Praying at the borders

It has taken me a few days to post this blog, because life has been somewhat of a blur since my friends Edith and Maureen arrived here from Brunswick, GA:)  They are staying in my dorm room with me, and we are enjoying each other's company!!  Edith rented a car, and one of the first things we did was drive up to the area of the Sea of Galilee. Here you see the entry steps to our dear friends Dan and Carolyn Hinton, who live in Poriyya, a village up on a ridge above the Sea of Galilee.  Inside their home here, is also a house of prayer that started in June. You that know me know I LOVE houses of prayer, so I definitely felt at home here:)

It's Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) and here Maureen is sitting in Dan and Carolyn's Sukkah, in their front yard. Jewish familes build these temporary dwellings to remember their ancestors wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. We love the Sukkah to remember that Yeshua (Emmanuel) came as a baby to tabernacle with us (He was born on Sukkot!) and is coming again.

That's Dan, Edith, Carolyn, and Maureen, enjoying some breakfast together.

Here's their beautiful house of prayer, called the Tabernacle of Praise. The first night we were there I played that keyboard and sang and we worshipped for quite some time, was just wonderful.

 The ancient Jewish-Christian symbol, on the wall of a Messianic Jewish congregation in Poriyya.

Here we are on a very high ridge looking straight down at the Sea of Galilee. That's Maureen, Simantov (a Messianic Jewish Believer, Edith, and Linda (Simantov's wife).  We began to pray up on that ridge over the sea, the wind began to blow and raindrops fell from the sky while we were praying. It hadn't rained for the past 6 months.  It was a powerful spontaneous prayer meeting.

Now we're with another Messianic Jewish couple who live in Tiberius..that's Patti - she and her husband moved to Israel from Brunswick, Ga earlier this year,'. Then there's Maureen, Edith, myself, and Linda. We adorned our hair with some pretty Israeli flowers.

From Patti's balcony you can see beautiful Sea of Galilee at dusk, and the moon above it.

We attended a Saturday morning Messianic congregation in Poriyya...that's Dan and Carolyn blowing their shofars to begin the service.

Now we're with a group of people in the very northern part of Israel, high up on a mountain looking into Syria. That's Edith praying behind the shofar blower, who is a pastor from Florida. Our mission was to pray protection over Israel from the northern borders.

 You are looking down into the Valley of Tears where a major battle of the Yom Kippur war of 1973 was fought and won against Syria.  Israel had 43 tanks, against about 500 Syrian tanks. It was nighttime, and Israel had no training in fighting in the dark, wheras Syria had infrared capabilities to allow them to fight at night. But against all odds...Israel won this battle!!

Simantov is holding the banner that says "YESHUA" on the highest point of this mountain, the pastor is blowing the shofar, declaring His Lordship over Israel.

We continued to pray and worship from the heights overlooking Syria.

After coming off the mountain, we went to a nearby Kibbutz, that showed us a fascinating movie about the Yom Kippur war. It truly was miraculous that Israel won that war. The Jewish man seen here was giving and introduction to the movie. His brother fought in this war, and his father fought in the 1948 War of Independence. He was very passionate about his love for his homeland, and willingness to give everything for her.

The same Jewish man was reassured by Edith and many others that we love Israel and stand with her and the Jewish people. He was grateful, and says its so important to them to know they are not alone.

 Now we've made our way to a village on the Lebanese border. This is a Druze village (an off-shoot of Islam, a secretive religion, very anti-Christian). The photo shows the entrance to a small 'school'. This 'missionary' here, Karen Goodman, has been given permission to teach English to the Druze, and one of the 'textbooks' they are using is the Bible. This is an amazing opportunity to bring light to this village, which has no Christians or fellowhips in it. This is a ground-breaking work they are doing here.

 The inside of the English 'school', we stopped by here to help do some cleaning. In Israel it is against the law to 'evangelize' or proselytize, but if someone asks you a question about your faith, you can answer them. It is hoped that using the Bible to teach English and showing love and kindness to these people, many questions will be asked and answered.

 Now we have moved to another house of prayer called the "Wall of Fire" on the Lebanese border, in a town called Kyriat Shmona. Here you see Edith blowing the shofar out the kitchen window...the mountain behind this building is the border....we could see the Israel patrol road just above us.

Again praying for protection of Israel's northern borders.

Here's the outside of the "Wall of Fire" house of prayer. We plan to return there perhaps in a few day to worship there again. There's a little Phillipino lady named Norma who lives there and runs the place who has invited us to return. So until we meet again!!