Turlock native Zach Olsen knows a thing or two about living by faith. The 2012 Pitman High graduate moved with his wife and children to Jerusalem in January to take a position as a pastor with a Christian congregation. Their move was just three months after the surprise attack Hamas launched on Oct. 7, 2023, the deadliest single day assault in Israel's history. Israeli authorities say roughly 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others were taken hostage. Since then, Israel has been fighting a wider war against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran.

So, how did a star baseball player for the Pitman Pride end up in a Middle East war zone?

Olsen said he was all ready to start his collegiate baseball career with a scholarship to Master’s University in Southern California when he felt called to go into ministry.

“I felt God was very clear. I felt like he said to move to San Francisco. There’s a ministry that helped in the Tenderloin district,” said Olsen, who ended up spending over a year and half at the SF ministry. “I felt a lot of peace. Not everybody enjoyed my decision.”

Not only did some of his family members question the decision to give up a college scholarship, but Olsen said a friend stayed mad at him for seven years because he chose God over baseball.

From San Francisco, Olsen moved to Texas — again at what he felt was God’s urging — and there he met his wife, Amy. She already had plans to get her master’s degree at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The young married couple moved there in 2016 and were there for seven months before returning to Texas. They returned to Jerusalem in 2019, so Amy could finish her degree.

“We just started to fall in love with this place and God’s heart for the people here in the region,” said Olsen.

They were even offered a long-term visa to stay in Israel, however, they felt that God said it wasn’t the right time. They decided to move their family — they had two children at this point — to San Diego and enroll in a discipleship school. Soon after they moved back to the United States, the pandemic hit.

In 2022, Olsen said he became aware of a new opportunity to be a pastor for a congregation in Jerusalem and that started the process for the family to move back to Israel. They were a month away from their visa appointment when the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks happened.

“Our hearts were, obviously, grieving. We knew people who knew people…it’s a tight community in Israel, so you can’t go far to find someone who was affected,” he said.

Olsen said the attacks made them want to return as soon as possible so that they could be a blessing to the people. They found out on Christmas Day 2023 that their visas were approved and flew out in January 2024. Just like when he gave up a baseball scholarship, friends and family members once again questioned his decision to move to Jerusalem.

“While we appreciated their love and concern, we just wanted to continue to be obedient to what God was asking us, and we really believed it was to go at that point,” he said.

Living in a residential neighborhood of Jerusalem, Olsen said his area isn’t really a target for bombings or attacks.

“Only twice have we had to go to a bomb shelter for different lengths of time,” he said.

While running to a bomb shelter “only twice,” is better than many others living in the region, Olsen said his family has to be on alert at all times.

“We have to have conversations that are not typical to the American couple…If the siren goes off, which child do you get? Where are the keys? Are we wearing shoes? Where’s the go bag?”

Olsen said in Jerusalem, you have 90 seconds from the sound of the siren to make it to a bomb shelter — because that’s how long it would take from the alert to being hit with the bomb if your area was the target.

“On that day… the sirens go off and we do our plan. I’m holding my middle child as I’m the last one out the door and above us there’s the dome shooting the rockets down and boom, you just get to the shelter,” he said.

The last time the family — which now includes three children, with one on the way any day now — had to make their way to the bomb shelter was on Oct. 1.  On that day sirens blared across Israel as Iran launched about 180 ballistic missiles at the country. The Israeli military said most of the missiles were intercepted by its missile defense systems, and a U.S. defense official says the United States helped intercept the weapons. Israel reported no human casualties. Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to retaliate for Iran's missile attack.

Olsen said that the children, so far, haven’t been affected in any negative way to the bombings.

“They asked a lot of questions, and we were honest with them about what’s going on, but the peace of God has really captivated our kids’ hearts,” said Olsen.

While Olsen said he and his wife really started falling in love with Israel in 2019, it is a much different place now than it was five years ago.

“I think you see in the people of Israel more of their heart than maybe ever before. In the other couple of times living here, you interact with people, you get to know people. But at this time, I feel like there isn’t a hiding of how people are doing. There’s an authenticity of their hearts…There’s an openness in the Jewish people that is so much different this year than there’s ever been that we’ve encountered,” he said.

On Monday, Israelis gathered for solemn memorial services in major cities and at the sites of some of the atrocities from a year ago to honor those killed and demand the release of those still held captive in Gaza. 

When asked what he’d like people in Turlock to know about what’s going on in Isreal, Olsen said:

“Before casting complete judgement on a nation because of what they’ve seen in news…take a step back and really ask God, ‘What’s actually happening?’ And like Psalm 22 says specifically to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”