Ha Eretz, Yisrael...the land, Israel.

     I didn't know about this site when I actually went to Israel so I am back tracking and giving some of the highlights of my trip...in retrospect.

     I, along with my youth group from my synagogue, stayed in Ashqelon for the first part of the trip in our rabbi's house. It was a beautiful house with a nice deck...and barely any hot water :). It's not that it DIDN'T have hot water, it's just that the heater was on a timer so you had to set it for what ever time you wanted to take a shower, and it didn't really matter WHEN you set it because you still weren't going to get a hot shower. But we all adopted a motto while we were there: "If you're going to ______, at least it's in Israel!"
So, in this case, it was, "If you're to take a cold shower, at least it's in Israel!"
Believe it or not, that motto got us through a lot!

     While in Ashqelon we went to Tel Aviv, which was my favorite city.

Everyone is very relaxed and it's very urban. We visited a place called DUGIT which is a Messianic outreach center. We went with their outreach team and hit the streets of Tel Aviv. We stationed ourselves in front of the Shuq (the market place) and I played keyboard  and sang while others played guitar and drums. We sang Israeli folk songs and some of the girls did Davidic dances. Then we went into the Messianic songs and our youth leader and several other boys of the youth began to reach out to the people, sharing the word of G-D. It was quite an experience to be so hands on like that.  Later that night our little band played in what was called the "Gospel Cafe" and I had so much fun. We met so many cool people and heard some new music and saw the L-RD move in a big way!
     Next, we went to the Negev desert.   Now, let me preface this by saying that as SOON as we got there it started raining, and there were few days where rain was not part of our daily activity, but, the motto still stands, "If you're going to get soaked in the rain, it might as well be in Israel!" So, we get to the Negev, and the people there proceed to tell us that today was the first day that it had ever rained in the Negev at this time of year. So clearly the camel rides were out haha.  Despite that, we were still excited about hearing all about the culture of the Bedouins and eating the amaing food and drinking the tea and coffee they had for us. It was still extremely fun!
     We headed to Jerusalem soon after that. Now, Jerusalem was an adventure in and of itself. First we went to a hospital and played music for sick children. It was awesome because in the hospital there were Jewish and Palestinian children. We played a song called "Salaam" which is in Hebrew and Arabic and they all just lit up...their parents too. It felt like everyone was unified that night, it was beautiful. After that we played at 24-hour worship place called Sukkat Hallel or tabernacle of praise. We played for about 2 hours and it was one of the most intimate worship experiences I've ever had...G-D is good.
    However, Jerusalem did have some uh..."interesting" things that went along with it. One night we were shopping on Ben Yehuda street and Shaul (who is Israeli) and his wife, me and a couple of my friends were waiting for a cab. Like typical American girls, we stood there with linked arms, staring at the cars like complete tourists...I hate looking like a tourist ha ha. Anyways, as we were waiting for Shaul to negotiate what he thought to be a good enough rate for a cab, an old homeless man started wandering up to us with somewhat of a toothless grin. The toothless grin was a bit baffling becase he was holding a baguette sandwich that he was eating...or...gumming I guess. My initial reponse was to either look away or give a back off look, but I looked away. One of the girls however gave a HUGE smile and that was apparantly an invite to old wrinkles for him to come closer. He was right up in our faces before Shaul started yelling at him in Hebrew and told him to back off.   That didn't work.  So he shoved him. That didnt work either. This old guy was trying to fight Shaul who is extremely buff and could have taken him in a second. The old guy, seeing that he needed more than his baguette to keep him alive, ran into cafe looking for silverware to "injure" him with while Shaul is shouting at the staff to arrest him.  The old man disappeared and we just stood there completely in disbelief at what had happened.
     Assuming the madness was over we headed down the street to leave the "scene of the crime", when all of the sudden we heard shrieking about 12 feet from us. We turned around and saw two girls literally rolling into the street pulling at each other's hair and biting and scratching. We tried to stay and watch but Shaul insisted we leave. We got in the cab and sat quiet for a moment, and then once we got to the hotel we just laughed and laughed! We were in the holy city and all we had to show for it was a scary old man and 2 pissed off girls! Good times...
    After that we spent new years eve at a kibbutz on the Galilee...which was my favorite spot. The Galilee was absolutely beautiful and so inspiring. All I could think of was the fact that Yeshua had actually taught here and been here.  I sat on the shore of the kinneret and wrote a song...it was like I had to. We built a bonfire on the beach and sang and danced the night away.
     We went so many places that I just don't have enough space to write about. We went to Yad VaShem (the hand of G-D) which is the holocaust museum. That was so sad but amazing. We also went to the Mount of Olives, the Dead Sea, Rosh HaNikra, The Wailing Wall, Masada, Tiberias and several other cities and places that I can't even remember. So much happened and so many wonderful memories were made. G-D has truly blessed the land with a rich history and an awesome people! If any of you have a chance to go...DO IT! You won't regret it!

Signing off...

-Brooke