Jerusalem again...

Well...we spent th night in Jerusalem last night, after walking around Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. We stayed at the Gloria Hotel and I had a very nice night of sleep. :)
I woke up to a beautiful sight through my window. :D It was snowing!!! My camera screen broke a few days ago, so I wasn't able to get any photos yet, but a couple of my friends took some for me, so I'll have a couple up soon. :D

So, today we trudged around in the snow, and went to the wailing wall, tried to go on the temple mount (but it was closed), so we went up through Yerushalayim, saw the pool of Bethesda, then took the traditional Via Dolorosa all the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. :) I enjoy being in that church. :D We went down in the basement, to the place where the Mother of Constantine supposedly found the true cross down in a cistern. :D (they knew it was the true cross, because the first guy to touch it died, and they brought a dead guy and touched him to it, and he apparently rose from the dead. :D) We sang down there "Oh the deep deep love of Jesus". It was majestic. :)

So, when I got back home, I made this picture. :D I'm always making pictures, haha. :D




If you can't see it well enough, you can just click here.

Apologize

I don't know. Maybe it's just one of those "you had to be there" moments...but one of the guys here had this song stuck in his head and the rest of the people here started singing it...so it's kind of become the theme song of this semester. :D It's kind of a big joke. :D
But I felt compelled to make the below picture. :D

Ok. I know the last poem was kinda goofy. but this one i just wrote is more serious. :D



i walk through quiet places
follow footprints of my lord
finding out the words he spoke
so blessed with every step

the quiet of the moment
i see the love he gave
the blood poured out
to give a life to dead

beauty lies in limestone streets
in arches and in tombs
he loved my soul
and came to die for me

poured out rejected crushed alone
the pureness of his grace
my tears fall down
as he renews my soul

forever carved in our hearts
the glory of his name
i worship here
the savior of my soul

I fell in the pool

Through Hezekiah's tunnel
We wandered wet and loud
Singing hymns out merrily
The Joy in life abounds.

Up ahead I see the light
The journey soon will end
We walk out in the daylight
The gargoyles here pretend

We stand in knee deep water
And then upon some stones
I tried to do the same thing
Success to some alone

I fell into the pool there
Banged my hand and slapped my knee
Laughter poured out from me
And all my friends could see that

I was happy not to
Have put my camera on me
Waterlogged and broken
It for sure would be

If venture you to come
And to Hezekiah's go
Watch out for slipp'ry rocks
Dry pants and shoes equal tov.

If you Click the below picture, you should be able to see the album of my Jerusalem pictures. :)
Luvya!!

One of the best days of my life

Well, Hello there again from Israel!! :)
It's kinda hard to write here. I feel like I'm learning so much about the land, and the Bible (yah, that's the name of of one of my classes too. :D), and Jesus, and myself and perfect love and how little I need and how much He's given me and the combination of all those things is just very overwhelming. But I just feel like I've grown a lot in the last few days. Today I got up for breakfast, ate my signature morning's kosher chow, then went to Abner Chou's Life of Christ class. This class is stretching my understanding of Christ and of the culture surrounding his life. I'm getting all my background in there and it's really cool. Abner digs into stuff so deep. (Oh, and yah. He's a genius. He's halfway through with his doctorate which he started a year ago or so, and he's 25.) So anyway, we got out of class and I went to the library with Cassandra and attempted to make some process on my Land and The Bible reading. After a little while of that I just needed to stop, so I gathered my things and left.
I walked down into the Biblical gardens (this beautiful little place here on the Moshav with a reproduction of a winery and olive press, and there's a donkey stable there too with 2 donkeys) and sat on a little stone wall next to the winery. From there I could see out over a lovely valley with trees and rocks. I could see a hill where in ancient times the Ark of the Covenant dwelt. I could feel the sunshine for the first time in a few days and also a cool breeze on my face. And I saw my Savior's love. I've been reading Colossians. I think it's my favorite book. I feel like I've been so concerned with so many things these past few months, and had my priorities scrambled some. Being here is impacting my life like I hoped it would. God, the renewer of my heart, is making me long to put Him above all things. I'm longing to push hard after Him and let everything else fall where He wants it. Pray for me! All these thoughts were running through my head as I sat on that little wall, praying for some friends and reading about the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are found in Christ. I was thinking the other day, that I want more wisdom and more knowledge and more truth and a greater deeper love for Christ and people. Then I remembered that verse. Colossians 2:2b-3 "...to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." I have all I need. I have Christ. God gave me His beautiful mystery. He sought out my soul and loved me enough to breathe life for me and bring me here to Israel for the next phase of my growing up as His child. He draws my heart to love Him.

renewer of my heart, lover of my soul
reveal your mystery to me.
to you be the glory and the honor and the power.
forever
amen

(this below is not by me, but by Rebecca St. James)
I’ve got this story in my heart
And its become my song
And I can’t help but sing
The cynics and the saints
The famous and unnamed
One day we will all fall before You
But I’m gonna bow today

Jesus, You are so wonderful
I cannot live without Your love
Jesus, You are so glorious
No one can move me like You do
I love being loved by You
I love being loved by You

So take me deeper still
Where Your mysteries are revealed
And I see You as You are
Oh, show me how to die
‘Til all that’s left of me
Is a mirror of everything You are
And I come before You complete


Who am I that You would notice me?
Who am I that You would think of me?
I stand in awe of Your amazing love
Who am I that You would rescue me?
Who am I that You would die?

First 2 days

"Hey There Savannah"

Hey there Savannah
What's it like in Israel?
I'm seven thousand miles away
But girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Yad Hashmonah can't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true

Hey there Savannah
Don't you worry about the distance
God's right there if you get lonely
Give His word another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to His voice, you're His by choice
He's by your side

Oh you're way across the sea
Oh you're near to Galilee
Oh you're happy as can be
Oh please come home soon to me
Please come visit me

Hey there Savannah
I know Hebrew’s prob’ly hard
But just believe me, girl
Someday you'll play the blues on a shofar
You'll have it tov
You'll have the trip we knew you would
My word is tov

Hey there Savannah
I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would fit what I want to say
I'd write it all
But I think I’ll just use Skype to make a call
We’ll have a ball.


Oh you're way across the sea
Oh you're near to Galilee
Oh you're happy as can be
Oh please come home soon to me
Please come visit me

Seven thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'll send Jack Bauer if there’s no other way
Our friends would all say what’s the fuss
and we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have ever heard my jokes

Savannah I can promise you
That by the time you get through
Your life will never ever be the same
And God’s to blame

Hey there Savannah
You be good and don't you miss me
Fifteen more weeks and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making snack trays like I do
You'll know it's all because of you
I can do whatever I want to
Hey there Savannah here's to you
This one's for you

Oh you're way across the sea
Oh you're near to Galilee
Oh you're happy as can be
Oh please come home soon to me
Please come visit me

My dad wrote that song for me. :)
Well, my flight went well. It was long, we flew to Newark (Ashley says I have to pronounce it Nork) and then we flew to Tel Aviv (about a 9 1/2 hour flight). I watched a movie and then I was gonna start another one, but I was tired and took about an hour and a half nap. :D Then I woke up and saw on the view screen up in the front of my section that we were right near Ireland, and was about to die because I couldn't get to a window to try and see it. :D But then everyone else woke up and I ended up switching with my friend Danise so that I could see out a window. My friend Pete and I watched House, and periodically I would look out the window and figure out where we were from the airview thing. We saw the French Alps, Italy, some Island called Bastia that I hadn't heard of, Crete, part of Greece, and a lot of the Mediterranean.

We got to Tel Aviv. and made it through customs super easy. We were met by Abner Chou and Rachel Israel with a bus. We drove out of the coastal plain, through the Shephelah, and up into the hill country to get to our Moshav. :D





Those are Driving, and Rachel trying to name us. :D

Then we had our first meal here. I really like the food. Lots of Veggies, Fish, Bread and Hummus. :D I love Hummus. A Lot.

Here's my mostly finished plate and soup bowl





Oh, and the girl in the first one is one of my roomates Noel.

So, after dinner we came back to our rooms, and as we were all trying just to get into the schedule here, I stayed up with Ashley and Lindy watching a movie. I was falling asleep, so I went back to my dorm at about 11 and then fell asleep.

I woke up this morning and went to breakfast. It was great. :D (Did I mention I like the food here?) then we had our orientation with Abner Chou.



Then we walked around, had lunch, and our first Land and The Bible Class. We're going on our first field trip to Jerusalem tomorrow!! Then after class. Abner took us to a small grocery store.



Lacey, Danise, and Caitlin


Silly Whit. He thought I was taking a picture of his nose and was very surprised to see his whole face on the viewscreen.


Cassandra and Jenessa! They're great!


Walking down the very narrow roads. That's Pete in the back.

They were building a house.

Ashley, Praus, and a couple others had had to say back for a short meeting. But they caught up.

L-R. I don't know who the brunette it. But then Lindy, Caitlyn, Troy, Danise, Caleb, ?, Noel in hte white and blue hoodie, Shellsy, Chelsea, ?, ?, Tiffany, ?, and Deborah. :D Some people are hard to ID from the back :D

Whit says this means recycle at this point. But the cars turn around here.

Cool view. I dont' know what the signs say.

Nice panorama

Israeli food.

Cheetos. :D

Rachel was explaining to Caitlyn about this sign. I was too busy taking pictures to remember what she said though. :D

Well, I'm off to hang with people in the Miklat...our bomb shelter that doubles as a student lounge. :D Luvya!
Shalom!