Day 6 - Exploring!

Day 5 - School... bum bum bummmm!!!!

Haha... well, actually today wasn't as bad as my title seems to relate to you. The first part of the day was actually really fun. :)  Let's see... I cooked my first hot breakfast this morning! (Mom, you'll be proud. lol) I made scrambled eggs (with a tad bit too much milk) with some chicken (that looks like turkey) and some soy sauce... it was sooo good... I'm thinking about making it again tomorrow. :P

After breakfast, we went down back to Christ Church. They have a lovely little garden with lots of benches that they are letting us use for our morning devotions. :)  We had a nice time of worship and then Chelsea (our Dean of Women) shared her testimony. She's such a sweetheart. I love her already! :) (btw-Sosimo is not feeling too well. If you guys could keep him and all of us in prayer for health, that would be wonderful. We are all fighting off different stuff... phoey)

Later on, we went back to the hotel, and we got assigned our M19 project. I'm learning that in Bible College, they abreviate EVERYTHING!! Haha... this M19 mystery thing is just our Christian service class thingy. :P  Basically, we cleaned the hotel. Dayna and I volunteered to clean the receptionist area. We scrubbed and scrubbed, and when it was all done, we were quite proud of what we had accomplished. :) Now the hotel looks so clean, and it smells like that happy clean smell. I love it! This place is now officially my home for these months.

Then we had an amazing lunch that the hotel made for us. :)  It was like a stew of sorts with meatballs, potatoes, onions, and bell peppers.... mmmmmm... getting hungry again!

Then we finally had our first class. It seems like it's going to be interesting, but the classroom was soooo hot and stuffy.... Hopefully tomorrow it'll be better. Thankfully, we are going to have it earlier in the morning rather than at 2:30 in the afternoon... bad time for a class. :P

And THEN, we had evening devotion. (do any of you dare to ask what I had for dinner? :P :P :P) Those we will have only every Tuesday night. It's going to be neat, because we have like an hour of worship divided by a teaching by cool guest teachers. Tonight, Mr. John Stewart taught. He's going to be our Bible teacher for these next two weeks. I learned today that he used to be the vice president of the ICR! (Institute for Creation Research). I can't wait to pick his brain about that. :)  He and his wife really seem to enjoy hanging out and talking to us students. It's pretty awesome.

And lastly, in response to Justus' petition, here is a pic of me and two of my friends at the Damascus Gate. From left to right, there is Dayna, Jordan, and me. :) They are both really fun. Jordan is actually leading worship tomorrow morning for devo. :) She's gonna do awesome, I know it. :)  I'll have to post more pics later, but for now, I'm really tired and we have another day of school tomorrow... I'm waking up early so that I can get as many Chuck tracks done as I can before class starts. Yayyyyy......... :P

Love,
V

p.s. I get to lead worship for devo next Tuesday!!!!! Ahhh!! :D so excited! :D

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

Day 3 - Shopping!

Day 2 - Rest in Him

Hey everyone. Didn't take any pictures today. We have just been chillin' today... :)  it was really nice. Today we went to a park to play soccer and hang out, then tonight our final student arrived so all 20 of us are now here. I finally got to eat a falafel tonight! Hehe... it was pretty yummy... :)  If you're wondering where we are staying, we are in the New Imperial Hotel in Jerusalem. This hotel is one of the oldest hotels in Jerusalem! Some people have said that it's as old as King David. lol...

So anyways, I am really enjoying being here. :)  I'm making some friends with the students here, and it's been fun... Oh yeah!! I got to play my guitar today!!! This morning, we had a worship jam session in Sosimo's room (he's the guy in charge of the students. His room is kinda like a common room. And then later this afternoon, I got to sit at the park and just play worship songs! I'm really loving playing guitar!!! It's soooo fun! Hahaha... and these girls here have AMAZING voices! It is such a joy to be able to sing and play with them! :)

Love ya'll :)
V

Day 1 - Awesomeness!

Hey everyone!!! I am now here in Israel! I haven't slept really since  It's a little past 10:30pm (Israel time) right now. I'm still up because 1) I'm trying to make sure jet lag doesn't last too long, 2) I'm working on my blog!!!, and 3) I'm not really that tired yet! Hehehe... some of the girls are assuring me that as soon as my head hits the pillow that I'll fall asleep. I certainly don't doubt them, so I won't "hit the pillow" until I'm done with this update!  :D


Soooo.... my flights were awesome! (security... not so much... I hate strip searches!!!!!!) But during my layover in LAX (Las Angeles), I got to play the guitar for two hours and then hang out with the Olivers for a bit! What fun! :D

Sooo... yeah. I'm really enjoying myself so far! We got all moved in this afternoon (2:00 AM your time), and after we went grocery shopping (interesting to do for my first time on my own!) and ate dinner, we went on a mini tour of the Western wall and now I'm really really excited to see what we get to learn this semester! 

Tomorrow, I'll post pictures of where we are staying... as for now, it's time for this jet-lagged college girl to get some sleep!!! Hope the adrenaline allows me to do so! Bye!! :D 

V

p.s. I thought of you home fellowship people while I was on my plane. During the time that you were having your group, I was over the Great Lakes!!! :D

Leaving Soon!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that I'm leaving this Thursday. My plane takes off early in the morning so I highly doubt that I'll be getting any sleep Wednesday night! So anyways, when I get to Israel, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and video. My goal is to post a lot of them here on my blog so that you can see Israel for yourself! (besides, blogs are boring without pictures!!) So I wish the best for you all. I'll be praying for you guys, and will thinking of you guys all the time!

Love,
Victoria

Thorns

As stated in Genesis 3:17b-19, "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it. All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return"(NKJV).

Reading these verses, you might say "So what? This is just describing the curse upon Adam after he and Eve sinned... right?" And I say, yes, that's exactly what these verses are talking about, but let's take a closer look at one aspect of them.

Notice close to the beginning of verse 18 that one of the results of their sin was that the earth was going to bring forth thorns and thistles. Some people say that thorns are actually undeveloped blossoms, the exact opposite of a beautiful, thriving plant. So the result of sin was that these hard, sharp, dead plants would interfere with the growing of plants. This is a picture of what sin does in our life as well. On our own, sin causes us to whither until there's nothing left but a dead, shriveled up thorn of a heart.

Now, where else do we see an example of thorns in the Bible? Consider Mark 15:17-18, "And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'" (NKJV).

These verses are describing the beginning of the torment that Jesus Christ received before He was crucified. When Jesus came to earth to die for the sins of all mankind, how fitting it was that He wear upon His head the first symbol of sin! Jesus came as God's sacrifice to wash away the sins of all people. What a beautiful picture of His plan for our redemption!

Next time you see a thorn, remember...
1. Thorns were part of the punishment for our sins
2. Jesus willingly wore the punishment of our sins upon His head!
3. We no longer have to be under the bondage of sin because Jesus has paid the price!

Praise the Lord!!!!