Rob and Alisha

Two friends that I have made here got hitched the other day. So on Sunday we threw a bridal shower for Alisha. We took her to a fancy restaurant. Bethany and I ran out right after congregation to find here a present or crown to wear to embarrass her and balloons. We had a very hard time finding a tiara, so we finally found a garland of flowers that we could twist into a crown. Then we figured that she needed a veil and we bought a pretty white sparkly shawl. While we were looking Bethany said that maybe we should get her a good lotion because that would be something she could use. Then we found balloons. We took the bus as close as we could get to the restaurant. My bag was half out the bus door most of the ride because it was that packed. Then we walked to the restaurant, so on the walk to the restaurant we blew up the balloons. And fortunately we were the first two there. So we put the balloons up as center pieces. Then everyone showed up. Alisha loved the "crown". The neat thing was that one girl, Laura, saw the shawl and said she had wanted to buy Alisha that exact same shawl and then Erica came and she gave Alisha a very nice hand lotion. I just found that God is so good. Because all the things people wanted to get Alisha but didn't were brought by a different person. So we had a very good time celebrating Alisha.

On Thursday Rob and Alisha got married. It was in the backyard of our young adult pastor. She wore her wedding dress, she wasn't going to at first because she bought it for her USA wedding but us girls told her this a once in a life time and if she wanted to wear it she should, plus she gets to wear her wedding dress twice. And Rob wore a kilt. They walked down the aisle to a bag pipe, so all the neighbors came out to see what was going on and some watched the whole thing. It was a very pretty wedding and nice and relaxed. It was an amazing night.

St. Ann's Church

Lindsey, Me, Morgan, Brooke, (not pictured Daniel)



The following Shabbot a group of us from the Hostel decide to go the Old City since there is nothing to do in the "new" city. We walk to the city and then we weren't sure where we were going. Someone had told us about a church with a garden and amazing acoustics. So Lindsey (the one on the left) thought she knew where it was so we walked to the Kotel (western wall) and then around the back of the old city and we entered a gate on the back and there was St. Ann's on the right. It is the pool of Bethsada area. But the reason we went there is because the acoustics is amazing. One voice sounds like a choir. More just sound plain ol' gorgeous. So we sat inside for a while. (Because it is cool since the church is made of stone and it was hot outside.) Then we left. I wanted to go and walk around the ruins of the pools but everyone else wanted to go. And I figured that Bethany and I (we sing together for fun and God has just knitted our hearts together) would have to go and sing there so I could see the ruinds later. So we went home. Daniel was going to walk to the Garden of Gethsemane so I siad I would go with. But it was closed so we just walked home. I have been told that this is the oldest picture depicting Christianity. It is a mosaic. This is the Golden Gate. It is believed to be the gate that Jesus/Yeshua will come back through.

Questions

I don't think I have ever had my faith questioned quite this much. And I mean literally questioned. Peoplejust ask questions of what do you believe or do you believe this. And I am now having to put into words things that I just believe or know deep down in my spirit but have never had to verabally state. Like I was talking to this guy this evening and he says he's a Christian and we were talking about hell. And he has a hard time believing that God would send good people to hell. And his one example to me was a poor starving child in Africa. Now I grew up believing that children just go to heaven but I couldn't say that to him because I have no biblical basis for that or don't know that biblical basis. So I am having times like that where I am having to find the words to express what I believe. And that is a good thing and I am glad that the questioning is coming now when it is normally friendly banter.

House of Prayer

I promise I will sit and write right now the things that have gone on in the last two weeks and I will post them every 2 days. But it is good that I am too busy to sit and write.

Two Shabbots ago I went with some friends up to the third house of prayer. It is run by Tom Hess ( I don't know who he is but..). It is up on the Mount of Olives which is why I haven't been to it before, because it is far away, hard to find, and in Arab territory. I was told about it last time I was here but God's timing is perfect. We went there to participate in the watches but when we go there because one of the guys had worked there before we were just given the watch.

They do their watched differently. They call them gates. They have (well I think someone else did but) taken the gates of the old city and has extended them out on a world map and found what gate what countries are in. So the USA is in the Jaffa Gate. They have also done that for just Israel, so what cities are in what gates. Then their watches are certain gates. So we were there for the Jaffa Gate and one I can't remember its name. They way they operate is the same, there is music sometimes, you can pray whatever you feel and there are flags and shofars. The really cool thing is that the prayer room is on the top of a house. You go up these stairs to the roof and you are in an enclosed gazebo. There is where the music and instruments are and things are kept. Then you can go out side and walk on the roof and proclaim out over the city. Here is the view from the rooftop. It looks at the back of Mount Zion.

And down into the valley.

Then we stayed for Shabbot Dinner. It was a great time of worship and tradition. For we started with worship and then had the lighting of the Shabbot Candles, then more worship, then we had the wine, a little more music and then we broke the bread. And somewhere in there we sang the Shabbot Shalom song. Then we had dinner. We stayed and talked and then took a taxi home.

But during worship it was really awesome. I was sitting on a step because I didn't feel like I could stand anymore. And in the spirit I could see in my right hand was a flame the size of my palm and in my left hand was a gold bowl. I still don't know what they are or are for but I know I received them.

Garden Tomb

A couple Thursdays ago with young adults we went to the Garden Tomb and had a private tour. The young adults pastor's wife is a tour guide there. When we arrived there, we walked as a group because it is Arab territory and the girls did not want to walk alone to there, we had a chance wonder around be ourselves. It was fun to walk around. It felt like a very big playground. I told the friends I was with that I wanted to play and one of the guys Michael said well why not there are no adults here. So we all had a good laugh.

Then we had the tour. I really liked that when we started the tour the first thing said was that this may not be the actual place but we can remember what happened. So we started at the of the skull.A guy found it about 120 years ago and thought it looked like a skull as the excavated they found skulls that had been crush by rocks and feet and ankles with nails still through them. The bones were found at bottom of the hill. The other reasons that it could be is that it is right on the main road between Jericho and Bethlehem, so people could have walked by and scoffed at Him.

Then we went to the garden area. We were told that the garden would not have looked like this, but it was most likely a vineyard. Under the ground in that area was found a large cistern for watering a garden. I believe that it has been dated back to the time of Jesus. Also in that area was found the biggest wine press in Jerusalem or Israel, I forgot. But that shows that a man of great wealth owned the land at the time of Christ.Then we moved to the tomb. there were many earthquakes so the stone probably jumped out and was broken. The tomb itself dates back to the time of Jesus. It has a soul window, for ventilation, and for the soul to escape from heaven. The tomb itself is a tomb rather than a cave so it was dug out of the wall, which again points to wealth. A tomb is made from to part the places where the body is laid and a weeping area. The weeping area in this place is twice as big as in other tombs of the time which also points Outside the tomb is the ruins of an old byzantine church. By the what is left they can tell that there were areas for baptizing people there. Right outside the tomb is a track for the stone to have run on. The stone was never found but it is believed that at the time of the crucifixion of great wealth. Most tombs you walk in and you can see into the tomb side and this one you do not. Here you walk in and then have to look to your right. In the place where they lay the bodies, they would already have places prepared and once they knew how tall the person was they would carve out a place for the feet. In this tomb only one place had been used.

It was a very interesting visit. It was neat to have all the background to the Bible as well as the history of the place.

Another Holiday

Sorry it's been so long since I wrote last. I have been very busy or occupied so I ran out of time to post. In fact right now I should be in bed but I will make one littlish post. Sometime last week was Jerusalem Day. It was the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem with Israeli rule. So, in Israel they apparently never get rain in May. On Jerusalem Day it poured. There was thunder and lightning, hail, and downpours that flooded parts of Jerusalem. On Sunday I learned that only Jerusalem got rain, there was no rain anywhere else in Israel. So we (Prayer Tower) are believing it as a sign of the Lord pouring His Spirit on Pentecost.

But here are some pictures of the crowds outside my Hostel on Jerusalem Day. Apparently they all gathered outside here and then marched down to The Kotel (the Western Wall). But it was insane. There was a lot of dancing and singing. And many many people. My favorite picture is the one of the stoplight surrounded by people.

I promise I will post more tomorrow because it has been an amazing week.

Dead Sea

Today I went to the Dead Sea with a group of friends I have made at the Hostel. We did not go to a common nice beach but we had fun. It was a blast floating in the the water. Because it is very easy and a workout as well. Plus if you look at your hand in the water you can see like this oily film. We had fun.

The first picture is of the Dead Sea and across the water is Jordan.

The second picture is Mindy, Aaron, and I floating just as we are about to get out.

The third picture is my pride and joy. It is my battle wound. As we were trying to get in the water. We walked out as we would normally walk into a lake. However, because what we were walking on, hard salt or quick sand type stuff. So as I was walking in I cut my foot on the hard salt. Actually I received many small cuts on both feet. It doesn't hurt, but when I got out of the water It bleed like crazy. But it never hurt.

That is what I did today as well as make myself look like a lobster.