Have you ever stood beneath a starlit sky, overwhelmed by its vast beauty and the ancient promises it holds? This is the experience we want to provide at Camp Zula.

Nestled in the breathtaking expanses of the Grand Canyon, we will offer our guests a glamping experience that promises not only relaxation and fellowship but a profound spiritual encounter. Thousands of years ago, God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. As we gather under those very stars with those very descendants, we will proclaim God’s unending faithfulness across generations.

After years of praying, planning, and preparation, God is now providing the funds, resources, partners, labor and skills we need to launch Camp Zula – a haven of hope for Israelis.

In Hebrew slang, ‘zula’ refers to the cool go to spot where friends relax and hang out together. Israelis often struggle to find such spaces, especially while traveling. Camp Zula will offer a free, unthreatening and comfortable environment near the majestic Grand Canyon. Here, guests will get a true ‘zula’ experience while encountering God’s love.

We are now actively looking for property near Williams, AZ, on which to host our first Camp Zula season. This is where you come in. Would you please pray with us that God would provide the perfect property for our first season?

We are raising funds and are willing to pay rent for a property; but our prayer is that a Christian property owner who loves Israel would want to partner with Camp Zula and donate the use of their property for a year or two in order to reach Israelis with the Gospel. That way, we can use our funds on other start-up essentials.

We are seeking to raise $50,000 to rent and build out phase one of the physical space, buy glamping tents, secure resources, and create a haven of hope for Israelis. This is more than just a number; it’s a milestone that will enable us to start transforming our shared vision into a reality.

We eagerly anticipate God’s provision to lay the cornerstone of a ministry poised to change lives. The question isn’t whether this vision will be fulfilled. The question is how God is calling you to be part of it.

Thank you for considering how you might support this vision. Together, we can make a lasting difference.

To donate or learn more about Camp Zula, visit our new website: campzula.com

With gratitude, 

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

Word is getting out that there is a safe place for Israelis to stay at the Grand Canyon! In July I received a message from an unknown number, “Shalom, my name is Sammy, I’m an Israeli believer. After the army I will be coming to the Grand Canyon.” 

We had never met Sammy, but after October 7th, when he was called to serve on the front lines in Gaza, mutual friends requested prayer for his safety. Unbeknownst to Sammy, we printed out his picture and hung it on our prayer wall with a few others who were serving in the war, and prayed for them nearly every day.

In August, Sammy and three other Israeli believers came to stay with our hosts and us at the Grand Canyon. Together, we hiked in the Canyon, shared meals in the beautiful Ponderosa pines, and had deep conversations under breathtaking views of the Milky Way. One evening by the campfire, Carissa shared how she encountered God in Israel on the morning she learned her brother had died. She asked the guys how they have encountered God through the grief and trauma of the war. Sammy shared several stories of how God miraculously protected him and his unit on the front lines in Gaza. More than once, he watched God intervene in the face of certain death. 

Israeli believers in the military are on the front lines of a fierce spiritual battle, and their faithfulness under opposition is a strong and convicting testimony. The guys told stories about sharing their faith with unbelieving friends and comrades who are likewise being challenged spiritually in the thick of war. God is undeniably using the darkness to drive His people to the light, and we are grateful to be a part of His work.

This October 7th marks one year since the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Israel is still at war, and Sammy has returned to active duty. Many Israelis still travel, in search of respite from the war. It is our sincere privilege to host them in this magnificent and peaceful place, which so naturally inspires conversations about the Creator. We trust you will join us in prayer that many more will sit with us by the fire under the starry night skies of Grand Canyon, and here find physical rest and eternal Shalom.

With gratitude, 

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

Have you heard the song “I’ll build a boat, so let it rain”? This is a fitting theme song for our current season of ministry. We have been working toward hosting Israelis for 12 years now; we spent 4 years building the Planet Zula hospitality network; we moved our family across the country to Arizona in faith; and we spent April and May in the Grand Canyon with our host family (the Guevaras) planning, preparing, and refining our Shabbat dinner events. We built a boat, and God has faithfully provided the rain of Israeli travelers!

During our first 4 months at the Grand Canyon, we have encountered over 60 Israelis! Several times, they saw our shirts that read, “מחזירים אותם הביתה עכשיו” (Bring them home now), and started talking to us in Hebrew, thinking that we are Israeli. They tell us it means so much just seeing our shirts, but when we tell them about the Planet Zula app, they are blown away by the love and support not only from us, but also the hundreds of Christian hosts on our network.

At the beginning of June, our friends and co-workers, Shmueli and Jenna Arnold, came and stayed in the Guevaras’ home for 2 weeks to help jump start our season. We encountered many Israelis during their time here, but were unable to host any until the last morning before the Arnolds left. That morning we hosted 8 Israelis for brunch!

We had wonderful conversations with each of them about what we believe and why we host Israelis, and sent them off with warm hugs and Hebrew New Testaments. One Israeli couple had just finished a Rim to Rim hike of the Grand Canyon that Sunday morning and ended up spending that night in the Guevaras’ home. The following morning they were able to have extensive, deep spiritual conversation over breakfast. Please pray for all these seeds that were planted by our team, and for the Salvation of each of these Israelis. (1 Corinthians 3:7)

Thank you so much for your faithful support and prayers for us as we reach Israelis with the Gospel – we truly could not do this without you. We had no idea what God would do with this season in the Grand Canyon, and we are so excited with what God will do in the coming years. Regardless of the unknown, we will obediently build the boat and trust Him to provide the rain.

With gratitude, 

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

It has been over one year now since we launched Host Israelis and started recruiting and training our first hosts, and God has grown the network and used it to spread the Gospel!

Our team has now recruited and trained 232 hosts in 13 countries! 116 of those hosts are active, and have recorded 19 different gospel conversations (many more gospel conversations have not been recorded). All of those 19 conversations ended positively, and 16 of those conversations were with Israelis who were open and engaged. We currently have 87 active Israeli guests using our network, and some of them have still been traveling during the war in Israel.

Please pray that God would continue to grow this network, that more hosts and Israelis would sign up and use the network, that more gospel conversations would be had, and that more Israelis would come to know Jesus as their Messiah.

As we get settled into life at the Grand Canyon, we are connecting with Israelis in the park and hosting weekly Shabbat dinners for them every Friday night. We made a flyer in Hebrew to invite Israelis to join our Shabbat dinners and were granted permission to hang it in the locked information bulletin board by the visitor center! We also hang these flyers in various other busy locations around the park. Please pray that Israelis read these flyers and come to our Shabbat dinners where they can participate in a Bible study.

Another way we connect with Israelis is by wearing t-shirts with Hebrew writing around the park. The first Friday in the Grand Canyon I wore my “Bring them home now” t-shirt in Hebrew and a passing Israeli saw it and said, “Shabbat tov” (good Sabbath). Please pray that God would connect us with many more Israelis and that He would prepare their hearts for fruitful conversations.

During our next few months in the Grand Canyon, please pray with us for God’s clear direction and provision as we look for a long term place to stay in Northern Arizona. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for our family and our ministry.

Love,
BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

At the end of March, I spent 10 days on a speaking tour sharing about the Messiah in the Passover in 6 different churches in Northern Arizona. During this tour God provided in amazing ways! Several new host families are excited to apply for Host Israelis and open their homes to Israeli travelers, churches and individuals gave generously which helps to make up our deficit for the rest of the year, and about half a dozen new donors pledged to give monthly financial support. 

But perhaps the most exciting part of my trip was that, after hearing our plan to move to Northern Arizona with the goal to start a campground ministry to host Israelis, countless individuals came up to me after the services to offer their time, skills, and resources to make our campground a reality! Several people with acres of spare land offered for us to use their land to host Israelis, some construction workers offered to help us build cabins for our campground, some tour guides offered to give our Israeli guests free tours of the National and State Parks of Northern Arizona, and other miscellaneous help was offered.

We praise God for how He is going before us, paving the way for this campground ministry and for all the excitement and support we are receiving in response to this new endeavor. We are excited to see how God leads us and how He provides for us this coming year. 

Please continue to pray for us as we transition to life in the Grand Canyon. Pray that God would connect us with Israelis whom we can host, share meals with, and share the Gospel with. And pray that God would lead us to the right location for our campground and guide us in all the details we need in order to start the campground ministry.

We are so grateful for your continued prayers and support for us and our ministry. We see that God is answering your prayers and you are having a major impact on our ministry through your intercession for us. May God bless you as you continue to bless Israel through your partnership with our ministry (Genesis 12:3).

Love,

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

We are moving to Arizona!

A Decade Recap

2014 – Carissa and I joined Chosen People Ministries with the dream to start a guesthouse ministry in Brazil to host Israeli backpackers. 

2015 – God affirmed this dream when we volunteered at a guesthouse ministry in Argentina and stayed up until 2 or 3am every night talking with Israelis about Jesus!

2017 – God prevented us from moving to Brazil to start one guesthouse, and He enabled us to start a network of thousands of guesthouses around the world! 

2020 – God gave us a new vision for our original dream, and we began praying about starting a campground in the U.S. to host Israelis.

2021 – We took a cross-country vision trip to see where God might lead us to start this campground ministry, and God placed Northern Arizona on our hearts.

2023 – I flew out to Arizona for my Fall speaking tour and God gave us clear confirmation that this is where we should go next.

Why Arizona?

In Israeli backpacker ministry we have identified two opposite groups of Israeli backpackers: (1) the Backpack Crowd tends toward nature, is generally more serious about life and more receptive to the Gospel; and (2) the Suitcase Crowd tends toward cities, is generally more into partying and less interested in a Gospel conversation. 

The Grand Canyon is probably the largest natural attraction which draws the Backpack Crowd, making it an ideal area for us to receive large numbers of the right kind of Israeli backpackers. And after one year of running the Host Israelis network with 60+ hosts all over the U.S. we saw that our 4 hosts near the Grand Canyon received more requests from Israelis than hosts almost anywhere else.

Goals for this Trial Season

After much prayer and consideration, we plan to move out to Northern Arizona next month for a trial season of possibly six months or more. The purpose of this trial season is to:

• make sure the location, climate, and environmental variables are suitable for our family – especially for Carissa’s health complications
• test hosting Israelis, make sure the location is makes sense for a campground ministry, and confirm this is where God would have us stay
• gain experience in campground management before starting our own campground

Please pray with us for God’s clear direction and provision during this time and for wisdom as we determine details for our trial season. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for our family and our ministry.

Love,

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

Do you remember the Katz* family from our October 2023 prayer letter? In June 2023, they became the first Israeli travelers to use our Host Israelis network. They traveled all across the United States for about 6 months, staying with a dozen or more hosts on our network. Before they left their home at the beginning of the year, they had never heard of Jesus, they had never heard the Gospel. While traveling, they heard the Gospel from every host they stayed with on our network and were given evangelistic materials and New Testaments in Hebrew, which they read eagerly, asking questions about what they read .

We are so happy to report – praise be to God – that not only is the Katz family now professing faith in Jesus as their Messiah, but after they returned home to Israel in November, they also connected with our staff in Israel and got plugged into the Messianic community for essential fellowship and discipleship!

They have volunteered at Chosen People Ministries’ outreach center in Tel Aviv, which was converted into a packing and distribution center to bring provisions and the Gospel to those in need during the war. They discovered they live within walking distance from one of our staff members and have been hanging out with them quite a bit. They even had an American Thanksgiving with several of our staff in Tel Aviv.

This brings joy to our hearts, that after 3 long years of building the Host Israelis network, we are already seeing fruits of our labor. To see our first guests to ever use this network come to faith feels like God’s stamp of blessing. God has proven Himself victorious and faithful against all the many spiritual battles and heavy opposition we faced in building this network, and we pray this is only the first of many Israelis who are led to faith in Jesus through hosts on our network.

Please pray for us as we continue to develop and grow this network. Pray that the technology runs smoothly, that we catch and fix all the bugs in our apps, that God will raise up thousands of hosts around the world to join our network, and that Israelis increasingly use our network, hear the Gospel,, and come to faith in their Messiah, Jesus.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for our family and our ministry. All glory to God!

Love,

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

*name changed

Happy New Year! 

We pray you are entering 2024 refreshed from a season of celebrating our Messiah, with renewed confidence that He is truly our “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6). 

We want to take a moment to express our gratitude for you and for what God has enabled us to accomplish together with you in 2023. We are so thankful for our prayer partners who battle alongside us in this spiritual warfare of ministry, and for our faithful financial partners who give generously and sacrificially to support our ministry. We can’t tell you enough what an encouragement you are to us. This ministry is only possible because of you. Therefore, our accomplishments of 2023 are your accomplishments.

In 2023 God enabled us to:

• Rebuild the Host Israelis and Planet Zula apps ourselves (in-house) so our team can have complete control and quick editing of our apps
• Launch Host Israelis in February and make host applications open to the public
• Launch Planet Zula in May and begin promoting it in Israel
• Host our first Israeli guests on the network in June and dozens more Israelis throughout the year
• Recruit and train 85 hosts in 10 different countries by November, with many more in process
• Sign up 33 Israeli guests to use Planet Zula by November
• Share the Gospel dozens of times with Israelis through our hosts around the world, and lead at least one Israeli family to faith in Jesus so far!
• Speak in 21 churches across the U.S. to share God’s heart for Israel, recruit hosts and raise support
• Gain 103 new prayer partners and donors!

Praise God with us for all He accomplished through this ministry in 2023. And thank YOU for your support for us this year, we truly could not have done this without you.

We are starting 2024 at 78% of our monthly support need, up from 70% at the beginning of 2023. Praise the Lord with us for His incredible provision, and please continue praying for new monthly donors in order to reach 100% of our needed funding.

We pray you will be blessed through your partnership with this ministry (Genesis 12:3) and grow in your walk with Jesus this year. Please let us know how we can be praying for you.

Love,

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you heard about the horrific attack against Israel on October 7th, and the subsequent war. Because of all the rockets being fired in the North and South of Israel, Israeli citizens were forced to quickly evacuate from cities along those borders.

On October 11th my director, Joseph Ryan, got a call from a friend in Israel. He asked if we could quickly build an app to match hosts with Israelis from the North and South fleeing to the Center. I started building the new app immediately. 

We brought the idea for this app to the leadership of Chosen People Ministries in Israel and they also thought it was a great idea, but had a lot of questions. On October 13th Joseph and I met with them on a Zoom call to discuss details and requirements for the app. On October 15th I worked on the app all afternoon and evening until 3am, making all the necessary adjustments to meet the requirements of our team in Israel.

Carissa took care of me and the girls to enable me to work late nights and long hours, and on October 16th the initial build of the app was completed! Our team in Israel set to work to recruit and vet hosts, and field calls from Hebrew or Russian only speakers and elderly users who need assistance with the app. 

The priority was to find housing for individuals that our staff has already been ministering to (specifically Holocaust survivors) and find them a home with believers in Jesus. The goal is to not only provide shelter, but also peace with God through faith in the Prince of Peace. For that reason, I named the app Diyur Shalom, which means “Peace Housing”.

We covet your prayers as this app goes out and is being used. I will continue to provide technical support as long as needed, and will make all the necessary adjustments to the app as needs arise. Pray that Israelis will be able to find the safe housing they need during this war, and pray for the peace and the salvation of Israel.

Thank you for your continued support for us and our ministry. We could not do this wonderful work without the partnership of our prayer team and financial donors. Have a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Love,

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

*written on October 24th – much may have changed by the time you read this

The Katz* family left their home in Israel last year, and have been traveling around the world for over 10 months now! They started in Dubai, and traveled through Southeast Asia where they thought they would have to end their trip due to their budget. But they discovered a network of Christians in Australia that wanted to host them for free, so they continued their travels in Australia. Then they discovered Planet Zula and saw our network of hosts in the United States who were eagerly waiting to host their first Israeli guests.

In June, the Katz family landed in California and were blown away when their hosts picked them up at the airport! They spent the next 4 months traveling across the United States, staying with our host families in the Grand Canyon, Minnesota, Kentucky, Toronto, New York, Connecticut, D.C., Virginia (with us!), and down to Florida.

We were so excited to have our first Israeli guests start using our network! After 3 years building this network, we finally have lift-off, and are already seeing fruit! We were even more excited when this Israeli family contacted us and asked if they could come stay with us in small town Virginia! If they come to Lynchburg, VA, no matter where you are, Israelis will want to come stay with you too.

We had an amazing time with the Katzes, and good spiritual conversation. They heard the Gospel for the first time in Australia, and have heard it again with open hearts from almost every host they stayed with since then! God is definitely working in their hearts and they are now confessing Jesus as their Messiah! Please pray that they would continue to grow in their understanding and faith in Him.

The Katzes had such a great time that they wrote a great review about Planet Zula on an Israeli travel group. In less than a week, we got over a dozen new Israeli users, and it will continue to grow exponentially from here as these Israelis tell their friends too! Please pray for each of these guests to experience Yeshua’s love for each of them in a powerful and life changing way and that God would also raise up more hosts to join our network.

If you are interested in learning more about hosting Israelis or applying to be a host on our network, please visit our website: hostisraelis.com

We appreciate your partnership with us through prayer! We really could not do this without you. Please write to us and let us know how we can pray for you too.

Love,

BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya

*name changed to protect their privacy