On Leaving Israel

Lucas had quite a day yesterday... Nearly missed the train in Haifa ("5 seconds to spare") and had a 2 hour interrogation at the Tele Aviv airport.

They searched everything thoroughly - including him. They said they found residue of something on some of his books. That could have been just to see if they could scare him into revealing something - in case there was anything to reveal - who knows? If there was actually anything there it would have been a total mystery to him.

Israelis are very careful - which is understandable. They are very good at being very careful. As Lucas said, they now probably have a file on him. However, since they had him followed at the London airport they were still cautious.

Besides the secret service type men following him - (even in London) -there was even a pretty young woman who came up to him at Tel Aviv airport saying she was taking a survey and asked him to tell something about himself. He said if that is what she wanted he'd take advantage of that loaded question and tell all - including the gospel. She listened politely and then left. She had a device as if to record the conversation. He noticed later that she wasn't talking to anyone else for the survey but remained in sight.

I feel for and even admire the Israelis. They are another example how trials can make you strong. They are known for being effective at their own defense...but we know that they still get attacks.

They couldn't comprehend why he would come over there to learn Arabic - and live in the Arabic part of Nazareth. He said he kept calm and just answered their questions. Now he knows what an interrogation is like. I asked him what he thought of the interrogation and he said "Which one?". It was a loooong busy wait for the trip to London.

He looks good though. Has something of a beard which looks good but he mentioned that we didn't say anything about it when we saw him. It's not exactly dark and only about a 1/4 of an inch so.....I didn't think too much about it. I was just glad to see him.

Anyway, Lucas is home and is headed for Emmaus this morning and the UWP this afternoon.