Well, we finally made it to the highlight of any trip to Israel: Jerusalem. One of the most religion, history, and culture saturated cities in the world. A place where mono-theistic people from all over the world come together to find God, whoever their perception of God is. Just entering the city, we could feel the atmosphere here. There is so much here that you can literally feel it in the air as soon as you are in the city. It's not just our opinion, either, but something many locals told us to be prepared for beforehand. I don't know what it is exactly, but there is no doubt a lot more spiritual presences here than in most parts of the world. Unfortunately, not everything has been in our favor. My co-leader and I were already sick when we came and only got worse in the first days here. Since then, she has gone to the doctor and gotten medicine and we are finally beginning to improve. Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, has been coming to a close finally, but that means lots of parties and calls to prayer going late into the night. We even got stuck in a crowd so thick we thought it would riot one night because we did not get out of the old city fast enough. We found out later that there actually was a riot on that street just a couple hours after we got out. Despite a not-so-good first experience, we have since gone back to the old city many times and had a good time. It is an atmosphere and experience that is hard to describe and that I hope everyone gets to experience at some point. There really is nothing like it. We were warned about the "Israel sickness," a condition that has no cure and apparently only gets worse every time you go to Israel. Symptoms include falling in love with Israel and the Jewish people. I think I've caught it. =) It is so surreal to be in Jerusalem and see such amazing things like the old city and the Dead Sea. There is so much history and richness in such a small area, I could spend the whole time being a tourist! In fact, we had a very fun day off and spent it going to the Dead Sea to relaxant enjoy the water, minerals, and mud. Not something I would want to do every day, but the water felt so weird and the mud made our skin amazing!! We have also had an amazing time just exploring the city, meeting people, praying for people, and sharing Jesus' love with everyone we can. God has been bringing us some amazing people and opportunities and we are all falling in love with being here. We have been in Jerusalem for a week now and have one more week before we move back to Nazareth. It is so strange to think we have already been in Israel for 6 weeks and only have a couple left. It has been quite a wild, hard (extraordinarily difficult, actually), and amazingly rewarding time that I know none of us will ever forget.
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March 2023
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