Israel Day 6

Today we went to the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust History Museum. This site impacted me so much. It was an emotional, gut wrenching, heart breaking place. Yet, there was light at the end of the tunnel.
You can read more about my thoughts by clicking here: Yad Vashem.


I only have a few pictures from our visit there, due to not being able to take pictures at every exhibit. Here are a few from our time there, including one of Gidon seeing the name of a family member. It was very moving.

Afterward we had a delicious lunch. The food in Israel is incredible. While on this trip I was eating gluten free, egg free, dairy free, and even coffee free. Those restrictions have since been taken away and I want go back to drink copious amounts of coffee and eat without those restrictions.

                  

Then we visited another museum and saw various models of ancient Jerusalem and many other things. While I loved seeing the items, my favorite part of this time was watching Trey teach us. His love for G-d and his passion for teaching are evident and inspiring.

The Hebrew letter Shin easily seen here in the model of Jerusalem

Next, we went to church at King of Kings Community Jerusalem. I loved it. This was something I had been looking forward to the entire trip. I often listened to this church service and was thrilled to be there in person.


             

Pastor Trey asked if anyone wanted to take a walk to the Kotel, the Western Wall. A few of us joined him for what should have been a 2.5 mile walk from our hotel, but on the way there we took an extended trek. We enjoyed observing the normality of the evening happening around us and the night air. We had a wonderful time with lots of laughs. On one of the streets, Trey stated, "This is the scary place your friends and family warned you about." In fact, it was so scary I was blessed with a free water and free juice from two different Arab store owners. I felt safe, comfortable, and at home. And one of the store owners, which was a friend of Trey's, gave my now good friend and "sister" and I grounds for giving Trey a hard time, which continues to this day. Laughter is very good medicine. Here are a few picture from our walking adventure:

And that is a wrap for day 6.

Israel Day 5

On this day 2 years ago our day was spent walking through various areas of Jerusalem, including the 4 quarters. We walked through an outdoor mall toward the Western Wall and Jaffa gate. We walked through the Jewish Quarter, observing kids and families playing. We saw a beautifully constructed golden menorah, built by the Temple Institute. As we sat there watching, we were reminded that we were seeing prophecy right before our eyes. It states in Zechariah 8:4-5 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.".

After our short stop in the square, we made it to the wall. Praying there was so moving. Tears ran down my face. People had given me notes to place in the crevices and I prayed as I placed them. We don't have to travel to Israel to have an experience with G-d, but having an experience with Him at the Wall, in His land is priceless.

We stopped at the Pool of Bethesda, from John 5, and listened to Trey teach us from that chapter.
We walked the Via Dolorosa. We went to the church of the Holy Sepulcher. Gidon and his wife Devra showed us various things in the Jewish Quarter. We visited the Upper Room and the tomb of David on Mt. Zion. We toured the Friends of Zion museum, which was amazing and very well put together.

Everything we did today was amazing.

We ended our day with guest speakers Elan and Rivkah Adler. I laughed so hard tears filled my eyes and I learned a lot. I also purchased the book, Ten From the Nations. I suggest reading the book and finding out more information on the website.

It was a good day.  Below you will see various pictures from our walk.