Dear Byron, I can’t believe we have been back in the states for one week already. To say we wish we were still in Israel would be an understatement. Also, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the investment you made in our lives.

Though we have never met (hope that changes on our next trip to Texas), you have provided Ruth and I the opportunity for our love for Israel to grow deeper. Your generosity and investment allowed us to explore the possibilities of hosting trips and observe what it would take to be effective leaders in that way. Having the chance to observe and assist John and Roxie as a primary task gave us a whole different view than being participants on the trip our first time. (As you know, John and Roxie represent the Lord and your foundation with love, wisdom, and grace. It was and is a huge blessing to have them as mentors.) One other benefit of being on the trip (which was not something I was looking for but had heard from my dad and John) was gaining a clearer understanding of your passion for bringing pastors home to Israel. I can’t yet quantify the deeper connection of the obvious but I have a richer appreciation and connection to the importance of seeing the vision fulfilled. I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store regarding my/our involvement making your vision a reality for more and more pastors. Again I thank you for believing in and investing in our lives. This trip drove home to me the truth that God is able to and will accomplish His purposes in our lives and the world. For He is faithful. Many blessings to you. I look forward to meeting you in person possibly as soon as this summer. Blessings, Mike Harrison. From Byron Stinson, Founder, Fathers House Educational Foundation: The work and journey of the Fathers House is very fulfilling and it is with great joy we hear testimonies like this. After 8 years we are blessed to have hundreds of reports from so many of you and we cherish each note. However, I want to say, if we never receive a note like this we plan to move forward. If Satan himself sticks a knife in our eye we will continue to follow the bread crumbs of the Lord! What motivates us is giving Glory to God. Our path is sometimes hard and crossing the barrier of Jew and Gentile is tough! This walk is not for sissy’s, but compared to those who worked the land before us it is a cake walk. Often I stop and think about those that answered the call of God. Men and women like Abraham, Sarah Jacob, Rachel, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, King David, Deborah, Gideon and more. 12 spies went out and only 2 answered the call to go in. Why? This journey is scary, confusing perplexing financially and even life threatening, work. Now we at Fathers House Foundation are taking more steps of faith. We recognize the times are here and we get to play a small part in the birth of one Covenant Nation. Jew and Gentile will become an inheritance to the Lord as the veil is lifted from our eyes. We must not allow the rocks to cry out louder than his people. Please pray for us and ask the Lord to guide us. Our primary source of funding went dry and we need Him to open financial doors for us and close those doors HE wants to close. Thank you to all the pastors that faithfully have stayed in touch, lifted us up in prayer and continue to support us in so many ways. Thank you, Mike, for taking time to write this testimony, giving thanks and encouragement to our ministry. For those that have traveled with us in the past but now feel separated or have been led to take a different path we bless you and hope you are well. We know that often our part in your life and ministry was to help the spark ignite. If the trip we helped you take led your spirit to begin a new work, we praise the Lord with joy and love to see those works succeed. If you desire to re-connect you will always be welcome in our Fathers House. (Heart) We pray for blessings and love on the entire body of Christ. Thank you, Mike, for taking time to write this testimony, giving thanks and encouragement to our ministry. For those that have traveled with us in the past but now feel separated or have been led to take a different path we bless you and hope you are well. We know that often our part in your life and ministry was to help the spark ignite. If the trip we helped you take led your spirit to begin a new work, we praise the Lord with joy and love to see those works succeed. If you desire to re-connect you will always be welcome in our Fathers House. (Heart) We pray for blessings and love on the entire body of Christ. ~ Byron Stinson

I just keep thinking how I can read the Bible in color now! Being able to “picture” it will change my relationship with God. Also gave me such a hunger to grow in my walk! Thanks for everything. What an amazing time!

I know that I will never be the same and can’t wait to go again. I truly believe that this trip was more than information it was impartation which added such a deeper diminution to the experience. In my particular situation the hand of God literally snatched me out of my world and dropped me into another world completely out of my control and comfort zone. I also think that I was more than surprised of how much I retained from this trip (since I gave up on note taking about the third day) but to my surprise the Holy Spirit was etching some truths into my soul that went far beyond Israel facts and history alone they where personal life lessons. I also had a eye adjustment while there in Israel by the Holy Spirit that has helped me to see my world from a better perspective more filled with hope, more Kingdom fight and better than all that to take the sour things in this life, and with God’s help make lemonade ever time we have opportunity that can sweeten and enrich our lives and those around us. God gave me a fresh grace not to see the wilderness as my enemy anymore and to ask everyday what lessons are there to learn in the wilderness and if God put me in a wilderness place He can speak to me and show me the way, plus the quicker I learn the lessons of the wilderness the quicker I can get into my next season of milk and honey. Several of my parishioners came up to me and asked what has happened to me (IN A GOOD WAY) since returning from this trip and I’m not sure if I can point to any one thing but I do know that God started a fresh work in my heart filled with new hope and a eye for the future. God has used me to help some of my pastor friends that have been burning up in the desert with despair and hopelessness to look for God to speak to them in their wilderness. Thanks so much for being that vehicle that the Holy Spirit could use to light up a worn out soldier of the cross and give him (ME) a fresh wind to fight the good fight another day. As for Your FATHER’S HOUSE team all of you are a God send and a real tool in the hand of God so please keep up the hard but good work and know your labor is not in vain.

It wasn’t a trip that changed my faith at all. It was very confirming though to go to places and find things and see things that I’ve read about in a context. That was probably the best thing about it because it gave a context that’d be hard to get unless you’ve been there and seen it. A lot of times you read things from the Scriptures and you understand the point but not having the surrounding context of the places and things of that nature, it’s hard to really understand what it was like.

After this trip, I will never read God’s word the same as before. Now I have a much clearer understanding, as well as a visual picture in my mind about “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and the bottom line is, it’s not just a story. It is rock solid history, and a love story written by God for His children.

We are so thankful for the heart of the Father’s House to connect Pastors and others to the heart of our Father. The trip to Israel was life changing. It has given us a better prospective of God’s heart for all His children. We are planning now to take a very large group next year.

Dear Byron and John; I want to thank you both for the opportunity to be a part of the recent trip to Israel. It was a wonderful experience for me and I was blessed in a big way. I’m still processing many of the things we experienced. I appreciate your investment that allowed me to be involved. You all did a great job and you are a blessing, not only to me but to God’s people here and in the Holy Land. May the Lord continue to bless you, your families, and the Father’s House. With sincere gratitude, Mark Greenroy

Thank you so much for providing the opportunity for me to visit the land of our Lord. What a blessing, what an adventure! I’ll never read another another word of Scripture the same. What a life change this trip has been. In the midst of all that I experienced, what an added joy it was to be with a number of other pastors from my community. You’ll never know what you have helped do, by God’s divine hand. The eight pastors who went from Susanville are all part of our local ministers group. We have done many community wide events together and seek to bring the churches of our town together by our example. But this trip brought us together in ways that we could never have imagined. The fruit of this adventure together will be born in the many months and years to come. You just didn’t affect the lives of a few pastors, you helped promote the Kingdom of God in a whole county in Northeastern California. Thank you, thank you! My prayers and blessings go out to you and Tammy, your work and ministry. May God continue to prosper and favor you and yours. Blessings/Shalom Rick Conrad

My 10 days in Israel. it was awesome! Our tour guide was a general in the Israeli army during the six day war in 1967. He was intense, but he got us into some pretty amazing places.