Where'd My Group Go?

I’ve lost students on trips before, but never this bad:

An Israeli tour guide picked the group up from the airport and took them straight to Caesarea. From there, they made their way north to Nazareth, the guide reporting his suspicions from the first when the leader, dressed as a priest, did not correct one of his “charges” when the latter exclaimed that Yeshu was born in Nazareth. Their first stop in Nazareth was at the Church of the Annunciation. “When we went inside – eight of the group suddenly disappeared,” said the guide. “I asked where they were and their colleagues said that they’d gone to buy scarves to cover their heads out of respect for the church. I retraced my steps, but I didn’t see them.” While the guide was off looking for the eight “lost sheep,” the others were also disappearing. “At first I was left with eight, then with five, then with three, and finally all the group had disappeared.” Having appealed to the police, he opened the suitcases left behind in a search for their passports – to discover that the “heaviest” contained only two items of clothing. “‘It was clear to me that this was something organized,’ said the abandoned guide. ‘They’re most likely no longer in Nazareth – someone probably came and picked them up and took them to the center of the country.'”

Much more seriously, episodes like this are very bad for African believers who want to come and study in Israel (such as at the Home for Bible Translators).  The government is very slow to grant them visas, and episodes like this one is a reason why.

(In case it is not clear, Africans and others from third-world countries have been known to “disappear” on their trips to Israel in order to live and work in a nation that is much more prosperous.)

Source: Caspari Center Media Review