Sunday, August 3

Spent most of the day with our friends, me typing addresses and contact info (which by the way is not the easiest when each country has their own system/order of writing and I am not familiar with the names and format, especially of phone numbers). I feel very SLOW.

We attended King of Kings Community Church in downtown Jerusalem in the evening. We took a bus since we did not have time to walk. It reminded us very much of Lighthouse Christian Church in Puyallup with a Hebrew flare. It was large, vibrant, and filled with people that love Yeshua. The thing that really impacted us, though, was a visiting pastor from Uganda who was asked to pray. He got up on the platform, a tall dark man dressed in a full suit and tie, and when he began praying he immediately dropped to his knees and besought God in the most powerful way I have ever heard. It was one of those prayers that shakes the throne of God. Soon the pastor of King of Kings was on his knees, too, hands clasped with his co-laborer. I couldn't stop the flow of tears that dripped onto my shirt as I heard him plead with God to bring all the nations together and to bring peace to the city of Jerusalem. It was unforgettable.

Impressions from Dave:

1. Last week we ate at a restaurant in Eilat called Sabrest. We thought the name was a shortened form of 'Sabbath Rest,' but upon sitting down and reading our placemats, we discovered the name really means 'native Israeli.' The main picture on the placemat was of a prickly pear cactus, which grow well in Israel. It then proceeded to describe in both Hebrew and English all the characteristics of that cactus, including nutritional value, medicinal value, and its ability to survive in harsh environments and to protect itself. It then said that the prickly pear cactus pretty well describes the Israeli people. They have an outer protective shell to keep strangers (which have usually turned out to be enemies) away, but if treated kindly (watered) they can become a tremendous blessing to the person (or country) that nurtures that relationship.

2. We visited the Yad VaShem Memorial, a tribute to those that lost their lives in the holocaust, this week. Diane shares in a fuller way in the July 28 post, but for those of you who are wondering how this can happen, I would recommend a powerful book, "Ordinary Men." Every living person that could be located, that had been involved in any way in the holocaust, was interviewed. It's one of those 'need to read' books if you want to understand yourself better.

3. Last week we visited the new King David Museum in the middle of the Old City. The docent was dressed in traditional Orthodox garb and hair style, but he still allowed us to take a picture of him. He spoke extremely good English (which was one of the reasons he was hired) and it turned out he had lived in the Seattle/Tacoma area for the 20 years prior to his 'aliyah' to Israel. Needless to say, we hit it off really well. Diane felt we should give him an Indian name of 'Talks-a-Lot, the Second.' We agreed on almost everything except who the Messiah is (usually a stumbling block with Israeli people). He believes there needs to be a huge 'aliyah' (Jewish people moving back to Israel) to usher in the Messiah's return. I have to agree wtih him, however he thinks it will be the first return of Messiah and I think it will be the second. We exchanged calling cards and I hope our paths cross again.

4. Lastly, I feel compelled to share about the 'horn honking' in Israel. Again, it describes their 'prickly pear' culture. We had a Brazilian Jewish Christian college student join us at the Shabbot meal on Friday evening and he had us all in 'stitches' as he described it. He said his Brazilian culture is pretty assertive, but the Israeli culture is a whole new level. If you even look like you might be thinking of trying to cross the road in front of an Israeli driver they honk. If you are just innocently walking down the street, a taxi will honk at you, just in case you might want a ride. The only time they don't honk at you is if you are passing them (which is highly unlikely because everybody speeds in Israel). If there is a long line at a red light, everyone honks. Our local Israeli leader summed it up when he said, "If your horn breaks down, you park your car."

Until next time, "Keep your stick on the ice."

Dave