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!