Damascus Gate in Old City Jerusalem

Taking a strawberry break near Damascus Gate in Old City Jerusalem

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Click here to read about the Old City on Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_(Jerusalem)

and lots of other cool stuff!

An Oasis in the Desert

The Dead Sea, Israel
An Oasis in the Desert
We have taken a day to see the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has approximately 36% salt in it versus other oceans have about 3%. So when one is in the Dead Sea, you float!.
The mud here is just like the very expensive mud packs you buy back home, but free. So we all played in the mud for a while, floated in the Dead Sea (Annie and GG, you would love it!) and then went to the natural hot springs (again 36% salt water).
It was a delightful day of play.
What a beautiful world God has made for us...
praise be to Him for His wonderful creation!

The Western Wall in Old City, Jerusalem

Visiting the Western Wall…men must go in one area and women in the other

Jerusalem!

Harrison haggles with street vendors and purchases his very own guitar!

details to follow...

2 Chronicles 20:28

So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the LORD.

Worshipping with Palestinian Christians

Jerusalem, Israel
Jaffa Gate Hostel
Worshipping with Palestinian Christians
The last 24 hours have been one of angst for me. I have been praying about going to Jericho. To go, one must hire an Arab taxi driver who can get you through the border. I have felt led to visit the ministry in Jericho…where they minister to new Muslim Christians.
After much prayer yesterday, the Lord answered me in several very dramatic ways. On Monday we had eaten at a restaurant where one of the boys gave our waiter our website bracelet and the salvation bracelet, sharing the Gospel with him. On Tuesday, we returned to the same restaurant and our waiter invited us to a worship service on Wednesday night. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to worship with local believers and assured him we would be there.
Wednesday night we attended the worship service to discover it was a group of Palestinian Christians. My heart was full to be able to worship with these believers in the Holy Land.
The worship songs were sung in Arabic with English and Hebrew words posted. The sermon was preached in English and translated to Arabic. Please visit their website: http://www.upperooministries.com/
At the end of the service I asked if there was someone who could drive us and of course there was. So tomorrow, our brother in Christ, Johnny will pick us up and drive us to Jericho to visit the Jesus House of Prayer.
Please pray for this ministry which is located right outside the Damascus Gate of the Old City.
24/7 Prayer room
We also had a chance to visit one of the five prayer rooms located in Jerusalem. After entering I turned to see a fellow IHOP Intro Class member from Switzerland. Elizabeth had come to Israel to be a part of “The Call Jerusalem”. How wonderful to see a familiar face so far away from home.
On our way out, we walked by Mike Bickle and Misty Edwards. They didn’t recognize us! Oh well, maybe next time. Thanks Mike and Misty for your tireless devotion to the Lord.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying,
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)

The Call Jerusalem

The Call

After getting settled into the Jaffa Gate Hostel, we immediately took off for The Call located at the International Conference Center. We were able to get in and what a treat to worship with believers from all over the world. The Call was focused on prayer for Israel. Israel celebrates 60 years as a nation this year and plays an important role in the second coming of Christ (read the book of Revelation).

I didn’t realize how empty I was spiritually until I got there.

It was like we have given and given these last couple of months (and please know we have also received enormously from others) and my spiritual tank was empty.

I felt like the Lord just filled me up again while we worshipped.

This day was also the Global Day of Prayer so there were large screens of prayer meetings from all of the world being shown as we worshipped.

What a great experience to have our first day in the Holy Land!

Please pray for peace in the Holy Land.

Pray for a coming together of all Arabs and Jews.

The Call Washington, DC will be Saturday, August 16th, 2008.
This will be a day of prayer and fasting for America.
Please pray about being a part of this.
http://www.thecall.com/

Asem at the Jaffa Gate Hostel

Asem and Noir are the owners of the Jaffa Gate Hostel. We shared with them about Christ and prayed for Asem. They have kind hearts.

Tel Aviv to the Jaffa Gate Hostel ~ Jerusalem

We arrived in Tel Aviv at 2:35 am Sunday morning.

There was no transportation into Jerusalem, so we sat, played cards, ate McDonald’s and slept until about 8:30 am. We took public transportation into the Old City and were blessed to find a vacancy at the Jaffa Gate Hostel. The Hostel is run by Muslim brothers, Noir and Asem. Aiden cleans the rooms and is a Messianic Jew. (Jew by birth, yet has become a born again believer of Jesus Christ).

http://www.hostelz.com/hostel/39116-Jaffa-Gate-HostelJaffa-Gate-Hostel

Our new friend Krzysiek on Gellert Hill in Budapest

Krzysztof Roso³ek krzysztof_rosolek@yahoo.com wrote:
Hi,
I don't know if you remember me. I'm one of the three who you met on Gellert Hill in Budapest (10th May 2008). You gave us three colored bracelets and a polish version of holy bible. I want to send you photos with your boys and us. Can I put photos on the website or maybe you want to send to your mailbox?
Hugs & kisses for your boys!
Best regards,
Krzysiek

Dear Krzysiek,
Please send photos as attachment to email.
We will be honored to place on the website and Blog.
May you share the gospel of jesus christ with all you meet!

Let us see how the computer translates this for us:

Polish:
Sprawiać przyjemność (proszę) posyłają fotografie jak uzupełnienie (więź) poczta elektronowa (wysyłać pocztą elektronową).
My będziemy zaszczycani miejsce na *website* i *Blog*.
Może (maj; majowy) wy rozdzielacie *gospel* *jesus* *christ* z cali wy spotykacie (wykonywać; napotykać)!

Hungarian:
Kedves Krzysiek , Legyen szíves küld fénykép mint egybefűzés -hoz elektronikus levél. Mi lesz honorált -hoz hely -on website és Blog. Május ön osztozik a evangélium -ból Jézus Krisztus -val minden ön találkozik!

Budapest memories...

email from our new friend Krzysiek
We were so pleased to meet our new Polish friends while we were both visiting Hungary.

I don't understand hungarian :)

According to polish translation meaning is almost good but words between stars are not translated so it willbe hard to understand for typical polish people.

Where are you now?

What will be the next country?

I don't know your plans for trip but if you are goingto visit Poland again - particularly Cracow (Krakow) -I can spend few hours with you and show you Cracow(e.g. monuments and all you want). Just give me infofew days before.

Best Regards,Krzysiek