Friday and Saturday

November 7, 2008

We made it! It all happened as I mentioned in the previous post, but God brought it all together. We landed in Newark at about 10:30pm, but both gates were changed! Instead of being 100 gates apart we were only 7! So RD and C ran ahead to the departure gate and all was well.

The flight was long! It actually wasn’t as bad as we anticipated, just the extreme lack of room made it difficult (they give you the same room for an international flight that they do for regular domestic economy flights). No one slept much, but we’re all hoping to remedy that tonight!

We are 7 hours ahead of you in time, so we landed at our breakfast time, got off the plane and ate dinner – now we’re prepping for bed.

The events of the day… We arrived in Tel Aviv, met the team assigned to the area and they took us to our apartment in the city. In order to get to our area we had to drive through two Israeli checkpoints, but had no problems at all. After getting in to the apartment and eating dinner the team briefed us on the culture and history of the area (the details are too great to go over on the blog, but we’ll cover what we learned when we come home – suffice it to say, it’s unbelievable!).

It has been a very surreal experience thus far. In briefing us, the team mentioned several of their ministries in cities like Jericho, Bethlehem, Emmaus (seen in Luke 24:13-36), etc. (CRAZY!). Tomorrow we will be heading to Emmaus, Jerusalem (to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed prior to going to the cross, to pray together) and will prayer walk our city with our team. We will also bring some food vouchers to a Palestinian family as well as plan a mid-week event for the church we will attend on Sunday.

Again, I apologize for the lack of specifics, but my first post explains why. We love you all – thank you for your prayers!!


FROM P:In talking with the team here we were overcome with a sense of grief of the power struggles that exist. Things that we take for granted (going to church whenever or wherever we want, churches working together, marriage, etc… we’ll explain more when we come home) are near impossible tasks here. Their team has many obstacles that are far greater than we anticipated.

Pray for us as we work to encourage the team we are working with, as well as the church that is already moving and at work here. This team is completely at the mercy of God and His blessing. It’s amazing to see the difference in prayer. At home churches talk about prayer… here they depend on it. Please pray for us, the team here, the people here and for a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit!


November 8, 2008

Today’s been an awesome day of prayer! We went to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-36) and prayed over Central Israel from its spectacular view. In it was a Catholic Church run by two Franciscan Monks who gave us a tour of their Crusade-era church! Remarkable!
We then went to the Tomb of Samuel (the Old Testament Prophet from 1 and 2 Samuel). In it are a Synagogue (with young Jewish men in training) and a Mosque… very unusual, but interesting to see. From the roof top we could see all of Israel and Palestine and so we took some time to pray over the land. There is much hurt and animosity here between the Israelis and Palestinians. From the roof we could see the Separation Wall (dividing Palestinian and Israeli territories) and knowing the history our hearts poured out for the people. During that time I (C) read the following passage (READ THIS – very applicable to what we see here):

At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh, He did away with the law of the commandments in regulations, so that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. [He did this so] that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross and put the hostility to death by it. When [Christ] came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:12-20)

We then headed to Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. While I could easily fill pages of paragraphs full of details of what we saw and experienced, here’s a simplified version: Mt. Moriah (2 Chron. 3:1), Mt. Zion (Last Supper location and more), Garden of Gethsemane (where Christ prayed before being arrested and crucified), Caiaphas’ house, the prison where Jesus was likely held and beat during His arrest (as well as the disciples later), Dome of the Rock (the traditional location of Mohammed’s ascension), Temple Mount (where the Temple was – now it is the location of Dome of the Rock), Augusta Victoria (one place where it is thought Christ may have ascended to heaven – Acts 1), the Blood Field/Potter’s Field (bought with the blood money received by Judas) and more.

We did not travel into Jerusalem yet, but will another day. Today was a day devoted to prayer. It is a very amazing and surreal experience praying in this Land. We have thoroughly enjoyed praying together and reading together the Word as we have traveled. The stories we’ve heard so far have truly broken our hearts. The state of life, faith and such here are unimaginable.

From CJ:
We have seen the desperate need personnel in the field have for money. The Christmas offering in particular makes a very big difference. The team here said it is where they get ALL of their resources for the entire year.

Most of us (P was snoring quite loud and drowned it out – so he missed it) were woke up at about 4am this morning to a Muslim call to Prayer over a P.A. system throughout the city. There is so much to see, and it is completely overwhelming… the need for Christ is unbelievable.

Hearing what CJ has written, P has requested I post the following:
CJ makes fun of me for my snoring, but C fell asleep within 5 seconds of getting in the van today. I was talking to the brother for 3 minutes easy and he wasn’t responding. I asked CJ what was wrong and he said “C has passed out back here. He even fell on my shoulder.” lol

How to Pray:

- For the church service tomorrow (P is teaching)

- For the midweek event that we are helping plan (details are unable to be posted).

- For the people’s hearts – THIS IS THE BIGGEST!

- For the founder of the church here (she is ailing from MS and Alzheimer’s)

NOTE: I apologize, but due to time restrictions I could not post pics, but will try tomorrow or Monday.