Improbable People Ministries

The Music & Ministry Of Sally Klein O'Connor

A Tour Of Roses, Israel, Day 13

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Dear Friends Of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses,

You can see by their casual attire the Team did not attend the Young Missionaries Haifa Cotillion last night. Instead, they spent their final evening in Northern Israel holed up in a bomb shelter. While it was certainly no Studio 54 (for those of you under 100, Google it!) our heroes made the best of an uncomfortable situation. And it certainly made for the best ATOR team photo EVER!

We asked each Team member to share their thoughts and feeling in their final testimony. What was most special to you? What memory will you bring back home that will live on in your heart?  Their candid reflections follow.

NOTE: Please don’t leave before reading the important message below in the Itinerary section.

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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 12

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Dear Friends Of Improbable People Ministries And A Tour Of Roses,

If you are looking for mystery, intrigue and a wondered sense of the unknown . . . answer these four questions for me:

● How does a woman take 10 large durable plastic flower buckets, magically turn them into a bunch of beautiful flowers, then make those white flowers disappear right before your very eyes for a Shabbat service?

● How does a casual trip to the mall turn into a 3-hour prayer session with a Nutella sandwich thrown in for good measure?

● How do 10 Americans make 900 roses disappear in just 40 minutes? And are they willing to share their secret with Penn & Teller?

● How can a conversation that takes place in Israel fail to be understood in English? Fail to be understood in Hebrew? But is ultimately successful in Spanish?

What can I say? It was a day for sleight of hand and slight of, uhhh–tongue. Mmmmmm . . . NU-TEL-LA! We know you can’t wait to see the connections in all this. So take it away TEAM Rose!
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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 11

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Dear Friends Of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses,

While there were no reports from Sally of heading for bomb shelters today, we are ever-vigilant toward the serious moment in history the good people of Haifa and our Team are facing at the moment. We ask you to continue to pray for their safety as well as a peaceful, fair resolution to the conflict. The Team continues to experience gratitude, gratitude, gratitude for the love we are showing Israel through the simple act of handing out a free rose as a gesture of the extravagant love God has for His Chosen. The testimonies continue to amaze. So let’s get right to them.

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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 10

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This soldier is packing heat. But so are our ladies.

 

Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses,

We have reached double digits in days and possibly triple digits in temperature. Yet, when you read the stories below you’ll see there is nothing but joy being spread in Haifa these days. At least when it comes to our crack team of Rose-ologists. (It’s a word–trust me! I’m going to spring it on Sally in a game of Scrabble when she least expects it.)

But before we share those tales we’re going to break tradition and let you all know about some specific prayer requests needed for Team Members. They are not a complaining lot, but sometimes the journey can wear one down. So please take a moment to read and lift our street warriors and their issues individually up in prayer. We thank you for your ever-faithful covering of the Team.

ERIC is down with a sore throat and some congestion

LURA‘s ankle is swollen.

DAVE has a heat rash in and around–these are his words–“Area 51”.

SUNNY asks for strength and safety.

KHAHLIDA has severe trauma triggers that are causing her to lose sleep.

KAREN has an issue with her knee. She requests prayer for better sleep and energy.

SALLY: “God gave me what I needed this morning. My voice is certainly not great. Tired.”

Please pray also for unity for the group. Mission trips can be true testing grounds for love and patience.
Sally administered communion today and asked the team to search their hearts and make right with
anyone on the team they were having trouble with.

Finally, keep praying for the flights for Air France to reopen on Saturday so everyone can begin the journey home safely and on schedule. THANK YOU.

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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 9

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Dear Friends Of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses,

Given the circumstances and heightened tension of their surroundings, the Team’s first day in Haifa was relatively peaceful. The sirens only blared once to send our men and women to the local bomb shelter. Just another day in Paradise, I guess. Meantime, A Tour Of Roses hit the streets of Haifa with thrilling and heartwarming results. So let’s hear from them directly.

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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 8

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Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour of Roses,

The team left Tel Aviv Saturday morning and headed North to Haifa. As they spent the day traveling in the heat it seemed only fair to give them a rest from sharing for the day and also taking pictures. So today’s update will be short. Sally volunteered to give a glimpse of Saturday with the team and the journey into the eye of the metaphorical storm. So take it away, Fearless Leader!

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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 5

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Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour of Roses,

As we are still playing catch up with previous days activities of the Team, let’s not waste any time. Here are some testimonies of A Tour Of Rose on the streets of Tel Aviv on Wednesday. What can I say? Get your hankies and Kleenex ready. These are some very moving stories coming your way.

 

TESTIMONIES

ANNIE:

Praises   are that there have already been so many Divine connections. Muslim and Israeli taxi cab drivers were calling us over to get roses. Some would give it to the woman in the back, others alone. The question, why are you doing this would come, and I could tell them that God loves them, that we in America are praying for them.

So many just couldn’t stop thanking us! The love God is evident and touches so many as we give out roses. There is so much more to report but it’s been constant running.

My biggest prayer is for enough sleep, and that the enemy will stop throwing up blockades.

Like today. I got locked in the bathroom. The first night we were locked out of our bedroom, and we also got stuck in an elevator. The enemy doesn’t like what we’re about, but the people receiving flowers are so touched! Today one lady wanted a picture of me holding the roses, she was amazed that we came from America to do this! So please do pray for more Divine encounters. Also, we cleaned and prepared these roses yesterday. So much more to come.

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A Tour Of Roses, Day 4

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Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses,

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

WE MAKE PLANS . . . AND GOD LAUGHS!

So yes, this is the A Tour Of Roses Update, Day 4. You’re in the right place. And I hate to make this all about me—Michael O’Connor, husband of Sally Klein O’Connor, born July 15, 1955 in Sacramento, CA to Charles and Dorothy O’Connor—as I said I hate to make this all about me despite being a devilishly handsome senior citizen who loves baseball, classic TV, a good book and great humor by favorite authors, a truly great hamburger and fried seafood of almost any variety; I truly hate to make this all about me . . . but a funny thing happened on the way to writing and compiling the Day 4 update.

Microsoft Word happened.

Or, more precisely, didn’t happen!

I received the daily Team Testimonies Robert Emmert sends me with all the stories of the day’s events and intimate encounters with the Israeli people. He sends them to me in Microsoft Word because it is the most compatible software between his phone app and my computer. Then I gathered the few photos I received from various team members to help bring these scenes to life for you, our dedicated readers. I clicked on the first Word file which held Dave Panther’s  adventures for the day. The file opened as it always does. But it contained a yellow banner across the top and the banner informed me that I would either need to purchase the software I was opening or to please sign in with my already-purchased license.

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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 3

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Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour of Roses,

The fellow above, presumably an Israeli citizen, looks a bit dazed as he studies the beautiful, long-stemmed rose which was handed to him just moments before by a member of the A Tour Of Roses Team. “Why would someone come all the way from America, a Christian no less, just to share this beautiful gift with a complete stranger?” He may be pondering this thought for several days, for there is no clear answer to that absurd question. Except maybe this:

 

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD . . . 

 

With that idea in mind our Team loaded up the vehicles and left Jerusalem today, headed back to Tel Aviv, Having cleaned, removed withered petals, stripped of thorns, tied ribbons and a card on each long stemmed rose, they headed out
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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 2

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The Team found this dove peacefully nesting inside the Western Wall

 

Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses,

Sunday brought a bag of mixed blessings for our A Tour Of Roses Team. A clothing bag was lost by the airline. The night before, several of the women were locked out of their rooms for the night. Without a desk clerk available they were forced to share a room with other women of the team. There were too many women and too few beds. Sound sleep was hard to come by. The next day brought the greatest concern. The rental car’s electronic key Fob went missing a was nowhere to be found. How would the team make their travel plans? On the other hand, reports are the Sunday morning worships session was lovely and healing. A dove appeared at the window as Dave sang and played on guitar with wife, Yara, accompanying him. Later the team took the 20 minute walk to the famed Holy place of Jerusalen: The Western Wall.

They saw natives and tourists. The saw IDF soldiers. One was even praying at the wall herself. Many were crying tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of uncertainty. Their prayers were fervent and their hearts were focussed. Some of those stories appear below. As I said, Sunday was a mixed bag. But what does Scripture remind us to do?

 

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

—James 1: 2-4

 

TEAM TESTIMONIES

KHALIDA:

After our Saturday evening service at  Succat Hallel, I approached a young lady who was writing in her journal.  And the Lord was giving her the writing about the “one new man”—about the love in the Arabs and the Jews. And the Lord gave me the same Word as He gave to her. I found that that she just came from South Africa three days earlier to serve in Israel and so-called “halal.” And the Word that the Lord gave me matched exactly the same word that she was writing in her journal! There was so much love, hugging, and tears between us. Many tears. And we talked about the Tour Of Roses.

When I was at the Western Wall praying today, the Lord put it on my heart to pray for the hostages. And I started weeping, and it was coming from the depth of me—because I felt the Holy Spirit weeping through me. And I notice a young lady on my right and she was also weeping. I couldn’t talk to her because I was just weeping so hard. All I could do was show her my hostage necklace that I have been wearing since October 7th. And I showed her I am praying for the hostages. She started crying harder and I started crying more also, and we couldn’t talk for 20 minutes because we were crying so hard together. Then we hugged each other and wept on each others’ shoulders. After awhile we were able to exchange words. I found out she is a Canadian who is taking a year to live in Israel, and to pray for the Jewish and Arab people in Israel. As we exchanged about our prayer time, I found out that during the time we were both crying early on, she had been told by the Holy Spirit to intercede for the hostages. And, as I showed her my necklace she was really touched. So we were on the same wavelength through the Holy Spirit.

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A Tour Of Roses Israel, Day 1

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(L-R-Front Row) Sunny, Evi, Lura, Yara, Karen, Annie, Khalida, Sally
(Back) Ingeborg, Robert, Dave, Eric

Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses,

As you can see by the 12 beautifully assembled visages above, the entire ATOR contingent has landed in Tel Aviv, tired but glad to be, at long last, in The Promised Land. Apparently, it’s been an eventful day. Unfortunately I have only sketchy reports on what has transpired as most have gone to bed. While I sit in the air conditioned comfort of my home at 7 PM Central time, our weary travelers are mostly fast asleep. To give perspective, those of you readers in the Eastern Time Zone–Israel is 7 hours ahead of you and it’s already Sunday. Add another hour for the Central and the difference is 8 hours. And those of you shaking and baking on the West Coast are a full 10 hours behind God’s Chosen People. No wonder you’re so complacent. How will you ever catch up?

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A Tour Of Roses Israel Preview

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Partial ATOR Team arriving from around the country at Bush Intercontinental, Houston, TX

Dear Friends of Improbable People Ministries and A Tour Of Roses. Welcome to our preview of the ATOR missions trip to Israel, 2024. The team has been working for months in the planning of this momentous excursion abroad in the Land of God’s Chosen People. My name is Michael O’Connor and I’ll be your tour guide through these daily updates we will be sending to you by way of your email inbox. Before we introduce the team you’ll be following for about two weeks, we should take care of a little business:

You are receiving this update because you are either a regular subscriber to the GraceNotes From Sally Devotional, the From Here to Eternity Blog, are a prayer intercessor for one or more of the ATOR Team Members or you happened to hear about the amazing mission and decided to see what it was all about. If you do not wish to receive our daily updates for the next two weeks all you need to do is go to the bottom of the email we sent to you and click the UNSUBSCRIBE button at the very bottom. We don’t want to be junk mail for anyone.

We will do our best to get you the latest information as soon as it’s available from the team. Please understand this will be an uneven process with hopefully at least one report per day. But the time of day will fluctuate because the first order of business is the ministry and care for the condition of our Team Members. And some days there may be no report because the team is too weary from ministering on the streets of Israel. Our faithful correspondent and intrepid cub reporter Robert Emmert will interview team members on the day’s activities and relay his quotes back here in the States where I’ll compile the stories and photos to release a new edition of the A Tour Of Roses Update.

The main purpose of these updates will be to inform you, our dear friends in ministry, so you can be vigilant on behalf of these warriors on the front lines of the Kingdom—especially in the midst of war.

The Team thanks you in advance for your prayer covering and for those who were able to support the team financially as well.

At the end of each post there will be a chance you you to send words of encouragement in the Comments section and we hope you’ll take advantage of the chance to lift the spirits of a particular brother or sister.

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