Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Pictures: Shopping
one of many fitness centers on beach (free)
Johnny and Adele
Tel Aviv
July 26,27,28
Between internet problems and being too tired, I have not kept up with the posts. I am doing 3 for today and I may edit them when I get home. On Monday morning we cleaned the apartment really well in preparation for leaving. Diane and I then headed to the Israeli museum which just opened that day with all of their exhibits after being mostly closed for over 3 years. It was fantastic, and we were so glad we went. Included in the displays were the Dead Sea scrolls and the containers they were found in.
We then went to meet with Sami, who had Dixie's shofars, and to meet Adele who was picking us up to take us to their house for supper. All went according to plan and we had a wonderful time at Johnny and Adele's. She cooked an Arab meal of stuffed squash, stuffed peppers, rice pilaf, spicy soup. It was incredible. We then went outside to fellowship. They have a lovely garden and patio and it was very pleasant sitting out there, until the Moslem's call to prayers started on the loudspeakers of their mosques, and neighborhood kids set off firecrackers left and right. We were jumping with every blast, but Johnny and Adele barely seemed to notice. They told us many stories about how God was working in the Moslem people. It was a wonderful night and as Johnny drove us to the bus stop, we had one last look at the walls of the old city, flooded with light.
I am now sitting in a hotel room in Tel Aviv. I am looking out the window at a beautiful fountain and beyond that, the Mediterranean Sea. We came to Tel Aviv yesterday at about noon. I popped into the sea for a quick swim/bob then went walking to the antique markets in Jaffa. Michele and Diane spent the afternoon on the beach. After we cleaned up we went back to the promenade and watched the sun set over the water. We had supper on a place overlooking the beach. There were tables and lounging couches there and it was a nice way to end our vacation.
Update: We are now at the gate of Ben Gurian airport, waiting to board our plane. They went through our luggage with a fine tooth comb, our bags were too heavy and we had to repack them, but we made it. I am excited to be back home and I can't wait to see all my friends and family!

Our Shabbat

July 25,
Today is Sunday, our Shabbat. Poor Michele is sick so Diane and I decided to take some different buses around town to see some new neighborhoods. The first bus took us to an orthodox neighborhood where everyone was dressed in black, with head coverings. We got off the bus there and wandered around until we saw the sign in the picture. We weren't dressed immodestly by our standards, but probably by theirs, so we got on a different bus to get out of that area. This bus took us through some new areas that we have never seen. Jerusalem is very hilly so there were many panoramic view across valleys, there were also some modern looking store areas. We asked the driver if he went to cental station and he said yes, but his english must not be too good because he reached the end of his route out in a residential area. We stood for about 2 minutes, then decided to walk as we could see the large tower that we use as a landmark in the distance. We have taken the bus past this almost every day but we enjoyed walking under it. When we got to the bus station, Michele was waiting for us. She had a 2 hour nap, and felt much better so we went to do what we do best...shopping! We each bought a pair of shoes, and I am so chickified now, I am thinking of going back to buy more.
I left the girls to walk up to the Jaffa gate to meet Sammi who has Dixie's shofars. I waited there for 25 minutes but he didn't show (it turned out he got a fare to Haifa.) I took a bus back to the church. There we watched an fantastic, award winning film called Restoration. It was about how the Christians are persecuted in Israel. We then had a fantastic time worshipping at church. We were able to sing and dance, jump and use flags. It was my kind of worship!
After church I went over to our new friend Susan's for tea. She lives right by the Ben Yehuda market and is spending several months in Jerusalem. She is a lovely lady and we had had a great visit. She walked me out to the bus stop and we hugged and said our fond farewells. It is sad leaving the people that we met and grew close to but I am looking forward to seeing my family again!

Shabbat,shopping,supper and singing

July 24, 2010
Today was Shabbat again so hardly anything is open. We took it easy in the morning, then went out to the courtyard so Michele could do her paparazzi work, with limited success as most people do not appreciate us lurking around taking pictures of them and their children. We went in and had our favourite meal, salad with hot mushrooms, tomatoes and fried cheese. We then spent 3 hours inventorying our purchases and trying to fit them into our suitcases. At 3 p.m. we caught a bus uptown and had coffee on the terrace of the King David Hotel. It is a spectacular old hotel with magnificent views of the old city. It was fun pretending to be upscale, and we really enjoyed when a group of Jewish people sang their prayers on the terrace. It wasn't so enjoyable when a grumpy European told them that he didn't want to hear them.
Then, for lack of anything else to do, we headed back to the old city to shop as the Christian quarter shops are open Saturday, closed Sunday. I found a bigger suitcase to pack my, and Dixie's (which she forgot in the taxi) shofars. We then went and had a nice supper in a cozy restaurant. It was starting to get dark and we were warned to stay out of the old city after dark, so we left and sat outside the walls to watch all the various Jews, in their wide array of garb, hurry by to get to the western wall.
After a respectable amount of time continuing our paparazzi habits, we walked down to Ben Yehuda street. We were surprised by how close it is to the old city, it seems to take way longer on the bus. It was pretty deserted at 8:20 when we got there. The only place open was McDonalds so we took Michele there for her bathroom break and for some ice cream. When we came out there were a couple more stores oped but very few people, then we heard some lovely singing coming from an upstairs apartment so we stood outside and listened. The songs were Christian ones we knew, sung in Korean and a lady sitting outside told us they were warming up for singing at 9:00 on the street. We then lurked about until they came and the performance was amazing. They have powerful voices and an obvious love for the Lord. Many others stopped to listen and clap along. We met a lady we knew from King of Kings church there as well and she gave us all hugs. It is great to belong to the family of Christ!
At 10 or so, we decided to go home and were once again shocked to see that the streets were now thronging with people and shops were just opening their doors. the bus ride home was as crowded as we have ever seen it, with peopel packed into the aisles, standing everywhere. This never ceases to amaze us little country bumpkins!

Parks and sea creatures

July 23, 2010
Tonight starts the beginning of shabbat again, where everything shuts down. i was toying with the idea of going to Haifa but it is their weekend so there was no room to stay overnight and I was afraid to be stuck there with no transportation. I am also pretty indifferent about going as I have seen enough ruins and old building for a while. Michele and Diane were headed to Tel Aviv for another beach day but my sunburn, that I obtained from too much snorkeling in Eilat, is still very red and sore so time in the sun wasn't very appealing either. I decided instead to do some more museums. I took a bus to the Israel museum to see the Dead Sea scrolls but the girl at the desk told me if I could, I should come back Monday because most of the museum has been shut down for 3 years for renovations and is reopening on monday. I decided that was a splendid plan so I went to the Science museum down the road instead. There I learned about the water system in Israel which is intense. They don't have many water sources here so much of the water is sent from the Galilee through pipelines down to the south. Needless to say the Galilee's water levels have dropped dramatically in the last few years.
There was also an exhibition on the ocean which was fascinating. Again I marvel at God's creation and His radical imagination. We can't dream or imagine what He has in store for us in heaven!
After I was finished there, I decided to walk around the parks and gardens. I was in the area of the Knesset (government) and court house so they have many nice gardens with plants donated from all over the world. It was very beautiful but what impressed me most was all the families that were there enjoying time together. They were biking and picnicing, strolling and playing games. Kids were climbing trees and splashing in the water. Again I noticed how involved the fathers are with their children. It is a beautiful thing, but it made me miss my family.
I decided to catch a bus at around 4 pm because I am never sure when they stop running for Sabbath. It did give me time to organize my pictures and catch up on this blog before the girls returned from their day on the beach!

Temple Institute and time with friends

July 22, 2010
Today we couldn't decide what to do, so we headed into the old city to see Johnny. His wife Adele came in while we were in the shop and it was so good to see her again. After visiting for awhile, we headed to the temple mount to try and get in on the tunnel tours under the mount. They are only by reservation, and nothing was available until late this evening so we gave it a miss. We then wandered around through streets we hadn't seen yet and then headed to the Temple institute. This is where they are building or restoring all the objects that will go in the new temple that they will build. They do extensive research there and have all the details from the Bible and other sources, in order to make the things in the way that God commanded. We were with a large group of teenagers from the US but I was impressed at how much they knew and at how good their Hebrew was. The guide was questioning them and switching back and forth between English and Hebrew. We were lost, but they seemed to have no problems keeping up with what she was saying.
We also had a nice lunch in the old city at Christ Church. They have a nice quiet courtyard and put on a nice home cooked meal. It is like an oasis in the hubbub of activity surrounding it.
We took the bus back to the apartment for an hour of rest, then headed back to the Old City at 5 pm. We were to meet Johnny and Adele at the top of the Mount of Olives to see their outreach to the Muslims. We took bus 18 to Central station and then transferred to Bus 1 which goes right to the Western wall. That was our first time on bus 1 and it was a lot of fun. We went right through some traditional Jewish neighborhoods and we were amazed by the busy streets and the large families travelling here and there. We continue to be impressed by the Jewish fathers and how they help care for their children, and by how the children seem to look up to, and adore their fathers (Abba's.) A large family got on and I gave up my seat so the mother and three of her small children could sit down. They were originally from New York and were very friendly. It was nice to watch them talk and interact with Michele and Diane. So many of the Jewish people seem to have a wall around them, and avoid contact of any kind with us, but both the mother and father were open and friendly so it was such a treat. Afterwards, both Michele and I commented on how it made the tragedy of the holocaust seem so real, to think of lovely families like that being treated like animals and slaughtered. It is horrifying to think of man's inhumanity to man.
We got off at the western wall and we had planned to take a taxi, but none of the drivers wanted to turn on their meters. Eventually we found one who said he would, but it turned out he cheated us anyway. He was bragging about his two wives and driving too fast, and had his meter hidden and set wrong. It left a bad taste in our mouths and we were angry for quite a while as we walked around the hotel looking for our friends. Suddenly we came upon our other friend John, from the two church services on Sunday. He had said he was leaving on Monday morning so we were very surprised to see him. It turns out he had hooked up with this same group, doing outreach, and was attending the same function. He knew where they were meeting and we all joined in on the worship (in Arabic) and heard some of the testimonies of things that had happened in the last week. They had handed out about 23,000 packages with Bibles and the Jesus DVD and they had good reports. We ended up leaving early as we wanted a ride back down the Mount of olives and Adele had to go early to take care of her kids. We didn't want to brave walking, or taking another taxi so we jumped at the chance for a ride. Adele is so sweet and she drove out of her way to take us right to our bus stop for good old 18. It was so neat to see all those believers on fire for the Lord, worshipping while looking out over the old city and the temple mount. There were also many fireworks going off all over town as the students were celebrating their completion of exams. Other than the taxi driver, it was another good day!

Med Sea, Dead sea, Galilee, Red Sea!!

July 21, 2010
This morning I walked Dixie and Sheila up to the cab, shed a few tears as I said good bye then headed back to the hostel. Talked to my new friends Jennifer and her daughter Ellianna from Scotland. They are from Scotland, have Jewish heritage and are trying to immigrate to Israel. They have come there for a couple of months almost every year. They said they would love to go to the beach with me but Jenn advised me to go to the bus station first to purchase my ticket. She led the way and I decided to purchase a ticket right back to Jerusalem. i had toyed with the idea of going to Beer Sheva, looking around, then catching the bus out of there to Jerusalem, but I was unable to purchase that leg in the Eilat station and I didn't want to be stranded in Beer Sheeva.
After that, we took a cab to Princess beach. I had rented a snorkel from the hostel and Ellianna was my capable guide as to where all the best fish lived. There is some coral reef there are quite a large variety of fish. The Red Sea is much colder than the Mediterranean or the Dead Sea, and it was really hard to get into that water but once I was in and swimming, it was fine. I love snorkeling as there is so much to see. It wasn't long until I knew where all the coolest fish hung out as well. I am continually amazed by the variety and colours of fish in the oceans and I only get to see a tiny portion of them so close to shore. The vibrant blues, greens, yellows, the stripes, spots and swirls, the variety of shapes and sizes all lead me to marvel at God's imagination in creation. I was going to spend an hour in the water but ended up spending 4 hours. Jenn and I had a great talk and I feel she is a real soul mate. At about 2:30 we caught the bus back into town, had some lunch and I headed to the bus station. As I was walking down the street, I noticed that my back and the back of my legs were hurting and I realized that I had a sunburn. Too much time floating on my belly! I stopped for some Aloe Vera at the drug store and then went to my bus. Jennifer gave me very good advice for the seats were sold out on the bus. We are assigned seats, but everyone who had bought a return ticket and was returning to Jerusalem were not assigned a seat so they had to stand, sit, or lay in the aisle of the bus. There were six people in that situation. The bus ride took 4 hours, and I was blessed to sit next to a lovely Jewish man who was willing to talk about his experiences in the army and the various wars that he has been through. Every young man in Israel must do three years in the army and every young woman must do two years either in the army or in social work. That is why we see so many young people, in uniform, with guns.
The bus pulled into Jerusalem at about 9:30 pm and I took Bus 18 back to the apartment. It was so exciting to be back 'home' and to see my girls again. Diane and Michelle were excited to hear about our adventures and we stayed up too late talking, but it was another great day!

pictures

Pictures of Petra

Petra

July 20, 2010
Did I ever mention that I have always wanted to go to Petra? Well today my almost lifelong dream came true. Petra is in Jordan so getting there could be more difficult than getting around Israel so we decided to take a tour there. They picked us up at 7 am and drove us to the border. There we had our passports processed and we walked across a no-man's land to the Jordan side where we were met by another rep. who took our passports to be processed on that side. Eventually we were all cleared and we were met by our Jordanian tour guide, bus driver and tourist policeman (armed, and he rode with us there and back.) We were in a large van (small bus?) and there were 13 of us on the tour. We drove through some impressive mountains, some weird moon landscape like mountains, some dessert and some Bedouin villages until we finally came to Petra. Was it everything I ever imagined? YES!!! It was incredible, amazing, indescribable. After the entrance gate we walked along a dusty road down to the entrance of the wadi or valley. When we came to the entrance, our tour guide showed us the dam system that the Nabeans had created to keep the water out of the valley. We then started going downhill through a narrow opening in the rock. The rock rose vertically in sheer cliffs high above us. We walked along, gazing in wonder at all the colours in the rock and at the weird rock formations. Some looked like melted wax had poured down the top of the mountains. We walked about 2 km and then our guide pulled us over to one side, he explained a little, then had us move over to the left side of the wadi. From there, we gasped in wonder at the sight of the massive treasury building, carved into the stone. It was amazing! We then walked along, looking at all the caves, carvings and buildings carved into the stone. We had an hour and half of free time so I dashed up hundreds of steps to see inside the monastery, dwellings, and caves. The ceilings of these upper buildings are amazing, vivid red, black, white and blue rock swirled together in incredible designs. I am constantly amazed by God's artistry. I then walked back through the city and up the wadi, stopping often to sit and take in the amazing sights. Many men with camels, horses and carts were going back and forth trying to get people to pay for rides, so I took pictures of them and of the amazing rock. I knew my camera was going to run out of batteries so I kept saying each picture was my last, but I couldn't stop myself.
Just a little aside, Petra means rock and this is the place that they believe Abraham hit the rock to open up the spring while the Israelites were wandering in the dessert. The landscape around there is very beautiful, with mountains and valleys on the one side, the way we came in which is the ancient spice road from Africa and Asia. When we left, we went on the silk road from China. It was more dessert like, with strips of wheat being grown into the rock. We saw many small groups of people harvesting and bagging the wheat by hand. There were a couple of small tractors but most of the work seemed to be done by hand.
We had a late (3 pm) lunch and headed back to the border where we did the passport, no man's land, passport thing in reverse. It was Dixie and Sheila's last night in Israel so we sat on the pier with our feet in the water until after sunset. There was a display of the temperature nearby and we were astounded by how long it took for the temperature to fall to 36 C. There is a constant hot wind blowing off the dessert, which is somewhat refreshing but very strange.
It was the best day here so far (although I say that almost every day!), a lifelong dream come true!

Dead sea, Massada, Eilat

July 19, 2010
I am back, now trying to catch up on this blog. Dixie, Sheila and I headed off for Eilat which is on the extreme south end of Israel, on the Red Sea. We decided to hire Sammi, our van driver to take us there so that we could swim in the Dead Sea and see Massada on the way. We departed at 8:00am amidst hugs and tears as Dixie and Sheila were not returning to Jerusalem but were going to continue their tour on through Egypt.
Sami found us a nice spot on the Dead Sea to stop. Much of the Dead Sea shore is rocky but this beach was sandy. We bobbed around for a while in the water, then covered our entire bodies in mud. It is supposed to be good for the skin, and we were supposed to let it dry in the sun before we washed off but we got bored and washed it off early. After we showered and returned to the van, Sami said we looked 10 years younger.
We then drove south along the Dead sea until we came to Masada. This is a fortress built by Herod on top of a mountain. Herod had used it as a retreat and a place to hide in times of trouble, but when the Jewish people rebelled against the Romans in 70AD, and the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem, the last surviving rebels fled there. They managed to hold off the large contingent of Roman soldiers for years before the siege worked, then all but a few committed suicide when there was no hope, to avoid becoming slaves or gladiators for the Romans. They have excavated many of the ruins up there and it is very impressive. The views from Herod's palace are amazing, as it is perched on the edge of a sheer cliff. Their system of collecting rainwater, and storing it in cisterns, as well as the huge storage compartments for food items made it easier to understand how they could survive so long on a barren mountaintop. We did a lot of walking, but even though it was about 35 C, there was a nice breeze, so it wasn't too bad. We were surprised when we made it down to where Sami was and he told us that he had been waiting for 3 hours. How time flies when you are having fun!
We then made the journey through the sand and rocks to Eliat. We found "The Shelter," where we stayed, met our new roommates and settled in. Dixie and Sheila went snorkeling and I went and found a grocery store so that we would have food for breakfast and lunch tomorrow.

Friends we found

July 18th, 2010
Today was another amazing day. We started off the day by taking the bus to the old city where we wound around the maze of streets to find the Jerusalem Alliance church. This is the church that Johnny the jeweller goes to. The praise and worship, and the sermon are all in Arabic but they have headphones to translate everything into English. There are 26 families that go to the church plus there were many English speaking visitors there as well. I didn't stand a chance of singing the songs so I just closed my eyes and listened. It was very beautiful. The sermon was very good as well, on casting off anger and unforgiveness and putting on garments of praise and love. After church we went out for lunch with Johnny, his amazing wife Adele and their daughter. We had a wonderful conversation and we continue to be amazed by the connection we feel with other believers.
At the morning service we had met a young man (John)from Boston who had just finished his Masters of Divinity at Harvard. He had expressed interest in attending the King of Kings church downtown but because it is so hard to describe how to get to it, we arranged to meet him at the Jaffa gate so that he could take the bus with us. He arrived and off we all went to the other church. The worship there was amazing. They sing some of the same songs we sing in Canada, plus they sing some in Hebrew which for some reason moves me to tears. John had planned to leave early but ended up staying for the entire service and even after. He said it was sure different from other services he had seen. He was a lovely young man and now we are praying for him to find a nice Christian wife (he is 31.) He has a heart for the Palestinian people and would love to find a nice Christian Palestinian girl.
We then headed back to the apartment. The other girls went out for coffee but I wanted to get this blog finished tonight as Dixie, Sheila and I are headed out early tomorrow morning for Masada, the Dead Sea and Eliat. I am not bringing my computer with me so don't worry if you don't hear anything from me for 3 or 4 days. I will be back!

Temple Mount

This a a bonus post about the temple mount. We actually went there on the same day we went to Jerico because we were having a hard time finding it open. We knew it opened early in the morning until about 11 so we asked Majed to take us there first. The temple mount is controlled by Muslims because of the 2 mosques that were built up there. The large mosque is built right over the rock where Abraham was willing to sacrifice Jacob (a foreshadowing of God sacrificing His son for us). Non muslims are not allowed inside the mosques however. We wanted to see the temple mount, though, because the Bible tells us the Jewish temple would be rebuilt there. We had heard that there is room up top for both structures and we wanted to see for ourselves. There is, indeed, plenty of room. The area is huge! There are trees and a huge courtyard on either side of the mosque. There are many groups of Moslem men clustered around under the trees talking and praying. A Christian man who spoke at the church last week said that he and his friend were arrested for praying on the temple mount. He also said that it was the Holiest spot in Jerusalem as that is where Jesus will return (through the sealed Eastern gate) and set up His Kingdom.
It was very special time and they say Christian can't pray up there, but we did! (as we walked, we being radical rebels and all!)
A

Pools of Bethesda, and more Old City

July 17, 2010
Today is Saturday, Shabbat, and everything Jewish is shut down until sunset, including the bus system. We tried to sleep in but I popped awake at 6:30 with the thought that I should turn on the computer and try my family on Skype. Much to my surprise and amazement they were all there and I could see and talk to them, after working out some technical difficulties. That was definitely the highlight of my day. After that excitement, we went out to try and catch 2 cabs to get to the old city. Three girl fit in the first cab after not too long a wait and Dixie waited with me for a second cab. It was quite a long wait. We are surprised every Saturday how it gets so quiet. Anyway, a cab finally came and the girls were waiting for us at the Jaffa gate. I took them on a short cut to the Christian Quarter, which ended up being a winding long cut because I went up the wrong street. There was a bit of grumbling from the Fab four, but they got over it.
We made our way to Johnny's jewellry shop to pick up some cuff links that Michele had special ordered. Johnny is the very sweet, gentle Christian who we all loved. We all ended up 'blessing' him with numerous jewellry purchases. He told us a little of the miracles in his life and invited us to his church and for lunch after tomorrow.
We then walked through the old city to find the Pools of Bethsada. This was where Jesus told the lame man to take up his mat and walk (John 5.) It was very exciting to be there, the ruins are amazing and we get to walk right among them. It was fun to imagine what it had been like when Jesus was there. On the same grounds is St. Annes church. It is not much to look at so had I been alone I wouldn't even had gone in, but Michele and Diane had been there 3 years earlier and had sang with thier group. We went in and no one else was there so we started singing. The acoustics were amazing! We sang Amazing Grace and I Exalt Thee. A family of three had come in while we were singing and sat in the back. When we were finished those songs they said it sounded great so I invited them to sing along with us but they responded that the songs they knew wouldn't be appropriate. We then sang How great Thou Art, and Hallelejah and we coaxed Michele to sing a solo. She sang Amazing Grace and it brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful. The family was still sitting there when we were finished and then they came and thanked us for singing because it made the experience so much more enjoyable for them. That was neat. The priest wasn't as impressed, however! We then went back to the garden tomb and Golgotha because Dixie and Sheila hadn't seen it. It was so nice with the birds singing in the trees and the wind gently caressing our skin. We decided to pray and ask God what he wanted to say to us. We prayed and listened and heard God tell us that He loves all His children, no matter of race, color or religion and that we are to show His love to them as well. It was very cool, I love when the Holy Spirit says the same things to different people at the same time.
We then decided that was a great way to end the day, so we easily found 2 taxis and headed home. Now it is about 9 pm and Shabbat is over and I can hear the city coming to life.

Bus adventures and misadventures + becoming chickified

July 16, 2010
Today the Fab five split off into 3 directions. Dixie and Sheila went to Haifa, Michele and Diane wanted to take it easy and I went on a mission to find the bus and train schedules and prices to other cities. I took off in the direction we have never gone, I was enjoying the ride when suddenly, in the middle of a residential area, the driver said it was the end of the line. I got off and eventually found someone who could speak English. She told me to walk a couple of blocks and take bus 24 to get to the big mall. I did that, and since I was there, in honour of the fab 4, I decided to go shopping. I ended up buying a pair of Naots. Two weeks ago I had no idea what a Naot was. I then jumped on bus 6 to go to Central bus station and when I was half way there, I remembered the train station was back at the mall. I got to the central station, checked on the bus schedule and then remembered Diane had bought a beautiful skirt there, so I went in and bought one just like it, plus a long pair of shorts. I then got back on bus 6 and got off at the train station, only to find it closed (probably for Shabbat), so I then walked back to the mall and had a manicure. I then caught a bus back to Ben Yehuda street where I walked up and down looking at all the fruit, vegetables, bread and pastries, watching the people and listening to all the noise. I bought a blouse to go with my skirt and decided I have definitely been "chickified." Michele had laughed earlier in the holiday that they were going to chickify me and they sure have! Dixie with the pedicures and manicures, Michele(and the rest) with the jewellery, Sheila with the shoes, Diane with the clothes and all of them with the Dead sea products. I am definitely bringing home things that I never would have bought had I been travelling with my three guys!
Anyway, I wasn't sure what time the buses quit running for Shabbat so I headed back to the apartment at 3:30. When i got there, the girls weren't back yet and I didn't have a key so I had to sit outside in the courtyard. I was very glad to see them arrive an hour later with their tales o taking the wrong buses and walking in the wrong direction. They said had they known I was going shopping, they would have come with me. They also claim they are scared to leave the apartment next week when Dixie, Sheila and I take off for Jordan. I am sure that they will be fine though.

History, more history, shopping and more shopping

July 15, 2010
Today Dixie and Sheila wanted to finish going through Yad Yashem, the big holocaust museum, so we split up for the day, arranging to meet downtown at 6:00 pm. . Michele, Diane and I went to the Biblelands museum. There we walked through exhibits of artifacts showing the history of humankind in this land. Lots of pots,clay, wood and jewellry. There was also an exhibit on how the Jewish people used magic and superstition through the years. It explained many of the weird things we see on the souveniers around here. We then took a bus intending to go to the old city, but it wasn't our regular bus 18 so we ended up by the Damascus gate in the Arab quarter. We were very close to Golgotha and the Garden tomb so we decided to go there because we may never be this way again. The garden was beautiful and then we came upon what many believe is the tomb where they laid Jesus before He was raised from the dead. We were able to go right inside, and on the door there is the inscription "He is not here, for He has risen" It was really nice just sitting there and soaking it in. We then walked up the path to Golgotha, or the place of the skull where they crucified Jesus. It just gave me goosebumps to see the face in the rock (see picture above.) It was really nice.
We then went through the Damascus gate into the Arab quarter and that was very different. Definitely a different spirit there. Finally we found the Christian quarter where we went....shopping! We found a lovely shop with antiques and handmade jewellry. It is owned by a gentle, wonderful Christian man. We left and went to a shop down the "road" and that shop owner told us to please support the other man's shop because he was such a good man, and his wife was sick with cancer. It brought tears to my eyes. We decided to go back on Saturday and bring Dixie and Sheila with us.
We then found our familiar Jaffa gate and took the bus to Ben Yehuda street. I thought we were meeting at Ben Yehuda market so we had to walk a couple of blocks to the street. Poor Michele, too much walking and her feet are aching!
Ben Yehuda street was hopping and got busier as the night progressed. We ate, and then we went....shopping! The girls bought more jewellery and I bought a couple prints of paintings. I think it was around 10 when we headed home. Too late for me, but it was fun.

Bedoins, Jericho, Qumran caves

July 14, 2010
Today we had Maged pick us up at 7:30 am to go and see the Bedoins. They have camps not far out from Jerusalem, where they live in tents and corrugated tin shacks. They raise sheep and goats and some make a good living off of tourists. The others girls really wanted to meet some so I went along for the ride. When we got to the site which was right along the highway, they ushered us into a tent and had us sit on the ground around a low table. They served us tea and coffee which was very good and they said was cooked on the fire, but I noticed the fire with the pot on it went out and the refreshments were brought from the building next door, but whatever. We were taken on a little camel ride and we talked to the family a little and then we paid our 500 shekels (close to $200) and we left. I noticed they had cell phones and running shoes so I don't think they are as poor as they like to let us believe.
We then went to Jericho where we saw the sycamore tree that the people there believe Jesus called Zaccheus out of to have supper at his house. It is also where Jesus healed a blind man (Mark 10: 46-52) and where they believe Jesus fasted for 40 days and was tempted by Satan. We took a cable car up to temptation mountain and saw a church there built right into the cliff. The mountains around there are much harsher, steeper and rockier than I ever imagined and there are lots of caves up high that look really difficult to get to. Jericho is also the oldest city in the world and the lowest (1200 feet below sea level.) It is very warm in the winter and bananas are the main crop grown there. It is very hot in the summer, being so low. Today it was about 45C.
We also saw Elijah's spring, where the prophet turned the bitter water sweet. It is supposed to produce 1000 gallons a minute but I think much was used for irrigation before it got to where we were.
We then headed for Qumran, where the dead sea scrolls were discovered by a shepherd boy in a cave. Diane and I were really excited about this so after going through their little museum, we hiked uphill, in the extreme heat to the base of the mountain where the caves are. As I mentioned, the mountains are very steep and craggy so we didn't dare go any further.
We thought we were finished our tour but Majed offered to take us down to the Dead Sea to see what the water is like so off we went to see the sea. It was very salty, beyond what you can imagine and people were just bobbing around like corks out in the water. There were really nice rocks there as well, the nicest that I have seen here so far.
On the way home Majed told us more about his culture and invited us all to go the his nephew's wedding tonight. We were all tired and seriously had nothing to wear but it would have been incredible to have been able to go.

Pictures

I can't get pictures to upload on some blogs so i will put them here:

Random extras

July 13, 2010
At the end of today we have been here 2 weeks. I can't believe how the time has flown and how much there is still to see! This is just a post on random things that we have observed. First of all, the fruit and vegetables here are amazing. They are always fresh and so much tastier than we get in Canada. There are many micro-climates here because of the extreme varience in elevation and because of the three large bodies of water (mediterranean, red and Galillee seas). We have seen such a wide variety of plants growing. There are banana, palm (date), apples, lemon, olive, grape, mango, and many other orchards all over the place. The variety of fruit depends on where they are in the country. There are also so many different flowers and plants planted for beauty. Plants we have in our house are huge trees here. It is amazing.
We are also amazed by the wide diversity of people here. There are many ethnicities, and a wide range of religiousity. There are Jews who look and dress like us, those who wear all black suits and cowboy type hats, those who are dressed all in black with long curled hair growing down their sideburns, and those who wear elaboate garbs and big black furry pillbox hats. There are Arabs and Palestinians as well with a wide variety of garments, signifying the degree to which they are religious. There are many young people in the army and they go on the buses and into public areas with their uniforms and guns. We don't even look twice anymore.

Day full of surprises!

July 12, 2010
We stumbled out about 10 this morning, planning on going up to the temple mount. We caught our faithful chariot and headed to the old city. We decided to make a stop at the Christian information center, just inside the Jaffa gate, in order to get some maps and information. The lady there informed us that it was a 15 minute walk to the temple mount and that it closed for muslim prayers in 20 minutes. Change of plans! We decided to walk in the other direction to the Zion gate and Mount Zion to see the upper room where Jesus and His disciples had the last supper. It may also be the room where the disciples hid after Jesus was taken up to heaven. They waited there for the Holy Spirit to come on them. We managed to find the correct place, thanks to Michele and Diane being there before. We sat and soaked it in for a while, then continued on. We stumbled upon David's tomb, where quite a few Jewish people were praying. We also came upon another holocaust museum which was set up by the survivors of the holocaust. It was in an old grotto like building and was also very moving. Unfortunately we lost Michele there as she didn't know that the rooms were all connected and meandering about. She went outside and panicked because she couldn't find us. Fortunately she decided to just sit and wait until we found her, which we did.
In the museum, there was a write up on Oscar Schindler and that he was buried in Jerusalem. Diane happened to be talking to someone who told her that he was buried nearby so we decided to find his grave. When Jewish people come to visit a grave, they leave a stone on top. We managed to find his grave easily because of the huge mound of stones on his grave.
Sheila had forgotten her camera in Sammi's van on our trip to Tel Aviv 2 days earlier so she had arranged for Sammi to pick us up at the Zion gate at noon, so we high tailed it up to the hill to the gate. Sammi wasn't there, so we split up to check the parking lots. We had to wait quite a while, and were getting worried because we couldn't find our 2 friends, or our taxi cab and we had an appointment at 1:00. Finally at 10 to 1 the cab showed up, with our friends in it and we roared off to the appointment. At one minute after 1, we arrived and paid for our tour, which was on SEGWAYS!!! Can you believe it! We received a bit of instruction, then zipped up and down the hills, up a switchback to the top of the highest mountain in Jerusalem, where there is a promenade. We followed the promenade and the guide gave us informative talks in a couple of places. We spent two hours on that tour and it was so much fun. It is really neat travelling with four other women as I get to do things that are outside of my box, I notice things I wouldn't normally notice and I even get mothered. I have had tears in my eyes several times as Dixie gives me the last of her water or makes sure that I remember to eat.
Anyway, back on topic. Sammi picked us up after the Segways and took us around town for a bit, trying to find the perfect widow's mite. We ended up in the Kidron valley and Sammi mentioned that we could dig in the dirt there, looking for treasures. It was still very hot then, so we took a side trip to the mall to eat and cool off, (Dixie also paid for me to have a pedicure because I have never had one before!) Then Sammi picked us up and took us back to the Kidron valley. We saw Absolom's and Hezekiah's tomb, which were very cool, then we dug around in the bank until dark. We found quite a few shards of pottery but nothing major. Then came the amazing part. Sammi invited us to his house for refreshments. Remember, we had met his family because he took them with us to Tel Aviv. He drove up to his house, which, we found out later is in the West Bank. His house is up on the mountain side and there were amazing views of Jerusalem and even all the way to the border of Jordan. His house was very nice and it was fun to see his wife and kids again, plus we were able to meet his mother who lives with them. They showed us around, we had juice upstairs, then went down to the garden living area which was amazing. The lemon, olive and palm trees, the patio and stonework, the fountains (not on, but beautiful) and the view down the valley were all stunning. We sat and had watermelon and some delicious mint tea. I also played and sang with the kids as they remembered me from before. It was a most amazing night. Sammi took us home (but he did offer to let us stay overnight.) As we went through the checkpoint, and saw the security wall we realized that we were in the west bank. These experiences have given us a heart for the muslim people, as well as the Jewish. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! These are real, beautiful human beings who God loves.

Revised .Mount of Olives, Via Dolorosa, church

July 11, 2010
That Internet being out really threw me. I can't believe how much I rely on it. I also can't believe how nice it is to travel and to still keep in such close contact with family and friends.
Here is the revised edition of our day Sunday. I am now well rested and better able to give more details. We decided to go up to the mount of Olives and do the walk down that Jesus did, probably many times, but specifically on Palm Sunday. He came from the same direction that the High Priest would be coming, bringing the Passover lamb for sacrifice. That is why there were so many people lining the streets, they came to watch the procession with the perfect lamb. Anyway, we followed the path down the hill and came to a church courtyard. A lecherous Arab was working at the gates, making sure every one's knees and shoulders were covered, He decided he wanted me for his fourth wife so he walked with us and explained why the church was there. It turned out that it was where people believe that Jesus saw in the Spirit the coming destruction of Jerusalem and he stopped and wept for His people. The church is in the shape of a teardrop and there are tear jars adorning it. The grounds are very beautiful and we sat outside the church and prayed for Jerusalem, the Jews, and our new Muslim friends. When we left Dixie protected me from the Arab man, who offered her 100 camels for me.
We continued down the steep road, past the Jewish cemetery. They desire to be buried there as they know the prophesy that Messiah will come to the Mount of Olives. They think it is for the 1st time, we know that it is His 2nd coming. We then turned into the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed until he perspired drops of blood, and where His disciples slept instead of keeping watch. Also where the soldiers arrested Him. The olive trees there are very old, they say 2000 years old. They are way bigger and more gnarled than the ones we usually see. We sat on the steps of the church and looked out at the Eastern gate that I wrote about before. It was awe inspiring. As we made our way to the bottom of the hill we came across Mary's tomb. We had to decend many stairs into a deep grotto, and there people were worshipping Mary. We didn't, we took some pictures and ascended back to the light.
At this point we really wanted to find the upper room, to keep somewhat in order so we headed into the old city, hoping to find it there. As it turned out, we were at the beginning of the Via Dolorosa, or the path that some believe that Jesus took before He was crucified. A man offered to show us the first few stations which were where Jesus was taken before Herod, where they said "Behold the Man!" (Ecce Homo arches), and where He stumbled and fell under the weight of the cross. Then our dear guide demanded 150 shekels each to continue the tour. Dixie gave him 20 for his time and I ended up giving him $10. We dashed away with a bad taste in our mouths so we ditched the Via D. plan and ate some delicious pizza instead. It was getting close to the time church starts so we decided to go through the Armenian quarter and try to find a gift shop that Doug and Moe had recommended to us. An eldery man offered to show us the way, and yes, you guessed it, wanted money when we were almost there. Michelle took out a larger bill and asked if he had change, but he just grabbed it out of her hand and took off. Today was the day of extortionists!
We finally made it out of the old city (remember it is walled, and there are only a few gates to enter and exit from.) We were headed to the bus stop but a taxi driver offered us a ride. I told him there were five of us and he said, no problem, his car is very large! So we decided to go with him but unfortunately his car is not very large and Diane had to cram herself under our legs on the floor. It was good that it wasn't a long cab ride! He was trying to convince us to take tours with him and somehow he figured out that we had gone with his 'brother' Sammi. We didn't really believe him, but found out later that our Sammi was indeed his cousin.
We made it to church on time and it was an amazing time of praise, worship and hearing God's word in relation to Israel. We were thrilled when the speaker talked of so many of the places the we had been to that very day. We were definitely ordained to be here at such a time as this!

Galilee, Nazareth, and other places north

July 10, 2010
Today is Shabbat (Sabbath) again so we made arrangements to go to the Galilee. The driver picked us up at 6:30 am and we headed north. First we went down below sea level past the red sea, past Jericho, and followed the road along the Jordan River to the Galilee region (about 2 hours.) Our first stop was at a place on the Jordan River where people can be baptised. Sheila has never been baptised by full immersion and she wanted her sister Dixie to do it. I decided to do it too, just because it is the Jordan River, where Jesus was baptised. It was beautiful there, and a very powerful experience.
We then headed to the sights where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes (Tabgha), where He turned the water to wine (Cana), where he grew up (Nazareth) and where He taught in the synagogue (Capernaum). Capernaum was my favourite because it had the ruins of the synagogue and houses, and we could go right down to the 'sea' shore. Galilee is really more of a lake than a sea. We also went on a boat ride on the Galilee. There is more detail there, I will write it later.
On the way home we went through Jezreel valley (valley of Armageddon). We also ended up in a Kibbutz. We ended up getting locked in and that was hilarious. Our driver didn't think being locked in with 5 women, would be fun at all. The trip home was fun, Maged, who we called Magic, told us that his father and brothers had multiple wives. Muslims are allowed up to 4 wives at one time. We teased him that he would never want maore than one wife after driving all of us around. It was like having 5 wives bossing him around. We told him to slow down, turn here, take us there, not to smoke in the van, wake up, have a nap while we go shop, stop to take pictures of shepherds, etc., etc,. We all, including Maged we think, had a fun time talking and laughing. It was another good day!

Tel Aviv

July 9, 2010

I am again 3 days behind writing this, so it will be short and sweet. Our internet was out for who knows how long and it was pretty stressful for Michelle and I to be away from our blogs, and for Michelle and Diane to be away from Skype.

Anyway, on Friday we decided to go to Tel Aviv to see the market, the beach, and the town of Joffa. We made arrangements for a taxi driver named Sammi to take us there. He has a big van and while negotiating the price he said he would take 200 shekels off the price if he could bring his wife and kids along. They are muslim and the family does not speak much english but it was so much fun. I played peek a boo and sang nonsense songs with the kids on the way there. We then split up from them and spent two hours in the crowded market. It was a cacophony of sights, sound and smells. Sammi and his family then picked us up to go to the beach but we ended up getting caught in a huge traffic snarl because the main road along the beach was closed to vehicles. Sammi ended up letting us out and we walked to the beach, leaving him to deal with the narrow crowded roads and honking, yelling people.

As we walked up to the beach we saw the reason for the traffic, there was a big parade with rock bands and thousands of young people following each semi. We made our way to the beach which was really nice. The meditteranean sea is really warm and quite clean so we had fun.

After two and a half hours we made it back to Sammi and he fought his way through the traffic to the ancient city of Joffa. This is the city where Jonah took off from,and where Simon Peter's house was. The streets and buildings were very old, the streets very narrow and it was charming.

We then went back to the van and Sammi took us to a restaurant where they served us 23 varieties of salad and we each got a whole fish, fried with head and fins and everything! It was delicious. It was Sammi and his wifes' anniversary so we picked up the tab. The drive home was fun, with their daughter dancing in the arab way, on the seat as we drove. It was a blessing to get to know, at least a little, a muslim family and we hope they were blessed as well.

Tunnel and Bethlehem

July 8, 2010
On with the continuing adventures of the fabulous five! We decided to go to the City of David today to see Hezekiah's tunnel. I am going to have to read the Bible and research a little more on the history of this but I can tell you it was very cool! They have just unearthed much of it in 2005. It is amazing to me how they can just keep discovering things from thousands of years ago in a city that is inhabited. They just keep building on top of old buildings. Anyway, we made our way down on good old bus 18 and paid our way to see the tunnel. We were told to wear water shoes and to bring a flashlight but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We descended down a steep hill by the city of David ruins and joined up with a tour. The guide explained how the tunnel was dug and fortification built over it in order for the inhabitants to get water safely at all times but especially in times of war. We had heard that it was a miracle how the ones who dug it started at either end, yet even in the days before GPS, ended up meeting in the middle. Well, we descended some more (very steeply), saw some continuing excavations, then descended yet again into a narrow tunnel with water flowing through it. The water was cold and amazing, most areas were mid calf in depth but it did go to upper thigh area in one spot. We were able to slog through the entire tunnel, in the water, in the dark, for about half an hour, one end to the other. We loved it! There were twists and turns, high caverns and low spots that we had to crouch to get through. The fact that it wasn't just a straight shot through, made the miracle of them meeting 150 metres below ground, even more amazing.
When we came out we were at the pool of Siloam, which didn't seem very impressive at first, but then we found out that they had just discovered it within the last 6 years and that most of it was on a church property next door and the church would not let them excavate. We were also reminded that this was the pool that Jesus told the blind man to go wash his eyes in when He healed him. Which also got me thinking, Jesus never healed people the same way twice. probably so that people wouldn't think they had the 'formula' for healing. Yet, looking around at what people do for the sake of religion, with all their formulas and rules, and putting up monument on top of monument, I wondered why, when all God wants is a relationship with us. Anyway....after the pool we went and looked at old coins, lamps and tear jars and then headed to an appointment we thought we had with some segways. A van gave us a ride to where we thought we had to go but unfortunately it was the wrong place so we called the van back. The driver had offered to take us to Bethlehem (as only Palistinians are allowed to go there with tourists.) Dixie, Sheila and I decided to take him up on it and away we went. We got to see the big security fence that was erected to prevent all the suicide bombers and scud missiles from being sent over to Israel. There are security check points and lots of soldiers with guns there too, but we felt safe. We saw the church of the nativity which is shared by three denominations. Most everything original is covered over by stuff, but there is one spot where the rock above the manger area is natural so that was cool. For some reason the rock there is black, whereas everywhere else it seems to be tan coloured limestone. We also saw the "shepherd's fields" which were mostly covered with houses so that wasn't too exciting.
The driver took us back to the apartment and we arranged with him to pick us up tomorrow to go to Tel Aviv. I will let you know how that goes tomorrow.
shalom!

Soup kitchen, YMCA, King David hotel

July 7, 2010

Today started off with Dixie, Sheila and I heading out early (relatively) to go on a prebooked trip to Masada and the Dead Sea. The cab was supposed to be there at 8 but when we arrived at the taxi stand, the man wasn't there. We decided to give him until 8:30 to show but we were kind of hoping he wouldn't because we didn't want to be separated from Michelle and Diane. At 8:30, the man showed up and he immediately started chewing us out for being at the wrong spot. We looked at each other with stricken looks and immediately started digging in our money belts. We were of one mind, we payed the man man 50 shekels for his time, then we dashed excitedly up to the apartment. Michelle and Diane were thrilled too about what God had in store for us. We had a very brief conference and all agreed to head to the soup kitchen to volunteer. We went out and there "happened" to be a van sitting at the cab stand which took us to the neighborhood where the soup kitchen is. After a little wandering and being lost (in an orthodox community where they don't appreciate 'scantily' clad women laughing hysterically) we found the kitchen. We watched a brief video and were put to work chopping vegetables, serving food and cleaning. The people there were very nice and very appreciative of the help. We were blessed to be there.

We then took the bus to the YMCA downtown which is a beautiful old building with a big tower. All the better to get yet another bunch of panoramic pictures of the Jerusalem landscape! We took our pictures, sat on the deck and drank some lemonade then headed over to the King David hotel across the street. I was unprepared for the magnificent view of the old city from the hotel's restaurant and outdoor eating area. I have read books that had this hotel as the setting, and seeing it in person really brought the books to life in my mind.

After a little meandering about, we headed back to the apartment for some grocery shopping and delicious salad made with Diane's loving hands. We had planned to go out to a nearby cafe for coffee tonight but just noticed it is almost 11, so good night all!

around the city

July 6, 2010

Today we woke up early to take the city bus tour which starts at 9 am. It is a double decker bus which does a 2 hour loop around Jerusalem past the major sights. We received ear buds to listen to the audio explanation of the different buildings and areas. It was very interesting to see where the border to Jordan was, and to see the buildings and sights that I had already read about from the 1948 and 1967 war. It is absolutely amazing to me how God has brought His people back to Israel and has protected them against incredible odds from the people or forces that want the country annihilated.

The bus allows people to get off at certain locations, and be picked up about 2 hours later. We decided to make one complete loop and then disembark somewhere on our 2nd loop. At close to the end of the first loop a lovely older lady ran to get aboard. She asked if she could join us and we of course said yes. We are always open to who God places in our path and we have been blessed every time by the treasures (God's people) that we have talked to here. Anyway, Carol is a lovely lady who travelled here by herself for a music convention at the University and was now taking it upon herself to see the sights. She is Jewish and was such a blessing because we had so many questions about Jewish customs, dress, food, etc.

For our first stop we decided to get off at the Dung gate and walk down to see the city of David. Unfortunately, I hadn't done my homework and didn't realize we would be walking in water and that we needed a flashlight. The entire courtyard was also full of singing, exuberant school groups of children, so we decided to leave the City of David for another time. We ended up back in the old city by the West wall of the temple. I was disappointed because we have been there a couple times before but God blessed us by having a family celebrating their son's bar mitzvah. They were dancing to instruments playing, and at the gates they blew two big shofars. It was great to see.
After a lunch and more shopping, we boarded the bus again and headed off to the biblical zoo. The highlight was when an elephant decided to take a bath right in front of us. It is amazing to see God's creation in action!
We then headed off to King of kings church for a bible study on Psalms. It was really good but I was so tired (I woke up at 4:30 this morning) that I had a hard time staying awake. When it was over, however, we ended up staying to talk to people and pray. If you are a praying person, remember a man named Russell who has Jewish heritage who wants to immigrate to Israel but is having trouble proving his heritage.
Shalom for now!

Holocaust museum

Monday July 5, 2010

Finally caught up! Writing on the same day that the events happened!! We woke up late this morning and had a relaxing time discussing our faith, our Lord and our understanding of things like titheing. Finally we decided to have brunch and head off at the crack of noon for Yad Veshem (the Holocaust Museum.) It was an easy bus ride on old faithful, bus 18 (which I just found out today has been hit by a suicide bomber in the past.)

The museum was very sad, touching, informative, enlightening,,,and big. Sheila and Dixie rented the self guided tour headsets and told us they were very good so we all rented them. They were very good, giving lots of information and the time flew. Dixie and Sheila didn't even finish the main museum when they were asked to leave because the museum was closing at 5. I was horrified at how Christians and Germans have treated the Jewish people. Being part of both these groups, I felt grieved and guilty for the sins of my ancestors. I was also horrified by how many death camps, death vans, death marches, and just horrible deaths there were.

Anyway, 5 o'clock came and we bought some groceries to try and replicate a couple of the amazing salads that we had in restaurants. They involve fried mushrooms, fried onions, goat cheese, and bean sprouts. It was a wonderful supper, one we probably couldn't have got away with had our husbands been with us. This evening has been great too, finally catching up on this blog!!

Sun. July 4, Christian boot camp, and King of Kings!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The most incredible, moving day so far! We decided to do the rampart walk around the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. We went outside at the crack of 9 and were surprised to discover that it was hotter than it had been on the other days, but being women of our word, we set out to do what we said we would. We started at the Jaffa gate and climbed up on the walls. Our walk was slowed down by the many picture that we took as we oohed and awed at all the sights. Michelle and Sheila were a bit freaked out by the heights and the rickety stairs and railings involved so we prayed for fear to leave them and they did great!

We had to exit at the Dung gate near the temple mount and I wanted to go into the archaeological museum but no one else wanted to so they four of them offered to go shopping and to lunch to give me the time I needed. I was thrilled to see the archaeological digs and to see how deep the history goes there. There was also a computer 3D model of the temple and the changes that happened over the centuries. As my oldest son wants to go into 3D animation, that also made it very interesting on that level. I learned that the wailing wall isn't the only wall left standing of the temple as I had thought, it is part of the base of the temple mount and it is just the closest area (other than the tunnels underneath) to where the temple stood. We were allowed to go right up to the wall of the temple mount that had the main gates going into it in Jesus' time. They had even uncovered some of the original steps which I cherished walking, and sitting on. I don't know how much longer they will let people do that, but what a privilege to experience it now! There had been a muslim palace built right over it but the palace was destoyed by an earthquake centuries ago. It wasn't until recently that the rubble was removed and the area was opened to the public. There was only 4 of us there as most tours don't give their people enough time to explore that area or most don't know about it. I agreed with a mennonite man who was there when he said it was a hidden jewel, and he couldn't believe the area wasn't crowded with tourists. When I looked at my watch I couldn't believe 2 hours had passed so quickly so I had to rush out, run up a gazillion stairs and make my way through the old town to meet the Fantastic Four. We continued our rampart walk on the other side of the Jaffa gate. By now it was 2 pm and very hot. We trudged along, not as enthusiastically as before, but we still enjoyed peering into the backyards and rooftops of the homes and schools of the old city. I was surprised at the life and community in the old city, the schools, sports fields, kids playing. I had never thought of old Jerusalem as an actual community. Anyway, we marched on, sweating and

grasping for any whiff of breeze that came our way. Finally, an hour and a half later, we reached the Lion gate on the other side of the city. We could see the Muslim cementary there and we know the prophecies that say Messiah (Jesus) will come again through the Eastern gate. We also knew that the muslims had fulfilled the prophecy from Ezekiel 44:1,2 which says "Then the man brought me out to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. the Lord said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. it must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the Lord, the God of Israel has entered through it." That had happened on Palm Sunday and the muslims, hearing the prophesy of the Lord's second coming to be the Eastern gate, decided to seal the gate and put their graveyards right up to it as they knew rabbinical jews would not defile themselves going over dead bodies. Anyway.......we determined that we wanted to see the gate up close so we walked through the graveyard and came right up to the gate. You have never in your life seen people more excited about a sealed

up gate. We prayed and sang and cried. Oh , to be where our Savior will soon be again!

Time flew by again, and we decided to catch a cab to the King of Kings church whose services start at 5. We waited for a cab, to no avail, then decided to pray, not just for a cab, but a van that would fit all of us. Within minutes a van cab showed up and we piled in. As it turned out, we liked him, and hired him to take a tour next Saturday up to the Galilee. We made it to church on time, the worship was amazing, including a song about the gate being opened and the King coming in. The sermon was probably good but myself and a couple other of the fab five kept falling asleep because we were so exhausted from our amazing day.

Sabbath and Ein Karem

July 2, 2010 Shalom!
Today is the Sabbath. Everything is shut down. We had the choice of taking a cab to the Muslim quarter of the old city or to take a cab to a small village near us, called Ein Karem, which is where tradition holds that John the Baptist was born and that Mary came to visit Elizabeth when they were both pregnant.
The village was charming, set in the hills with tons of neat plants and buildings. We walked up a steep "mountain" path to the Church of the Visitation. I loved the gardens around the church and the mosaic work in the church. I couldn't take pictures because there was a group of Japanese worshippers having a service. Our God moment was when Michelle twisted her ankle on the rough path and was in agony. We stopped to ask Jesus to heal her and within seconds her ankle felt fine. We were euphoric!

We then went to have some gelatto ice cream which was very authentic to the real thing from Italy, which is neat because this whole village and landscape reminded me of Italy. We then went to visit John the Baptist church but it was closed until 2:30 so we did what every red blooded woman would do, we went shopping and to lunch! I ended up buying a silver Jerusalem cross and we all bought scarves made in Israel. The lunch was in an Italian restaurant. The salads and foccacia were amazing! We had a mushroom salad and a fried goat cheese salad which were out of this world!
Dixie and Sheila headed back up to the apartment and Michelle, Diane and I decided to stay for awhile. I felt compelled to go to the park and there we found a poor old lady foraging for bottles or berries. We each gave her some shekels and Diane gave her a hug, then we knew why we were to stay. We made our way up the hill and found an art studio in a residential area. It was so amazing to walk up all these stone steps and see the upper patios with grape vines and other plants used for shade. We also made it to the church, then went to find a cab. We sat and sat and eventually said we should pray, which we had all been doing individually, but within minutes of praying together a cab came. We went back to the apartment, had a siesta and supper and at 8:30 pm when the buses started running again, we headed uptown to Ben Yehuda street. We wouldn't have found it but for a beautiful Philipino girl who offered to show us the way. We turned the corner of a seemingly abandoned, seedy, dark street and we were amazed to see a well lit area thronging with people. We could not believe how many people there was and how alive! We almost immediately came upon a Korean group of teenagers singing. We couldn't understand the words but we could certainly feel the Holy Spirit! Unfortunately they were almost done so we only heard 2 songs but it was amazing. A lady near us,who couldn't speak english, came up to hug us. She called us sisters and said Holy Spirit in a heavy accent. It was amazing, I had tears running down my face as I thought about the body of Christ around the world and the amazing connection we feel with other Christians , regardless of race or language, through the Holy Spirit. That was my treasure for the day!