Shabbat Shalom friends!
Oh man did the Bible and Jewish culture come out and bite my booty this month. Before I go on I will tell you that I did work while in Jerusalem. My story won’t be about the soup kitchen or the ministry that we did on the streets of the holy city. Instead it will be about the rampage that is known as Shabbat. Danielle and I were chosen for the great honor of making three feast meals during the weekly Shabbat. Not only did we have to make three full meals in about 2 hours. We had to learn every kosher rule known to man and abide by them religiously. The whole kitchen had to be kosherized with a rock and a boiling pot of water. I have certainly learned a lot from this experience but I don’t know if I would ever do it again. I give props to all the orthodox women with 8 kids preparing all the Shabbat meals before the Shabbat alarm bell goes off and all work ceases. Also FYI there’s no electricity during this time.
The sights that we saw made the Bible really come alive for me. We saw many of the places where Jesus walked, and taught, and healed the sick. Also the site of the cross, and tomb and the upper room where they had their last supper and the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost. We saw the tomb of King David and Mary and rode a camel on the Mount of Olives for free.
Walking through the desert to the Dead Sea and getting lost in the middle of nowhere. Then having to take a vehicle to the Dead Sea hours later. The Dead Sea was the best unknown phenomenon that I’ve seen to date you can literally float without trying at all. If you drink even a small amount of the water you will die. I tried to stick my tongue out in the water and it felt like it was being burnt.
Then we went to En Gedi where David hid his 400 men. It was so beautiful and the perfect way to end that day. We went to Nazareth and Galilee where we tried to walk on water. It didn’t succeed, I guess if it had you would have gotten a blog a bit sooner than this ;). Then we went to Palestine and I kept thinking that I was going to get my head cut off at any moment. Until I began to meet and talk with the Palestinians and realized that the news and all the stories come from just a few radicals and not at all represent the common people of Palestine. It’s kind of the same way that antisemitism started with people making up ideas without really knowing the people.
We went to the desert and got to spend time and teach English with the Bedouin people. They were so hospitable and they brought us in and were so friendly and kind to us. I made so many friends that I love and adore. They had a lasting impression on my life.
We went to Yad Vashem the biggest holocaust museum in the world. It really impacted my heart, I don’t think I had ever taken as many notes in my whole life. Just seeing the truth about what really happened, and how evil things can actually become shocks the hell out of me.
It was a great month of just going on adventures with my teammates. I even got stuck in a toddlers merry-go round for what seemed like forever 🙂 (Don’t ask how I got in there). Seeing how much I have to be in control and letting that go this month was really hard but so good for me. Getting to hold and see about 50 cats each night was so amazing, (I love you Keykey!). Can I tell you about the fallafels, hummus and amazing food? Jesus came more alive to me in my heart and my life than any month so far in the race.
