Stopover in Amman Jordan

I decided to put a few pictures on here while we wait on the plane. We've been blessed beyond measure! I hope this blog with penetrate deep into your heart and give you a passion to walk a deeper road on the highway of HOLINESS!!!

I pray these pictures from the last 2 weeks have been a blessing. A great conviction was formed within the group to Study the word of God (text) and to live the text. Keep checking back on this blog in the future. I plan to keep writing about our walk of faith and the community. I hope our group along with those who followed us online will become an online community and together we will study, walk and minister to those God gives us (our neighbors). Our hearts have experienced the Fire of God (passion).

Thanks be to God for this awesome experience of knowing him!

Last day

What a last day! Bags are packed, 4 hours of sleep and we have to get up. Sorry no other data! lol

Assorted pictures

More pictures

Day 11 Mt carmel

Bless God for another day in Israel. This morning we climbed up mountain Carmel. We hiked up some rough terrain to the top. It was 3 miles and took us 3 hours. We felt so great to have climbed up here and were going to eat lunch and the bus will pick us up. Thank God for the bus! Ouch, communication error and no bus around. No problem here since we are seasoned hikers so down the mountain we hike again. My left knee was all back and blue and felt like someone put a knife to it. At first i couldn't even touch it due to the severe pain. Not sure what the problem was. Feels better tonight.

We ate our lunch on the bus and headed for Jerusalem. We visited a beautiful terrace olive garden and had some great teaching while sitting on the rocks. After the lesson, we built a wall.

We arrived at the old city just in time to experience the Jews dancing with the rabbi as they went to the western wall to pray and sing. What an awesome experience! The passion was a sight to behold. Several of us went down to the wall and put our hand on it and prayed to God in the name of our Messiah! The whole group was clearly moved by their passion!

The first picture was looking down the Jezreel Valley from Mt Carmel. In the distance to the right is the valley of Armageddon. Picture 2 is the mountain in the distance. Picture 3 is the street through the old city. This is how the street looked where Jesus carried his cross. Picture 4 was taken while they were praying at the western wall. This photo was a no no, but Levi got it somehow. They warned us absolutely no photos on the sabbath. At sun down tonight the sabbath started and go's till sun down tomorrow night.

Day 10 Farm, rocks and more experiences

Thanks Rachel for giving me a break last night!

Thanks to God for the gift of life! Bless God for sending us the Messiah so we can have eternal life. This morning we headed west from the sea of Galilee towards Nazareth and stopped by a field that had been harvested and is now ready to prepare the soil again for the upcoming season. You must ask your tour friend about the parable of the sower. We had quite the experience on studying this text. I hope you all get to see my video on this lesson. it will move you on your knees, especially with burning feet and 120 degree heat. smiles!

Another lesson for some study from you our friends. Ray layed out for us the text about the little boy from the carpenters shop. you may want to study this text. you may come to realize that perhaps he had a bit different trade. look up the text! Text means written Word of God.

I thought you may enjoy a picture of our daily lunch. Pita bread with meat and if you are lucky enough to be first in line, you get cheese and pickles to enjoy your sandwich. If you are last in line, well, lets just say you get a very dry sandwich! ouch, they are good if you can load them up!

The girls are dancing in a wine press. its a very touching experience to observe this through the Hebrew culture. Ask somebody to explain!

The last pictures of a pile of rocks was a very moving experience at the end of the day. Today was the last day by Galilee and tomorrow we head toward Jerusalem. So we added to a standing stone by each of us picking up a rock and putting it on this pile as a reminder to the person that led us to Jesus Christ. We heard the experiences of people who has rough lives and how God brought shalom through people who were faithful in bring peace to people in need. We have been so blessed to experience the gift of salvation. Why don't we share this gift with others in a world of chaos?

Day 9 Jordan River and Decapolis

Hi! This is Rachel posting to give Roy a break, as well as his wife who usually has to (or tries to) wait up for him when he's up blogging! They just got a cold bottle of pop and are walking out the door of the hotel lobby. They were hoping to go down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee which borders the hotel grounds, but they both look pretty dragged out, so I think they're skipping that.
Today was the best day on the trip in my opinion. We walked a mile or more back to the Jordan River, over rocks and under fences. Seated on the rocks, with the Jordan waters rushing by, we let our minds go back to when God told the Israelites to cross while the waters were in flood stage. The miracle happened after the priest's feet touched the water. There is no evil God cannot divide, but He wants our commitment. Are you waiting for the miracle of God's leading and standing on the bank waiting for all the doors to open, for the miracle to happen first? JUMP! GET IN and watch the miracle happen.
And then later when John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan. The waters representing chaos, and God calling us to enter the chaos in people's lives, just as Jesus did. God's whole intent is to bring people out of chaos and bring Shalom (peace). This is the way His kingdom comes . . . and then His presence will hover. We followed the "rabbi" . . . our leader, RVL, into the water (shoes and all) to recommit ourselves and repent of the sins of our head, heart, hands, and feet . . .where we have not brought shalom to the chaos, and maybe even added to it. And to make a commitment to bring peace into people's chaos. What a cleansed feeling!
Then with our feet wet from our Jordan experience, we entered the Decapolis.
The Decapolis was ten cities Alexandar the Great set up to do his "mission work" of drawing people into hellenism (humanism we call it today). His way of spreading the hellenism "gospel" was to take control of the media, education, sports, and religion. We topped a hill to look upon the city of Beth Shean, which is being excavated, and even us Amish and Mennonites were saying "Wow!" and in awe of what man had built. In Hellenism everything is about "you". It is the biggest threat to Jesus' gospel, and completely opposite from bringing peace in the chaos.
We walked up the hill to Susita, a city in the Decapolis. This is the place where Jesus came and met the man coming out of the tombs. The picture of the steep hill is very likely where the pigs ran down and drowned in the sea, after the demons entered them. Love always defeats evil. Jesus' love is likely what drove out the demons. We each picked up a stone or two or three and added it to the pile of rocks from previous tours, for the person(s) in our lives who still need Jesus' touch in their lives.
Today was a hot day . . . 119 degrees was the hottest from what I heard. Thankfully our leader is compassionate and tried to find shade for us whenever possible.
Thanks Ruth and Annette for the "hi" . . . I miss you all, my family and friends, and look forward to seeing you all again. This has been a great trip . . . and I'm finding out who God is and where I am in His plan, just the longing and desire I had for coming. Bless God!!! Love you all. Bye, Good night. Keep praying for us. Some days it's hard to keep the stamina when it's been so hot and your mind and heart is full and running over.