Guinea Pig Tastes Like Chicken.

Ok, ok, I’m super tired right now, but I feel like if I don’t do this today, it’ll never happen. So, sorry for incoherency. Lots of things have happened since I’ve last posted, but I posted the Living and Learning blog to try and keep you updated, plus my statuses and pictures and stuff. 

Anyway, I guess I’ll start with the Changing of the Guards. That was a super fun time where we went to the Presidential Palace and we got to see a big Ecuadorian event (though apparently they do this every Monday…) but there were still a decent amount of people there, there was a protest going on, and we got to see the Ecuadorian President! And can’t forget the part where he waves at us!

The rest of the week I started classes (and continued with Spanish and Ecuador 250). Spanish has been really intensive and really challenging. Though I did get a 95 on my second Spanish test which I was really happy about! Though, as far as production, I still need a lot of work! Everyone in my Spanish class is really great, they’re very encouraging and hard workers so it definitely makes the class much more bearable! I started my Spiritual Formation class on Tuesday, bright and early at 8am! I feel like this class is going to be extremely challenging for me, but at the same time, extremely good for me. Lately, I have been struggling with setting aside quiet time for God. As you all know, I love being around people, I love doing activities and constantly being on the go. So, sadly, quiet time with God has not been on my priority list lately and I feel like that has really taken a toll on my spiritual growth. Actually, I know it has. This class will really help me to intentionally set aside time for God to read the Bible and pray and to really grow in my spiritual life, so I’m pretty excited.

One thing I love about being here is the community. Every Tuesday the girls have community dinner, then on Wednesdays, we have dinner and chapel together with everyone and then on Fridays we have community dinners with the guys. The guys actually cooked for all of us this past Friday and it was AMAZING. Homemade tortillas, chicken and veggies, guacamole, salsa… I know I’m forgetting more! And desert, oh my goodness, it was so great. The girls have done an amazing job at cooking too, seriously, community dinners are just great. But aside from the food, I love spending time with this group. All of them have such an awesome passion for God and for supporting each other and I think this group is so rare in the fact that we all literally get along with each other. So much fun. We also love to go to coffee shops. I have been exploring some new things! (But still very sweet things, sorry Tim, not there yet…) I love just going to coffee shops and watching the culture around me. It’s just so interesting!

The Spanish churches here are awesome as well. I love the Spanish worship, they are so passionate through their singing and dancing and just through the way they speak. But since it was so hard for me to understand the message, I decided to try out the English Speaking Church this week. I don’t know if I’ll end up going back, but I liked it ok. I made friends, though, which was great! A few of us ended up going out to lunch with two girls, and Jasmyn and I have a coffee date with another girl. They are here with other study abroad programs, but we’re all working on Spanish so it’ll be nice to have other girls to study and hang out with! Pretty excited. 

Today, we went to a place called El Refugio. It was absolutely awesome! Despite the fact that we had to get up super early in the morning, it was totally worth it. It’s a beautiful place filled with so much nature, so we started the morning with a “nice” hike up a mountain. After that, we did a few team games where we really focused on trust and communication. This followed in to our low ropes course game where we had to get everyone across just using three boards and some logs sticking up out the ground. Sadly, we didn’t accomplish this because we were on limited time and we had a few obstacles because of certain rules…  there was also another game where there was a net set  up kinda like a giant spider web and we had to get everyone through a different hole! It’s a little hard to explain, but I’m sure it’ll be posted somewhere and I’ll share it with you. We did complete it! From there we went to the high ropes course which was a completely different experience for me! I teamed up with Mckenzie, we got in our harnesses and took off! We had to walk across a tight rope, then we had to walk across another tight rope by holding on to each other’s shoulders (keep in mind, when you look down, you are SUPER far off of the ground on top of trees and stuff!) THEN we had to go through this course where there are hanging, swinging triangles and you have to get across like ten of them. This was extremely difficult. Mckenzie and I both fell, so instead of walking across all of them we kinda were sitting… and by the time we go to the end, we were EXHAUSETD. So, to get up, we had to pull ourselves back up onto this cord but our upper body strength was so spent it took a little while to get up… or… a long while… but hey, we made it!! A few tears and hugs later, I was back on the ground… but not for long! I teamed up with Drew to go on two more courses, one where you literally had to jump from board to board… which was pretty scary, especially because it was raining which made the boards slippery! But hey, we made a pretty good team if I do say so myself. I felt pretty beastly by the end. But after we were all done we were greeted back with some hot drinks, potato pancakes, steak, coleslaw, watermelon, lemonade and… dare I say it… guinea pig. It actually wasn’t that bad! I mean, as long as you don’t look at the head… that still looks like the animal… and I don’t recommend watching Drew pull the tongue out for Kim to eat ever again.

I am so excited to be a part of this team this semester. If I learned anything from today, it’s that I have the most supportive and encouraging team ever. Even though we have some natural born leaders, and some really competitive people, while others are natural followers and extremely non-competitive we all respect and admire each other’s given gifts and instead of fighting against them we work together. I appreciate that about this team so much. It’s just crazy to think that God chose each and every one of us out of the whole United States (and Canada!) and put us here together and we all work so well together. It’s a very rare thing. Our unity as a group is amazing, seeing that we’ve only been here three weeks!

It seems so long, yet it seems so short. It’s crazy to think about all the exciting opportunities coming up such as going to the jungle, moving to our homestays and starting our internships soon! Prayer is definitely appreciated!

God has just been teaching me so much about community as well as myself. I have been constantly reminded about my identity in Christ and about my worth and value of being a daughter of God. I have struggled with that in the past, thinking that I’m not good enough and sometimes feel like giving up because I’m tired of disappointing Him. But I have been so blessed to be reminded over and over again that my value does not come from the things that I do, it comes with my satisfaction in Christ. I will never understand His love, but that’s the great thing about it. His love is just so incomprehensible, it is so indescribable and that’s what makes it so wonderful.

I have already had my life impacted so much and it isn’t even close to being over! I just can’t explain how excited I am to grow closer to this team and to grow closer to my Loving Savior.

Orientation

Orientation

The waiting is over! As you all know, I left for Ecuador on Tuesday. It was a long plane ride, but I got to meet one of the girls on the layover which was great and calmed my nerves! But sadly, the entertainment system didn’t work until half the plane ride was over but I got to watch “The Lucky One” and some Phineas and Ferb to waste the time. 

Anyway, we got the airport and got through immigration very easily, met up with our leader and drove to the apartment! The apartment is in the nicer part of the city, close to the airport. I got to meet some of the girls that night before unpacking and getting to bed.

The girls here are amazing. They all have an incredible passion for the Lord as well as an incredible passion to have fun! Orientation was so much fun with them. The guys are awesome as well. There are only two guys, and nine girls. The guys are hilarious but know how to be gentleman and I can’t wait to get to know everyone more!

I’m still pretty nervous about getting around the city, but I’m getting more comfortable as we walk around. We walk a lot! The "trole" is also an important part of getting around and it’s only twenty-five cents to go as long as you want! Taxis are pretty cheap to which we use to get around at night and it mostly costs between 1 and 5 dollars! I just have to start paying attention more and keep up my motivation to learn the language. I’m super excited to see what God has in store for me this semester!

Trolleys are absolutely crazy. You literally are smashed. Like, you can’t fall because you’re completely surrounded by people. You have to smash yourself inside or you’ll be left behind. We also have to keep an eye out for pick pocketers… Mackenzie already got her camera swiped! But yes, we took the trolley to Old Quito, which was so cool. There were mimes walking around and we had delicious empanados and giant hot chocolate that we all shared.

Being here has really shown me that learning the culture isn’t as important for me, as it is for them. Learning the language and their culture show them that you care. That’s how you show them love and that’s how they become comfortable to accept it. Jesus came down and became like us to show us His love. That’s what being here is about. Learning to be like them so that I can show them love to the best of my ability.

Anyway, I’m going to be all over the place… we went on a scavenger hunt to go all around the city which was amazing! It was the perfect day to see some sights in Quito. I was on a team with Aimee and Chris and had so much fun! It was really funny because both of them are super competitive unlike me, but I loved it! We got to explore Old Quito and we went to the Plaza Grande where we grabbed some French fries and took a picture in front of the Presidential Palace which is beautiful! We also went to the Basilica which is absolutely amazing and totally worth the awful stair climb to get to the top! We were able to explore neat places that we could eat or go shopping.

I absolutely love this beautiful city, though the altitude is still getting some used to! Being 10,000 up makes it kinda hard to breathe sometimes! There’s a lot still to learn but I feel like I know how to get money out, get to the grocery store, and get around… as long as I’m with other people I’m ok! I feel like I’ll appreciate the city even more when I learn the language! Right now, I’m just lifting up my fears to God and really praying that I will not lose my motivation to learn the language and the culture so I can truly love these people to the best of my ability.

Going to the equator was AWESOME as well. We got to do all kinds of cool things like balance an egg on a nail, and try to walk on the equator line. We learned all kinds of things about the tribes that used to live there and traditions… it was a pretty cool place. We also went zip-lining which was SWEET. There were about thirteen zip-lines over the mountains with trees and it was breath-taking. Literally. For dinner, we went to the amazing place with the most wonderful view of the city at night. There was delicious food (I had hot chocolate with cheese in it!!) and there was live music which was so much fun because we got to dance! The guys even got dressed up!

Finally, today, we were able to choose a church to go to, so a bunch of us decided to go to the Spanish speaking church. That was really difficult. I couldn’t understand anything that was said, but luckily, there were slides that I could read so that I could get the gist of the message. It was about the silence of God. Why is He silent and how do you deal with it? I met nice people, but I may try the English speaking church next week. I feel like church is a time to grow spiritually and trying to understand the language takes away from that. My friend Jasmyn mentioned that there’s just something about having the Word of God spoken in your native tongue that makes it special. I think there’s truth to that. I still may try another Spanish speaking church, but I think I need to wait until I can understand it more.

Also, today was milestone moment. I went grocery shopping for myself for the first time ever. I made a grocery list and everything. It was pretty legit. I’m excited. I still can’t really cook, so I just bought like chicken nuggets and pasta and lunchmeat and stuff, but hey, baby steps!

Anyway, continue praying for me when you think of it. Living in a community like this is AWESOME right now, but I don’t think I’ve hit the “culture shock” part yet. So, just pray that I’ll handle it well when it comes. Also, we start classes tomorrow… three hour Spanish class! I really want to get rid of all my selfish desires and lay down everything before God. I have such a desire to love these people and I know I can’t do it alone. I need God. I want Him to use me. I want the  joy of the Lord to be so clear to these people.

I’m having so much fun here so far, but my purpose here is to be a follower of God. To learn all I can and try to make a difference. Whether I see any results, or if I’m just planting seeds, whether it’s for the people here in Ecuador or even the people on my team, I need to put aside any sign of selfishness and learn to love with all my being. After all, love is the greatest commandment. It’s time to put that in motion.

Freak Out.

So, as most of you know, I am getting ready to study abroad in Ecuador. September to December. In a different country. That doesn't speak my language. I've been excited up until this day... as the realization of the closeness of the change comes to mind. I am going through what they call a "freak out." I can't do this. I'm not going to learn the language. I'm not going to have friends. I'm going to get lost. I'm going to get sick. I'm going to struggle in my classes. I'm not going to do well at my internship. Something is going to go wrong. I'm going to miss my family and friends too much... The list goes on and on. But at the same time, I am so excited I don't even know what to do with myself. I'm going to experience a brand new culture and I am going to have the experience of a lifetime. How am I possibly supposed to prepare for this when I don't even know how to feel?

First off, I had to give myself a heart check. This trip is not just a trip where I will be studying and learning. I will be challenged and I will be serving. Not only will I be learning about missions, but we are actually going to be serving these people. We will be going on missions trips and helping with children... and we will be serving these people with ourselves. Everything we do will be a ministry. People will be watching us and they know who we are representing. And that's when I realized I needed a serious attitude check. I have been extremely selfish these past few weeks. (And actually, probably way longer than that...) I have been inwardly angry and confused at God for not providing for me. Like, WHAT?! I am now angry and confused at myself for having an attitude like this against God. How dare I. How dare I?! How dare I tell God that He is not providing for me, when I am blessed with wonderful family and friends, when I live in America with freedom, where I am never hungry or thirsty, where I am privileged to be going to a University that gives me a wonderful education, where I was blessed to be able to travel to Israel this summer and I now have the opportunity to spend an entire semester in Ecuador.

And I say He's not providing for me. Because I have some financial issues. Which is mostly my fault because I suck at saving money.

I am shocked at myself because I questioned what God's plan for my life is. I questioned whether I want to go into ministry. And you know, I still don't know exactly what God's plan for my life is. I'm still not sure whether He's calling me into ministry or if He has something else in mind. But I have no right to say that He's not providing for me because He didn't make me rich. That's not what following Him is about. Following God doesn't solve your problems. You don't get whatever you want just because you asked for it "in His name." You know, I had this vision of myself going to South Africa next summer for a Trans World Radio internship, but it probably won't happen because of financial reasons, BUT what it comes down to is, why did I want that internship? Did I want that internship because I wanted to be part of a ministry that served God? Or did I want that internship because I selfishly wanted to travel to a cool place and work at something awesome because I liked it for myself. When I really honestly and brutally think about it, it was probably the latter. I want to serve Him, not myself, and sometimes that means not doing everything I want, but doing what God wants. And when it's all said and done, what God wants me to do always ends up so much better and is always so much more rewarding.

God has provided so much for me in my life. And though I am nervous about spending an entire semester in Ecuador with people I don't know, I couldn't be more excited. Because I know that if I keep trusting in my Provider, He will lead me.

Who knows what will happen this semester. But I couldn't be happier to share yet another experience with you through this blog. I know God will be working in me and through me once again and He will be the one to overtake the selfish desires within me. In my life I only want to serve Him and share His love with the world. And when I do that, the desires of my life will be fulfilled.

The Final Day.

July 10

Today was a pretty emotional day. Our last day together. It was a good day, though! We started off the day helping with an archaeological sift. I was surprised by how fun it was! When Bruce and Chris had first mentioned that we were going to be doing it, I was excited but I also was thinking it was going to be a little bit boring because I expected us to be just digging in the dirt and finding nothing at all. But that’s not how it was at all! First of all, we were sifting through Temple Mount dirt and we found all kinds of things! Mostly, we found a lot of pottery, but we also found glass, mosaic, metal, precious stones… we found a really pretty mosaic glass. I was teamed up with Heather and Priscilla and we had actually found a cool piece of copper with this green stuff on it and they said that it might have been a coin! We never found out though because they didn’t get it figured out before we left… but when we were all done we got to go through all the pieces that were found that day and date them which was pretty awesome. I mean, some of these things were pretty old!!

After we were done sifting, we had to the opportunity to go to the Temple Mount and see the Dome of the Rock. It really is a beautiful place. It was cool to imagine where the actual temple was, with the Holy of Holies, etc. But Chris made a really good point. He said, it’s a good thing that we don’t have the temple anymore, because we don’t need the temple anymore! The temple was there because the people needed to go and make sacrifices to atone for their sins. But guess what, Yeshua was the last and ultimate sacrifice! Our sins are atoned for through Him!

From the Temple Mount we went to the Garden Tomb. This was one of my favorite places. We got to see where Yeshua was thought to be crucified, which they said that He probably wasn’t crucified on a hill like tradition says. He was actually probably crucified by the main road because then people would be able to see Him. We also went to see the tomb where Yeshua is thought to have been buried in. This was a really awesome place to be. It was crazy to think about and it really just confirmed more the faith that I have because if Yeshua is not alive, then our faith is worthless. The fact is, He is alive! And now, in my faith, I need to go past the basics of the scripture and really start to understand the gospel in its fullness. There is more to the scripture then, He is alive, He lives in us! And now we must grow in the grace and knowledge and EXPERIENCE Him by allowing His life to grow in us. We need to rely on His spirit BY FAITH. We had communion here and I just started crying. I couldn’t stop crying because I realized that I forgot about Yeshua. I mean, everyone who knows me knows that I am a forgetful person. I forget about important things. I forget about birthdays. But I have no excuse for forgetting about Yeshua. I go through life without a thought, going my own way and little do I know I forget about the One who humbled Himself to come and live a lowly life only to die… but He has risen and He has left us with His Spirit who is here to guide us so that we not only can spend an eternity with Him, but we can live life with His presence right now! And I forget! I cried because I realized I was putting so many other things above Him. He was being put on the back burner of my life. And I’m sorry. All I could do was pray about how sorry I was. But the wonderful thing about our God is that He forgives. And He gives us chance after chance to come running back to Him. And He will catch us with open arms. Wow. What a God we serve.

It was really hard going to the airport and knowing this may be the last time we’re all together. It was a long plane ride, but the goodbye at the Philadelphia airport felt longer. These people have become such a huge part of my heart, I call them my friends and it was so sad to watch them go. Life must go on, but they have helped me to love Jesus more. Kaytra introduced us to a song called, “Will You Love Jesus More?” and I think it accurately describes this team. It says:

“I feel quite sure if I did my best, I could maybe impress you, with tender words and a harmony, a clever rhyme or two. But if all I’ve done in the time we’ve shared, is turn your eyes on me, then I’ve failed at what I’ve been called to do, there’s someone else I want you to see. I’d like to keep these memories, in frames of gold and silver. And reminisce a year from now about the smiles that we’ve shared. But above all else I hope you will come to know the Father’s love, when you see the Lord face to face, you’ll hear Him say “well done.” Will you love Jesus more, when we go our different ways? When this moment is a memory, will you remember His face? Will you look back and realize, you sensed His love more than you did before? I’d pray for nothing less, than for you to love Jesus more.”

Well, I can tell you all. This team has definitely helped me to love Jesus more, and every time I remember this trip, I will remember how they helped me to grow in my relationship with my Savior more than ever before.

And with this, I conclude my blog post. My goal for this trip was to share God’s love and I believe God worked through this team. I believe He worked through us with His love and I believe that we made a difference. We were able to be lights in the darkness. Like pink camouflage in a green world. Shining bright like the stars in the universe, like Paul says in Philippians. I also learned so much from the people of Israel, especially the members of the Kehila. They were such an encouragement and they were so full of love and joy. But God was also able to share more of His love with me. I have experienced God’s love in a way I never have before. And I have experienced love through this team. This team was abounding in love. There was never a day that I did not feel loved. I can’t even begin to explain this adventure of a lifetime. Love was everywhere. It was shared, it was experienced and it will never be forgotten. I have learned, I have been challenged and now that I am home I pray that I will keep learning and keep being challenged and that I will not go back to the way I was. I will keep striving to be better than who I was. I am so blessed to have been able to have this opportunity. God had a plan and I can only thank Him for this wonderful experience.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and has been praying for me. Thank you for following my blog and caring for me. Thank you to my team who has changed me for the better. I could go on and on about my gratitude, but I don’t think it would ever end. So, thank you.

I leave you with these two thoughts.

“I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19).

“I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go the house of the LORD.’ Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. That is where the tribes go up- the tribes of the LORD- to praise the name of the LORD according the statute given to Israel. There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.’ For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity” (Psalm 122).

 

I Once Was Blind but Now I See.

July 9

Today was definitely jam packed. We started by going back to the Western Wall, except this time we went under it! It was the Western Wall Excavation Tunnel It was really cool being able to learn more about Herod’s Temple. We got to stand on first temple period ground!

Afterward, we went to the Pool of Bethesda where Yeshua healed a man and we went to St. Anne’s church where Catholic tradition says is the home of Mary’s parents. This church was a beautiful place (and sadly, I can’t remember much because there was a really cute kitten that was terribly distracting.) But I do remember going inside and singing because it had wonderful acoustics! We sang Amazing Grace and Bruce, Kaytra, Danielle and Suzanne sang “Wonderful, Merciful, Savior” and I will never forget how beautiful it sounded.

From there we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was a really interesting place. I wasn’t a huge fan of it. It was just so gaudy! They had huge decorations where traditions says Yeshua was crucified and had a huge ugly tomb where tradition told them He was buried. It was just sad because there are different religions that own the church and none of them can agree over anything and they all argue over everything. That is the exact opposite of what the church should be. It was just very sad.

After grabbing some lunch (pizza!) we went to the City of David! We got to see a neat little movie in 3D about Hezekiah’s Tunnel and then off we went! The water was pretty cold, but you got used to it after a while. It usually didn’t go past your ankles. It was really neat being able to go through and sing songs (as usual!) We even got to be at the place where Solomon was anointed! It was also cool because we got to see an exact replica of writing they found in the tunnel that proved that the way the tunnel was made was people dug from either side and met in the middle!

We came out of the tunnel by the Pool of Siloam where Yeshua healed the man who was born blind by putting mud on his eyes and telling him to wash at the Pool of Siloam! It was crazy to think about the faith this blind man must have had to walk all the way to the Pool of Siloam after "some man" puts mud on your eyes. But it was by his faith that he was healed! We also got to walk on the first temple road which was by the corner of the temple at the western and southern part of the wall. This was the first time that an ORIGINS team got to do this because the road had just opened up, so that was pretty cool! A lot of it was actually in the sewer, but it was still a lot of fun. 

We ended up at the southern part of the temple wall where they still had original stairs where Yeshua and His disciples (and a lot more people!) would have walked up to get to the entrance to the temple! So, that was pretty cool. I mean, there’s not a lot of places where you can KNOW you are where Yeshua was, but this is a place we know He would have been! He preached at the temple all the time! That is where He would have entered! So crazy!

We ended the day by watching a movie with a weird guy who had really bad facial hair and was holding a random lemon. I get distracted very easily, in case you couldn’t tell. 

The end of the night was very hard. It was our last night spending together at the hotel so we had a “farewell meeting.” We played “Never Have I Ever” and beat each other up ;) and then “Four on a Couch” which was tons of fun. Then the tears came. We watched a slideshow of our trip and then we went around and told Bruce all the things we appreciated about him since it was his last year. We also went around and told each other everything we appreciated and learned from one another. I can’t even begin to explain how much this group has encouraged and challenged me. Each and every one of them has taught me something different about myself and have challenged me in so many ways to grow in my relationship with God. It’s very hard knowing that after this trip we’re all going to be in our separate lives again.

Sorry I can’t remember everything in great detail, but I’m writing this back at home after a long plane ride and jet lag. It’s the best I can do without getting emotional all over again!

A United Jerusalem

July 8

So, today was yet another wonderful day. To start off the day we went to the Mount of Olives which was pretty awesome. It was pretty great to be at the place where Yeshua ascended to Heaven and will be returning for His Second Coming. We also talked about how God is doing all He can do in order to go back to the way things were at the Garden of Eden. The craziest thing to think about is how God’s PHYSICAL presence was in Eden. I mean, just imagine, God is with us obviously now in Spirit, but can you imagine if His actual presence was with you all the time? I mean, that just blows my mind.

I also got to ride a camel for the first time. That was pretty fantastic. Tyler and I got to ride together and almost everyone else got to ride as well. It was so much fun. The poor camel didn’t like getting up and down for everyone to get on and off of him!

One of the most interesting things we did I think was go to the Garden of Gethsemane. We got to see olive trees that were so ancient they were hollow inside! This is where Yeshua agonized in prayer and was betrayed by Judas and arrested by the soldiers. We talked a lot about Yeshua praying. Gethsemane means “oil press” and Yeshua’s soul was definitely being pressed… just like an olive. I mean, for the first time He was going to be separated from the Father. Seriously, I am in awe of the fact that the Son of God gave up everything to humble Himself and die… He knew what the pain was going to be… but we were worth it to Him. WE were worth it to HIM! Think about that! It’s insane!

After that we went to the Holocaust Museum. This was very hard for me. The thing that made this museum harder for me than any other was the faces. They had a children’s memorial and they had pictures of children and there were names, ages and where they were from of children that died. There were some candles in a dark room, but there were mirrors so it looked like millions. I think they said 1.5 million children were killed. Children! Then, in the regular museum they still had so many pictures… so many faces. They had testimonies playing and movies playing… it was their eyes I think. Their eyes that made my heart break. The emptiness I saw… my heart is literally in pieces.

From there we went to the Knesset which is the Israeli Parliament. The Knesset building houses the Israeli’s government body. We were able to get a tour and learn more about how the government worked. I have to be honest with you, some of the things didn’t stick with me because it’s a little bit harder for me to understand government stuff and I was really tired, but one thing I do remember is that in the Declaration of Independence, they couldn’t agree on whether to use the name of God, so they settled on using “the Rock of Israel” because then it could be interpreted as the strength of Israel, or the strength of Israel comes from God! I thought that was interesting.

After the Knesset we went to Shalom Yerushalayim which is the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus. It was so interesting! Actually, the man Josh is known as one of the top 50 influential people in the world! And I can see why. He has such a dedication to keeping Jerusalem united and a huge love for Israel. He told us about how everyone is against Israel even though it is the only country out of the twenty two Middle East countries that has more freedoms. He also talked about how a lot of Christians today are against Israel because of their Replacement Theology. But, the important thing is, is that the more prophecies that are being fulfilled, the more threatened these other theologies become! (That could also be a bad thing I guess because who knows what people do when they feel threatened.) Anyway, he really emphasized the fact that Jerusalem is extremely important, and it is very important that it remains one and undivided.

It was pretty cool because we got to sign the Jerusalem covenant which is a doctrine signed by leaders of Israel that confirms their commitment to Jerusalem. We need to never forget and always be binded with love towards Israel. We need to support Israel and Jerusalem being holy and UNITED.

One thing that I’m going to try and commit to is praying for Israel! Specifically for Jerusalem since so many people are trying to divide Jerusalem and it is the only place that the Bible tells to specifically pray for. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is actually one of the safest places in the world, so if you’ve ever thought about visiting, do it!! It’s such a neat experience!!

But not only is it a neat experience, I’ve learned so much about the ignorance of America. People just don’t know and are unaware of what things really are. That’s why anti-Semitism arises. Because of ignorance. And it is our responsibility to raise awareness. Whether it’s promoting this organization on facebook or youtube or signing the covenant or just recognizing Jerusalem, every step counts! Their website is iacf.org if anyone wants to find more information about it!

I mean, seriously, if they divide Jerusalem, things would be much different. A united Jerusalem is better for everyone because of the freedoms that Israel provides. So it’s not only just Biblically important! But it is a Biblical basis to support Israel and a united Jerusalem no matter what the news propagates. Just read Isaiah 62:6-7. God is going to bring back to Him the things that He has promised. We must not give Him any rest, we must keep knocking and reminding Him until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. When He fulfills His promises, God will get all the glory!

That’s why Friends of Israel is not too political, because it ties in hand in hand with the Bible! You can’t have either or, standing by Israel is a “both” and “and” because it has such a strong Biblical basis and glorifies God. Israel is not a living museum, it is God’s Land and His people have come back to it!

From there we went back to the hotel and we met up with Gal and Sonia and some other people from the Kehila and ORIGINS alumni! We all went to Ben-Yehuda street for some shopping!! Heather and I were pretty excited because we got some pretty good deals. (We think anyway…) It was so much fun to shop and get ice cream and just be surrounded by these people. We got to dance with strangers and it was just a really good experience and memory.

Just Another Day in Jerusalem.

July 7                      

Another wonderful day in Jerusalem. It’s so surreal that I’m actually here. It literally blows my mind every time I think about it. We got to sleep in a little bit today which was really nice, we didn’t have to leave for Kehila until about 10am. Kehila was really awesome because it was Meno’s kehila who is the son of Zvi! It was really cool to be able to see him.

We talked about how you have to choose to be a slave to righteousness or sin. It cannot be one or the other and it cannot be neither. There are people out there who think they can just do whatever they want and it’s ok… they’re in control of their own lives. But in reality, they’re not. They are a slave to something and I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be a slave to righteousness. Yes, that is the harder one because you can’t just follow of the desires of your flesh, but it is the better one!

After Kehila, we got to have a picture with Meno and then we were off to the next adventure! We got to stop at a point and see Bethlehem which was pretty cool. I mean, to see one of the most important places! It’s a little town, but it is definitely not insignificant! We couldn’t go in because it’s Palestinian territory, but just being able to see it was awesome.

From Bethlehem we went to the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book. The Shrine of the Book is where the original Dead Sea Scrolls are. I talked more about the Dead Sea Scrolls in my last blog post, but it was so cool being able to see the originals! In the middle they had an exact copy of the Isaiah scroll. It was so interesting and you just read so much information in these museums that it’s hard to contain all the information in your head!

Right near the Shrine of the Book is the Israel Museum. We didn’t have time to walk around the whole thing so we just walked around the archeological part which was awesome. We got to see the stone that mentions the House of David and we also got to see the originals of other things that we had seen copies of. Another thing the museum had was a model of Jerusalem in AD 68 I believe.  Don’t hold me to that… but it was the year that Josephus described. This was only a few years after Yeshua which means that it was probably almost the same as when Yeshua knew it. It was really interesting being able to see Jerusalem as Yeshua probably saw it!

After the Israel Museum we got to go back to the hotel to hang out. It was a free night so we could either hang around the hotel or a small group of us went back to the Western Wall so that we could wave to our parents over the cameras! It was really fun. We got to embarrass ourselves by looking like huge tourists waving at a camera that you can’t even really see! But I know we were seen because Matt was able to get a hold of his parents and they saw us! Gabby’s parents also said they saw her. I haven’t been able to get on the internet so I don’t know if my dad saw me yet! Anyway, it was fun to just hang out with them and dance and laugh… you know, the usual! It was also really neat being able to see all the Jewish people there still celebrating Shabbott. It was definitely not as crowded as Friday night but there were still people there! The boys went in to pray at the wall again… the girls spied on them and took pictures. Anyway, we were able to have a good conversation with each other and Chris about all kinds of different things about what different people believe about Israel. It’s really interesting to hear about because it just blows my mind when I think about all the people that are against or even just indifferent against Israel. It’s such a huge part of Christianity I just can’t even believe what some people think about Israel sometimes. It’s just a really sad thing.

But yeah, we didn’t get back until a little later and then we walked and got ice cream before bed, nothing too eventful… just spending time with these people as much as I can because the day is coming too soon that I have to leave them! It’s crazy to think that I have seen these people every day for a whole month and now I’ll just talk to them every so often over the internet… ok I can’t talk about this, it’s making me emotional. Good night!