And the Walls Came Tumbling Down...

How do we put into words the happenings of our past 24 hours???

It would be a feat for even the most experienced and respected of writers. However, you have us to keep you filled in.

Our day started with incredible prayer and worship at the Living Bread International Church near the Damascus Gate of Old City Jerusalem. Karen and her team were extremely welcoming, and within moments of our arrival, the Holy Spirit was flowing. After the official end of the worship and message, the Lord graciously poured out more of His Spirit, and we worshipped for another hour.

After the service, we went home to have our favorite meal, pita and peanut butter... 20th time maybe? We then jumped in a bus and headed to the city of Jericho, east of Jerusalem. (Check out the Book of Joshua. Awesome!!) First stop was Zacchaeus' sycamore tree near downtown Jericho. It is actually the only sycamore tree in the entire city. Not hard to find. It was great to see the setting of one of the more famous bible stories. We are thinking Zacchaeus was a little taller than was first thought since the tree was huge... but we guessed a tree would grow quite a lot in 2,000 years.

We then visited the lot Karen is trying to purchase for a church building in Jericho. What is currently a dusty sheep grazing field was once the place where the Israelites camped, right outside the ancient city. From there, Joshua led them to march around the walls of Jericho and you know the rest: the walls came tumbling down!!!

The Israelites called this place Gilgal, meaning "full circle." It is the first place they stopped to make camp after crossing over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. They took 12 stones from the bed of the Jordan River to signify the the 12 tribes of Israel and set them up in a circle to remember what the Lord had done for them. Several of us set up our own stone circles to the Lord, believing that we had crossed over into our own promised lands.

It was only 3 pm at this point. Just FYI.

Next we rode itty-bitty cable cars to the almost-top of the Mount of Temptation. While the cars were less sturdy and roomy than the cable car at Masada, it does hold the Guinness World Record for the longest and lowest elevation cable car in the World. Beat that! So we get up there and Coleman decided not to go with Jennie to check out the Greek Orthodox Monastery from the 3rd Century maybe. They told Coleman that they never let anyone in, yet when Jennie goes with all of her favor and butterflies, there of course was a monk waiting with the door wide open. Go figure! Jennie and some of the other group members got to tour the monastery and see a rock that they believe Jesus may have prayed on during His 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. Coleman was disappointed, and yes we are talking about ourselves in 3rd person.

Elisha's Spring was our next stop. Conveniently, it flows right through the property where she has a house and lush garden in Jericho. We ate falafel sandwiches (on pita) and tabouli (think Middle Eastern cole slaw) at her place, and we also got to dip our feet in the spring. When Elisha prayed for the waters to be healed, it was an eternal blessing. With our feet in the water, members of our group all asked for various things from the Lord, from healing to revelations to dreams.

Last but certainly not least was our exciting church service that Karen puts on multiple times a week. It takes place at a local wedding hall they rent for each service. It was quite an experience to hear a service in Arabic. We danced to a 25 minute percussion worship song... yeah, just hand drums. It was cool to hear their three different beats all uniting as one as they worshipped Jesus. We could make out the words "Yeshuah" and "Hallelujah" for sure! We prayed for the congregation and handed out food stamps before getting back on the bus and heading back to Jerusalem. It was an amazing day, full of emphasis on the Lord's great promises to His people. As the sun went down, the Jewish holiday of Shavuot began, marking the anniversary of the passing down of the Torah and the feast of weeks. It is one of the few Jewish holidays where the Lord tells the people to celebrate what He has provided, and it tied in well to our experience in Jericho. What a great God we serve! We are headed up to worship with the rest of the team on the roof, overlooking the Mount of Olives. The sun has just set in Jerusalem and we look forward to experiencing even more of the Lord in the days to come.

We love you and are thankful for your prayers and support! Pray for peace in Jerusalem.

Shalom
-Coleman and Jennie