahead of us. After that, we went to the Sea of Galilee where we were able to ride a boat across the sea. For many members of the team, the presence of God was strong as we looked out into the sea in which God once walked on along with calming the storm and calling out His disciples.  His power was evident and the boat was filled with music as the team sang their praises that brought some of us to tears. The boat took us to the other side of the sea which was Capernium which is where God spent a great deal of His life growing up.

Capernium was beautiful and many of us marveled as we stood on land and looked out onto the Sea of Galilee. We began our walk through Capernium to look at the Holy Sites making our first stop at the remains of the tabernacle in which Jesus once talked in. We also were able to see the remains of a home in which they believe Peter once lived.

After carpanium we preceded to the Mount of Beatitudes. Sara shared so wonderfully on the way in the bus with the microphone which she accidentally turned off in the beginning of her speech. We arrived at the gates to enter and the man told us we only had 10 minutes to go in and out because it was their lunch time. It was beautiful but it was one of the fastest sight seeing  adventures we have had. He must have been real hungry because he would not leave us alone. 

After the Mount of Beatitudes we went to Cana and saw the sight where Jesus was said to have performed his first miracle. The first miracle he performed was turning water into wine. In the church that was built over the sight they have preserved stone pots that they stored wine in. We don't know whether these pots are replicas or the pots that Jesus himself used.

After Cana, we went back to Nazareth. We visited Mary's Well first which was right down the road from our hotel. Some believe this is where an angel came and told Mary the good news of Jesus Christ. Then we visited the Church of Enunciation where it is believed by some to be the place where the angel told Mary about her immaculate conception. The church is the biggest Chrisitan church in Israel. It was so powerful looking at all the murals and ruins in the church from that time. Along the walls were pictures of what the countries of that time believed to be what Mary and baby Jesus looked like. Afterwards we had a moving discussion in the courtyard of the church. The team agreed that this was the perfect way to end this amazing, life-altering trip!

From Cassaundra, Naarah, Savannah, and Sierra

Happy Birthday!

Today is Megan's birthday! Happy birthday to her!

Family Farm

Hey everyone! GCVB traveled to a friend's farm today. It is an educational and environmental farm. It's mission is to build bridges between people and bring people closer to nature. Here, different cultures come together to develop understanding and respect for each other and the land. We were all put to work in different areas to help in any way possible in preparation for the summer camps. The work included weeding, tilling, and cleaning. 

We were fed au naturale and it was delicious (according to Annie). Most of the food if not all of it was picked and prepared on the land. After the meal, the team was taken on a tour of the area. We saw the areas where groups meet, which included natural caves where the landowner's family grew up. Since the camp has to be self-sustained, changes were made to the area which included compost toilets which would feed the crops, a cistern, solar panels, a generator, et cetera. The owners were extremely welcoming and accommodating. Their mission inspired the team. Tonight, we said our goodbyes to the Palestinian team and finished packing our bags to leave for Tel Aviv in the morning. See y'all in a few days!

Love, Annie and Taylor

Jericho and the Dead Sea

Today we traveled to the oldest city in the world, Jericho. Along the way we stopped and got to ride a camel; it was fun! Once we arrived to the city we walked around the ruins of Jericho dating back to biblical times. From our location, we could see the Mount of Temptation where Satan tempted Jesus in the desert. After shopping and getting some lunch we headed to the Dead Sea for some swimming (which really turned out to be floating) and good old mud baths. It felt as though you were sitting on an inner tube, but when you look down, no inner tube! Several hours later we headed back for dinner at a sandwich and ice cream shop. Now it's time for bed, good night. 

Final Day of Camp

Today we worked with a high school age team on some volleyball skills. This was our first day working with them. They did a nice job of learning quickly. We enjoyed meeting them and teaching them some volleyball skills. They seemed to connect well with us even though we were only with them on one day. After that we went back and worked with the little girls that we had helped on other days. They were so excited to see us when we got there! It was awesome! We played a few games with them and then took pictures and said goodbye. We went and ate falafel and got to go shopping!!!! We got lots of cool stuff. We can't wait to show it to you all! 

From Jessica

Hey everyone that has enough time (or remembrance) to look at our blog!

Today has been such a blessing and we feel it not only spiritually, but also physically. I don't think we ever got to hear how far Janine tracked that we walked, but it was a guessed 12 miles at least. Totally worth it as we saw many places that Jesus Christ our savior was at. Like Grace has already mentioned, there are more places we saw that were mentioned in the bible or had to do with it. 

After the garden of Gethsemane, we went to the garden tomb. The garden tomb is where it is thought that Christ was buried. When we first arrived, we saw the skull mountain where all that is now exposed are the two eyes (with a uni-eye look due to lightning this past December). The mouth was buried under ground when the bus station was put in. Back to the garden tomb- around it, there was a garden. Hence the name. The garden was beautiful, stunning. The tomb was made of old rock that now had a smooth surface (not rough at all like the rock we think about back at home). All that I can really say about the tomb was that it was empty. Or Savior Jesus Christ has risen!!!  Now try not to scream and shout- but you can't. 

Next we went to the town of Jerusalem. We walked along the road that is guessed to be the one that Jesus walked carrying his cross towards his crucifixion.  If you remember, in the Bible it talks about how Jesus got angry with His people for turning His Holy place into a market place- well if He were to come back now he would probably be even more upset. As there are markets on top of markets and Muslims and very few Christians. 

At the end of the walk we saw the area where He was crucified. Yes, your daughter/sibling/friend stood in this place. Feeling the Holy Spirit, we are so thankful and blessed for this experience and all of your support as our lives are being changed and we cannot wait to share stories with you. Maybe just after we have a day or two to catch up on some lost rest :). We can always sleep in America... 

Until next time- Jessica 

From Grace

Hello family and friends! Grace here. Today was a long and eventful day! We woke up bright and early to make our way to the Holy City of Jerusalem. When we arrived, we immediately began touring. The great part about our guide was that she not only shared the historical significance of each destination, but also the biblical significance.

Our first stop of many was the Mount of Olives. This is where Jesus ascended into heaven. We walked around the top and were able to see the whole city. Interesting fact: some of us even got to ride a camel! On the mount were hundreds of graves. These were for the Jews who desired to be some of the first to go into heaven when Jesus returns; it costs $50,000 to be buried there.

The next stop was the church that was built over where Jesus taught the disciples how to pray. The Lord's Prayer was engraved along the walls in over 150 languages, including four or five languages written in Braille! That was impressive.

Our third stop, and one of my favorites, was the Garden of Gethsemane. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for very long but we were able to get some pictures. The olive trees were so beautiful. Next, we visited the Church of Gethsemane. Inside was the very rock that Jesus wept and prayed upon the night he was arrested. Many of us knelt before it and prayed. This was definitely one of my favorite destinations.

Our day has been so busy that I haven't had much of a chance to process and take in everything I saw and experienced. This was the opportunity of a lifetime and I am so glad that we visited and toured the city. Our God is an amazing God!

Kenzie & Kait coming live to you from The Holy Land

Today we began our day by helping out at the Palestinian kids volleyball camp. We worked on setting, and the kids caught on very quickly! We were so impressed. It's hard to teach with the language barrier, but the universal language of love and of sports speaks so loud. Next we went to Shepherd's Fields. This is the place that is believed to be where the angles came to the Shepherds and told them that Jesus was to be born in Bethleham. It was a beautiful sight to see. Check out Luke 2 for the biblical description. Afterwards we went to the orphanage. There, we went on a tour and played with the kids. It was an awesome experience to meet those children and love on them. We ended our night by training with the Palestinian Womens Team. Many of our players helped the Women with mastering their serves. While the rest of us scrimmaged. We love those women and are so happy to be building such great relationships with them. We have a huge day tomorrow so we are off to bed! Goodnight 

Day 4, by new best friends Tori and Kelsee

We started the day at a Lutheran church in Bethlehem, called The Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church. It was an amazing expirence to witness the service in Arabic. In the service, there was also a baptism so that was way cool. From there we traveled to the Nativity Church in Manger Square where we were blessed with the opportunity to see and be in the birth place of our Lord and Savior. Many emotions surfaced throughout the team during a life altering monent. Afterwards we ate lunch at a local restaurant. We later visited a refugee camp. We were taught by a man that has lived in the camp his whole life. We were able to see the wall between Israel and Palestine. After that we walked to dinner and enjoyed social time as a team. We then walked around as a team with the Palestinian women and enjoyed bonding time, playing games, Judy ripping her pants, and of course drinking Starbucks #whitegirls #basic. It was a full day for the GCVB family but also a time of learning and growing together in our personal walks with God. We love and miss everyone that is following us back at home, and we cannot wait to share all ouf our amazing and life changing expirences when we return home. 

Love, 

Tori and Kelsee 

From Caylie

Another hard, early wake to start another amazing day. Everyone's jet lag and time change is starting to catch up with us but that didn't stop us from spending time and teaching young, beautiful girls volleyball. Their enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and patience with us is astounding. The young girls and the people here continue to amaze me. They are very fast learners and it's very surprising because they don't always understand what we are trying to say but they never fail to impress us. We then were able to come back and get in some good relaxing time and an amazing lunch. There was even chicken fingers made for us which Kate was really happy about! We got a little bit of a lifting workout in which everyone loves working out. Except for Megan. She hates it. ;) but we are off to spend some quality time with the Palestine team which is always a great time. Until next time :)

Caylie Teel

A Day at the Jericho Waterpark

Today started off with another delicious breakfast of pita bread, boiled eggs, vegetables, and pizza! After breakfast, we ventured to the living room to have an awesome devotional led by Flash (Stefanie). The main activity today was traveling to Jericho (which was a beautiful drive) to a a water park in the middle of the desert... literally, we even saw some camels walking in! We had so much fun going down water slides, being in the pool, chasing kids, and being chased by kids! For dinner, we all had chicken (which we found out halfway through the meal was actually ostrich) or hamburgers. Yum! After dinner, we headed for the bus and almost everyone fell asleep. Later in the evening we played many games with the Palestinian team. It felt so good to be out on the court again! We struggled to stay awake on the walk home, but we made it safely and are ready for bed. Can't wait to see what's in store for tomorrow! :)

-Angie and Kari

Day 1

Marḥaban (today we learned this means hello),
It is currently 11:05 pm here and we are finally finished with our first full day in Palenstine! We woke up this morning and had a Palenstinian breakfast which consisted of corn flake cereal, pita bread, hard bolied eggs, but unfortunately no bacon. After our team devotions, we started the grand uphill journey to sports camp we will be helping out with. Helping teach volleyball to young Palenstinian girls was a really fun experience even with the language barrier. For lunch we went to a pizza place and tried mint lemonade for the first time. It was awesome! Afterwards we got to tour a refugee camp and learned a lot about the history of this region. We finished our evening at the gym training with some of the Palenstinian volleyball players we met today. Everyone here is so nice and interested about each of us, and we are excited to keep learning about their lives as well. Time to get some sleep and get ready for what tomorrow brings!

Over and out,
Megan and Sara :)

Departure

We are headed out! The team is all ready, everyone has their passports, and luggage is loaded. We are on our
way to Chicago to catch our first flight later this evening. From there, we fly to London. We will get to London at 10 a.m., but it will feel like 3 a.m. Should be fun! We have a couple hours in the airport and then we fly to Tel Aviv. When we arrive and get settled, we will let you know! It'll be late when we get in, so hopefully we can get something up quickly. If not, we will do it the following morning.