Day 4 - New Culture

So today was a nice day. We had lots of different orientations today preparing us for classes that start tomorrow. I think that I'm finally ready to do my classes tomorrow... although, I'm still a little nervous. Lol...

I got to see the coolest thing today! Ok, so this is called "Christ Church." It's right across the street from where we live. We went there to be debriefed by a really neat lady who is from the US and has been here as a missionary for three years. So anyways, we went there and the lady told us that that church was buit by.... get this.... WILLIAM WILBERFORCE!!!!!!!!! (if you guys don't know who he is, he was the man who fought to remove the slave trade from England!!! He's also in that movie called "Amazing Grace," a very good movie by the way) But anyways, he and his friends built that church for "themselves" (because that was the only way that the Ottoman Empire would allow them to build a church in Israel) and they used it to share the gospel with so many Jews and Muslims! It's known today as the place to go to get answers. Isn't that so awesome!?!?

Tonight was the more thought provoking part of our day. We climbed up on top of the shopping area (it's right next to our place.) and we had our final part of orientation there. After we finished learning what we needed to know, we had a really sweet time of worship. However, as soon as we got into our second song, the Muslim prayer tower started to blast their prayers. 

Listening to the Muslim prayers was certainly fascinating. Turning my focus back to our worship song, I contemplated the differences between our two different religions... the Muslim people are taught from birth that anyone not a Muslim is an infidel and must be killed. Beginning in Kindergarten, their children color pictures depicting severed body parts that were a result of a bomb going off. This sort of violence is ingrained into their society and beliefs. Also, a muslim man is not considered a "good" muslim unless he beats and abuses his wife. How tragic is that??? 

Compared to the Muslim faith, Christians believe so differently. We are taught to love one another and to treat others as we want to be treated. We joyously discover the amazing love that God has shown us. That love is the source of our drive, our focus, and our joy. 

We are called to share God's love with the world. It doesn't matter what religion that they come from, God is not a discriminating God. Even now, He is using us (the GENTILES!!) to provoke Israel to jealously. That is part of our goal, is to show them how much we know of their Hebrew Bible that they themselves do not even know. As we share with them the amazing things that God has done for THEIR people, our door to enter into a relationship with those people is cracked open just a little bit more... 

In Israel, it is all about establishing the RELATIONSHIP with Jewish people... because once you have a relationship with them, you are a part of their family forever. They truly accept you into their lives, and therefore you must earn their trust. Please pray for us as we first observe the culture and then possibly begin forming relationships with these amazing people. Also, please pray for us because tomorrow is our first day of school. :) Our first class is a Hebrew history class. It's going to give us all the background information that we will need to truly understand this amazing, incredible, and confused land.

Love,

V