Sunday, November 14, 2010

...written on their faces...

It was an emotional day for me - and for others as well. Each one of us had moments today that took our breath away. Sometimes I heard the moments in verbal gasps and other times I could just look at someone's face and see it. Kim E's moment I believe was in Saint Anne's church. Pastor Blakes and the Wagners, the Wall. Everyone has had their moments today of awe. We started the day early to get in line to clear security to enter the Temple Mount. We were pleasantly surprised how quickly the line moved and we soon found ourselves standing right next to the Dome of the Rock, Al Aqsa Mosque and the back side of the Eastern Gate! If you ever read my previous blogs you might know that the Eastern Gate is a favorite of mine - and - to be able to stand so close to it is always such a thrill for me that I feel 16years old all over again. (giggly!) Yes, as you can see the gate is sealed!



The reason it's sealed is facinating and you simply must come here to find out why! Let's just put it this way...No amount of cement and rock will keep Jesus from returning through this gate when He returns! Nice Try!

From there we went to the Pools of Bethesda and a stop in Saint Anne's Church for some beautiful singing inside an ancient church made for fabulous acoustics. While we were there we noticed that John Hagee was up front singing and praying for people! It was quite a moment for some people.




Look at Anne's face...She's pretty thrilled don't you think?





Walking the stations of the cross was touching and and also an exciting adventure! The Old City market was crazy busy! It's normally crazy but add the "busy" to it and wow!








Hair cut anyone?


At the end of the day Pastor Blakes blessed us with words God provided to him and I could see it on some faces that when he described the day and God's hand on it, that they agreed and felt it too. Off to bed with wonder on how the next day could top this one...
Shalom,
Kim

Saturday, November 13, 2010

More pictures!

Here's more pictures from the day. After dinner we were taken to David's Citadel and watched a very moving sound and light show, then walked to the Western Wall! It was awesome to see the Western Wall at night!


Dinner is over but great conversations with new friends keep going...









Love this picture of Johnnie Mae taken after she was baptised in the Jordan River! Praise the Lord!


And of course... METV is here in the hotel and Dr. Sumrall's teachings as well...


Yawn... early morning tomorrow...must sleep! More tomorrow!

Kim

Jerusalem!

Wow- Israel is jam packed with tourists! I read that over 1 million tourists traveled to Israel in just the first 4 monts alone but now I see with my own eyes the number of tour buses and people from all over the world. They are here! Here with the same purpose. It's so awesome to pass another group...from another part of the world. I love to say Hello and it seems the only way we can communicate is "God Bless You" and I get choked up thinking about how all these people from all over the world are here for the same reason I am - we are truely brothers and sisters in Christ! Whoo Hoo!

Our day started off at Mount Scopus where we took bus photo's and a group photo. It's also a good spot to start and try to get a grasp of where we are, logistically. Then we moved up to the Mount of Olives and walked the Palm Sunday route to the Garden of Gethsemane. JESUS WAS HERE! He prayed here so often! WOW!!!

Here are some pictures... more to come!

Bus #1 - Ami's bus -(below) They were too busy laughing at Ami than my picture! Good thing we had a professional photographer there. Look at those smiles! I love it!




Bus #2 - Eli's bus (above)- You guys did the best job with "visit Israel, you'll never be the same" - I bet you make it on TV when we put the next program together! Fun!!


And Bus #3 - Mark's bus - You guys are WILD! You made me laugh! Look at the smiles!




Eli, Bus #2 tells his group about the Old City walls, explains where the Garden of Gethsemene is from here and how it relates to where the Garden Tomb is...etc. It's a good starting point!


Alfreda Noble -I love your hat! She just bought it from a vender on Mount Scopus! Beautiful!



More pictures and details to come. I just had a few moments so I wanted to share these!
Blessings!
Kim

Friday, November 12, 2010

Arrival into Jerusalem

Today was a big day! We packed and loaded and drove and walked and ate and walked and took pictures and laughed and walked and prayed and drove and walked and took pictures and listened and arrived into Jerusalem with a dramatic welcome singing..."JER - U - SALEM! JER - U - SALEM!" Wow what a fantastic goose pimply way to arrive to the most significate city on earth! The son of God came to Jerusalem and died here...for us. And WE ARE HERE!

We are HERE!

We unloaded, learned about Shabbat...waited for elevators and unpacked and ate and settled into our new hotel here in Jerusalem. Tomorrow morning our day starts with a group picture and the Mount of Olives...and our first time to really gaze on the Eastern Gate and imagine Christ's return.

I was so busy tonight getting everyone checked in and settled in that I forgot my camera...forgive me! I promise to have LOTS of pictures tomorrow!

Here's a few from the past dinners...



Pastor R. C. Blakes spoke briefly on our day while in Tiberias -


Stay tuned to hear about our exciting adventure tomorrow!

Shabbat Shalom!
Kim

Thursday, November 11, 2010

We are here!

I can barely keep my eyes open…but I MUST BLOG!!! I promised I would and so I must! I honestly didn’t know that anyone actually read the blog! But I’m hearing from some of you that you are waiting patiently for a group update. This is exciting and I’m glad you are here!


And YES! We are all here! Yes, even Johnnie Mae! (She’s had trouble with the phone and could not call home and asked me to post this note to her family! She’s doing great and says hello!)
This is Johnnie Mae planting her very own tree in Israel!

We had a couple of ladies who missed the flight from Newark due to an airline mechanical issue but they were blessed to get Lumi to help them secure a flight only a day later and miss only 1 place on the itinerary! It was miraculous what Lumi did! Those flights were oversold and yet these 4 ladies got a seat on the plane! Thank you Lumi!

Oh my, we have done so much in the short time we have been here. Here, is in Tiberias. Our hotel is on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Here is a few from my room – which is similar to everyone. The sunrise is extraordinary, breath taking, magnificent, glorious!!! (I really like the sunrise – can you tell?)
I mean really… WE ARE LOOKING AT THE SAME WATER THAT JESUS WALKED ON! Somebody pinch me!

Some of us got baptized in the Jordan River on the very first day. (Talk about digging right in and experiencing the land of the Bible!) No matter how many times I’ve been here to see this…it still makes me get a lump in my throat. It’s powerful and 81 people on this trip felt the power. Amen!





Here are some pictures to check out… see anyone you know? Want to leave them a message? Just make a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

((above)This is Art - he is one cool traveler!)






We are on our way to Jerusalem tomorrow! WOW!

Kim