Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Hamas war. On that infamous day one year ago, I was in Israel, leading a tour. Our group had eaten breakfast, oblivious to what had occurred just an hour before. By the time breakfast was over, our Tour Guide, Aharon, had a very concerning look on his face. He informed me that there had been an invasion at the south border. I had been looking forward to our last day in celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles and observing how Jerusalem celebrates the holiday, Simchat Torah. Our plans for the day were now on hold.

Shortly after that, we heard sirens and saw rockets overhead. We were in Jerusalem! Rarely do rockets head over Jerusalem. In utter ignorance, I recorded the following video during a siren warning, which we had all ignored. (Click here). It was amazing to see the rockets (not in a straight line) in the air and watch them turn into a puff of cloud after incerception by the Iron Dome. ! I later received a phone call from our Bomb Shelter liaison who asked what we were doing outside during a siren warning. Yikes! He reminded me that even if the Iron Dome takes out the rocket, there is shrapnel falling from the sky and that could injure or even kill us! I knew that after having worked with him to collect donations for the ten bomb shelters we had already placed in Israel. But the intrigue demanded our attention. It “seemed safe” to watch. We found out that there was a bomb shelter in the basement of our hotel.

Aharon and a few form our group watch the news on a laptop

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera newscasters were set up at the entrance of our hotel. I did not learn until months later that they were headquartered at our hotel and were later asked to leave.

The news was sketchy at this point. Aharon brought out his laptop and a few of us hovered over it to hear the news. The news was grim. We had heard that there were hostages taken and there were mass murders at the border. The attacks were ongoing. News was developing.

We were told that our tour group would be sequestered at the hotel but we were not sure how long. This was the last day of our tour, where we had spent time in Petra (Jordan) and Israel for 11 days. We did not know if this attack would continue through the day, escalate or if the attacks would last long. We had high hopes that things would end swiftly and we could resume at least part of the touring that was planned. We had saved a visit to Bethlehem and the US Embassy in Jerusalem as well as a few other stops. Suitcases were packed and ready to get on the bus when notified and at the end of the day, the group would head to Tel Aviv to catch their plane home. My friend, Chris, and I had planned to stay for ten more days for hiking, so we would not be joining them.

As lunchtime approached and the sirens continued to sound, we decided there would be no touring. We had planned a special goodbye dinner at a restaurant but we were informed we would be travelling to a sister hotel for that dinner.

Meanwhile, our group was anxious, restless, concerned, praying prayers as each siren sounded. We had never lived in the middle of a war before. Would they be able to get on a flight to go home today? To help with the anxiety, I walked with our bus driver to several nearby neighborhood stores that were Arab owned. Our driver, Elias, knew the Arab language and the way. We were trying to purchase a few decks of cards to entertain our group. We were told if a siren sounded, that we should duck into one of these stores for cover. We didn’t need to do that but walked quite a ways and to several stores and finally were able to purchase some used cards. We could not be picky!

The group played cards, listened to the news, heard many more sirens, prayed a lot and waited. In an effort to get a little closer to the airport, a decision was made to move us to a sister hotel and we would have our goodbye dinner there….not as nice as we had planned, but we were grateful someone was willing to work and feed us! We all loaded on the bus with luggage (Chris and I left ours at the hotel) and the plan was that we would eat dinner and then leave for the airport. Chris and I had planned to go to the airport with them and then return to our hotel with our bus driver. We had planned three more nights in this hotel before moving up to the Galilee for the best hiking.

We arrived safely at the other hotel and just hung out for a few hours as it was too early for dinner. While waiting, Elias told me that he had been informed that there was going to be a vehicle curfew for all of Israel, beginning at 5 PM. When I found this out, our guide was in the middle of recording a Bible Study lesson that he does weekly. I didn’t want to interrupt, but if I didn’t we would not make it to Tel Aviv before 5. Our dinner plans went out the window. I wrote a note and put it in front of Aharon. He immediately, abruptly, ended the recording and devoted his attention to getting all of us on the bus ASAP.

We were not sure we were going to make it to the airport on time. Even if we did, our group was going to arrive so very early that they were going to have to spend about 7 hours in the airport waiting for their flight. Would the flight leave? Tel Aviv was experiencing sirens and rockets as well. Chris and I knew that we could not go with them because we would not be able to get back to the hotel. Our bus driver, Elias, stopped at a stop light and didn’t give us much warning. He told us to get off here and pointed in the direction of the hotel. He had to quickly get the rest of the group to Tel Aviv.

The wall dividing Elias home at the ‘West Bank,” photo taken from his rooftop.

Getting “ejected” from the bus was very emotional for me. I did not get to say a proper “goodbye” to the people I had worked with for over a year to get ready for this trip. In fact, I had worked with some for several years because Covid caused our tours to cancel and some joined this group. Suddenly Chris and I found ourselves alone. We could not see our hotel from where we were dropped off. We had no shelter if a siren sounded. We were alone on an unfamiliar street in an Arab area. I was worried for the group as it was already 4:45 PM and the curfew was to begin at 5. Would they make it on time? What about Aharon and our bus driver? How would they get back? Would they be stuck? Would the attacks continue and the future plans that Chris and I had made be cancelled? Should we have left with the group? If we had, we would have had to leave our luggage in Israel. My emotions got the best of me and I broke down and cried. Even though I was emotional, I was not afraid. In fact, the entire time I was in Israel during the war, I was not afraid (except when we finally got a flight out and we sat on the tarmac in Tel Aviv like sitting ducks!) We finally recognized a few of the surroundings and made it back to the hotel.

Elias’ vintage car next to the “West Bank” dividing wall

We did not hear sirens during the night and got a good nights sleep but we heard them again in the morning. We came downstairs for breakfast and we ran into Elias, who had spent the night at the hotel. We were relieved to know that he had made it back safely. He asked what we had planned to do that day. We looked at him quizzically and said, “nothing.” He invited us to come to his home for lunch. Really? Elias is a Palestinian Christian and lives right on the border of the “West Bank” (Judea and Samaria). We decided to go with him. We stayed there most of the day and met his sweet family. He has 4 kids, 3 girls and 1 little boy. We were welcomed immediately! We played with the kids, watched them dance for us and ate a wonderful (huge) meal. Elias took us up on his rooftop and we could see that his home was right on the border. We saw the barrier wall below. I don’t recall if we heard sirens while we were there but I don’t think so. Elias had a really old car, a Maior, and he decided to drive us back to our hotel with his entire family. It was a glorious day and I have to say, that I felt a little guilty having so much fun while others were suffering.

Once back at the hotel, all I could do was watch the news. I wondered if people in the USA were getting the real news or not. The stories were horrifying. Young people were on their phones with family and then the phone would go dead. They were not hearing back. We learned that Hamas had attacked an all-night concert and then moved into the local villages to rape, kill, torture, & kidnap anyone. Property was destroyed. People’s lives and livelihoods were ruined.

By this time (October 9) most of the rockets were headed for other areas, so I felt safe in Jerusalem. We decided to venture out, just a bit. A friend, Michael, offered to pick us up and take us to the “Temple Mount Sifting Project.” We originally had planned to walk but wondered if that was a safe idea, so we were ecstatic to have a ride. Normally, when one comes to do the wet sifting here (archaeological sifting of dirt that had been saved from when the Arabs removed dirt from under the Temple Mount illegally), you can only sift for one hour. However, we were the only ones there, so we were allowed to stay 3 hours. We were taught how to wet sift to look for artifacts. I found ancient bronze coin (Roman 1st century) and some mosaic pieces. Chris found pieces of pottery, glass, metal and bone. During our wet sifting, we heard a siren. The leaders at the site, calmly told us to leave everything where it is and to follow them. They told us we did not need to run as we had about 90 seconds to get to the shelter. We walked quite a distance and then found cement stairs that led to an underground large bomb shelter. We stayed about 15 minutes and then got the “all clear” to get back to our sifting. One of the staff was quite anxious. Her daughter is in the IDF and she wanted to know where she was. The rest of the staff did not seem concerned about the siren.

The next day Chris wanted to go to Tel Aviv. She thought it would be safer there. I thought Jerusalem would remain safer but I was not afraid of either. Michael drove us from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. On the way we saw a group of Palestinians being arrested on the side of the road. We met with the family that had been on our tour with us and stayed at the hotel where they were. They were from South Africa and had also planned to stay after the tour. I’ll admit that it was very comforting to be with that family! It was a bit like a reunion! When we were “ejected” from the bus, I was very sad not to be able to say goodbye to them, knowing that I may never see them again.

We did hear many more sirens while in Tel Aviv. There was a garden-restaurant on the 5th floor where we spent a lot of time together. It was fairly close to the “bomb shelter” there. The stairway was the shelter at this hotel. Our friends were a few floors above us so often during a siren, we would meet in the middle to wait for the “all clear.” We had a lot of practice going to the shelter while in Tel Aviv. We could see the ocean from the balcony and saw that there was a US Navy ship off the coast.

While in Tel Aviv, we began getting text messages from the US Embassy that we should make plans to go home. We wondered how we were going to get home since United Airlines had cancelled our ticket right away. We kept getting notifications that the airport was closed. Then open. Then closed. We had hoped that things would calm down and that United would reinstate our ticket. But that never happened. We were not ready to leave anyway.

Deby, Frances & Chris packing boxes for the soldiers at a local synagogue

The next day we walked to the US Embassy, which was about a 45-minute walk. We had heard that we could get assistance from them to secure a flight as we kept getting any flights that we booked, cancelled. We heard a rumor that there was a US Naval aircraft carrier that was going to help get US citizens out. I kept saying that we were on an adventure and I wanted to get on the flight that was on this carrier! When we arrived at the Embassy, we were told there was no carrier and that we should try to get a flight out ourselves. Right? They were not helpful at all. (Two days after we finally got home, we received a text that there WAS an aircraft carrier taking US citizens out of Israel).

Meanwhile, we had asked Frances (one of the friends from South Africa) to research any places where we could volunteer. Frances found a nearby synagogue that was collecting and packing supplies to send to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). We (Chris, Frances and her brother, Eric) decided to go! We wanted to help! We had to walk. We walked quite a distance and passed a building that had been hit by a rocket just days before our arrival to Tel Aviv. This was just a few blocks from the hotel where we were staying. When we arrived at the synagogue, they told us they were waiting for more supplies and empty boxes to pack but still needed notes to be written to the soldiers. We set out to do that with a lot of color on each page, decorated. Because I can write Hebrew, I asked if someone would please write out a message I could copy. It was exciting to be able to communicate to them in their own language. The volunteers at the synagogue were so very grateful for our help and we all became friends immediately. A young woman was crying at one point. She had only lived in Tel Aviv for one year and she was afraid. Chris was able to put her arms around her and pray for her.

We walked back to our hotel and the sirens started up again. We walked swiftly to the end of the hall and entered the bomb shelter with lots of others, crying babies, people smoking out of nervousness, etc. The rocket blasts were louder here than in Jerusalem. The noise rocked the building each time. If you didn’t know better, you would think that the hotel had been hit many times. What we were feeling was the Iron Dome intercepting the rockets and the noise was explosive!

We noticed that the hotel was getting more crowded and learned that many from the attacked villages were being brought here for safety. They came with the shirts on their backs. Donations were being received and kept in the hotel basement for any refugees to take…whatever they needed. Food, clothing, toys, diapers…

We kept booking flights to get home, but one after another kept cancelling on us. AND, they were not refunding. This was disheartening and we were not sure what to do. Neither of us were afraid and we just kept saying that God had us on an adventure. He would get us home when it was time.

We began receiving emails stating that the US Embassy was going to begin evacuating US citizens starting on Friday, Oct. 13th with some very specific instructions that sounded clear and organized. The email confirmed we were on the list to leave and that there were three possible locations they would fly us to Frankfurt, Athens, or Cyprus. We would not have a choice but they would give us an 8-10 hour notice to get to the airport.

When we had free time, we taught Frances and Eric a card game and we spent many hours of fun with them.

The next day, Frances came running to our room, knocking on the door in excitement. We let her in immediately and she told us that she knows that the boxes that WE packed had arrived to the soldiers already. She saw this on the news and the letter SHE wrote and decorated was on the news! She was thrilled and wanted to show the video to the other volunteers at the synagogue. We walked back to show it to them. They had not seen it but were very blessed when they saw it.

Chris took a walk on the empty beach at Tel Aviv

On our way back to the hotel, Chris and I decided to finally go to the beach at Tel Aviv. There were very few people there. We knew it was a risk but we needed some time there. It was so beautiful! The sky was a deep blue and the ocean was clear with light waves. The sand on the shore was soft and spotless. No shells, no debris, just white and beautiful. Little did we know that these beautiful moments by the ocean would be our farewell to Israel. It was such a contrast to the fighting going on just miles away from us to the south. I stayed for about 45 minutes and then walked back to the hotel while Chris stayed a bit longer. While she was there, she received a text message from the Embassy that she was to report to the airport immediately as they had a flight for her. She began throwing things in her bag and throwing much more in the trash as she was told she could not bring much on the plane. The airport was about 30 minutes away. I called for a taxi for her while she quickly packed.

Just in case we ended up in Greece, Chris had been making contact with some of her distant relatives there. I had just been to Greece on one of our tours earlier in 2023, so my preference was Cypress! But, we would have no choice. The war in the south continued and the war in the north was increasing.

Chris left and I wondered if I would get a notification from the Embassy next. I called Frances and asked her if she wanted any of my things I was going to have to leave behind. Some of my things were donated already to the soldiers. She took a few of the souvenirs I had purchased. We were told we could only take 30 pounds and my suitcase was 50 pounds. I left much behind (and guess what, they never even weighed my luggage!)

Wondering if we were going to be spending the night in the airport. Playing cards helped.

Thirty minutes later I got the same email. I was already packed and ready to go. Eric called up a taxi for me and both Frances and Eric went with me to say goodbye when the taxi arrived. I wasn’t sure where to go at the airport and wasn’t sure where my plane would take me. It appeared I was on my own. On my way to the airport, Chris texted me and said there was no plane for her. She told me where the Embassy table was and where to meet her. There were no further flights. We were told to just hang out at the airport and they would squeeze us on any flights that had remaining seats. We were told we might have to spend the night at the airport so we got out the cards! We had settled in for what we thought would be a long night with an unknown destination. However, within a few hours we were told that a flight to the UK was available. We were rushed to the terminal and while filling out the paperwork, the door was shut and we didn’t make it. Then we were rushed to another terminal and another. Finally we were informed of a flight to Athens but it wasn’t for several hours. We said “we’ll take it.” We had now idea what this was all going to cost us (one-way tickets to Athens and then hopefully home). The flights were expensive. We finally had tickets to Athens and Chris was on the phone again to distant relatives in Greece!

While Chris was in a shop at the airport, a siren went off. She did not hear it. Neither did I, but I was told to grab our stuff and follow the crowd. Where was Chris? I was told to MOVE! So, I had all of our stuff and we were crammed into the women’s restroom. That was the bomb shelter for this area. When we got the “all clear” and I took our stuff back to our seats, Chris was there wondering what happened. She wondered why I had left her. I didn’t know where she was. I had texted her to tell her where to go but she didn’t even think to check for a text message because she didn’t know there was a siren! Why didn’t the employee in the shop inform her?

While all this was going on, I posted a Facebook post asking for help. I have NEVER ever done anything like that. Chris and I were getting hit with hotel bills we had not planned for and yet were charged for other hotel reservations that we did not use. We both had been charged full price for 3-4 flights each that were cancelled and now this one to Greece and another to home.

Once on the plane, sitting in a seat surrounded by strangers, I experienced my first moments of fear. We had just experienced sirens at the Tel Aviv airport and now we were sitting on a plane on the tarmac like sitting ducks! I could not wait for that plane to take off. I prayed and God reminded me that I was in the palm of His hand. Peace came over me.

We landed in Athens…at what time? I cannot even remember. It seems like it was about 3 am. A distant cousin that Chris had never met, came to the airport to pick us up. Their two kids had been moved from their beds to couches and we were welcomed into their home to stay over night. We did not have flights home yet. The next day, Chris’ cousin took us sightseeing. He did not speak much English and Chris spoke broken Greek but we figured things out. Her cousin felt we needed some down time. While touring sites I had seen just months previously, I had a few surreal moments. We had just escaped from a war-torn country. We were out of harms way. I felt like I was in a haze. Nothing felt real as we walked with other tourists through the Acropolis. Very surreal.

That afternoon, we booked flights for the next day. We were treated to such great food and hospitality and then were taken to the airport for home. We were headed to two different states. Me - California; Chris - Tennessee. Chris and I had long goodbyes as we reflected on what we had just been through. One of my reflections was that I was glad to have had the experience of being in bomb shelters. As Director of Song For Israel, we have placed ten bomb shelters in Israel to save lives. I never dreamed that my life would have been one of them. How precious to be part of saving lives in Israel.

I felt very connected to the people we came in contact with in Israel. I would have enjoyed staying longer during the war, if we had something more we could have done to help. It was a blessing to have Chris with me through the challenges. She’s a great prayer partner and a great navigator and that helped me a lot. It was a blessing to get to know Frances and Eric more after the tour! They made things fun.

Time after time, when we were lost in an Arab city, when we visited the dividing wall of the “West Bank,” when rockets were overhead, when we couldn’t get flights home, etc., it was amazing to see how God protected us and took care of our concerns. So many friends, family and people I’ve never even met, donated to help pay for our flights, taxis, etc., that Chris and I encountered. It was a blessing to receive and see that once again, God had covered all of our needs.

When you read this, remember to pray for Israel. They have now been at war for one year. I have not experienced the horrible things that most who live there experience. In fact, I went back a few months later to do an archaeological dig in Shiloh. I felt safe the entire time. But things have gotten much, much worse now. New enemies have joined the attacks. Pray for the safety of the people of Israel, for the Israeli Defense Force soldiers, pray for the 101 hostages that still are in captivity, for the leaders who make decisions about the war and mostly that those who do not know Messiah would come to know Him.

More bomb shelters are still needed. If you can contribute ANY amount to help save lives, please click here.

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October 7 - One Year - My Personal Journey