First Letter from Nazareth
--> Sunday, May 28, 2017 Dear Family and Friends, It has been a busy 11 or so days in Israel, and I missed my deadline for my first letter. I have been pleased with the people and the weather: both are suited for our operations. This year I feel acutely the void left by my parents, Jim (“Abuna”) and Carolyn Strange. This is not because we cannot operate without them. After all, expeditions all over Israel get by without either of them setting foot on their sites. It is because of who they are to me and to the dig. I feel it most, not at breakfast, which my mother brings to the site, or at pottery reading, for which I rely on my father’s expertise, but as I pass by their room while knocking on doors at 4 a.m. I hope for their return in 2018. The early crew arrived on Tuesday May 16 and quickly got to work the next day. They prepared our store room, oversaw the delivery of tools and toilets to the site, began digging the southern half of a squ