A Huntsville couple traveling with an Israel mission group helped coordinate the safe return of more than 120 participants after escalating conflict in the Middle East forced Israel to close its airspace.
Leisa and Rusty Nelson, who traveled with Eagles’ Wings alongside their two daughters, helped guide the delegation’s journey home as missile alerts sounded across the region.
The Nelson family had traveled to Israel in February as part of the Eagles’ Wings “Awakened and Empowered” women’s leadership mission. According to local reports, the group included 124 participants such as female educators, therapists, and pastors who had gathered for the faith-focused leadership trip.
Leisa Nelson said the group was preparing to celebrate Shabbat in Capernaum when they first began hearing about a possible escalation in the region. Israel closed its airspace within hours after the United States and Israel launched a joint strike on Iran.
“We had spent the night before till almost three in the morning looking for flights,” Rusty Nelson said. “We realized there’s no flying out of Tel Aviv, so that door had already closed. It was a quick door.”
As tensions escalated, the group spent the weekend moving repeatedly into bomb shelters as air raid sirens sounded across northern Israel. Local reports say alerts were sounding five to six times a day as Iran launched retaliatory missiles.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be the same because I’ve never been in war and been in a bomb shelter for that length of time,” Leisa Nelson said.
The group relied on a mobile alert system that warns residents how many minutes they have to reach safety.
“[There was] an app so you knew how many minutes you have to get to the bomb shelter,” Nelson said. “We can’t even comprehend that.”
With flights grounded in Israel, the delegation worked through contingency plans to leave the country through Egypt, where airports remained open. According to the television station, the group departed early Monday morning by bus and traveled about six hours through the desert to the Egyptian border.
“We drove six hours in the desert to the border of Egypt,” Nelson said. “The following morning, another Egyptian bus company picked all of us up. We had one van full of military guards and then a police escort, and we drove 8.5 hours through the wilderness to Cairo.”
From a hotel in Cairo, the Nelsons helped secure flights home for all 124 Eagles’ Wings participants as the group began making its way back home.
Despite the tense circumstances, Nelson said the experience also revealed moments of unity among those sheltering together. She recalled people of different religions and ethnic backgrounds sharing safe rooms peacefully and watching out for one another during the repeated missile alerts.
Several North Alabama leaders were part of the Eagles’ Wings delegation, including Kids to Love founder and former television news anchor Lee Marshall, who shared updates on social media during the ordeal as the group worked through plans to return home safely.
The Nelsons said the experience left a lasting impression and deepened their concern for the people who live in the region and face the threat of missile alerts daily. Although they are now safely back in the United States, the couple said they hope to continue their work in Israel and plan to return once the country’s airspace reopens and conditions stabilize.
Sherri Blevins is a reporter for 256 Today.
