Well, what a day. We headed out early this morning into the West Bank and found the site of the excavations. We don’t know for sure which city this is but it presents some strong evidence to be Ai. I was assigned to a section of the city wall. We dug down until there was bedrock and then started on the other side. 
The first time my shovel hit the dirt I prayed quietly, “Lord please don’t let me mess up anything important”. About thirty minutes into the dig I found a small piece of pottery that had some diagnostic features on it. They thought it was probably early to middle bronze which would be about the time that the Israelites conquered the land. What a cool way to spend the day finding something that is between 3000 and 4000 years old. We cleared the wall down to bedrock and found quite a few pottery pieces but nothing as cool as that first find.
We are headed to the airport soon and it is back to the states…where there is ice in the glasses, a softer bed, and a washing machine, but it is a trip that has left me changed. Already, everytime I open the Scripture it is different. What used to be geographical locations are now personal experiences.
ben,
thanks so much for these posts. i have been living vicariously and can’t wait to experience the holy land some day! have a safe trip home
mcw