The Covenant

I moved into my new apartment on Sunday, yay! So I now have my own QUIET room. So will tell you all about that tomorrow.

God is good all the time. There is/was a huge convention going on in Jerusalem. It is the Foursquare 2007 Convention. I heard about it because my friend was singing in the Tommy Walker choir. So yesterday I thought I would go, so I could hear Tommy Walker and Jack Hayford. Well, I got up there to register and they said it was full and it would cost me $175 dollars for the whole thing. So I went home. That helped make my decision about Tuesday night. Because Tuesday night, today, at the Convention was the last performance of the play The Covenant forever or a season.ICEJ: The Covenant And I wanted to go but I also had my watch to be at. So since it was filled up I didn't have to worry about asking permission. So today I slept in because I wasn't feeling the best. I got up in time to get to my staff meeting and than after the staff meeting was my watching. During the staff meeting the convention was mentioned, since Hilda was there*. So I brought up that it's full and the play. And we moved on with the meeting. At the end of the meeting Hilda leaves and comes back and she slides on the table to me her badge to the conference and says, "go, I'll take your watch". So I got to see the last show of the play and see it for free. And it was amazing. It is simply the story of God's covenant with His people from Abraham to the birth of Israel. And it's a musical. It was fantastic. I am very thankful that I got to go and see it.

*Today is the ninth of Ov. It is the day when both Jewish Temples were destroyed. It is the day the Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sign something kicking out or killing the Jews in Spain. It is the day when the first Jews were taken to concentration camps and killed. It is not a happy day in the Jewish calendar. In fact many stores were closed in remembrance. So, today Hilda was at the convention and she turned around during a time of singing "Hallelujah" and she said to look out and see 3000 believers worshipping on that day in Jerusalem was just amazing.

Istanbul is Constantanople

Yes, yes I know I was in Antalya not Istanbul. Well, to let you know how the rest of my trip was, let me say not fun. I was scheduled to fly home on Fri. Thursday after dinner I went back up to my room and found my door open and my lights on. To make a long story short and painless for me, my wallet was stolen. I had kept it in my laptop bag for safety while I was swimming in the pool. Somehow someone go into my room. So Thursday night I spent with the receptionist and police officers. Then Friday I woke up early and was getting no where in trying to call people. Finally, my mom called the US Consulate in Adana and they started calling around. I hopped a flight from Antalya to Istanbul and then went to the Consulate there. They were staying open late for me. They issued me an emergency passport and helped me book a flight from Istanbul to Tel Aviv. They were even nice enough to give me money for a taxi to the airport since with all the traveling I ran out of the money I had on hand. So that all put kind of a damper on my vacation to Turkey. Unless the Lord specifically says to go back I probably will not go back to Turkey.

When I was trying to enjoy my taxi ride to the Consulate I did notice that by the water Istanbul was beautiful. It is a true port city. It has ships and boats all over the coast land. I wished I had had my camera on me but I had packed it to keep the amount of things on my person to a minimum. So that is my "excitement" for the trip. I promise.

Home Sweet Home

Short but sweet post. I am back "home" in Jerusalem. I am very glad to be home. I had quite the trip. I need to go to bed so I will write that later. Just thought I would let you'all know I am home safe and sound.

Randomness

So here are a bunch of things that don't go together but I figure you should and or want to know, hence the randomness.

First, I should tell you what got me through all the security and all the visas and sort. My original flight had been cancelled and I had been put on the flight for the next day, which meant that I was able to go to church. In church we sang one of mine and Bethany's, a very good friend in the city, favorite songs. I have no idea what the title is. But since I had been to church this song was stuck in my head AND I knew what the chorus meant, since that is the only part of the song which I can sing. So standing in line at security, in line for my ticket, second security, and in Turkey unsure about a visa this song was going through my head... Kom tov chasdecha Adonia Elhi, Elohe Yishi, Elohe Yishi. Which I believe means, Your grace covers me, God of my salvation, God of my salvation. So what a wonderful song to sing when going through security.

One exciting thing, since it was so hard to get this trip planned I knew that God had ordained where to go. I discovered I think on Tuesday that Antalya, where I am, is one of the cites that Paul and Barnabas. It is mentioned in Acts 14:25 "Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia." NKJV And my mom said that this is the original name and that through the years it has become Antalya. So it is fun to be in a place where Paul was.

Today, since I missed breakfast I figured that I would head down to McDonald's for lunch. Since I found the restaurant yesterday. So I was sorta surprised to find that Turkey McDonald's pretty much tastes like American McDonald's. This is one of things that I enjoy doing when in foreign countries. If they have McDonald's I like going at least once, just to see/taste the difference.

I added a new map to my blog. I found it on a friend of a friends website. I thought it looked really cool to be able to track where I have visited and for it to tell me the percentage of the countries that I have been to. So if you want go ahead and make your own, just click on it and it will take you to their website. It is one of the few places I have join, but I thought that map was worth it. So enjoy!!

Please continue to prayer for a smooth re-entry into Israel. I praying that they won't pay any attention to my last visa and that they will do the same as when I entered in April. She took my passport stamped it and handed it back to me, not a word was said, no questions were asked. So that is what I am believing for.

Alive

Mountians in Antalya, the Sea is just to the left out of the picture.
City Center of Antalya
View from my balcony

Yes I am alive. It has been a couple of busy weeks. The One Thing Conference was amazing. Then the following week was a roller coaster. My visa expired on Fri the 6th. So that whole week I was trying to get a trip planned and every time it fell through. So on Tuesday I talked with a travel agent and she was unhelpful, so that led to more tears and visiting a second agent on Wed. Yeah, it was Wed and needed to be out of the country on Fri. Well, the best thing we could do was to leave on Sun because that would kept me out of the country long enough to not over stay my next visa. So Sat rolls around and I get a call from the agency my flight was booked with and my flight has been cancelled and I have been put on another flight the next day. So now I am extremely frustrated. But God is good. I got on my flight with no problems and I am now in Turkey. I won't even go into the problems I did face in the airport.

While flying into Antalya, Turkey, it looked incredible. You have the Mediterranean Sea as one border and then a narrow city and a beautiful mountain range as the other border. Once on the land it looked alittle different, because on the drive from the airport to the hotel you went by many buildings that seemed to be no longer under development. So, it seemed very dirty and poor. Once we got to the "city" area it was much nicer. The Lord has put me in a beautiful 4 star hotel with a swimming pool and a private beach, if I can figure out where and when to catch the van to it. Today has been very relaxing and refreshing. The only thing I miss is there is no one to talk too.

The Wizard of Oz

So, yesterday I wanted to write in my blog that I wanted to go home. There's no place like home. However, today I am doing better, still not perfect, but better. Within the last three days many things have happened that are making feeling like I am just going around the mountain again. I don't feel like I am making ground. One is where to live. the lady I am going to rent from called on Mon asking if I was going to rent and I had told her 2 weeks ago that I would. And now we have to meet with her and her land lord and it just feels frustrating because last year I didn't have to do that. It could all be nothing but it's frustrating. Then on Mon I changed my airline ticket home and later that day I ran into conflicts with my visa run and the date I just changed my ticket to. And now today my visa run completely fell through. So I now have a week to plan a trip out of the country. And to top everything else off I hurt my back a little over a week ago and it hurt to sit. So yesterday I really just wanted to go home. Today I feel better however because God it good I guess. This weekend it the "One Thing Conference". There is apparently a lot of spiritual warfare going on because (so to speak) of it. I feel that if I can just push through to the conference that it will be better. It will be a good time of filling and refreshing.

And yesterday or Mon morning I had a good dream. There was a crowd of thousands of people in a stadium. The place was packed. I was coming on stage as the speaker. I was speaking on abstinence. So, that means the crowd was youth and young adults. Here comes the fun part, my husband was just off the stage and I was pregnant. And as I was talking I mentioned that this was my second child. Now I know that is a different dream but I really feel like it was from the Lord. Pretty much everything in it is a confirmation of other visions or words. We'll see what the Lord brings about.

But it's one of those things that in times like this, where I feel stressed that I need to hold onto dreams and visions and words that I have received from the Lord. And know that He has brought me here and that He will provide. Sometimes it's hard to see that in the midst of it all but it is still true.

The Square

So, yesterday I spent the day relaxing. Taking a true Shabbot. Actually I was trying to recover from an injury that had occured earlier that week. However I was very bored by 10pm, since I had done nothing all day. So I gathered my few things I would need if I was to go out and went down to the lobby. See stuff usually happens down in the lobby. After sitting there for awhile in slight pain a friend came down the stairs and said she was going to join a group in the square just a block away. Now, I should have stayed home and gone to bed, however, I really wanted to see people. So we went to the square and there was a group of people sharing the good news, and there was a group of musicians. So, I chatted with a few people, that I knew. And then I just sat there praying for the people there. Both the Jews and the Christians. I'm sharing this because when I talked to the students at the school I used to teach at one of their questions was have I shared the Lord with anyone. My answer is still no, but now I can say that I was there backing those people with prayer support. Because I know that as of now my role is not an evangelist, but a behond the scene type person. It was fun, my injury than did not go away but I am positive I was where the Lord wanted me.