Divine appointments

Throughout my stay here in Israel, I have experienced several divine appointments.

It started right at the beginning, with Bruce taking me to meet Shimon.  Shimon lives on a homestead, where he's carving out a life for himself and his family in the wilderness.  Shimon is very passionate about his love of Israel, and wants to share it constantly.  Shimon was so enlivened about his love of Israel that it infected me right away.  

The next day, Bruce took me around Israel.  He introduced me to several friends, and then while we were crossing the street, his old friend Nehemiah Gordon, one of my favorite teachers, drove by and picked us up, taking us to Bruce's mechanic to get his car.   When we got back to Bruce's house, I showed him I had written Nehemiah's name as someone I wanted to meet.

The third day I met Eduardo.  Eduardo was SUCH A BLESSING!  He showed me the teachings he had discovered about the pillars of the temple, and that the pillars that were used to hide the Ark of the Covenant.  Eduardo and I got to spend an afternoon together, learning his material.  It finished by him asking me to help make this information common knowledge.  I intend to do so to the best of my ability.

Bruce himself is a divine appointment.  During our time together we cemented a fledgling acquaintance into a really great, flourishing friendship.  We discovered that we had a mutual acquiantance all the way back in Oregon!

I spent two days running around Israel by myself.  It was a lot of fun, but also a little frustrating.  As I was taking the last bus home after getting lost, again, I was feeling just a tad discouraged.  The bus driver did not speak English.  Fortunately, there was a woman on the bus that did.  This woman actually knew Bruce, and owed Bruce money, so I was able to take it back for her!  That moment let me know that the Father still had his eye on me, so I was never really lost.

Wednesday, my birthday, Bruce thought he had to work and take care of some things with his car and to work.  However, when he got to town, he realized he couldn't take care of the car, and his work no longer needed him.  Instead, we spent the day traveling around Israel together.  I saw the Tombs of the Ancestors, and puttered around the Negev, where we met his friends, the Macklenburgs, Frank and Charlotte.  These wonderful folks talked Bible with us, and discussed the current cycle of American politics. They fed us pizza.   Finally, we went to the beach.

After, we were headed to get some Shawarma, but he realized his good friend lived there.  We picked the friend up from work, and were invited in.  After listening to some music, we were invited to a delicious dinner with the Greengart's, a wonderful couple who spoke of the Bible and politics.  They fed us lasagna.  We didn't have to feed ourselves the whole day! Michael played guitar, and Sarah made us proper English tea, and we visited and they ended by singing happy birthday tome.


Finally, I came to Abraham Hostel.  Yesterday I was feeling a little forlorn, frankly, and maybe a little lonely.  I holed up in the hostel for a while to get over myself, before buying myself dinner and a beer.  By breakfast, I was feeling much better.  MY FRIENDS WERE HERE!!

We ate breakfast together, then took a tour of the Old city.  We had enjoyed breakfast with a woman named Jacqueline, who joined us for dinner.  We had signed up for a Shabbat dinner put on by the Hostel, and a couple came and sat across from us.  We started talking about our faith, and the beliefs we hold dear, and suddenly, here we realize we are sitting across from Nico and Anna, two people who believe as WE BELIEVE!!  They were there, all the way from Holland, seeking the face of God like the rest of us!  They tell us that the movement is growing there, and more and more people are coming to Torah!!  I just kept saying what a blessing it was!  For two hours we shared about the Hebrew roots, and talked about mutual teachers, all at the same time that we marveled at being brought together in this place!  Jacqueline looked on and joined in, and during the conversation, began to talk about how she really doesn't work on Shabbat now and that in itself is a divine appointment.

Tonight, I feel amazing.  I feel like I am sparkling.  Tomorrow night I will get on a plane and leave behind this place that I have come to love so much, and leave behind people that have come to mean so much to me.  I will go back to Oregon, and try to build a non-profit to make it possible for American Christians and Jews to come to the holy land, to experience the joy of it.

But I will never forget how the Father brought me a divine appointment every day I was here.  I will fly away with this love, and these blessings, on my heart, and pray he helps me return.

May Yah bless us and keep us all.

Day after Shabbat

Shalom, from Tekoa, Israel!!

I have been so blessed to be able to come here and be part of this people for even a short time.  I have been so busy I have neglected my blog entirely!

So far, I have had some truly blessed experiences.

The first day, I was pretty tired after a fourteen hour flight, and I was delighted to step out into the heat and humidity and find my lovely friend Bruce and his son Oren waiting for me.  We made a stop at a homestead of Bruce's friend Shimon.  The homestead reminded me of SO MANY I have seen in Oregon.  He had built the house himself.  Four dogs made me feel right at home, and chickens clucked and picked while two doves teased the dogs into chasing them.  Shimon's children were beautiful!!

On his wall was stenciled the words "Ahava and shalom" on the wall.  This means love and peace.  Bruce interpreted as Shimon explained that love comes first because without love there is no peace, with love, peace will follow.  

We visited in the shade, and drank Turkish coffee.  Turkish coffee is a rich, dark blend of coffee where one pours in hot water and drinks the coffee with the grounds at the bottom.  After a 14 hour flight, this coffee was fantastic!!  It was precisely what I needed.

We sat in the shade and talked about Israel.  Shimon told me about his passion for the place, directed me to visit Hebron, and exclaimed his joy over him and his children being able to live in the land.

After the visit with Shimon, Bruce drove me to Jerusalem.  We stopped briefly, on the way up the mountain, to grab some water from a spring that Bruce knows about.  In Duetoronomy it says that he will bring them to a land where the springs gush from the mountains.  After capturing a bottle of this spring water, we continued on the way.

We went to the grocery on the way through.  This is NOT your American supermarket experience full of carefully maintained rows of fruits and vegetables, and congenial, polite store clerks.  This is people standing on top of one another, yelling at one another for being in the way.  Inside the store is cramped and barely navigable, but no one seems to notice.  There is less concern about touching one another, as people brush one another and shove into one another all of the time.  A small child bags the groceries, and a beautiful young girl, college age, runs each item through the checkout.  

We set off toward Tekoa, Bruce's home.  The drive out here was madness.  The best way for me to describe how people drive is: anarchy!!  While there are lines on the road, and obvious rules to be followed, somehow, most folk seem to think they are suggestions as opposed to rules.  People are honking as soon as the light turns green, and pedestrians MUST be careful because it's every man for himself.  The only thing I can do is put myself in the father's hands and have faith he will take care of me.

View from Bruce's house - Tekoa

I can't get over the sheer beautify of the place.  There's a new site around every corner!!

The first day, Bruce took me along on his errands, and I got to see a side of Jerusalem I wouldn't have seen otherwise.  There are things here I would never have guessed.  The government buildings have check-in counters for folks to leave their guns while they go up into the building for their business.  This is VERY well used.

Weapon check in counter

Security is very important in Israel.  We Americans would feel very constrained by the measures that businesses and towns must take to protect citizens.  Almost all private offices have a locked door, and one must buzz to be allowed in.  At the front of every town is a security gate and an armed security guard.  Going into the city of Jerusalem there are checkpoints intended to protect the citizens from terrorism.

We had a great example of the security level.  We stopped to view a local politician's house, and across the street were some protesters protesting the treatment of war vets.  Bruce thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to show that Israel is a democratic, free state.  We took a couple of pics, and stopped a little further down, and then we were approached by one of the guards who questioned Josh, Bruce's tour guest, very carefully, reviewed his passport for several minutes, and requested to see the ID of every one in the vehicle.  Later in the day, Bruce even got a call questioning what we were doing there!!

Protesters in Tekoa

I was able to tag along with Bruce as he gave a tour presentation.  I was impressed by the people we met.  I was impressed by the resilience of these people.  He took us to meet Ephrita, a beautiful Jewish woman.  Ephrita lives in an outpost nearby Tekoa, where the munincipality has turned off the electric and the water because they want to force people to move out.  They bulldozed seventeen buildings last year, leaving the families homeless, and it's even believed they burned down the only local coffee shop of a man in the little village.  The citizens make do by bringing in water and using a generator.  They are very tough people.

Burned out home

Ephrita lives without electric or water

Leftovers from a bulldozed home

We also stopped at a local open air farmer's market.  There I bought a delicious jar of honey from a lovely Jewish lady, and we sampled sushi made by an Israeli!!  It was my first time eating sushi, and while I doubt I will ever be a great fan of sushi, I didn't hate it.  

Sushi

Even here, the cats recognize that I'm a crazy cat lady, and they hang around my feet.  In fact, this little orange cat seems to be outside whenever I step out of Bruce's house.  When I stepped out this morning, there was another cat I haven't seen before.

I wish I could capture the smell of the place...the feel of it.  The diversity of the people here is amazing, and they live alongside one another in peace.  Riding the bus a modern Jew sits next to a Muslim woman, who is standing next to an Orthodox Jew.  Modern girls in skimply clothing walk through streets crowded with the religious observant in their modest, traditional clothing.  In many ways, it's very surreal.

We pass signs for a kosher MacDonald's, and the smell of all kinds of food spills into the streets.  Stores hawk hookahs and tourist bric-a-brac.  The city is loud and bustling...the country is quiet and sleepy.  In every way, I'm delighted to be here.

This next week I will be putting on my tourist hat and seeing more of the sights.  I will, I promise, take more pictures to share.  

More posts to come!!

LAX

 I wanted to jot down some thoughts about LAX and my impressions here.  I spend a surprisingly large amount of time in airports, and each one is it's own experience.  I am here in the

City of Angels for the first time.

The terminal is beautiful, actually.  Little bits of art and color are everywhere.   Everything here is white, metal , and ultra modern.  It is very clean and every employee I passed smiled at me. The duty free shops sell stacks of bottles of Jack Daniels, and ONLY California wines.  Somehow, the same black faux-leather seats that are always in airports are here, too.

There were a few things that surprised me.  I was surprised by the high end shops here.  Places like Victoria Secret, Baluga, and Coach all set up shop here.  Starbucks has a strangle hold on the place.  I had to do some real searching to find a tasty alternative.  The food smells yummy, but since I ate at the hotel, I managed to resist.

The El Al terminal is WAY WAY WAY down at the end.  WAY down.  Almost to the very end.  I just kept walking and walking.  I saw a couple with a little dog, and a man wearing a shirt with Boo the ghost on it.  I saw a woman WAY overdressed in very tall heels, and as I strolled along, the terminal became more and more empty until I was the only one left.

As I sit here now, people begin to filter into the waiting area.  I am hoping to get a charge on my phone before then.  I have plenty to read and plenty to do on the plane, and yet here I sit, wondering what I am going to do with myself for 14 hours.

14 hours! OMG!!  I will be in Israel in the next 16-17 hours!  This is something I had honestly given up on in this life.  It seems impossible that I, little Rose, would be holding a boarding pass for a flight to Israel!!!

I will update again sometime after I arrive.  Thank you, everyone who is following along.  I love you!!

"Be Careful! Stay Safe!"

I am FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY packing my bags to GO!  WOOTY WOOT!!

As I have chattered with people, leading up to my trip, and I tell them about going to Israel, they keep telling me to "be careful," or, "stay safe." I understand why they say that. The nightly news is full of tales about bombings and stabbings and explosions and bad things happening there nearly every day.

First, I want to say that I love them for caring enough to be concerned about my safety. I also see these news stories and I understand that I'm placing myself at risk. I love each and everyone of you.

On the other hand I find their concern ironic. Last evening, 29 Americans were injured in an American city just going about their everyday lives. In fact, under the current global climate, there are not many places I can travel and really be safe. Even if there was no terrorism, people are killed in terrible ways around the world every day.

I admit that I've lived a reasonably blessed life. My Father in heaven is taking very good care of me.  But the truth of the matter is that one can be killed right here in America almost as easily as one can be killed in Israel. The choice of one is to live my life in fear of new experiences and new adventures, never leaving my comfort zone, or I can live my life with my arms wide open, trusting in the Father to continue taking care of me and to keep his promises in the word.

If Yahweh cannot take care of me and I am doomed anyway.

To my conservative friends and family; I promise, I will be very careful. I will look over my shoulder, I will be aware of my surroundings, and I'll pay attention to the warnings that others give me. To the best of my ability I will try not to be a stupido.

During

Before

After!!

I also promised to take lots of pictures, drink too much wine, and enjoy every single minute. Thank you for loving me.  Bon Voyage!!!! 

FOUR DAYS

How can it only be FOUR DAYS?! I have waited 30 years for this trip, and now there are only FOUR DAYS left!  Blessed be the name!!

I am trying to keep my cool, but find it's harder than I realized.  I have never been more excited for a trip, and I have never been more certain that it's all out of my hands. 

Gathering my things to go!!

I really have no point to this post...I just had to get my thoughts out!  :D 

Israel Minus 7 days

7 days are so close, and so far away.  I want to start slinging clothes into suitcases and backpacks, but that’s still ridiculous.  It’s still far too early for any of that.  So instead, I will emote on the internet.  Thanks for reading.

It seems like I have been waiting all of my life to take this trip.  It occurs to me that it's been 30 years since the first time I saw pictures of Petra in a Bible and thought to myself how amazing that place must be.  That started me on a different kind of journey; a journey of knowledge.  

That was the point when I began absorbing any information I could get about the Bible and the place where it was written.  I had always heard the Bible stories and the amazing things that they describe, but until that point, it hadn’t ever seemed real, exactly. I read the Bible through the first time that year, but it was more than that.  I began learning about the book itself.  I also began actively seeking archaeology news, and became interested in the word in a whole new way. 

Now I am going to the place where the Bible was a real thing, not just stories, and where the people inside this amazing book lived and died.

I don’t know what I expect to find there.  I’d love to have a spiritual encounter with my god, Yahweh, the god of the Israelites.  I want to love Israel, the land, the way that he does.  I want to make a dozen new friends, at least, and learn how to say at least a few Hebrew phrases with reasonable confidence.  I want to drink Israeli wine and eat Israeli food and breathe Israeli dust and just try to pull as much of it in to me as I can.

I also hope to share a lot of photos, take lots of notes, and describe at least a few interesting people along the way.  I want to share the love that I find there, for Israel, for the people, and send some of the joy I experience back home. 

People ask me if I have any plans, and specifically, not really.   I am meeting up with some Salem-ite friends who coincidentally are there at the same time, and I am eager to get to know my host, a charming, interesting person, a lot better.  Outside of these things, I have no specific plans.  I have a list of things I’d LIKE to do.  I’d LIKE to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and I’d love to visit the site where Ron Wyatt says the crucifixion occurred.  I would love to visit the graves of the sons of David on the side of the Mt of Olives as well as the church of the Pater Noster. 

I’d like to drive down to the Dead Sea and see Sodom and Gomorrah with my own eyes, and maybe pick me up some brimstone.  I’d love to spend more than one afternoon exploring the city on foot; finding new things that I never knew.   I’d like to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the 911 memorial, and several other significant buildings.  I’d like to attend Shabbat in an actual synagogue, but this might not be allowed, as I am goyim.  I would, of course, love to see the western wall, and quietly experience that place.  I’d like to stand in the Sea of Galilea, and think of Messiah teaching in a boat near the shore. 

I’d also like to not do some things.  I’d like to NOT lose anything vital like my phone, my wallet, or my passport, so please, please, I pray save me from myself.  I’d like to NOT unnecessarily endanger myself or anyone else by any forms of stupidity, and I’d LOVE to overcome my natural social awkwardness and be the social butterfly I was never born to be.  I’d also like to blend in, be part of the crowd, in spite of the fact that I am certain my whole demeanor will scream, “American!”

Writing has always been one of my joys, and I commit to taking some time regularly to share my thoughts and experiences as I go.  Please, enjoy my blog, and pray for the peace of Israel.

SHALOM!!

Sea of Galilea (not my pic)