Yad Hashmona and Samuels' Mountain

 This day we travelled about 20 minutes west of Jerusalem, in the Judean Hills, to Yad Hashmona. This is the only designated Messianic Jewish Moshav (community) in Israel. They have a lovely Biblical Garden there, a log-cabin style guest house, and plenty of places to sit quietly and overlook the surroudning hills.

 Edith is trying to push the Olive Press in the Biblical Garden area. They have several olive presses, also wine presses, a threshing floor, a watchtower, etc. in their garden.

 Maureen and Edith are standing beneath some grapevines in the garden.

 We found a wonderful spot to sit and pray, overlooking the hills, and in the far distance you can see Tel Aviv.

All three of us wore our 'camel shoes' today...(leather sandals purchased in the Old City)...("The Camels are Coming!" was a recent prophecy by Chuck Pierce...you can google it)

 Edith is emerging from a goat hair tent they have set up for meetings, built similar to what the Tabernacle of David may have been like.

 From Song of Songs 2:8, we are leaping across the mountains with our Beloved!

 Maureen and I in a sitting area at Yad Hashmona.

 We have left Yad Hashmona, and now are sitting on 'Nebi Samwil', or the prophet Samuel's mountain. This man's name is Israel..and he owns this mountain, where Samuel is buried. This is also the site where Solomon prayed and asked for wisdom. Israel and his wife are messianic believers, and have undergone much persecution, from both Muslim and Orthodox Jews who hate what they believe in, and hate that they won't give up the mountain. Many people from various nations come to stay here with them.  They live very simply, back to nature, and seem to be one with the land.  

 This is a view from their place, looking down on an Olive grove, with the cities of Ramallah and Jerusalem in the distance.

The man in the yellow pants is a pastor from Italy staying here. He was praying with us, and teaching us about the olive and fig trees on the property. That's Israel's wife on the far left. The others are Korean young people, also visiting, who wanted to pray and worship with us.

 The Koreans are praising and worshiping in their language, it was beautiful.

 Later that night we walked around downtown Jerusalem.

Gazing up at some expensive highrise condos..we seem some very fancy lit-up sukkahs. I wished we could have gone up there to go in those sukkahs and meet the people:)

Walk through the Old City

This morning we are headed into the Old City of Jerusalem. Our first stop was to peek inside Dormition Abbey, which is on Mount Zion right next to my JUC campus. This is one of those churches that has a huge cuppola (dome) that makes the acoustics (and echo of your voice) so beautiful, so much that anyone can sing and it sounds wonderful:)  Edith and I sang a song in there (I Love you Lord, and I lift my voice...), and then this priest got up and sang a beautiful song in Latin, he was just worshiping the Lord.

Outside Dormition Abbey, here's Maureen an Edith next to the statue of King David. It's on this site they have the "Tomb of King David".

We came across this small holocaust museum. It was the original holocaust memorial prior to the building of the huge Yad Vashem memorial that most tourists go to.

We saw many reminders of the horrors of the holocaust in there, but this was the most memorable. Here is a shirt made out of a Torah scroll. The germans forced a Jewish tailor to make this shirt out of their beloved Torah scroll, and they wore it as a mockery to the the Jews. It is of course an abomination to the Jews to cut and destroy the Torah like this. Well, the sign says that the Jewish tailor had the last word...because the passages of the scripture that he used to make this shirt were all the ones with curses on them, for example from Deuteronomy...the curses that would happen if they didn't obey the commandments, etc. So the german soldier was wearing the curses of God as they mocked the Jews. That tailor had chutzpa:)

Now inside the Old City, I snapped this picture of the outer walls as we were walking down to  certain place on the wall that Edith wanted to pray at.

Here we are on the wall, looking down over the City of David. When David first conquered Jerusalem, the city of David was on this slope going down from the Temple Mount. It was likely down there to be close to the Gihon Spring, their source of water.

This is a place on the outerwalls that you can reach without climbing, here we are praying for the City of David, which today is a huge Arab neighborhood called Silwan.

Along came two IDF soldiers that we began to speak with. One said he was from Ashdod, the city we had just visited on the Mediterranean coast! When asked where they were stationed in the IDF, one said he was like 'Hamas' but on the Israeli side, meaning like  special forces. We told those boys that we pray for the IDF, and for them, they were pretty amazed and touched to meet American women who took such an interest in their mission and their safety.

 Lunchtime!! We are eating falafels, which are one of my favorites!!  A falafel is made of deep fried balls of mashed up and seasoned chickpeas, stuffed in a pita, then you pile all kinds of veggies and sauces on top of it...Yummy!!

 We went to this artist's gallery in the "Cardo", an area in the Jewish Quarter. This Jewish man painted the picture above their heads, depicting the Western Wall, with the 'new Jerusalem' appearing above it, just beautiful.  He talked and talked about all the colors and beauty that he sees as an artist in Jerusalem.

Another day in Jerusalem, just too incredibly awesome!!

Ashdod, on the Mediterranean Sea!

 Today, the 5 of us (Edith, Maureen, Simantov, his wife Linda, and I) head to a Mediterranean beach in the city of Asdod. This is another 'border' we want to pray at, for protection over Israel. On the ride from Jerusalem to the coast, we are passing a site that Simantov says is where Israel's nuclear capabilities are.  Wow.

 Here we stopped at a dry riverbed...the riverbed where David picked up 5 smooth stones to slay Goliath...here Edith is doing the same:)

 We have arrived at Ashdod, a beautiful sandy beach, lots of families out enjoying the beautiful weather.

 We are 'strategizing', deciding where/how to pray for Israel in the place.

 These three decided to wait on the shore, and Edith and I waded in. It felt soooo good on our feet!!

 Maureen came out to join us.  We are all three praying for Israel. Edith is praying that even the sea creatures (whales, dolphins, etc) will be used to protect her.

 A passing ship.

We are walking along the beach now, continuing to pray.

 The day is getting late, time to head back home.

 The three of us 'girls' headed back to Jerusalem to do some shopping!! Edith is looking for just the right shofar...she is absolutely the best shofar blower I have ever heard. She had just blown one to try it out, and this orthodox Jewish boy and his 'grandfather' stopped to stare and smile at her. I think they were pretty amazed. Every time she would blow the shofar, a crowd would gather. One passing Rabbi told her "you can come blow that in my synagogue anytime!!"  Another Rabbi said "women don't blow shofars!!"  A woman passing by remarked "..better than any man!"  Let's just say everyone had something to say about this!

 Edith is blowing another shofar at a different shop her...So this guy picks up a shofar and tries to do it like she does:)

 She can even blow two at once!!!  I"m not kidding...

Well, here we are at a restaurant, stopping to get something to drink after all that shopping!!

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!!

Chocolate delight!!

After a perfectly incredible wonderful birthday day in Jerusalem, Hermana (my South African friend) and others surprised me with a huge heart-shaped chocolate cake!!  You that know me, know that I LOVE chocolate, and I got perfectly intoxicated on a large slab of that cake...

Yom Kippur at the Western Wall!!

This is Tuesday pm, Sept 25th, and it is Erev (evening of) Yom Kippur - the most holy day on the Jewish Calender, the Day of Atonement. In the days of the Temple, this was the only day of the year the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies. It is a day of fasting, prayer and repentence. Right before sundown, I went down to the wall, (the right hand side in this pic) where the women pray, and stayed there about 1 1/2 hours, sitting in a chair right up next to the wall, facing the wall, praying and reading scripture, touching the wall often, seeing hundreds of tiny little pieces of paper with prayers on them stuffed into the cracks of the ancient Herodian stones. While I was there I prayed this from Psalms 130:7-8:  "O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love, and with him is full redemption.  He himself will redeem Israel fom all their sins."
 When I was done, I turned around and the whole wall area was filled with women! Young, old, most holding prayer books, standing and praying facing the wall. The men's side (on the left) was full, too. I could hear alot of chanting, singing, praying, crying. Most of the Jewish people wear white on Yom Kippur.  You are NOT supposed to take pictures in the Jewish Quarter on Shabbat or holy days, so I took these from a distance, even still, a woman growled at me after I snapped this picture. I just had to share it with you...you can see the Dome of the Rock in the upper right corner.

Since I got away with taking the first picture (sort of), I snapped one more after going up some steps. You can see the sea of white tallits and shirts in the mens' section. This day of fasting continues until sundown tomorrow. Everything stops in Israel during this holy day...no schools, no businesses, no buses, no airplanes at the airport!  I feel truly blessed to be in Israel during this time.