As we look back on the year of 2024, we praise God for all the ministry He enabled you and us to accomplish together. Because of your prayers and support, Carissa and I were able to meet more than 90 Israelis during our first 6 months in Arizona, and were privileged to host 21 of them! This is especially surprising, because I spent most of that time at my desk building the new Planet Zula app, which we officially launched in October.
During our last week at the Grand Canyon, we co-hosted a family of 3 Israelis, connected through the Planet Zula app. On the day of their arrival, I received a message from another Israeli couple, Yosef and Mara*, who saw our flier at the Starbucks in town! They gratefully accepted our invitation for dinner, and we had a wonderful evening of sharing our testimonies, playing guitar and singing around the campfire with our 5 Israeli guests. Yosef and Mara were especially touched and excited by our work creating the Planet Zula network; they now tell every Israeli they meet about Planet Zula!
After we left our wonderful hosts of 6 months at the Grand Canyon, I spoke at a church in Page, AZ, where the pastor and his wife immediately applied to become our first hosts in Page! That evening we went to Horseshoe Bend for the sunset, where we met Ezra and Shani* with their 4 boys and had a great chat with them. I was wearing my “bring the home now” (in Hebrew) t-shirt, which was so touching to them, it brought Shani to tears.
The next day, October 7th, we prepared a meal in prayerful expectation that God would provide Israelis to join us for dinner on this significant anniversary – and the Lord provided! During our tour of Antelope Canyon that afternoon, we met yet another Israeli family of 4 and brought them back to our trailer for dinner. After a wonderful conversation about our faith in God and His promised Messiah, we gifted them with a New Testament in Hebrew, which they gratefully accepted.
We are meeting a surprising number of Israelis here in Arizona; we are seeing God’s hand at work here through the strategic combined efforts of Planet Zula and Camp Zula, and how strategic it is for us to start a campground here near the Grand Canyon where we can meet and host a considerable number of Israelis. Whether or not Israelis end up using our Planet Zula network or staying at Camp Zula – it is a huge hug from Jesus to Israelis just for them to learn of the existence of such a network and campground which generously host Israelis, expecting nothing in return.
Thank you for making this ministry possible! Have a happy and blessed new year,
BJ, Carissa, Ari and Aviya
*names changed