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BarefooTraveler
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Name: Trooper
Birthday: 2/8/1978
Gender: Male
Interests: Photography, Missions, Traveling, Sunsets, People watching, Bonfires, Wine, Tobacco Pipes, and the feeling of sand while barefoot
Expertise: Helping others in need.
Occupation: Other
Industry: Wandering Missionary
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  xTROOPERx
Member Since:
6/3/2004
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| Ok so where to start. There is so much that has gone on the last couple of days that it has been great. I guess that I should begin at the beginning. My arrival into Guatemala and through customs is like nothing I have ever experienced. It was the exact opposite of what I went through in Israel. Once landed we were greeted by a diplomatic representative where he took us to a room to set our carry on bags down, so we wouldn’t have to carry them around. Then walked over to go through customs. They took my passport and stuck a stamp right in it. Not a single question just a hello. This is an area where you get yelled at if you talk on your phone but no they didn’t even flinch as I was taking pictures in this area. We get our luggage then walk it straight outside back through customs where we put it in the truck. No security check or anything. Grab our carry on luggage and we are done with customs. It was even easier and nicer then flying domestic.
Currently I am staying on a military base that is an hour and a half south of the Mexican border. How funny since I normally live about an hour and a half North of the Border. The other day I went out to one of the little town and we had our own military guards. While out there we helped about 80 people. That was our small field team that went out. While at what I will call our base station we are doing several surgeries simultaneously. I have sat in on several surgeries and photographed things that I didn’t think I would be able to stomach. Like people just pushing their hands right into people pulling out the insides. The first surgery I took photos of was on the eye. I have now watched someone who was blind now see. Watching how it is done well let me say it truly is a miracle. Basically my days have been full of just taking pictures and I have a lot of them. But this sums up what all I have been doing. When I have some time at home I will post some pics of the work that has been done.
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| Ok so where to begin this? I should really be writing more. I don’t think I have written in my journal once this trip so far. I have been haikuing this trip which has been fun. Basically I have a little note book and I write a haiku of what is going on at the time. If you don’t know what a haiku is then look it up (little poems that don’t make a whole lot of sense).
Last I wrote I was going to go hike up Mount Sinai and that was a beautiful sunrise. The hike was worth it however there were way too many tourist for my taste. I wish we went up the next day instead when Saint Catherine’s cathedral was closed like some of our friends did cause there weren’t any tours that night. The next day just hung out in Dahab with some new friends and had probably one of the most amazing diners I have ever had for an unbelievable price. It was a good night. From their Will and I rushed of to Cairo where I then walked along the nile at night and the following day took a camel tour around the pyramids. That night took a night bus back to the border, got questioned at customs for having a beard. Cairo was real short cause I had a photo appointment that I now had to rush back to Jerusalem for. From the border we hoped onto another bus back up north and made it to our new destination just outside of Jerusalem by diner. Here I am staying at a new friends place that is a 25 min bus ride out of the city center and it is nice.
Now the photography has begun. I met up with an organization called Table to Table where they had one of their PR people take me around to a bunch of places where I took a lot of photos for them. Will also took a bunch of photos while Kenny just helped out with whatever work was going on at the time. Table to table is an organization that rescues food, they take excess food from fields or catered events and bring it to those who don’t have any. So we went to fields where they were picking crops, a business where their was lots of leftovers from their cafeteria, saw their warehouse and then brought some food to some refugees from sudan.
The following morning I was invited to a mens breakfast that was fairly boring for me but very interesting. Due to an accident we missed the breakfast part but made the meeting. All the people at the breakfast were people who lead and or started different organizations in the Jerusalem area. Some of these people have been living and working here 30, 40 years or more. A couple were even leaders of the bible schools out here and I was the guest. I felt a bit out of place but honored that I was asked to join them. I told them what I was doing here and offered to help out in my time here if possible. Later this week I will now be doing some photos for a few groups. More maybe coming, waiting to find out. Yesterday I came out here to Tel Aviv where we joined a family in celebrating Rosh Hashanah. Now I am not sure what is going to go on today or tomorrow cause the country is practically closed down due to it being the weekend and all the religious holidays going on. Even the buses aren’t running, it is a bit odd to see everything just shut down. So this last week here I plan on seeing some sights and photographing for at least three different organizations. I am hoping to get to Bethlehem one day and maybe the sea of Galilee and or the dead sea. But that will all depend if more groups ask me to take more photos which I will do first.
I can’t believe that in a week I will be heading back to England for a couple days then home for two. Time is really going by. I can still remember sitting at my computer in my room going I think I am going to go to Israel and emailing my friend Dawn and talking about it. Now this trip is about to end and the next is going to begin. About that trip now. I could still use some more financial support for my trip to Guatemala in two weeks so please keep that in prayer. If you don’t know about that one and would like to know more then please email me and I will be more then willing to let you know. Basically I have been invited to photograph another organization that is going down there to perform a ton of surgeries and what not for the people in remote villages and towns.
This is long enough this time and will talk more about it when I see you next.
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| Ok so I have been out on the road for a little over a week. My last post told the story of the guy who worked at the sunglasses place so I will talk about my trip since then. I am currently sitting in Dahab Egypt right now. The place is peaceful pretty and the cheapest place so far. Of course everyone is your friend and trying to tel you something. I am actually writing this sitting on a coushion on the beach feet away from the red sea looking at saudi arabia. how did I end up here i really don't know. I would have never thought that this would be a place i would see or even had on my radar to see. I think i just found my favorite place here out which is outside the main part of town as it is quiter here.
So since I have left Jerusalem I have gone to Jordan and now in Petra. Let me see where to start. On the bus ride down to Eilat there was a group of four kids that got pulled off the bus by the police at one of the check points. We don't know why but by the reactions of the locals it was a bit of a big deal. When we got there we decidd to head on over to Jordan and figured we would see how long it would take us to get to petra. That was our destinatin but wasn't planning on being there for a bit giving ourselves plenty of time to travel. We met a couple and decided to split a taxi with them to cut down on the cost. As the lady was barganing she said to Petra. Will land I glanced at each other and said i guess we are going to Petra tonight. After barganing our price we started getting into the taxi as we then asked the head taxi guy if he had a son. Kinda confused he said yes then Will said he is sick isn't he and I believe that my God wants to heal him. This thew the guy back and we talked to him for a bit. We did pray for him but have no clue to what happened and probably never will. We did look for him as we crossed the border back into Israel but he wasn't there when we were. We spent the next couple of nights up in Petra hiking the mountains and hanging out with some Bedouins in their tents drinking tea. While there Will ran into a friend kieren who then joined us traveling for a couple days and then met a guy named clinton who joined us for a fewdays as well. Our last night there one of the Bedouins took us out into the desert to sleep under the stars. It was a very peaceful night with a typical bedouin diner and music. The next morning on the way out we stopped to see one of our guides friends but all we could find was the truck. Apparently it was brok down. We then tracked the footsteps to the rode where we found the bedouin and a croation backpacker. They were picked up at the rode but the guy who rescued them got his truck stuck in the dunes. We rescued the truck then brought the other two back to their truck to get it back up on the road again. That truck got stuck a couple times trying to get out to the road where we rescued it again and again. When we finally got back will, kieren, clinton and I started our adventure down to dahab.
Now we decided to take the land travel cause it wold be cheaper, however we have to go through Israel to even get to Egypt this way. Everyone told me the you get questioned alot when entering and exiting israel but i have never had a problem so far. Both times were so smooth and quiet. However I had never crossed with someone that had been to syria before. I got pulled out of our group and questioned like i have never been question. Everything from how i met every person i am with, what exactly i have done such as sights that i have seen, what kind of whork i do, my parents and grandparents heritage, past trip to indonesia, why I have a beard and on and on and on. They fully unpacked my bags and xrayed them multiple times. They also went on to do the same to the guy with us clinton. We all thought that i had gotten it bad but it was even worse for him sice he had been in syria. Three hours later we were finally in Israel but now it was too late to continue on to egypt so we stayed there for the night. We decided to go out and have a drink cause we deserved it after our border crossing. I was going to op out on the drink until i saw that they offered the best beer that i have ever found. I had looked for it before but haven't been able to find it anywhere for three years. It was nice to have found it again. the next day we head into jerusalem where the taxi cab driver asked us alot of questions regarding jewish heritage and christianity. we could only tlak for a little bit since our ride was short. We have his number and may be having lunch with him on our way back up to Jerusalem. At the border we picked up another backpacker who we have nicknamed frenchy. Yes he is french. Now in dahab we have jsut rested and doing some work on the computer. This is a good place for it cause all there is to do here is snorkel and dive. Tonight we will hike up mount sinai to watch the sunrise. I have been enjoying my time here but am really looking forward to being back up in jerusalem to start the photography for some non profits. i have found out that i this is not the best time to be here to do this because i am in the ramadan season so many things are closed down. Most groups haven't been getting back to me to do the photos but i have one that is really keen on it that will be starting on the 16. But i am having a few problems with my camera at the moment so I pray that it will start working better for me. i have had this problem before and it cost me about 250 to fix it. Sadly i don't have the time to even attempt to get it fixed. Ok so that will sum it up for the moment. I will try to post a couple pics soon for you all.
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| ok so i have only been here two days and already have a ton of stories. Here is a glimpse of one story that i can tell you more about in person when you ask me over a cup of tea. Will went to buy some sunglasses. The guy at the store brought up the topic of religion but was going to be more of an argument then a conversation. We didn't want to deal with it cause we were running late for a BBQ. Will ask the Lord under his breath if he had a word for the guy cause we didn't want to deal with the argument. As we leave guy brings topic back up and then Will ask the guy if he had a headache. The guys face goes blank and says how did you know that, and asks the other employee how we knew. Ask us again then says that he never gets them and has had one major one for the last two days. He did take some medacine but that didn't really do anything and he asked again how we knew as he takes a seat and his face is still in aww. Our response was that God was asked and that is what he told us. He ask but who listens to Him. response was i do. then asked if we can pray for his headache in a daze the guy responded ok. We prayed a short prayer - asked the guy how he feels, in shock he has no headache anymore. Says he doesn't believe in magic but doesn't know whats going on. We leave tomorrow to head down to Ellat but told him we are coming back up in about a week or so if he wanted to get together for a drink and he said sure. Got his number and will see him again soon. This isn't the first or the last story since i have been here only two days.
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| I have this image in my head. It is of a sea of water in all directions, still, unmoving. It is all around me. It slowly starts to bubble then stronger and stronger. At first it is subtle then turns into a roaring sea of bubbles. I am standing in the middle of a tent with 3500 people. My eyes are closed and it is silent. Someone starts to quietly clap, another joins in. It gets louder and louder till the clapping isn't enough and voice join in. People whistle and scream of joy, love, excitement. It is like when you boil the water in a kettle. Subtle and quiet at first but when it can't be contained it starts to whistle and scream and tell you it is ready. That is the image in my head as i stood in the tent listening to the sounds around me. God is filling us with his love and excitement till we can't contain it anymore and must release it.
I leave tuesday to begin a new journey. I will meet up with some friends i haven't seen in awhile and visit aa new land. The Holy Land as it is called. That is right, in less then a week I will be in Israel with friends and wondering the streets where Jesus taught and lived out what he said. I don't really know what to expect on this trip but just know that it is going to definatly be one of a kind. I will spend a little time catching up with friends, seeing some sights, camping with bedoin monks but most importantly taking photos for people in need. I have made a few contacts and still making more but am going to be able to take some photos for some small non profits that are in need of advertising help. How amazing that i am able to use a hobby of mine to help those in need, I feel so lucky for this.
Update- the soul survivor festivals were good. I have to say that i believe they were the smoothest running ones ever. More time to set up, more people knew what they were doing, and most of all weather that didn't bring us problems. I have also been able to see some friends that i haven't seen in a long time, actually some friends that i haven't seen in 3 yrs. I am still trying to find a way to catch up with some. It is hard to play catch up with so many people in such a short time. Since I have been gone I have found out that when i get home I will have five days to pack all my belongings and move out. For some reason, unknown to me at the moment we are being evicted from our place. I don't really know what I am going to do but not worried about it. No guarnteed place to live, or work but something amazing will happen. The next day I get a call from Israel and someone offers me an apartment that overlooks jerusalem for my last two weeks there. The next day i am told that my friends and i have a place for when i first show up in israel. The Lord always provides as i will learn that more as this trip starts and i finally make it home. Please pray that he will continue to guide my way, provide my shelter, food and finances.
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