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Published: November 11th 2008
Today is November 9. Its sunrise, 5 AM, and quiet now that the Muslims have finished their morning prayers. They’ve awakened me every morning in a disturbing way so I’m unable to go back to sleep.
We arrived at the Mt. Zion Hotel in Jerusalem two days ago, on Friday. It is a beautiful stone building with a history dating back to the 1800’s. A former hospital, it was completely remodeled into a beautiful hotel some years ago. Our room over looks a portion of the Old City and has been very comfortable.
Friday afternoon we walked, hiked, really, as it’s all uphill, to a local market to get some bottled water. If we thought we knew what we were looking for we were kidding ourselves. Everything was in Hebrew, absolutely no English. So we picked up what we thought was the water we wanted and headed out. It’s all mineral water here, the big choice is gas or no gas.
Then, Friday evening we ate at a nearby restaurant with a perfect view of the Old City walls. The food was excellent, Italian, and the service remarkable considering the size of our group, about 60-70. It was
a short walk downhill from the hotel and a bit of a longer walk back uphill on full tummies…
We spent the Sabbath day studying the Scriptures, worshiping, resting and fellowshipping. It’s an amazing thing to be here in Jerusalem enjoying Sabbath. Not quite everything shuts down early Friday afternoon but in the mornings you’ll see people scurrying around to purchase groceries to prepare for Sabbath evening dinner, as there is to be no work done on the Sabbath.
FYI for you foodies out there ~ breakfast is comprised mostly of all types of salads ~ fruit and green ~ beautiful breads, spreads, cheeses, wonderful salmon, herring and of course the ever present hummus (pronounced ha-mousse). Everything has been delicious.
A good portion of our conversation with the people here has been the outcome of our US Presidential elections. Apparently most of the world is happy about the outcome but only one or two that we have talked to are happy. Our friends, Rob and Susie, on their travels, had quite a conversation with a group of Russians who are very saddened by Obama being elected, as his type of policies are the reason they fled Russia
to the US.
I, too, have prayed for a different outcome. I didn’t vote for Obama, not because he’s black, but because I despise his policies. When we punish those who work hard for what they get in order to reward those who don’t, we weaken our already weakened society. Our country was built on strong people working hard to make this country great. If we continue with Obamas policies, and others that are already in place, they will greatly harm us. But, even so, we are called to pray for our leaders, so pray we must.
In some ways it’s very sobering here. This is an ancient place and it wears the scars of many hard fought battles. It’s hard to put into words right now.
So… today we head out to visit Bet El, Shilo, and the Biblical Zionist offices, which is the organization we are traveling with. Then we’re back to the hotel for one more night before we move on.
Until next time ~ Shalom from Jerusalem
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Adrienne
non-member comment
So good to hear from you
I was sitting here wondering what is happening and anxious to hear all about it, when your message came in! I thought you were at the Dead Sea today, so have you been already? Glad to hear you are enjoying your time there. Shalom Adrienne:)