I suppose it is time...

It was as though I lived a different life those many months ago when I was in Israel, then Europe, then Israel... In many ways it is so far removed from the present that I feel like the memories that I have were told to me by another, none if being truly of my own recollection. But in so many other ways it is so clear that those memories are mine and definitely mine alone. Which I suppose is part of the reason that it is so difficult to recall; no one I see on a regular basis knows that Eli, no one here can reminisce and laugh with me about the most poignant experiences in my recent history. But all good things do come to an end, but that doesn't exactly mean that they have no bearing on the present.

Which is why I come to you today. Apparently some of you see the need for a "wrapping up" of the adventures that occurred seemingly so long ago. I think I am ready to delve back into that treasure chest of life and tell you about the final days of that great journey.

Judging by the last post that actually relayed information directly pertinent to my travels we left off just before the last day with everyone in Israel. (for those posts try looking back at these posts: Egyptian excursions, exploits, explorations, excitement, exodus, and Elat. Part II... and The final hours...and then Not many words...) So... let us see here... ok, we'll just start on Saturday morning, May 2nd.

As usual we woke up and went to Assembly on the Moshav. It was certainly a bittersweet parting. Excitement of the days to come was high (some going home, some going home to significant others or fiances, some going on other worldly adventures- me to Europe, Seth around the middle east with his dad) but at the same time it was hard to believe that only 3 1/2 months before we had sat in that classroom with those many new and foreign faces for the very first time. That 3 1/2 months ago we had attempted to sing with them in Hebrew and barely keep up, let alone understand anything. But on this last day it was so very different. I sang and could keep up - even understand some of what the songs were saying! - I heard Abner preach with joy and passion and held-back tears and I thought about everything that had transpired in such a short amount of time. I was a different young man in the eyes of the Israelis around me because I no longer stumbled over songs and sometimes laughed at the jokes in Hebrew before they were translated into English for all of us, but much more than that, I was a completely different young man from the inside out. Eli Conlee, the kid from Corban was no more. Papa Eli, the announcement guy, the friend of many whom he had never known mere months before, a guy with an entirely new perspective was about to leave Israel... Assembly sure was good that day.

After Assembly we packed what little there was left to pack and boarded the bus for our last jaunt into the Old City. Bill brought his kids and we all went to Shabaan's for one last cup of tea and one last exchange of cash for the last-second shopping. Part of me wanted to go everywhere possible, to see everything one last time with my IBEX family, but part of me wanted to be alone to think and enjoy... But that chance would come later, after I had adventured through Europe. I don't remember much of what we did that day... I remember walking around with many different groups of people just to be with them one final time. It's funny that even after a dozen or more trips to the Old City there were still places I had not been that were frequented by my counterparts... Danae and one other person who escapes my memory at the moment went up to this little fourth or fifth floor restaurant that gives you a good view of the Church of the Holy Sepulcre and the rest of that area of the Old City. After all of our wandering had ceased and we boarded the bus for the last time we turned our thoughts to the loading of the bus for the last trip... the trip to the airport and the end of our adventure.

Before I get into that fun and long story I am going to post this one so that it is not humongous and so that I can say I have posted one :) But be assured, there is more to follow.

Playing the Heinz Bottle

So I am behind a little I suppose. Time to play a little catch-up. (Just in case you didn't get the connection, the title and playing catch-up together make up a rather cheesy, but nonetheless effective, pun of rather great proportions. 1. we don't really have much ketchup over here, 2. I'm behind 3. I have a story about a bottle I will tell later)

Anyway, so this little post is not going to be anything like the last one. For one thing I couldn't stand being convicted/challenged/whatever better word there is for that very often or I would collapse and maybe even die. Neither option works very well for a life of service to the Lord.

The rest of the Dead Sea adventure was awesome. We hiked over the ridge to the wadi David, where En Gedi is - you know, where David hung out and cut Saul's robe... Anyway, it was beautiful and we got to swim! Which was real good because when we came to En Gedi last March I didn't swim, not a day that I think about that trip went by without feeling some regret on that choice. So I rectified that situation and swam lots. It was great. And I did a real big cannonball in honor of all my friends from that trip. "Here's to you, one and all," I thought to myself as I splashed the rock walls.

Moving on, this week was pretty busy yet pretty laid back. We had less to do in general, but like always, life is always busy. Wednesday wasn't a mandatory trip, it was for the Modern History class, but anyone could go. I needed a day off real bad, so I hung out around here in the nice weather and got some things done. Oh taxes, how I wish you were done.

It's been a good week, but it's also the week where people are becoming 100% themselves, they're getting somewhat tired, we're more or less comfortable around each other and lots of people are hacking up their lungs, no thanks to the guy who has had a cough for a month and hasn't just taken a day to get better - so he got worse - and now lots of people have been infected, great. I have a sore throat, my nose is running like a track star and I hope I get better before we go to the Negev, but Bill and Abner both have touch of it too, so I don't feel as bad about it.

Today was cool, cool and weird. We went to a Conservative Jewish Synagogue (Conservative = Liberal in Judaism because conservative as we think of it is fulfilled over here by the orthodox jews. In essence, orthodox = USA conservative religious person; conservative = liberals in USA) So we got to listen to the reading of the Torah, the prayers and songs. Oh my goodness, the woman who led all the prayer/songs has an amazingly powerful voice, it dominated the whole "sanctuary" or whatever they call it there. It was really cool, she's the first joyful Jew I've seen I think. Then the rabbi gave a sermon - English, which was part of why we went, that and they are the only ones who would let us come :) - which was really good actually. He talked about giving and how it's outlined in the Torah (slash in our Bibles too) and people question why it's a mandate instead of something that we are just trusted to do of our own good will. The point was that we stink at being selfless on our own and we need the obligation. But much more than that we should give beyond the 10% tithe, we should give as much as we possibly can, not just what is comfortable. Give so that it is a sacrifice. That is a line I want to hang on to in my life. It was neat and sad, there were people who were so genuine, and yet so off. Oh that they would see the True Messiah...

Then we walked over to the Old City and had luch, hardly any shops were open, we thought it might be because we were there earlier than normal, but we found out from our friend Shabaan that the shopkeepers were on strike because the government wants to evacuate and bulldoze a palestinian area so that can develop the area (though we're not really sure what that means). Somewhere between 800 and 1,500 palestinians would be ousted, so finding an open shop was pretty rare, but we did find food.

Then we went to a man's house in the Jewish quarter, he was an advisor to the mayor of Jerusalem a while ago, the mayor who is now (or just was?) the prime minister of Israel. He talked about all sorts of things, it was really interesting to get his perspective on politics in the middle east and religion and all the other topics that make people mad in America. It was an neat experience, though my rear end hurt real bad afterwards, almost two hours on a tile floor, I'm still feeling it. It is sort of like watching basketball games in high school. So much time on a hard wooden bench. At least this time I got something out of it instead of sitting on the bench during all four games, even the game I was theoretically playing in :)

And here's something that is good. Yesh geshem, there is rain! (I felt like I was in Salem today, we had hard rain, mist rain, clouds on your face rain, etc.) It's wet and cold, but the Lord is gracious and is giving this land some badly needed H2O.

Here's a little product of my Hebrew learning for you (though not written in Hebrew because I can't do it with this blog, though in real life I could write it for you):

Yesh geshem baheretz shel Israel, hodu l'adonai ki who tov. "There is rain in the land of Israel, give thanks to the Lord because He is good!"

Rocks, talks, flips, and floats

Yesterday we went down South.

The day before that it rained like crazy over here, the Old City was near empty, we enjoyed walking around without crowds. It's like Milton-Freewater compared to Disneyland when it rains.

Anyway, back to yesterday. - Confused yet? I'll just try to skip around days a little more if you want.- So we went down to the Dead Sea. It was not a scorching day, which I liked very much, but it was a little bit colder than one wishes if one is to swim in a large body of water.

The Dead Sea is amazing. It's very pretty from far away and very weird when you're in it. But at least I can float in it! Not like freshwater pools, those I sink in even when I hold my breath, something about density and low body-fat percentages I hear. In honor of my last visit to such places I orchestrated the 2nd annual amateur American synchronized swim-team practice. Here's to you Drs. Anderson and Trull!

Then we cleaned ourselves from the "refreshing" waters of the Sea and headed toward another famous place, En Gedi. We hiked in from the back side, stopping at a spring on the hill and then at some cool natural rock spires, where we IBEXers climbed around like a bunch of Ibex (or look at this website or this one.) As we looked out over the Dead Sea and the plains of Moab and Edom over in Jordan, Abner talked to us about Sodom and Gomorrah. The Dead Sea was pretty likely not dead before those days, now it stands as evidence of God's wrath and judgment. A big freshwater lake gets hit with the aftermath of God's fire and brimstone target practice and it stays fresh no more, for like 3 or 4,000 years no more... It was an unexpected and interesting thing to consider. What a great testament to the power, justice, and wrath of our mighty God. I think it would be good to not take Him quite so lightly folks, He is far more than we really think about. Far, far more.

We got to the aforementioned spring shortly thereafter, where we looked at a couple of Psalms. When one reads something like this "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Ps. 63:1) in such a place as that it means more. Let me share a little: So you stand there, at a spring that essentially is the only freshwater for miles and miles and miles and miles, you are looking down at a beautiful body of water - beautiful, but oh-so-deadly and worthless to you - there are rocks as far as you can see in most directions. Chances are its been a while since you had any fresh water of any kind, you're running from someone who wants you dead (for 17 years... how much that would stink) and yet when everything in your body cries out for one sip of fresh water you say something that shows just how much you have your priorities in order. David thirsted for God when literally he was thirsty out of his mind, I don't think I know very many people like that - and I am certainly not one who can claim that in the least. Let's try something new and make the Lord the thing that we long for most.

Let me tell you another little story that relates to that. It's about me, in case that isn't clear in the first 7 words or so. Being in Israel there is a lot I can miss. I miss such mundane things as clothes dryers that dry your clothes in one cycle (though I'm too stingy to use the one here anyway :), I miss having classes in more than just one classroom. I miss chapel three times a week. I miss eating real portions of meat. I miss playing soccer in grassy fields. I miss my family. I miss wearing more than 6 different shirts. I miss my friends that will too soon be graduating. I miss lemonade and root beer (not together, just in general) I miss little kids. I miss sliding down the handrail in front of Davidson. I miss honey bunches of oats on the occasional saturday morning. I miss sunday school. I miss one Person in particular. In short, there are many things that I miss. Not that I would trade this part of my life, oh no, not at all! I love being here.

But the point of the list, though maybe having the appearance of complaint (which again, it's not :), is to explain something. Those things are things that I long for, be they every day or just occasionally. Nevertheless, those are things that I think about, desire, look forward to, etc. And those things are probably, no, definitely, on my mind far too often. Most likely far more than the Lord is on my list of desires. Not only that, I would venture to say that even when He is I don't often give him priority. I don't think like David. I don't write like him or rely on the Lord like him. It would be nice to for sure, but I don't. It's a challenging thought. What is on the priority list in my life? You could ask me a few to-the-point questions and have a pretty good idea.

But I'll tell you what I'd like to have. I'd like to have a one-item list of desires. A one-item list that is so obvious in my life that you folks when presented with the "give one word to explain Elijah R Conlee" it would be the only thing that came to mind, not just the first, but the only. I'm far from this I can tell you, but I think that if one truly makes EVERY effort to live this way than by His grace and strength it is possible.

You want to know what that list would look like?
Here's how I picture it, more or less: When I'm an old man, or dead and gone, someone will reach for my old worn Bible. They will thumb through the pages that are filled with notes and underlining and highlighting and dates and a piece of paper will fall. It would be old and yellowed, the edges wrinkled and torn, like it had been held and considered a hundred times a hundred times. Because it had. It probably has a few words in black pen, my name maybe, but the word that stands at the center is just one: God. -- and not God like we so loosely say it, but "God" written down with reverence. "God" written with respect and honor and love. "God" written with Fear. Who knows, maybe it will have another name for the Lord, or maybe on the back it will be written in Hebrew or something. Regardless of what form it comes in, it's going to fall on the floor, whoever sees it will pick it up and read it (which won't take long :) and have no doubts about that being the way my life was lived. If they didn't know me then the one with them will get to explain how my life was just canvas, God used it for something far greater.

I had more I was going to say, but this tangent has got me thinking too much. I can't go on when such things are going on inside. It's a challenge, sure, but what greater challenge have we than to honor the LORD as such.

In class this morning someone said my name in Hebrew, causing Abner to question, and that sparked a short conversation about what it means. I can look at it in Hebrew and know what it means, which is cool (and a story for another time), but more importantly it is a reminder of how I should live.

Elijah: My God is Yahweh.

I think it is about time that I go and make that a true statement.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

... Then down came the rain and soaked the land of Israel, Sploosh!

So our En Gedi campout was cancelled. Something about rain and flash-floods I heard. But tomorrow we are going to En Gedi for a hike, Lord willing. Right before we hike we get to "swim" in the Dead Sea. That will be fun/cleanse all of my pores beyond repair. Dr. Anderson, I will do my best to organize some synchronized swimming :)

Today I got to sleep in again, hooray. After a week of busy and a day of sick it was much needed. And this afternoon we sorted the sissies from the diehards. Before it rained we took a poll of who was going to the Old City. Today when there was rain our numbers dropped by almost half. Go figure.

But I like the Old City in the rain. There are fewer people, more time to see things, and less of the tourist feel when I walk around with my counterparts because we look like we know what we're doing now. I like it. So today was a day of sitting, drinking cocoa, reading, walking, eating falafel and enjoying life as a whole.

Here's something absolutely unbelievable: I am one-third of the way done with this semester. Only a "few" weeks left and we go on two more big trips (like 5-7 days big) and then have a week for travel/study break. There's like no time left, oh how fast it goes.

And oh how much I should get done! I am, shall we say, "behind" on reading. I say "behind" because it's all due at the end of the semester, but there is a lot to do. So I should go do some of that now. Have a good weekend.

Quick! While it's still Saturday!

So I have to type real fast because its almost Sunday and I want to keep the streak alive.

Today in a nutshel: Sleep in (Yes!) Church, Old City - where I had an absolutely delicious filafel for dinner, then a nap (yes!) and then the culmination of the day: the Battle of the Sexes.

Every Saturday night we have "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) a game night or hang-out time planned by our profs. It's a ton of fun. Last week we played Mad-Gab and some other things. This week we had a series of games, boys vs. girls. Boys won 32-25. We played a little charades, a roommate game (how well do you know your roomie sort of thing), we ate cake because it was someone's birthday, we played some other cool games, I had to use my Hebrew skills (ick).

All in all a fun day. Tomorrow I am being rebellious and going on a hike for most of the day... homework shall be the bane of my existence tomorrow night I fear.

Ah! It's 11:59. bye

Walking on more old rocks...

Do you think it is possible to become jaded in a week?

I do.

Jaded is one of the choice words of our teacher, Abner. Basically he uses it to say something like this every time:
"Don't get jaded. Everyone who has been here before has told you, 'it's a once in a lifetime experience' and you'll get told a hundred times that it is an amazing opportunity. Believe them. It is. Don't let the everyday nature of it let it become a hindrance to what you get to experience. Don't get jaded by what you hear, believe every word of it and live like it."

He is so right. Even in a week it is easy to think "oh, look, another old rock that David looked at or Jesus touched or whatever (-eyeroll-)." It sounds crazy, but it happens fast. We've visited Jerusalem 3 times in a week and we'll be there again tomorrow and Wednesday. It's hard to not get tired of walking all day, even in Jerusalem. Every day is packed with cool stuff, but at the same time so much information and walking around and anticipating two more days of similar things makes it seem less real, more manufactured, more short-term. I don't want that for me.

I'm here for 3 months and week or so. That's a lot of time right? Wrong. That's nothing. It will go so fast and soon involve a lot more classroom and a lot less field time. I was thinking about this today as we walked in and around the Old City. I am tired. It's Sunday and we're basically doing school. I should be resting, instead I get a 6 day school week this week. But who cares? "Eli. Stop worrying. Stop whining." I thought to myself. People kill (figuratively speaking) for opportunities like this. That was a good moment.

What am I doing here? I'll tell you what I'm doing here: I'm having the experience of a lifetime. I am getting to go and see and do things that many of us only dream of. I am learning and growing and being tested. Most of all, I am fighting to make the most of it. It's a fight to make the most of what the Lord gives us. It becomes routine or it looks too hard or we get stuck in a mindset of survival rather than thrivival (I made it up ok? It's not a word I know, but it should be now). So to you my faithful readers I am telling you, don't let me waste a moment.

I may be walking on a million old rocks a day that all look and feel the same. I may be cramming names and dates and sites down my throat like chicken-fried steak (since we don't really get such tasty morsels around here I thought it was an appropriate example) but I am not going to fall prey to this jaded business. Oh no. You will not find me being tripped by the tricky tales of the tiresome tramp of boredom. I am on to his sneaky game.

All that to say. Today we toured the Old City a little more. Actually, we were just sort of inside. We visited a couple sites then went out of the walls. So we saw the Zion gate (which is so covered in bullet marks you would hardly believe it) and spent some time looking at the southern and western walls of Temple Mount. We looked at some of the lower areas of the eastern hill (the part that is south of Temple Mount), which is known as the City of David. It's known as the City of David because it Is, just in case you were wondering. Then we got to hike through Hezekiah's tunnel. If you have some time, check out this website about it. We learned and saw so much of the Bible today. It was great, really. I loved it even though my feet hurt and I have homework to do tonight.

Another great day, another day where the Lord taught me more than facts about His land, more than facts about His people, more even than facts about His word and the events therein. Today I learned a lot about God Himself. Today I learned a lot about how to love Him by using every moment of every opportunity. He's good at teaching me with patience and grace.

I'm pretty excited about all of that.

Jerusalem, Pizza Hut, and Israel in Israel.

Hello again my good readers. I was thinking today, with a little help from a Friend, that these long posts may be scaring away some of my readership. Let me promise you all this: a long post means a full day. A full day means a good one and typically I will blog about important days, not just everyday types. So I will try to keep it short, but I know ya'll want to know about life over here and about what I get to experience, hence the rush of large posts. That said, let's get to it.

Yesterday I went to Jerusalem. Wow, what a packed statement. It seems so commonplace around here already and I've been here what, three days? But really we did. It was so cool to go back. We arrived by bus at Jaffa Gate (West side of town) - the same place we arrived as a Corban posse last May. From there we toured David's Citadel, a big Herodian/Roman/Crusader/Muslim/Turk fortress at the gate. It is possible (nay, even probable) that Jesus stood before Pilate and was beaten in that area, a reality that was hard to grasp so early into our adventure and even now seems so far from real for me. From there we went to Christ Church just across the street in the Old City. It's the first Christian (Protestant is the word around here since there are SO MANY Greek Orthodox and Catholic churches/sites/monasteries etc. around here) church in Israel. We heard from a young Brit named Aaron about the history of it and how Believers witness to Jews, a young Messianic Jewish gal also explained a lot of that to us. It was really neat and super eye-opening. We just don't get it. Witnessing to Jews is the ultimate version of friendship evangelism. None of this mass evangelism bogus, it just isn't effective and/or it turns them away. Fast.
Then came lunch :) We had Pizza Hut of all things. But it was kosher of course, which means no meat because meat and cheese DO NOT go together over here. We ate in the little square outside the church, next to where the little Bible School "Word of Life" meets. The class had a break and one of the students (which are aged from roughly my age to one-foot-in-the-grave-the-other-on-a-banana-peel types) asked me where we were from and what we were doing. We had a good little conversation and I have a new friend, William, from France. The pronunciation of his name is more like Gillum (but with the Spanish double-l pronunciation, so it's like Gee-yum) Anyway, one of the men who walked out at the beginning of the break looked very familiar, so I asked William if a pastor named Israel taught there. He did, the man I saw was him, and I know him. Israel and his coworker, Max, met with our Corban group last spring and we got to see them when we were in Jerusalem. It was amazing to see him, it was a highlight of the day. (PS- pray for him. In brief, he's facing some persecution and has a court appearance coming up. If you know Dr. Trull or Dr. Anderson you can ask them for more info)
After lunch we began our long walk of the day. We stopped at a shop owned by another new friend of all of us IBEXers, Shabaan, and exchanged money. Then we went to the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the possible site of Jesus' burial and maybe crucifixion (but who knows for sure). Then onward through the crowded streets to the Damascus Gate, where we mounted a lot of stairs and began the North/East wall ramparts walk. We walked from there to Stephen's gate, where we came down and went to the pools of Bethesda. Oh, before that we saw no fewer than 7 soccer games going on inside the Old City. Gotta love that. Anway, the pools of Bethesda and the church of St. Anne. The church is probably one of my favorite places, the acoustics are phenomenal. I will try to post a video of us singing there, it is pretty sweet to say the least.
From there it was more walking through the busy streets and we eventually made it back to Jaffa Gate. All in all a long day, a good day, a lot of weird sights and smells and sounds. Day one of many more to come in The City. Afterwards I could have fallen into my bed and slept until the Rapture, but I decided it would be more beneficial to stay up until dinner and then do some homework. Good choice... Mostly.
As for Wednesday (which if you read this right away, is just starting for you :) It was our first real day of classes. I had History of Ancient Israel (HAI from now on) and Life of Christ (LC). Those classes will be absolutely amazing. Here's a cool fun fact: The prof, Abner Chou (less than 30 almost 2 doctorates guy) is more about learning and trying and understanding than he is about grading. Here's a good summary quote of how it will be, "You get two grades in this class, a deserved and an actual. The deserved is what you would get if a mean teacher graded your papers. The actual is what I give you. You don't need the pressures of grades, there's enough pressures as it is." I love this guy. And he has a great sense of humor (Dad, Dr. Anderson, Justin - and others - you would get this guy, he's a kick). After lunch I had Modern Hebrew. Let me explain something real quick. Everyone takes Land of the Bible (40 ish students). Maybe 8 aren't taking HAI. Maybe 2 aren't taking LC. In Hebrew class? Well that is a different story. There are less than 10 of us. And boy did we dive in today. I now know the alphabet (side note: Hebrew is where that word comes from, ask me sometime if you don't already know) and the correct pronunciations. This will be by far the most challenging simply because it is so very foreign (duh.) I would Really appreciate your prayers in that realm, I am hoping the gift of languages descends on me soon. But in all seriousness, all of my classes are going to be absolutely wonderful and I don't want to waste any of it so I would covet your prayers very much.
This has gone on long enough. I am sick of hearing my own voice and all I am doing is typing, so that is really saying something. Or maybe it's not saying anything... whatever. Until next time, enjoy life under our new pres. (will someone please email me a 5 sentence summary of the inauguration or something, we're clueless over here) don't cause too many problems in your local church, and take care of yourselves. I will avoid all rocket fire and IDF personnel as best I can.