Meteor Shower Adventure!!!

Then Thursday arrived (fake Friday). I need to give a bit of background before I explain the events of this day. Previously we had been informed by older students there was going to be a meteor shower with its peak from August 12-13 and some students were planning to drive to the desert to watch. The location was right on the border of Egypt.

A group message had been created to plan, but aside from people who already had car accessible to them, no planning had happened. Lauren and I had also been invited to join a group of girls who had rented an Airbnb in Tel Aviv and were going for the weekend. I had been pondering which I wanted to do and decided on Tuesday to try and see if I could find a way to go see the meteor shower. I asked around and discovered all the people who were driving themselves already had a full car. I tried to find others who were interested by posting in the group message, where I got no response. However, when I mentioned it to my EM group the next day, it seemed that everyone I talked to was interested. And before I knew it there was a group of 5-6 people who wanted to go. This was Wednesday afternoon, the 11th. With a lack of action from the rest of the group, I decided to try and rent a car. Most places wanted someone older than 25, and some even preferred over 30. I eventually found a website that allowed me to reserve a car without asking my age. By this time, I was receiving a flood of messages from others who wanted to join. Luckily Helen was willing to figure out car rental for herself as well. Before I knew it, we had 10 people planning to join us, 2 full cars. When I went to pick-up the rental car Thursday after class, I was nervous. There were now a lot of people counting on me getting this car. Hannah came with me, since she is older than 25, in case I couldn’t get it. When we arrived at the rental location, we walked in, and they had a car waiting for me. A bonus was that they were giving away free popsicles while they processed us. That cherry infused sugary ice hit the spot ;) The weirdest, but also most amazing part was when Hannah asked if there was an extra fee for being younger than 25. The man replied yes but announced we were fine and wouldn’t be charged. He said, ‘your birthday is November of 1997 (I have no idea how he got my birthday wrong haha, he had both my passport and driver’s license in his hand), and you are fine, there is no problem’. Praise the Lord honestly, because Hannah didn’t have her passport with her, and we wouldn’t have had time to go back and get it.

It was a sweet surprise to be driving a car. I honestly don’t even like driving much and I had mentally prepared myself to not drive for at least a year. But once I got behind the wheel, it felt so much like home. It was just good for the soul. After driving for about 5 minutes, I realized I didn’t have the slightest idea what the speed limit is here hahaha. I still don’t know after driving for multiple hours and it is especially hard to gauge when the speedometer is in kilometers. With that being said, I’m happy to report that I did not get stopped by any police during the weekend (: We then went to the store to get snacks and water (because you know, middle of the desert, seems like water would be helpful). Several of my classmates who were not going had also made sure I was equipped by bringing me an outdoor blanket, a tent for 6, a flashlight, a UV light, a star chart, and a sleeping bag. Talk about blessed. I had been informed beforehand about scorpions being everywhere in the desert and how they could be seen with a UV light at night. I was also told that under no circumstances should we sleep outside the tent because of the scorpions, to wear close toed shoes, and bring plenty of warm clothes and toilet paper ;). At this point, I wouldn’t say I was scared, but I was concerned and attempting to figure out how to be wisely prepare. We had 10 people and only a 6-person tent. Everything in my brain felt very chaotic at this point and a little overwhelmed at organizing the people and the meet ups and equipment. Luckily, I had Lauren in my corner encouraging me and telling me I was doing a great job even though I felt like I had no idea what was even happening haha.

Everything came together and Lauren and I even had time to find some shawarma for supper, seriously you NEED to try it (: Everyone made it to the leaving point and we were off around 9:30pm! Sam, Hannah, Adam, and Lauren were my passengers. I hadn’t gotten the chance to get to know Sam, Hannah, or Adam before this point and I’m so glad I got to drive them. We each told our “life story” on the way there and they are each so tender and incredible. We drove an hour into the desert to some petrified sand dunes and set up came at a random spot we walked to with everyone else from the other vehicles. Sam brought his guitar which was so sweet and fun to listen to. It also made me miss Matthew and my family so much. If my family could have been there experiencing this moment with me, I think I would have been the happiest girl in the world.

Once there, we intermittently wandered around the sand dunes, working hard to not get lost in the dark. We also looked for scorpions and we didn't find a single one.

This was a blessing, but also I will admit that I was slightly disappointed haha. It was quite funny and slightly stressful whenever we would come across other humans while exploring. You couldn’t tell if they were someone you knew or a stranger even when they were right next to you because of the darkness. There were also other random people camped in the area and one time I accidently shined a bright flashlight directly at them. They were quite startled, and I did my best to apologize and quickly move on. The meteor shower itself wasn’t quite what I expected, it was kind of just shooting stars at a higher frequency than you would normally see and sometimes much more brilliant than normal. Maybe it should be called a meteor sprinkle instead of shower (: It also reminded me of a very sweet time Matthew stayed up to watch the meteors at home in our “junk” yard. I also think the stars are more brilliantly seen at my home in Kansas. What can I say, there isn’t much that Kansas doesn’t do well ;)

Photos by Lauren, Helen, and Michele (:

I napped on and off for about an hour during the night, but for the most part simply enjoyed the company of the group, the singing, listening to conversation, and watching the stars. It got delightfully cool, and I was happy to put on my Farmhouse sweatshirt. Represent! am I right? ;) Around 4:30-5am, we trekked to the highest point we could find, faced the east and watched the sunrise. It was breathtaking. Once the sun was up, we had to leave in a bit of hurry because Adam had just discovered his son’s preschool graduation was that morning. We packed up quickly in the new light and were off. I’m so glad we stayed for sunrise and got to see the beauty of the desert around us. We also brought WAYY more water than needed. Probably because we weren’t actually in the desert during the heat haha, definitely should have realized this fact beforehand, but you live and you learn (: The good news is Adam made it back in time for graduation, go team baby!, and everyone else was safely dropped off. I am so happy we were all able to go, and I loved getting to know each person that went a little better.

Photos by me (:

I navigated the car rental return, and learned how to fill up with fuel, which was actually more difficult than I anticipated. First of all, I didn’t know how to open the KIA gas cap haha, thanks google (: Then I couldn’t read anything on the kiosk. This was expected, but I didn’t expect so many options or questions. I kindly asked a man nearby if he could help me and he did very graciously. Apparently not only did I need to use my Israeli bank card, I also needed to input the car’s license tag and my passport before I could get fuel. Somehow at this point I still wasn’t tired, so I decide to walk the 40 minutes to the dorms after leaving the car. Renting the car made it obvious how quick and easy it is to get around town when you don’t have to walk everywhere lol. I’m praying I find a bike very soon. Eventually I fell asleep for a few hours and when I woke up, I arranged to meet Jack and Caroline to walk to church. I hadn’t seen Lauren since before I left to return the rental haha, she was OUT for the count. Church was beautiful, we got to see all our tender friends and the worship was on a whole other level than normal (: Afterwards there was cake (עוגה, a very important word haha) and watermelon to celebrate the August birthdays. I got to talk to my friend Abraham and hear more of his story. He plays bass guitar in the worship band. We shared about our families which is always tender and dear to my heart. On my walk home, I had the privilege of talking to Matthew and Kat on the phone. Somehow, even at 10:30pm running on very little sleep, I was still up and going, so Lauren and I made the walk to a pizza place called, Caldo’s, and I got my first pizza in Israel!!! It was so wonderful and I saved half for later. Finally, I was ready for sleep and slept soundly for the first time in a long while.

Side note: somehow, renting a car has made some humans who shall remain unnamed think I’m “cool” and repetitively thank me for my efforts to get a group to go to the meteors. I’m baffled by this response because I feel like anyone could have easily done what I did. I didn’t even plan the location or the time or even the event. The only thing I did differently was make an effort and have Lauren as an excellent encourager. So somehow, I accidently earned myself the reputation of being somewhat cool. I don’t know how I feel about it other than I was perfectly being satisfied with being mostly incognito up to this point haha.

A lot happened this week. I didn’t realize how little time I had taken to process and be still this week until I was standing in church singing to a very upbeat song and realized tears were streaming down my face. I was blessed with so many opportunities to connect with people and build friendships this week. It also feels like it is sinking in that this is real. I can’t quite convince myself anymore that this is just temporary. I told Caroline while we were running/walking that I can’t allow myself to believe that my purpose here is to go to medical school. Because if it is, what if I fail? What if I died tomorrow? Then my time here would have been wasted. Instead, I constantly must remind myself that my purpose here is to live in the present and live for Christ. It is to love people and take the opportunities I am given to grow. Yes, I still desire to do my best at school and be faithful there, but it isn’t the purpose or shouldn’t define my meaning. It is challenging to confront my emotions and manage them in a healthy way. I don’t always succeed, most of the time I fail. But growth is getting back up and clinging tighter to Jesus. Someone told me their prayer for the week is to think of themselves less and others more. Self-forgetfulness. This reminded me how desperately I also need to remember this. Because when there is so much going on in my own heart, it is easy to zero in on me and forget about everyone around me.

I love you all. I would love to know what I can be praying for in each of your lives. If I haven’t talked to you in a while, please reach out (: I would love to catch up.

Here have been some of my theme verses this past week. I hope they encourage you as well. (:

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Matthew 17:20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”