Day 3 - May 13 - Friday

My Journal Entry:

Much more awake tonight! Only thanks to my two naps today, haha. The food here is AMAZING, although they only feed us brunch and dinner. Mr. Wilson got us Magnums today around lunchtime to tide us over. :) (Note: to those of you who have not tried Magnums [ice cream bars], go to Vons or Walmart and get some! I recommend "Magnum Gold?!?" and "Magnum White Chocolate". Although "Magnum Desire" is pretty good too.) We went to the Notre Dame de something-or-another church and its adjoining fortress today. We didn't get to go inside, but we walked around the buildings, took pictures, read signs, walked through its olive grove, and then took off. After a break when we got back (a.k.a. naptime) we took a tour of the Biblical Garden with a guide named Ayelat (who just so happens to be one of the singers on the CD we got one of our songs [Yeshua] from... in fact, her sister is the soloist for Yeshua, and she knows everyone who wrote, sang, and played for it). We got to see large replicas of various Biblical places/tools, including a synagogue (which was actually a synagogue imported from Galilee), a watchtower, a threshing floor, a winepress, and whatever you call the grape-squishing vats. When we saw the olive press, Ayelat told us that the primary product of olive oil is light. But the olives have to be fully crushed - no skin or other impurities in the oil - for the light to burn brightly and without smoke. In the same way, we need to be crushed by God in order to burn bright for Him. After our tour was more naptime, dinner, and rehearsal. Tomorrow we go to a Shabbat service in Jerusalem!

Mr. Wilson's Details:

After a very substantial brunch at Yad Hashmona, the team had a time of
devotions and prayer, followed by a good session with our primary host, Bill Rogers, who drove down from Galilee to meet with us and orient us to the ministry opportunities coming up. These include an exciting number of street presentations, which hasn't been the case as much in recent VISION trips.

In the afternoon, the team visited the grounds of "Notre Dame de la Arche d'Alliance" (Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant),a small church built at the site of the place where the ark was kept for 20 years after the Philistines had captured it, and then brought it back to Israel. The fascinating story is found in 1 Samuel 4-7.

From that hilltop church, we looked longingly across the valley to where we could see the outskirts of Jerusalem, knowing that we would go into the city the next morning.

We spent the evening rehearsing our newest Hebrew songs back at Yad Hashmona, knowing that we'll soon need them several times a day.