Day 10 - Jerusalem

Oh oh oh woke up today. Not really wanting to get up though. Lol. I felt like I didn't get much sleep. So I did the whole morning getting up thing and shower and food and stuff. Today we had to be business casual, which means I woke khakis and a button up shirt tucked in. That was so much fun. And I didn't look at my hair in the mirror, and usually when I do that, it looks good. Today, not so much. :-)

We first went to meet the mayor of Jerusalem. He, however, had to meet with the Prime Minister, because yesterday was the last day the Knesset was in session. Therefore, he was delayed and we didn't get to meet him at all, but we bonded with his secretary, whose name escapes me. She is from Switzerland and we shared with her where we went to school and our our "target" in life. Some people were a little to "Christian" about their target - and we got a talk afterwards about that. After we met with her for about an hour, we went back to the hotel right away to meet with a man named Joe Hyams. He works with the company, Honest Reporting, which does its best to correct falsified Isaeli accounts and biased media analysises. We saw a lot of distorted images and then the real ones. He was a very compelling speaker. He said we need to be in the Golden Hour and correct distortions as soon as they are printed…and not a week later.

After that, we jumped right back in the bus and went to the Shalem Center. We had about 20 minutes to find something to eat. I got a falafel with french fries on top. It was good - but I practically inhaled in on the way to the Shalem Center. The speaker, Michael Oren, was fantastic. He talked about how the founders of our nation, such as Franklin and Lincoln, Jefferson too, were all in favor of helping establish a Jewish nation. They were all Zionists. Actually, when discussing the national emblem, Frankin and Jefferson pushed heavily for an emblem of the exodus, with Moses leading the people to freedom. They considered themselves part of the "Jewish story" as they had escaped oppression in "Egypt" (England) but this emblem was a close second to the Eagle holding 13 arrows. There is so much rich history in our country in trying to establish a Zionist state. It was a great lecture.

After that, we didn't have time to go back to the hotel, so after a 20 minute break (of getting non-dairy McDonalds ice cream cone) we went to David's City. It was really cool. I don't have pictures cuase my camera lens has something on it right now (don't worry - I'll get it off soon). Anyway, it was cool. We saw Hezekiah's tunnel, and David's palace (the remains anyway). We also saw the water source that we think was crucial in David capturing Jerusalem in the first place. It was really neat to see how small Jerusalem was in that time (it was definitely possible to see how David could see Bathsheba from his roof) - and no I'm not strange for thinking about it since there were about 4 different questions about where Uriah lived.

After that, we came back and had dinner with MASHED POTATOES! Beef, chicken, bread and hummus were other options. All so good.

I keep saying "after that" so I'm gonna stop. Following dinner, we had a meeting with David Parsons, who works for ICEJ. He spoke about God's promises being faithful to Israel. It was a good message. God promised Abraham the land and the land belongs to the Jews. God used me to speak a word to someone. And after that, we were given instructions for tomorrow. God is just doing a lot of confirming in my spirit about things and just drawing me closer to Him through this entire experience.

Tomorrow we are going to Sderot (which is near the Gaza Strip) so keep us in prayer. We are staying in a huge tent tomorrow tonight as a group in the middle of the desert…SWEEEET!

Blessings to all. I must go pack.

Shalom from Jerusalem.