In 2002, Susan Crothers, of McCook, and her daughter, Michelle, then 15, set out for Israel, to spend a year of their lives living among and helping the people of that troubled nation. It was to be a life-changing experience for them both.

Susan and Michelle were volunteers for the "Visions For Israel" organization, which provides emergency assistance to the entire Israeli community, whether they be Jewish, Arab, or Christian. The organization was founded by Barry and Batya Segal in 1994, and provides emergency medical aid, food, clothing, and household necessities to the needy through their "Joseph Storehouse".

The Jewish humanitarian aid is truly a worldwide effort, with donations coming from countries around the world. The food and supplies are collected at various ports, around the world, then assembled and placed into large shipping containers, each containing 2,200# of supplies. These large shipping containers are brought into Israel through the Port of Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea.

The large containers are off-loaded at the Joseph Storehouse, which is located in the Judean Hills, just outside Jerusalem. The Joseph Storehouse is like a huge warehouse/store. The supplies are placed on shelves, and individual "orders" are filled, placed in blue plastic bags and delivered throughout Israel, to churches, and hence to the individual families.

Susan and other Christian volunteers had to be extremely careful in their contact with the people of Israel. If they initiated any talk about religion they could be branded as "Missionaries," which was cause for expulsion from the country.

Yet, the most common question they were asked was "Why are you here?" People could just not comprehend that two young women from the United States would willingly give up the advantages to which they were accustomed to come to Israel to work among the poor as volunteers. Their answer was always the same. "We are here to help people." This often led to more questions about their faith, to which, then, they were able to answer quite frankly.

During the year that Susan and Michelle worked at the "Joseph Storehouse" they performed most of the jobs connected with the program, from stocking shelves, making up the individual packages, and making deliveries in the Storehouse van. For a good bit of that year Susan was the manager in charge of the furniture and household accessories division of the operation.

The hours that the Storehouse could do business necessarily conformed to the Jewish customs, which meant that all operations were suspended from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. Sunday was a workday, so the Christian volunteers at the Joseph Storehouse observed their own Sunday Church service on Sunday evenings -- after they left work at the Storehouse, 2002-03 was a troubled time in Israel, and there was considerable danger in performing the everyday chores associated with life in a big city. Public buses were targets for terrorists, yet it was necessary to use the buses on a daily basis.

One day they were in a group near the Wiling Wall. One of their associates, a young man newly arrived from the U.S., left their group to go to another part of the city.

Susan and Michelle saw his bus arrive and saw their friend start to get on. They turned away, and in that moment heard a mighty explosion and watched in horror as that bus went up in flames. They were certain that their colleague was among the dead or injured.

But a minute later he was with them again. For some reason he could not explain, he had decided to return to his apartment for a sweater and had been just out of range at the moment of the explosion of the bus.

Another time a lady friend and colleague of theirs was sitting in a bus, in the seat just ahead of a suicide bomber when the fellow chose to blow up the bus. Though she was very close to the bomb when it went off, she was relatively unhurt. This was another one of a number of events that happened during their year that Susan classifies as miracles.

Yet it was not all danger and hard work that Susan and Michelle experienced in Israel. Soon after they arrived in the country their group staged a musical production for the people whom the Joseph Storehouse served. The play told the history of the Jewish People, from Abraham through the Holocaust, and included the story of Jesus, though his name was not mentioned -- only referred to as "Who is this man?"

Susan and Michelle were not familiar with the Hebrew language at the time, but managed to learn enough to speak the few lines they were required to deliver. The songs were even easier. They found the drama experience extremely moving, as did the audience, many of whom were brought to tears many times during the production.

As visitors to Israel, Susan and Michelle were required to leave Israel every three months, though their absence could be for as little as four days.

Each Wednesday, in the newspaper, there were ads for last minute travel packages, which were inexpensive, and the two were able -to take advantage of those opportunities to fulfill the requirements of their visitor's visa and at the same time learn more about countries in that part of the world. During their year in Israel Susan and Michelle took four day (weekend) holidays to France, Bulgaria and the Greek Island of Rhodes.

The trips were not only enjoyable, they were extremely educational, for Susan, certainly, but especially for Michelle, who found that traveling abroad was a very pleasant way to satisfy the geography part of her Home Schooling program. Always eager for new experiences, Sam and Michelle took advantage of a unique opportunity during their vacation period that year. The Israeli Army offered civilians a chance to join that Army for two weeks. In that time the two women wore the uniform, lived in barracks, ate with the soldiers, worked at an army job -- in their case they worked to repair security hardware used by Israeli troops. (They were not required to carry rifles). They also learned a great deal about Israeli points of view in dealing with their Arab neighbors. They came away with a great empathy for the Israeli cause.

In looking back on their year in Israel Susan counts off a number of reasons why the year had a profound effect on their lives. Being able to work with the poor in a troubled land was a humbling experience, yet extremely satisfying.

The world news has a new, personal meaning when it touches on the Middle East. And most of all, meeting and learning to know people from all over the world has been a life changing experience, for both Susan and Michelle -- especially for Michelle, who met a young man from England, who was also serving as a volunteer for Visions For Israel.

The two became friends in Israel, and in the years since that friendship blossomed into romance. The two were married and now live in England, where he works for an American Investment company.

So, it would seem, overseas travel will be in Susan's plans for years to come.