Up and running!

The Hesed Project 2017 is up and running. Fifteen of our team met at Newark Liberty International Airport. Some had their flights delayed due to high winds. Still, all made it safe and sound at Newark. It was good to see the familiar faces of Hesed veterans, and also to meet new ones who were joining us for the first time.

Before we checked in we enjoyed hearing a greeting from Bill Sutter, former Executive Director of The Friends of Israel, who also gave a greeting from Jim Showers, the current Executive Director. We then met with Lou Balcher, the Executive Director of American Friends of Kaplan Medical Center who wished us well on our journey, thanked us for volunteering to help Kaplan, and urged us to be Kaplan's emissaries. He challenged us to let others know about Kaplans's current project to build the nicest and largest cardiac center in the Middle East.

Our flight to Israel was uneventful. We did experience our own version of high winds with their accompanying bumpy ride, unusual for traveling to Israel. However, nothing serious happened and we landed safely at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in the afternoon. There we met another of our team who had flown in on her own flight and arrived around the same time as ours. From there it was a matter of getting the rental vans, which is always an experience that warrants a blog unto itself! We then drove the 35 minutes from the airport to our hotel at Yad Hashmona. The remaining four of our team were already there waiting for us since they had been in Israel a day or so ahead of us.

We unloaded the vans, put room number stickers on our luggage, and let the hotel porters transport our luggage to our respective rooms. We appreciated the fact that we didn't have to do it ourselves. Our team arrived at the hotel in time for the buffet dinner, which was delicious and hit the right spot. After dinner I made a few announcements about our upcoming schedule, and then dismissed everyone to either sit around and schmooze (fellowship) for awhile (which some did), or to go back to their rooms and get a good night's sleep.

The first couple of days are always the hardest because of the jet lag. But eventually we get over it. It is well worth a few days of drowsiness knowing that when we wake up in the mornings we are doing so in the very same Judean hills mentioned in our Bibles.

We look forward to what God wants to do in the coming days during The Hesed Project 2017! Please pray for us. Thank you!

Bruce Scott
Director of The Hesed Project

Click here to learn more about the Hesed Project and how to get involved.