Shabbat Shalom

1/26

At 9:25am we all loaded two buses that took us to Jerusalem Assembly for church. It is interesting to have church on a Saturday! The bus pulled up to this concrete, spray painted, inner city building that looked super sketchy but as we walked up this weird hallway of steps to the fifth floor we came across the church floor which was really nice as well as the people. The sanctuary had chairs, hard cement floor, three bladed fans, and cloth draped over the ceiling. For the service(s), Pastor Meno starts with announcements in both English and Hebrew and then someone gives a devotional where Meno translates it into English. We sing in Hebrew and then Meno gives the sermon while someone translates for him. The service usually goes long because of all the translation and this service was three hours but it was good, just hard to stay awake since I was so tired. After the service a bus came and picked us up and took us to the Old City. My group got yummy pizza for lunch and then looked at shops briefly. We were went back to the church of the holy sepulcher.

in the church of the holy Sepulcher

What a sad city. The smells are disgusting: smoke (everyone smokes), food, incense, spices, who knows what else. Trash is everywhere, they don't know the meaning of trash can. People try to rip others of for a living which makes everyone (including us) to be rude. Such a hopeless, hurting place! At the church of the Holy Seplecher it was sad to see people worshiping objects rather than the King. I saw people put random objects where Jesus was supposedly laid, to make their items "holy." They dumped their stuff out, left it for a few seconds and then put it back in the bag and left.

Then we went to the wailing wall which was such a neat experience, never thought i would get this opportunity! First off, Jaden forgot that he had his knife in his bag and you have to go through security to get to the wall so he was pulled aside and questioned which was a little nerve racking. We were obviously oblivious students :) There are soldiers everywhere here, always walking down the street with these huge guns in their hands. Jerusalem = crowded, polluted, soldiers walking down the streets (some very young) with their hands on these massive guns, children fighting and being bullies, adults just as bad, as we are walking first seeing a little boy pin another boy to the wall and take his glasses to continuing down the street to see a grown man pin another one to the shop laughing; no respect, no kindness. It is just a sad city! We saw soldiers walk by and then go into the security room and that is when we got really nervous for Jaden but all was well as long as he left the knife with them and came back for it afterwards. :)

Anyways, there is a side for the men and another for the women in regards to the wailing wall. What a crazy thing, to actually touch the temple wall. . . beyond words! I went up with the many women who were there and was able to touch the wall. I could feel the rough cold stone, see the prayers that were put into the wall, watch women weep as they pray out of their prayer books and touch the wall. I feel like i'm in another world. My mind could just not grasp it! I was touching the temple wall and these women were morning because in their mind their means for atonement is temporarily lost. When it was time to go you back out in reverence, without looking back so it is up to the people behind you to move. You continue to face the wall until you are almost out of the courtyard. It was interesting. Man, so surreal! I touched that wall!

Jewish children waiting outside the wall while the dad went and prayed

the wailing wall is the one right behind that tunnel, in front of the temple mount. You can see some of the courtyard area

Soon it was time to head back to Jappa gate to wait for the bus so we walked back through the streets

First Shabbat set loose in Jerusalem = Success! I was pretty nervous going into it especially since i don't care for large crowds and new areas but it went really well. We met the bus at the gate, rode back and then went to dinner. At 8 we have "Saturday night live" which was really fun. We do all different things but tonight we did games like sheep and wolves, pull in the middle, balancing chairs, I have never, and the school bus. It was a lot of fun and neat to see the group interact. They were good games :)

And that was the end of my first Shabbat here!