Mike McClenahan

Our last day in Israel began with the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, which remembers the six million Jews killed in the holocaust, including 1.5 million children, with stories, maps, pictures, videos, and left-behind shoes. They were gathered from all over Europe, the Middle East and Africa to work, die, march, burn, and starve because they were Jewish. The stories of those who were complicit begin with the Nazi party and officers, but extend to those who remained silent—some in the Church didn’t speak out and countries around the world refused to receive refugees. One story captures the inhospitality of other countries toward the refugees. The Saint Louis ship left Europe filled will Jews trying to escape to Cuba. After four days they were forcibly removed and sent to Miami, where they were also turned back to Antwerp. They divided into groups and entered back into danger, except for the few who were able to go to England. Much of the world rejected the Jewish refugees. They we...

It is 9:45am and we are at the Frankfurt airport, sitting on the Lufthansa connecting flight from Tel Aviv to Barcelona. We passed through security at 9:00pm in Tel Aviv with the majority of our group flying back to San Diego through San Francisco. Their flight was at 12:30am, and our flight left at 4:50am. We slept on the floor of the terminal, using our backpacks and jackets for pillows. We fell asleep exhausted and grateful for eight days leading our group of 34 through Israel. We landed in Frankfurt and grabbed a bratwurst and beer for breakfast. We’ve just spent the last eight days touring Israel. We woke up at 6:00 every morning and walked five or six miles through ancient sites. So much time walking and talking, making new friendships and deepening old ones, sharing meals together and asking questions about what we were experiencing. One day we began at the Church of the Beatitudes, eight walls for each of the blessings of the beatitudes. We read the first part of Matt...