Shabbat, SNL, and City of David Excavations!

We've had a pretty busy weekend! We went to a Baptist church on Shabbat which had a very interesting message and a different way of doing things but it was ok over all. After that Bill took us to lunch and most of us had NON KOSHER pizza...bacon, pepperoni....and Cheese! Sooo good :) We were all very relieved.


After that we all split up into groups and walked around the city and did our own thing until 4. At 8 we had "Battle of the Sexes" IBEX style in the Miklat and of course, the girls won :)


Then yesterday and today we went into the City of David and excavated with a bunch of archaeologists. Hard but very fun work! We all carried buckets, dug, cleaned pottery and enjoyed the day in the PERFECT weather. Tonight, there's talk of snow. That'd be fun. The weather changes so quickly here.


That's pretty much all that has happened this weekend. Now it's dinner time and then its homework time. I hope you all have a wonderful week!


Shalom

A Look at the Past 5 weeks

We have now been in Israel for almost 5 weeks! Sunday will be the mark of the beginning of the 5th. So far we have been into Jerusalem more times than I can count. We have seen all the gates of the city, the Temple Mount, the Mt. of Olives, Pool of Siloam, Western Wall (or Wailing wall), Hezekiah's Tunnel, David and Solomon's tombs and so many other things!

We live on a Moshav which is sort of like a Kibbutz. It's basically a community that works as a whole in one field. This moshav, called Yad-HaShmona (Yad meaning memorial, HaShmona meaning 8). This is in memory of 8 Jews that were given up in Finland to the Nazi's. Once they did this, they realized that what they did was wrong so they stopped. It's a beatiful area surrounded by trees. On a clear day you can see all the way to Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea and at night you can see the lights of the city. It's amazing!

Strong relationships have already been formed and we are like a family. We spend most of our nights hanging out in the Miklat (it's a bomb shelter) playing games, having surprisingly very deep conversations, some are Theological, some are just to get to know each other and others are silly and fun. There have been Jenga bets won and lost and lots of studying done for Land and Bible quizzes. We all love each other! This group is amazing.

Here's what a normal day at the moshav looks like:
Breakfast at the restaurant
Class (8-10)
Class (10:30-12:30)
Lunch (12:30-1:15)
Class (1:15-315)
Class (3:30-5:30)
Dinner (530-6:30)
Free time

We have our field trips on wednesday:
Old Testament Jerusalem
New Testament Jerusalem
Jerusalem Approaches
Benjamin (including Newe Samweli, Bethlehem, Jericho, West Bank)

Tonight is Shabbat (Start of Sabbath at sun down)
We will have a little service to remember God's rest on the seventh day.
We have wine (actually it's grape juice) and two loaves of bread because the Israelites had to rely on God's provision of the manna and collected two loaves on sabbath. If they collected more than that the manna rotted.
Then we will have our chapel service led by Praus, John, Janessa, Savannah and Noel. They are all very talented and it's such a blessing to be led by them.

This weekend we will (hopefully, depending on the whether) be excavating the City of David. We are all excited about that!

Whether here has been warm on and off but there's a rumor about possible snow AGAIN. It's cold and rainy right now but the sun is just barely peeking through the clouds. Israel needs the rain though so it's so cool to see God's provision in that way.

Well, I should go do some homework!
Thanks for reading!
Shalom!

I will post pictures soon. I know I keep saying that but the internet has been funky so I have to do it at the right time.