We awoke this morning with mixed feelings. Sadness to be leaving each other, and yet a readiness to face the next chapter of our lives with renewed commitment and confidence in our amazing God.

Dealing with the news that the flight for the majority of the group returning to Brisbane had been cancelled and that they had been placed on a flight 5 hours earlier, meant that our farewell dinner had to be rescheduled to be a farewell lunch. Flexibility is always necessary when travelling!

With bags packed early, we went back to the Old City and entered via Jaffa Gate in the Christian quarter to attend the service at Christ Church, the oldest protestant church in Jerusalem. This is a wonderful evangelical Anglican community committed to sharing the Gospel faithfully with the Jews in Jerusalem and throughout Israel. It was a wonderful service of praise, worship, prayer and Communion.

We then had a quick wander through the new city before travelling to a Messianic community half way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for our final meal together.

We had a lovely time and were able to take the opportunity to thank Rashad and Erez [driver and guide] and gift them with various things from Australia. Erez again expressed how wonderful that we hadn’t cancelled our trip as so many other tour groups had.

As we arrived at Ben Gurion airport there were many hugs, and some tears as the reality of our time drawing to a close could not be denied any longer.

For the ten returning to Brisbane there are some long flights ahead, but also a full day stopover in Bangkok for some sightseeing. Go well in these last couple of days Joyce & Graham, Bruce & Wendy, Ivan & Judy, Joan, Elizabeth, Eric & Kelvin. For Nicole flying on to Istanbul for 9 days touring Turkey, have some wonderful adventures seeing extraordinary things and meeting new people. For Don & Dianne flying on to England to see family, be blessed as you celebrate significant occasions together.

Thank you all for your generous and loving spirits as we’ve journeyed together over these last weeks. We have been blessed by you, and we pray that you have been blessed by God!

We love you all, will miss you all, but be assured we will continue to pray for you all as we now continue our travels over the coming months.