February 2006
Because of the theme of living water that central to our ministry, we've always been aware of how precious water was in the Bible and in the arid lands of the Middle East. This is especially on our mind right now because of our work in helping with water in Africa, because currently there is a severe drought in the areas where we installed water purification units in Uganda and Kenya only a few months ago. Read more about it below.
Here is some of what else is going on with En-Gedi this month:
• Improving Our Email Format
• Israel Trip Final Deadline Approaches & Jerusalem Perspective Conference
• Update on Living Water Project in Africa, Including Current Drought
• News about Listening to the Language of the Bible
Improving Our Email Format
Our readership has now grown to over 2000 people in 35 countries, so we have spent quite a bit of time this month improving the management and format of our emails. If you have any problems reading emails in the new format, or you are getting duplicate emails or find them coming to an address where you don't want to receive them, please let us know. If you are reading this newsletter on the website and would like to receive them by email each month, sign up on this page.
Israel Trip Final Deadline Approaches - February 15
En-Gedi is greatly anticipating our upcoming study trip to Israel May 20 - June 2, 2006, titled The Life and Land of Jesus: A Study in New Testament Backgrounds. The very final day for sign-up is February 15th, so if you have been thinking of joining us, you must act soon.
The tour will focus on the life of Jesus in its Jewish context, and look mainly at New Testament texts in their settings in the Galilee area and Jerusalem. This will be a unique and wonderful experience to people who want to study the first-century Jewishness of Jesus in depth. Our leader will be Dr. Steven Notley, one of the most knowledgeable scholars on Jesus' Jewish context in the world.When we took our first trip with him in 2004, we were able to go places and do things few others get to do on trips to Israel - visit archaeological digs in progress, see brand new discoveries, and look at important artifacts that are not known outside of scholarly circles.
If you would like to join us, the complete online brochure about this trip is available at this link, at the website of Emmaus Educational Services. Information is available there about flights, fees, itinerary, academic credit, how to pack, etc, as well as the application to download. Applications along with all fees are due on February 15th.
Jerusalem Perspective Conference in Jerusalem, Israel, June 19 - 21
Some of our readers may be traveling to Israel this June on other trips, or to take classes. If you are there the weekend of June 19-21, we encourage you to join us in attending the Jerusalem Perspective Conference that will be held at the Ramat Rachel Hotel in Jerusalem that weekend. Many important scholars in Hebraic studies will be speaking there, including David Bivin, Randall Buth, Dwight Pryor, Halvor Ronning, and Brad Young. Well-known archaeologists will be speaking as well including Gabriel Barkay, Ronny Reich and Hanan Eshel. Eshel was in the news a few months ago for discovering the first new fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls that has been found in over fifty years.
En-Gedi will be there as an exhibitor, and certainly to be learning from all the excellent talks at the meeting. Registration is $295 - if you will be in Israel around that time, you shouldn't miss it! The conference is being co-sponsored by Jerusalem Perspective and Immanuel Tours. To learn more, go to this link.
Living Water Project Update
Last fall, En-Gedi was able to complete a four-year project of installing seven water-purification units in Uganda and Kenya. (Details are available at this link.) We saw this as a chance to "give a cup of cold water in Jesus' name," the result of trying to live out our rabbi's words.
Bruce is now giving talks around the western Michigan area about the project. On January 27th, he spoke to the Geology/Environmental Science department at Hope College, sharing with students and professors about the water problem around the world, as well as the logistical and engineering challenges that were faced in installing the units. He will also be speaking at Drenthe Christian Reformed Church (4783 Adams St) in Zeeland on Sunday, February 26 at 7:30 PM, and for the Hope College Academy of Senior Professionals (HASP) in the Maas Auditorium at Hope College in Holland on Tuesday, May 2 at
We have been discussing ideas for how to involve college students in a trip to Africa to assess water needs, to help them discover ways of using their education to serve God among the most needy.
Please Pray for Rain for Africa!
Now that we are aware of the water needs in Africa, it burdens us personally to know that right now there is a widespread drought in eastern Africa, where our friends live. For the past two years the rain has been inadequate, and this winter the rainy season didn't come. In some areas the half the farm animals are dead, and the threat of famine is growing. One friend, Milly Erema, in Uganda, wrote us today and said:
There has been so much drought here that the prices of fresh foods even tripled. Food price is very expensive here at this time. Many places lack water, because the wells all dried up. Even for those of us using pipe water, the supply was reduced, such that we did not get water all the time as we used to. The reduction in the volume of Lake Victoria also affected our electricity supply. In most cases we did not have electricity. You know our electricity is hydro-electricity.
We ask for you to pray for rain for Africa! We were saddened to learn that the water purification unit that Bruce put in among the Maasai at the Ololtoto Hope Center in Kenya has not been able to run for the past two months because the water level has been too low to reach it. In Kenya, livestock are dying, and many women and children are on the brink of starvation. They are praying that the spring rainy season brings relief, if it comes as it should in March. In some areas there have already been showers after months without, raising hopes that this emergency will end.
There is an opportunity to contribute toward famine relief in Kenya if you like. You can contact Special Ministries at sm@kenyahope.org. En-Gedi worked with this ministry to install the water unit at the Hope Center in Kenya, and they have established a special fund to purchase and distribute food to the people in the areas around them.
News about Listening to the Language of the Bible
Listening to the Language of the Bible continues growing in popularity and we have run through our first printing of 5,000 copies. We are ordering our second printing as we write this newsletter. A friend wrote this to us from Australia this month:
I’m not sure if I already told you, but I want to heap my highest praise and thanks on to you guys for your wonderful book Listening to the Language of the Bible. I think you did a fantastic job at an easy to read, informative and edifying book.
Also, we are in the final stages of the work to translate and publish the book in Chinese! We have been working with East Gates International, the ministry of Ned and Christina Graham, who will be printing and distributing it in Chinese-speaking countries, including mainland China.
Women in the local area are now going to be using the book along with the Companion Bible Study to unlock the deeper meanings of their Bible for the next eight weeks. Lois is leading a large group Bible study at Christ Memorial Church in Holland, and women from towns around the area area are taking part. She and Bruce just finished a four-week Sunday morning series at First Reformed Church in Holland that was based on the book, sharing language and cultural insights that unlock the Scriptures.
If you haven't read or seen the book, you can learn more about it at this link.
Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our work. It is exciting to be serving the Lord in an age when so many opportunities are becoming available because of worldwide communication. We are seeking direction as we try to discern where in those that we should be actively involved.
Blessings from En-Gedi -
Bruce Okkema & Lois Tverberg
Directors, En-Gedi Resource Center
©2006 En-Gedi Resource Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization solely dependent on your tax-deductible contributions. We very much appreciate your support. www.egrc.net