It’s already night time here in the Far East. Elana and I just had dinner with about 400 Israelis. The Israeli experience may be unlike any other culture in the world. On each island we have visited in Thailand, on Friday nights, Israelis come together for Shabbat dinner. The vast majority are tourists and most are young people.
We sang some of the traditional Shabbat songs and did the blessings. Most of the young men were dressed in white according to tradition. And then they served an amazing meal. I’m trying to think of any other nation in the world where a bunch of people who don’t know each other would come together for a meal knowing exactly what to do— it’s Shabbat. It’s incredibly special.
This is one of the ways that the Jewish people have remained an identifiable people group despite being dispersed from their land many times. As Reb Tevia says in Fiddler on the Roof, “Tradition!”
Israel is only a tiny little nation of 7 million Jews, but in each place in Thailand we have been to —Koh Samui and Koh Phangan— we hear Hebrew everywhere we go.
Another thing they have here is a 7-11 convenience store on just about every corner. It’s very similar to what you would find in the US and the tourists go crazy over it. We spent a half hour in a 7-11 just talking to Israelis other day. One of the ladies assumed that 7-11 was native to Thailand. She did not know that it came from America.
Last week, we went on a tour of one of the islands with six other Israelis. We sat in the back of a pick-up truck most of the day and got rained on.
Today, we did a tour of this island and it was sunny. We ran into a bunch of super cute monkeys on the way home. I was just telling Elana that I was mad that I hadn’t seen even one monkey… then we saw about 10.
If I were younger, I would consider building a hostel here for Israeli travelers. It would be a great way to share the message of Yeshua.
The first few days we were here, it rained in a way that I didn’t know was possible for rain to come down. It was like someone was literally pouring down buckets of water. This is supposed to be the beginning of the dry season, but the rains did not agree.
Fortunately, it’s cleared up and we’re having a nice time. We don’t normally get to do something like this, but we’re both turning 60 this year and the last year has been unbelievably stressful.
From here, we head to Singapore where I will be ministering next Shabbat evening and then at a Missions Conference on Saturday.
Then, we head home for about 10 days before two brief ministry trips to France and Germany. In France, we will be ministering at a conference for our friends Bjorn and Brita Lutke. They and their children hosted us for a week after October 7, 2023. We were stranded in Marseille and they took such good care of us until we could get a flight home.
In Germany, I’ll be doing a leadership conference with 125 leaders over three days. I am really looking forward to that.
We so appreciate every one of you standing with us and being a part of this ministry. Together, we can make a difference.
Shabbat shalom!
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