We went to the shuk (the market) on Friday before Shabbat started. IT WAS SO BUSY!!! All the Israeli's were out getting ready for Shabbat. We were there to buy food for our shabbat dinner, which we prepared for 40 people!
The dinner was a success. I met some nice Israeli men and we stayed up until 2am chatting on our back patio. I learned how to write my name in Hebrew and how to say some select military phrases in Arabic.
Our cutie Israeli men!!
The next day mostly everything was closed for Shabbat. We slept in and went to the Western Wall again (It's open 24/7!). We then wandered through Jerusalem trying to get back to the house a new way. We didn't get too lost and stumbled onto some amazing places!
We walked past the King David hotel, and found this cute little park. We then proceeded to photo bomb a wedding and stumble onto the Artist's colony! I hope to go back there when its open (not on shabbat). Don't worry, we DID end up finding our way home after walking by the Sultan's baths!
After shabbat ends all the Israeli's come out to Ben Yehuda street to socialize (they act like they were forced to be inside for months after just a day of rest). So, of course, we had to go out and see all of the activities. We people watched and shopped and danced to the music of some of the street bands playing! We didn't get home until about 2:45 (oops!)
SUNDAY JUNE 1
It was an early morning the next day. We had to be out of the house by 7am! But it was TOTALLY worth it!! First thing we did was take a cab to THE MOUNT OF OLIVES!!!!
Jumping for Joy on the Mount of Olives!!
Then we walked down the mount of Olives singing Hosannah!
"Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord need them,' and he will send them at once.' This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
'Say to the daughter of Zion,
'Behold, your King is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, 'Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of The Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!' And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, 'Who is this?' And the crowds said, 'this is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.'"
Matthew 21:1-11
We sat for a while in the Garden of Gethsemane (the non-tourist part) and I was reminded of Ezekiel 44:1-3
"The he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. And The Lord said to me, 'this gate shall remain shut; it is shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for The Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall reamin shut. Only the Prince may sit in it to eat bread before The Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.'"
YALL!!! Those gates you see (the eastern gates) are sealed!!! and there is a Muslim grave yard outside of it to "defile" the coming of the Jewish Messiah! The Mount of Olives is covered with a Jewish grave yard for those who want to have a first row seat when their Messiah comes.
We then walked through the Lion's gate (see lions on either side of entrance) and into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.
And then we walked into the pools of Bethesda
"Now there was in Jerusalem by the SHeep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids - blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, 'do you want to be healed?' The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.' Jesus said to him, 'Get up, take your bed, and walk," And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked."
John 5:1-9
Then we went to the City of David to tour HEZEKIAHS TUNNELLLL!!!!!
It was the coolest experience of the day. Trekking through fresh water in a small tunnel that was carved years and years and years ago.
"After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib King of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through tht eland, saying, "Why should the kings of Assyria come nd find much water? This same Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the city fo David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works."
2 Chronicles 32:1-4, 30
So I had to take a selfie in the tunnel, one of the only pics I got. BUT IT WAS SO AWESOME!! I also got some video footage but it was so dark you cant really tell whats going on.
At the end of Hezekiah's tunnel they found what they believe to be the Pool of Siloam
"As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing."
John 9:1-7
After the tunnel we walked through excavations that started about 15 years ago outside the wall of the Temple Mount. They tore up a parking lot and found ancient ruins!
This is underneath the ground where they built a water runoff drainage system in ancient times to drain water after the winter and spring rains. HOW SMART AND INNOVATIVE WERE THESE PEOPLE?!
Then we came to the Western Wall. It is built deep beneath the ground because of the architectural layers of Jerusalem.
This is above ground, behind the far left intersecting wall is where people pray at the Western Wall holy site.
And then we turned the corner to the right and... there were the Southern Steps...
Well, almost. There was actually a wedding about to happen. So our guide begged for them to let us pass to the Southern Steps, but they said we couldnt come back that way.
And Here. Here is where we know for sure Jesus walked!!! So so so surreal!
We had a moment here with the guide explaining things. The gate to the exit was closed so the guards had to open back the gate through the wedding... so we had to run to the gate to be able to leave the museum site. This is the second wedding I have crashed while here... I think I may be starting a trend!
Our last and final stop of the day was Christ Church.
A simply beautiful church, the third we went into of the day!
Our tour guide Dave was phenomenal! The best tour guide I've ever had! He wore chacos AND he and his wife are moving to Texas to get his master's degree!! So he will soon be a fellow Texan! He was so so so knowledgable and so easy to approach and ask "stupid" questions to. What a humble teacher he is and an avid learner and seeker of knowledge.
Here is "Young Daniel" (as we called him) educating us at the Southern Steps!
What a crazy and long and tiring and awe-inspiring day! We got back to the house, ate leftovers, and were all in bed by 9:30!
MONDAY JUNE 2
This morning we had to be out the door by 7am again. We had our first day of volunteer work today!!! It was so much fun! We drove up to Bet Shemesh to volunteer with food distribution with the Joshua Fund. If you know your Hebrew Scriptures, you know this is the city where Samson and Delilah were "hooligans" as someone so eliquently put it today.
We loaded pallets of food to be distributed throughout Israel. Some cities included Haifa and Tel Aviv. I was the leader of my group and, not to toot my own horn, but was pretty awesome at it (just kidding)
They gave me a check list for out pallets and I was very happy. I should put this on my resume!
As my 7th and 8th grade History teacher would ask, "Am I working hard... or hardly working?"
Toilet paper on toilet paper on toilet paper!! Just think of the damage you could do to someone's house/property with that much!! (its at least three rows deep)
The man who helped us with the work today is named Slava. He speaks Russian, Hebrew, and about two words in English "I Sorry" and "One Moment Please!". Never have I met such a kind-hearted, genuine, servant, hard working man in my life. He was all over the place driving the fork lift and helping us re-arrange pallets. It was like there was three of him throughout the warehouse!
The Joshua Fund is a freaking amazing organization!! It was such a pleasure working with them today. One of the pallets we made was for the city of Cana, which is where Jesus turned water into wine. What's so awesome about my trip here as a volunteer is that not only to I get to see all of these places from the Hebrew Scriptures, but they are REAL cities with REAL people and today I was able to pack food to feed those people living here. It adds such another level of depth to being here in the Holy Land.
After a long day of physical labor we all of a sudden were rushing around trying to leave the warehouse, but no one knew where we were going!
We stood on the mountain where the Philistines stood looking at the Israeli army.
"Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in the line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath... And the Philistine said, 'I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.' When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. And David said to Saul, 'Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.' Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of The Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day The Lord will deliver you into my hand... that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that The Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.' So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him."
1 Samuel 17
Slava told us the history of this area, a girl in our group can speak Russian so she translated for us and it was a really awesome and unique experience.
Wow. What an amazing few days. I am so excited for this week. We have a jam packed schedule the ENTIRE time we are here between the volunteer work and the obvious touring we have to do while in the Holy Land.
It has been evident to me the past couple of days that the enemy is trying to distract me from this volunteer work and precious time in the Holy Land. Prayers would be much appreciated over this. My mom prayed Psalm 121 over me today as I woke up to a hard morning of sleep deprivation, night mares and a big big headache.
"I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from The Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out
and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."
Psalm 121
It is now past midnight and we have another early morning tomorrow, 8am, so not as early as the past two days, but early nonetheless!
One last picture, our entire team attempting a jumping photo overlooking where David killed Goliath!
Boker Tov!! (goodnight)
