My time in Israel…Where do I begin? I am not one to write about myself or my thoughts, so this is a new experience, one that I have been procrastinating over. In order to tell you how Israel impacted me, I first need to give you a bit of background information so that the “how” will make sense.
I am studying Auslan (sign language). I have been interested in the Deaf since I was young, but when a group of Deaf started coming to our church I was really excited. A man named Alec was the interpreter along with two other girls. Alec encouraged me to start signing some songs at church and he began to teach me. Not long after that I enrolled to study. Alec became a father figure to me and a great mentor. Why am I telling you all this? One week before we went to Israel, Alec was promoted to glory. He had cancer, and so the months before he died were very difficult. Before he died both the other interpreters left our church (one to live in Hong Kong and the other to have a break for a term) and so I was the only one left. I am a year and a half from becoming qualified to interpret. Despite my huge reservations about interpreting, Alec encouraged me to continue. I spent many times with him going over sermons and crying about feeling inadequate and having such big shoes to fill. Because of this, I was not excited about going to Israel. The first time I felt a hint of excitement was when we actually arrived.
Now to Israel…My heart was tender and needed refreshing, God took care of that while I was there. Our first day when we were overlooking the valley of Armageddon we saw the coneys. I hear you saying, “So what?” Well, it just so happens that a few weeks before we left, I was struggling over a passage that I had to interpret for church, it was Psalm 104 and I was complaining because I didn’t have a clue how to sign it and Alec was too sick to help. I said to Kevin what on earth is a coney anyway? That first coney we saw was like God saying. “You wanted to know, here it is.” I just thought that was so cool. I didn’t even know that coneys still existed! 
Then we sat down in the garden and sang, well that was hard…we just happened to sing a song we had sang at church the day after Alec died. Marnus then gave a devotion that was just perfect. He talked about not being afraid and trusting in God to be your strength. I praise God for using Marnus to speak to me. This happened again at Nimrod’s fortress, where Marnus talked about running to God who is our fortress. Wow talk about saying exactly what I needed to hear. I am surprised that this impacted me more than anything else on the trip. Yes, I was impacted by other things but what I have described above spoke to me in my time of need more than anything else.
The rest of the trip… Highlights for me were Tel Dan – such a beautiful place in the midst of a troubled country. Caiaphas’ house was difficult emotionally, I wanted to skip to the end, to the joyfulness of the resurrection just like I want to skip to the end of feeling the loss of my great friend, but I know that God puts us through times of suffering to teach us, not only to trust in him to get us through each day, but to help others who may be going through similar circumstances. Sea of Galilee, that was just plain fun as was the Dead Sea! I hated the Via Dolorosa, the spiritual oppression I felt as we walked through the Muslim quarters and then the Russian orthodox section with the incense and the worship of idols made me really sad, although it was good to experience it. We so need to pray for these people who are lost.
I was surprised how much I loved Israel and the people there. I so desperately want to go back and volunteer. I am praying that God will allow Kevin and I to go back one day with our three children and serve the people there. Our kids have made a money box specifically to help us save to go back.
I look back and know that my heart was refreshed. I am thankful to God for allowing us to go on this journey. When I read my bible now I can see the places in my head (yes even the coneys) and it is exciting that I have actually been there. God is so good.
Lorene Vigus,
Zealous Tour 2010
