This is Dawn.
She has a strong sense of what she calls “Midwestern Guilt,” or the self-conscious feeling of being an inconvenience to anyone for anything. Dawn has been hearing about the BEMA trips to Israel and Turkey since 2014, and her friends, coworkers, and peers demonstrated the value of the trip.
Being a person with a physical disability that limits her mobility, she’d assumed she would never get to go. In 2018, she even joked to Marty about him doing a “handicap version of the trip.” Her Midwestern Guilt said don’t push it, but her chutzpah told her to keep asking. And then Marty announced a BEMA trip for a different audience—more accessible to people who aren’t interested in the steepest hikes, hottest days, and longest walks.
With her registration in hand, Dawn waited with great anticipation for the immersive experience set to land in May 2020. And then Covid postponed it, first to November 2020, and then to March 2022. She wondered if she’d ever get to go, and if she did, whether or not her body would even hold up.
But eventually she found herself on a plane to Israel, and before the end of the first day she knew her physical disability would not hold her back. Her fellow travelers became family, and she knew they would be there for her—and for each other. The trip broke a pair of Dawn’s boots, but it did not break Dawn’s heart or mind.
She needed extra hand-holding for the “quarter-mile” hikes, but whenever she reached out, there was always someone to steady her. No longer did she have to listen to the stories of Marty’s passion for teaching in Israel; she saw it firsthand. And now that it’s done, she hopes she continues to have the chutzpah to love God’s people as well as she has been loved.
For more pictures and to read the story from Dawn’s perspective, see this post from Marty’s sabbatical blog.
