October 24th , 2016- Day 3 in Jerusalem, August 26th

August 26^th, 2016- Day 3

After another wonderful breakfast, for the morning, we  went to the Western wall (the Kotel) for the Kotel tunnel tour – which is underneath the western wall. I felt very safe there especially because there are police and IDF soldiers everywhere. Our tour in the Kotel tunnel was so fascinating and our tour guide was so funny. She even made a couple of jokes about Sound of Music and not a lot of people got the joke because there were very few Americans there. She was Jewish and was originally from Wisconsin, but made Aliyah to Israel 10 years ago. This might seem silly but I never was really interested in the Western Wall before and I didn’t know why so many Jews cling to that wall. Well, on the tour I found out the western wall (especially one spot in the tunnel) is about a size of a football field about from where the Holy of Holies was located and the Jewish people want to be as close to God as possible. A majority of the tunnel is located under the Muslim quarter and we couldn’t do one part of the tour because it was Friday and that is the Muslim’s day of prayer so they had it locked off.

That trip, and even more on the third day, we had so many unfathomable moments that I don’t think I could ever express how my heart was touched. After the tour, went to pray at the Western Wall. Men and women are separated by a wall. My dad went to the men side and mom, my sister and I all headed to the ladies side for the Western Wall to pray. I wish we had more time there to pray and read our Bibles but the time that we did have was so special and meaningful. God really spoke to my heart there and many more places in Israel. Although the wall is a special place to be, I am so thankful that I can experience fellowship with God any time, any where because of my relationship to God through the blood of Yeshua.

We had lunch again in the Jewish Quarter and we went to a shop where my mom asked a lady for help with her phone. Mom also wanted to confirm directions to a meeting spot for later in the day,  that we were to meet our hosts for our Shabbat dinner at “Shabbat of a Lifetime”. The Jewish lady had made Aliyah to Israel  from New York so she spoke  English very well. She let us try to call our hosts on her phone and she told us exactly where to go because she lived only two doors down from our designated meeting spot with our hosts. She was so sweet and we were thankful for her sweetness and kindness. We later changed in our nice clothes for Shabbat and headed out on our walking adventure to the meet up place. All the Jewish people were out walking in their nice clothing to the synagogues and there were barely any cars out driving around since Jews don’t drive on Shabbat and we were at sundown. We came to the possible destination, in the dark, alone-wondering and hoping this was the spot, although we were the only tourists there. Then behold comes down the road our dear new friend that we had met in the shop to make sure we were ok and safe. She had such a thoughtful and concerned heart! We kept telling her that she was our Guardian angel. The Israeli’s we interacted with were all so kind and all of them have such a communal relationship with each other. I immediately felt like most people around me, even if I didn’t now them, were my family.

Our host eventually came and we went to their lovely home. Having Shabbat dinner with an orthodox Jewish couple was very unique and  special. I’ve never done that before so it was a memorable experience. The food was amazing, and the company was great. One of the Jewish ladies was asking us a lot of our beliefs, how we do Shabbat, celebrate the feasts etc.  Yet she knew we are Christians because we believe in Yeshua—yet we were sensitive in how and how much we spoke of  this. We are trying to build bridges with people who are Jewish and hopefully put a new face of Christianity before them. We shared  our many beliefs and observances of the Torah—so much that she said, “Are you sure you’re not Jewish?” She was confused but I hope we started a little flame of curiosity  within her. In Romans, it talks about provoking the Jews to jealousy. I think this happens, when there are Believers in Yeshua following  the commandments, even more faithfully than many Jews do, and showing great love and acceptance of our Jewish brethren. There are many secular Jews who  are 2x a year synagogue-goer Jews who observe Passover and Yom Kippur just like there are 2x a year church goers that only go on Easter and Christmas.  Our hosts however, were very observant, Orthodox Jews though not the ultra –orthodox with black coats, hats, and curls.  At the dinner, even though we have a different belief system than them, different view on politics we could all still talk with love. Sharing our believes freely and even though there’s the sad history of destruction of Jews in the name of Christianity  during the Crusades and Holocaust they had so much acceptance and love towards us. It was so nice. After dinner they took us up on their roof top and we had an amazing view of Jerusalem. We saw everything up there… it was incredible and breath taking. What a lovely night it was and a great experience. We headed back to our hotel at 2:30am… Jews sure do love to fellowship on Shabbat. It was great!