Moments of the Heart : January 2017

Pictures from September 6th, 2016- day 14 of Israel trip

My favorite tea in the whole world!!

This is kind of random, but I was holding our friends pet turtle. He he ;)

Caution: camels crossing

Actual camels crossing, you really don't see this everyday.

View on top of Masada

He was writing Torah scrolls on top of Masada in a special room, it was really cool.

Some of Masada

IDF soldiers in Tel- Aviv

Some of Jaffa where Jonah got swallowed in the whale.

My sister and I playing in the water

The next day: some Jewish guys in the airport

You don't see these in airports.

We were all so sad to leave Israel.

September 6th, 2016 Day 14- Israel trip

September 6^th, 2016- Day 14, last full day in Israel
We visited another historical place that day, oh, and I tasted the best tea I’ve ever had in my life that morning. We drove to Masada, and took a gondala up to the mountain . You can hike up there but they had to close the path because it was dangerously hot outside that day. Masada is called “a fortress on a hill” and boy it was a fortress. It was so hot up there to the point we had sweat dripping down our backs! It was crazy. Up on the mount there was a 360 view of the Dead Sea, mountains, valleys and canyons. It was amazing up there. If you want to learn more about the fortress of Masada and what happened up there I highly suggest you to look it up. Masada is where the Romans came in, attacked a small community of Jewish freedom fighters. The Jewish rebels couldn’t get out so they committed suicide instead. It’s a very sad story but there are many thought provoking and inspirational aspects to think about there.

Then we drove to Tel Aviv and stayed in a Messianc guest house. Tel Aviv kind of reminded me of Nashville, it’s a very busy modern city. Our family walked down to the Mediterranean sea and my little sister and I jumped in the waves, splashed each other, laughed, goofed off and even played a little bit with a dog there. It reminded me of when my sister and I were younger and we would go to South Carolina. We had a blast with each other and I think my parents enjoyed watching us ;) Jaffa, a town by the sea, is where Jonah was swallowed up by the fish and where a lady named Tabitha, who my younger sister is named after, was from. For our last night, we ate our last pita and hummus in Isarel from a very nice man and it was soooo good!! The next day we got up early, headed to the airport and flew back home. By Mom, sister, and I cried on the plane as we were taking off. Part of our heart was left in Israel, and we believe it’s the first of hopefully many times that we will go back there.

I had such a blessed time in Israel. My heart was touched in many different ways. The Bible came alive for me, God spoke to me, and He has brought to my attention things that were in my life that weren’t honoring to Him and I need to take them out of my life. I was transformed in so many different ways there and I look forward to 1. when I can go back to

Israel

and 2. When the return of our Messiah occurs. If there’s any way possible, I’d recommend every Believer try to go to Israel at least once in your life. It was one of the best things I have ever done in my life. I was changed, it is beautiful there, the people are so nice, it’s not what the media portrays and the Bible will truly come alive for you. Someday I will be back, but until then, I will continue to pray for the peace/shalom of Israel and say “Am Yisrael Chai!”- “The people of Israel live.”

Pictures from September 5th, Day 13- Israel trip

You don't see this everyday along the road

You also don't see this in a McDonald's parking lot everyday.

My sister and I ready for the hike

In the falls

My mom sister and me

My dad sister and me

Floating in the Dead Sea

At he Dead Sea. My dad asked me not to post a picture of us all covered in mud, sorry. You get this instead :)

Ummm, this isn't very helpful for foreigners. Lol!

The lowest point on earth

September 5th, day 13- Israel trip

September 5^th, 2016- Day 13
We headed out that morning from the Sea of Galilee and drove several hours south to the Negev Desert. On our way, we followed a gigantic army tank, and we saw a young boy leading his camels with his donkey… you don’t see that everyday in America. You know when you are really close to Jordan when you get a text from Verizon saying “Welcome to Jordan.” Along the road there was so much green and produce which was so exciting to see. We stopped off to Qumran caves where a shepherd boy found the dead sea scrolls and where a community of Jews lived. It was so hot so we didn’t stay there long but it was fascinating going there. Then we drove to Ein Gedi, a gorgeous park with mountains and beautiful falls where David hid from Saul and where he wrote many of the Psalms. We had a blast there!!! Our family all walked under the falls, hiked a little, got wet again, and hiked some more to the huge falls. We went through caves that had moss and then tada! There were the huge falls! We couldn’t go in certain areas but the ones that you could go in were a blast! We had so much laughter and it was nice to get wet after being sweaty. Then we drove a bit more and arrived at the Dead Sea! There was so much salt there it was sitting on top of the water in big clumps. We changed into our swimsuits. Then it was so fun and strange just floating on top of water. You don’t get to do that everyday! Our family then plastered mud on ourselves that we had purchased to experience the healing effects of the mud/salt mixture. After washing it off, your skin is very smooth. We had so much laughter that very busy day. It was a blast! Then we went to a new friends house, had an incredible Israeli spread of food for dinner outside on their veranda and went to sleep early. It was such a memorable day.

Pictures from September 4th, day 12-Israel trip

The guys fixing the cars.

My new friend playing a song for me in Spanish

An artifact from the Bible times

One of the synagogues

She was following after her daddy, it was so cute!

The painting in the worship center

The worship center

❤️❤️❤️

Three layers of blue on the Sea of Galilee 💙💙💙

Me and my family where Yeshua most likely stood talked about Fishers of Men

Fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, yum!

Mount of Beattitudes

The Jordan river

Here's a video from YouTube that the Aliyah Return Center put together of our tour day. Hope you enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr4vVRQ0FnY

September 4th, day 12- Israel trip

September 4^th, 2016- Day 12
We headed out that morning with new friends that we met from New Zealand who were also staying at the Aliyah Return Center. They have three children and their sweet little daughters have the most adorable accents ever. We visited a mountain that has caves where Yeshua would have walked toward Jerusalem, and many other historical and archeological sites. Our family was riding in Chaim, our tour guide’s car and it wouldn’t re-start at the gas station. So we had to drop off his car at a dealership and then he went with us in our rental car. While we were waiting for Chaim we went to “The Juice Man” shop. He was a nice older Jewish man that knew my older sister. Right when we walked up he was like “wait a second, you’re Alexandra’s family aren’t you?” It was so funny! He let me juice an Israeli pomegranate and apple and he sang a song while playing on the guitar for us… in Spanish. Lol, it was great!

We headed over to Magdala where Mary Magdalene was from. The excavators there found a synagogue, house, original coins, a stone that has really cool meanings to it, and a water channel. The synagogue they suspect is the first one Yeshua would have spoken in. One of the biggest highlights from the trip was seeing spots that are talked about in the Bible. The Bible really came alive for me in the Sea of Galilee area and a stronger, deeper passion grew inside of me. Also in Magdala, we toured around in a worship center they is being built. Downstairs was a beautiful painting of Yeshua’s feet when the lady came, touched His cloak and was immediately was healed. Our tour guide told us the story of a family from Iran who came to that place and the children were so scared from all the bombings that were happening in their area. Our guide had them write/draw their biggest fears. Then she told them to put the paper on the ground, stomp all over it and then they were to put it below the painting signifying that Yeshua’s power protects them. They can stomp all over the evil one for “perfect love, God’s love, casts out fear”. I thought that was a very powerful testimony especially because I’ve dealt with a lot of fear in the past.

Upstairs several of us stood around a ceramic bowl where the best acoustics were and sang a worship song with each other. There was beautiful harmony and the acoustics were fantastic in there. It was powerful. Before lunch we visited where the thousands of people stood while Yeshua multiplied the fish and the bread. Even though it was really great to be there, they also have a Catholic church built beside where the miracle happened. This happens throughout Israel, and these sites become commercialized, which is very disappointing.

After visiting Magdala, Chaim took us to dip our feet in the Sea of Galilee where Yeshua talked to His disciples in Matthew 4:19 saying, “I will make you fishers of men.” Next, we had lunch at a Christian restaurant where Chaim ordered a whole fish-head and tail included. When his fish came out he said, “oh look, I found Dory.” It was so funny! Afterwards, we went to Capernaum. We saw where Peter’s house was. It was large for that time and was like a maze. Then we went to the Mount of Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-12). On the mountain there is a beautiful view overlooking the Sea of Galilee and just imagining thousands of people standing there listening to Yeshua speaking. The Mount of Beatitudes was my favorite spot we visited that day and one of my favorites on the whole trip. It was a really powerful and touching moment to be there.

Chaim then took us to the Jordan river where Yeshua was possibly baptized. We were going to be baptized there too but it was closed off. It sits beside a location that buses of tourists come to be baptized with buying a white robe and receiving a certificate and also. That was way to impersonal for us. Secondly, there was another spot along the river Chaim showed us, but there was a restaurant and youth gathering. It was very loud, so we decided to go elsewhere, and do our mikvah (baptism) in the Sea of Galilee. Chaim left us so we went by ourselves. I think it was more special and meaningful to me to get baptized in the Sea because of all that happened on the Sea. I had a very powerful time doing my mikvah where you essentially just lower yourself under the water. My soul was renewed and I could feel my Abba Father smiling down on me. I’m not going to share what my heart felt because that is private to me. But I just want to say that it was a really special moment. If you ever come to Isarel and you want to be/get baptized I highly suggest doing it. We had a blessed day that day.