Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat Shalom!! (Happy Sabbath!)
Shabbat is definitely one of my favorite things about living in Israel. There's nothing to compare it to, really. I always imagined that it would be somber and dull, but it's actually a joyful celebration, a restful time to reflect on God's Word and His goodness. After a very busy week, all of us-IBEXers, the profs and their families, the moshav members and volunteers, and whoever else happens to be at the moshav- gather around the dining room on Friday evening and welcome the Shabbat by singing in Hebrew, reading Scripture, and singing blessings over the Shabbat bread and wine. Then we all eat and fellowship together over a special (kosher, of course) Shabbat dinner. After that, we head to chapel, where we praise God in song and a guest speaker or prof comes to preach the Word to us. On Saturday we go to a Messianic Jewish church in Jerusalem and worship along with over a hundred believers in Yeshua from all around the world. After the service you can go to the Old City and hang out all afternoon. So much fun.

What else...

• Women's Bible study started on Tuesday. There are 5 women (mostly professors' wives) who teach us from God's Word and then we split up into prayer groups and share in sweet fellowship and prayer. This has definitely been an answer to prayer. My prayer group leader is a Proverbs 31 woman of God. I'm so excited to learn from her and from the other girls in my group.
• Hebrew is hard. And humbling. But praise God for the opportunity to learn it.
• We had our first overnight field trip this week. At night we went to the Israel Museum where we saw a huge model of what Jerusalem looked like in Jesus' day, and then got to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were absolutely fascinating. God has been SO gracious to preserve external evidence of the internal truth of His Word. Next, we went to the Western (Wailing) Wall. I was not prepared for how much it would affect me. Seeing all of those women praying so fervently, one of them literally wailing, many of them younger than me, and knowing that they will perish without Yeshua, brought tears to my eyes. Pray for the veil to be lifted from these people's eyes. Finally, we went through the Western Wall underground tunnel, and got to see what the disciples were talking about when they pointed to the stones on the temple and marveled... one of the rocks was forty feet long and weighed 600 tons! It was definitely something to marvel about, and still is today.
  
• The next morning we got up early and headed to the Temple Mount. The first thing I noticed was how BIG it was. As we learned about the temple, I realized that the image I had always had of it, if I had any at all, was completely wrong. The second thing I noticed was the trees. Lots of trees. Psalm 92 says that the righteous will flourish like trees in God's house. Those trees are vital because they provided shade to the thousands of pilgrims that came to the temple three times a year (cf Psalm 121). We noticed the difference immediately when we stood outside of Huldah's gate on the Southern entrance to the temple with no shade whatsoever, in the scorching heat. We also had a sweet time of prayer where the Court of the Women used to be, and meditated on how alienated we once were as Gentiles. Gentiles couldn't even come as far as we were sitting- there was a gate past which they were forbidden to enter- but now we have been brought near through the blood of Christ, and can enter the "Holy of Holies." The veil truly has been torn in two.
  Another part of the field trip I loved was when we all stood in a line with our Bible in front of Huldah's gate and read the Songs of Ascent which the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem used to pray through. It was such a neat time of reflection.
  
• Today we started a prayer group for missions. Living in a different culture- two, really... the Arab culture plays a huge part in everyday life here- opens your eyes like never before to how lost the world is. Pray for missionaries to come to Israel, and those who are already here. I have met four in the last two days, and they are suffering for Christ. Praise the Lord for them.
• I miss you all and would love to hear from you! Write me some time!!