Into the summer
Here’s what’s new for me:
May
A Canadian Mennonite young adult group called “Yella” was staying in Nazareth at the Fauzi for a week and hiked a few days of the Jesus Trail. They were a great group and you can read more about their experience on their blog: http://yella2008.blogspot.com/
We have two new volunteers with the Jesus Trail: Matt Cooper from Orlando, Florida and Nate Herr, a recent graduate from Goshen College. They will both be in Nazareth for about two months, creating a printable data book for hikers that will provide detailed directions and maps as well as practical information. We’ve spent a lot of the last two weeks hiking the route together.
View a couple of photos from one of our scouting trips here: http://dplandis.com/photos/main.php/v/may_2008/jesus_trail_with_nathaniel_and_matthew/
We will be hosting a TV crew from the Associated Press for the next two days who are filming a story about the Jesus Trail. AP is also doing an article with multimedia slide show which will be out in the next few weeks.
If you speak German, check out this new article and radio broadcast about the Jesus Trail here: http://jesustrail.com/press/wandern-auf-den-spuren-jesu-jesus-pfad-von-nazareth-nach-kafarnaum
In early May, I also had the privilege of meeting with the people behind the development of other long-distance hiking trails in the region, including Kate Clow who has developed the St. Paul Trail, Lycian Way, and routes in the Kachkar region of Turkey as well Joshua Weiss from the Abraham Path initiative. These interactions have been very helpful in learning more about collaborative trail development and promotion.
On Tuesday, I fly out for London, where I will travel with Sheldon Good and visit the Mennonite Centre, and then make our way through Barcelona to meet the Franconia Conference group in Madrid the following week.
June+
For the next month or so, I will be on the road throughout different parts of Europe and the Mediterranean:
- Spain and Morocco with Franconia Conference. I will be helping to lead this group, guiding for a week on the Camino Santiago, and we will be looking at themes of pilgrimage and the interaction of historic and contemporary Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities in the region as an educational leadership development experience. Check out http://verano.via-global.org
- Turkey, joining Linford Stutzman and Jesse and Maria Rodriguez (my sister and brother-in-law) and scouting out a new section of the St. Paul trail for use with an EMU cross cultural in May 2009
I will be traveling without my computer, so if you don’t hear from me in a little while, I will get back to you when I can. I will return to Israel in early July.
