"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north: "Give them up!" 

And to the south: "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth-everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made" 

Isaiah 43:5-7

Created, formed, made and called by Gods name. That is Israel.

Happy 64th birthday. 

We had our "day off" today. Since its the start of Shabbat the buses don't run as late as they usually do, unfortunately! So we said goodbye to a volunteer that was leaving (and will be VERY missed) and headed out early! 

We shopped around a bit, befriended a muslim man on the bus, ate fresh baked goods and just were generally renewed. 

We enjoyed each other, chatted about life and God and all the things that were happening in our hearts. 

I liked this sign, They have it all the exits on this beach.

And of course I had to do a jumping picture! 

I do not know the story behind this situation, but I thought it was so funny that a toddler was walking down the street, hauling a suitcase, not wearing any pants! 

We enjoyed ourselves so much, that we did not notice the sun burning our skin! We are both, sadly, sporting some lobster-like red skin right now. It is very hard to explain to the children why we are so red. Most of them don't understand and the older ones think its funny, saying "Next time you go to the beach, wear long sleeves!" and "Don't you know better?" (By the way, a 12 year old said that to us!)

We happily came home this afternoon and played with the kids. A "day off" is never fully off, because there are always kids to talk to, love on and enjoy! 

But we like it that way! 

Remembering...

This week, April 19th to be exact, is the Holocaust Remembrance Day.

What a somber week to be in Israel.

I have been to a concentration camp, years ago, when I was in Austria. I walked out of there with anger, sadness and bitterness in my heart. What a tragedy the holocaust was! 6 millions jews, murdered! The numbers are staggering, the stories, heartbreaking!

This morning, during our staff meeting, we heard a message about hope.

We read through Ezekiel 37, about the valley of dry bones. I have heard sermons preached on this chapter before, but never from a jewish believer during the Holocaust Remembrance week. It was powerful. This man has family members that were killed in the holocaust, knows people that are still alive today that survived the holocaust! The tragedy is so real!

As we read through Ezekiel 37 (Please, read through it if you haven't before) verse 11-14 were really highlighted to me.

“Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.”

Verse 11, to me, sounds like the Jewish people! “Our hope is gone; we are cut off”. In the tragedy of the holocaust, they were lost, murdered, broken. Truly their hope was gone!

It then goes on to say “I will bring you back to the land of Israel”. Did you know that Israel became an independent state right after the holocaust?! God is faithful, even when we are not! He is faithful to His covenant with Israel, even though they broke that covenant time and time again!

I love that this portion ends with “Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it.” I love that. Nobody can take the credit for all this! Its the Lords doing, its His great love for His chosen people, His firstborn, Israel!

The Holocaust was a tragedy, no doubt about it. It was satans attempt to foil the plans of God. Millions were murdered; men, women and children.

But, Ill let you in on a little secret.. Satan does not win!!

Hebrews 6:19-20 says

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Jesus, Yeshua, is our hope. He is THE hope for our soul, the anchor.

Yeshua beat satan on the cross and God IS fulfilling His covenant and drawing His people back to Israel! It is so exciting to be in the Holy Land for such a time as this!

Please pray for the people is Israel this week, for healing and forgiveness to take place. Please pray for the survivors of the Holocaust, that God would bring them peace and reconciliation.

(images from a-sound-asleep.tumblr.com & lindzee09.blogspot.com)

We have been settling in nicely to our temporary "home".

I have taken pictures but they are not blog-appropriate, so I will email them instead! If you have not sent me your email, please do. I will add you to the list so you can see where we are and who we are with!

We are loving it here, the people are wonderful and we feel so at home! We went grocery shopping and we were a bit shocked at the differences to Canada. The selection is minimal and the prices are maximum! We did not expect that, but we will adjust soon.

We are busy helping out, being trained in different ways and as always, playing with children!

Here are a few pictures, check your email for more:

The congregation building.

The painted wall in the playground.

Andrew working away.

Our adorable room!

We spent the day walking, walking and walking some more!

We went and saw Yafo (Jaffa) again. Its beautiful!

This is the remaining wall of an egyptian fortress. Its 3300 years old!

Andrew took this picture of me jumping in Yafo and, funnily, a couple of Chinese tourists asked me to jump again so they could have a picture of me!

We decided we wanted to have more of that delicious hummus that we had yesterday. We even managed to get a table this time! Right after we sat down, about 20 more people showed up! Apparently they dont like non-locals to know about this place. We were the only canadians in there! But they were kind and it was delicious!

There is graphitti all over the place, I found this one so funny and creative!

We found a shawarma place in a a back alley and got some lamb. It was delicious! Andrew thought so too. In this picture, he has just eaten a very spicy pepper and was regretting it!

We finished the evening off with a stroll by the sea. It truly is beautiful here.

We love it here already. Its amazing to think that we will spend the next 3 months in this wonderful country! We woke up early (we are trying to get into a routine) and ate breakfast, then headed out to explore our surroundings. We are a 5 mins walk from the beach and from Old Jaffa.

Heres some pictures that I snapped before the batteries died!

Tel Aviv and the beautiful coastline!

Feeling at home already.

Hes so handsome.

The Sea and Old Jaffa.

Our first time in the sea!

Beautiful Old Jaffa.

We found a stack of matzo bread!

We shared this AMAZING lunch of pita and hummus. We found a little hole-in-the-wall place that was bursting with people, all Israeli, which is a good sign. We were blown away. $6 for everything and we had enough left over to share for dinner too!
I found my wings in Jaffa :)
Thank you so much for your prayers. We feel steeped in them! God has been so faithful in preparing the way for us, and preparing us as well. He is good!

Hello from Tel Aviv, Israel!

God is faithful! We are here and we have a 3 month visa!

We are staying in an amazing guesthouse, run by people from around the world and messianic believers. What a blessing to wake up to praise songs being sung!

This was our view from our window this morning:

I have often wondered what happens to our bags when we check them in. Andrews came back to us a bit ragged. They managed to rip one of the straps off (one of the essential ones, sadly) and break a couple of things, but the most surprising was our bombilla. (We drink mate every morning)

Its made out of strong metal and somehow, it managed to get quite bent! We are clueless as to how this happened! Andrew was quite sad about it, obviously!

Thank you for your prayers, we felt them as we were going through security! We are so blessed!

"But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we have in glory."

Hebrews 3:6

Today we hiked to the top of Lykavittos Hill.

(you can see it in the first picture. Yes, the very top)

It was far. Very far. But it was a beautiful day and we were happy to get to the top!

There was an adorable little church at the top, a restaurant too!

And a gorgeous view!

We treated ourselves to some greek coffee (aka strong and sweet!)

Yesterday we walked and walked and then walked some more!

And got a delicious treat from the bakery! It was huge!

And a delicious lunch. I am in LOVE with moussaka!

We saw some more cool ruins. It amazes me that people carved these stones and built them, over 2000 years ago! And here we are, touching them.

We hope you are having a wonderful day, where ever you are! I hear its snowing in Abbotsford! Andrew managed to get a burn today, so we are feeling very far away!