August 29th,2016 Day 6- Israel trip

August 29^th, 2016 Day six
The morning of the 28^th our tour guide that is with Christian Friends of Israeli Communities came to pick us up. So many spots that we were driving past had history from the Bible. One mountain he pointed out to us was where Jeraboam was talked about in 1 King 1. It amazed me that day how much Israel is filled with history from the Bible and other times. There are also a lot of hitch hikers along the road and because Israelies/Jews don’t want a bad Muslim to pick them up and do something bad to them usually they try to pick a hitch hiker up right away or a solider stands with the person. I thought that was so thoughtful of the people here.

When we were in Samaria, we visited the CFOIC headquarters with the director Sandra, visited a lookout spot in her community, visited a community fire and police station, and had lunch at a small building where a man that used to be in the IDF opened up on one of the army bases. When the owner was apart of the IDF there wasn’t a place at the base to sit down, eat food, relax, watch tv etc. and that is why he opened up the restaurant. After lunch, our friends Nick and Drew met up with us and we all piled into Mickey’s car. Literally, my sister was on my lap and Drew was on top of Nick. We stopped at an overlook at Har Bracah (Mount of Blessings). It was so cool to be on there and see what it actually talks about in Deut. 11:29. We over looked the tomb where Joseph is buried. You can’t go down there unless you have an IDF solider with you and in the middle of the night because it is in a major Muslim/ Arab village where they have had terrorist attacks. We also saw where Jacob’s well is- under a mosque now. Then we went to the HaYovel base!!! After so many years of my friends coming back and telling me all about HaYovel we were finally able to go there for a short little bit. We saw a few of the vineyards that they have planted. HaYovel is doing so many great things there, and are assisting numerous farmers plant, prune, and harvest the vineyards. Here's their website: http://www.hayovel.com/ By doing this, they are helping to contribute millions of dollars into the Israeli economy and are truly blessing the land and people of Israel. We saw some of our friends from CO there, and met new and really nice people. When we went to the HaYovel base I got a sense of joy. I just felt so overjoyed there! The people were some of the friendliest people I have ever met and it just was a huge blessing to finally be there.

 We then toured a winery in the community of Har Bracha that HaYovel brings some of the grapes to after harvesting. This Israeli winemaker has received many international awards and they, along with other Israeli vinemakers have beaten out some of the most popular award winning wine companies, including ones from Europe.  Across from the winery, was a daycare center that we toured. All of these stops were to help us experience firsthand a Jewish community. The area was thriving with homes, a school, community center, library, stores, synagogue, police station and more. The people were delightful to interact with. Hundreds of people lived in this one community that are part of what the world calls, the “west bank” and wants eliminated. Hearing the news, but seeing for ourselves are two different stories.

We then went to Shiloh. We walked by walls that were actually there during the Bible, and saw where the tabernacle stood. It was so incredible to see where the tabernacle was and where God’s presence was a cloud in the day and fire by night.

Then we drove to a community called Bet-El where we went on a tower to overlook the spot that Abraham saw when he came to the land of Isarel and God said “this is the land that I am giving to you and your descendants forever.” Gen 3:15 and Deut. 1:8. Then we drove past Hebrew University where my sister went to college and finally we went to the Mount of Olives. We overlooked all of Jerusalem and saw where the temple mount is. We arrived there just in time too because the sun was setting. Where we stood on the Mount of Olives is where a major Muslim area is located. I noticed in the Muslim/Arab towns the people are rude, not considerate, and they only have their signs in Arabic. But in the Jewish quarter they are friendly, kind, very clean, welcoming, they aren’t yelling at you, and they put their signs in Hebrew, English and Arab so they’re trying to create a welcoming environment for people.

Mickey dropped us off, we headed back toward the Old City of Jerusalem. We saw the Western Wall all lit up and walked through the park to Aroma. I love that the city comes alive at night. After we got our coffee we went back to the park, saw children playing in the fountains and there was so much laughter. That was such a great day and one of my favorites while in Jerusalem.