It's laundry day friends!!!!! What a glorious day indeed! I woke up this morning, brought down my laundry and got ready for another day. We loaded the bus around 8am and drove just a few minutes outside of Jerusalem. We climbed this stteeeeeeppppp mountain with steps made out of limestone, like everything else is, and got the top which had a beautiful view of the land. We could see in front of us hills and tels with green green grass on them and a dried up river bed and to our left off in the distance, the shore of the Mediteranian Sea. We were told that this is the very land where a young boy named David slayed a giant named Goliath with a sling and a stone. You see the very mountain I was standing on was the mountain the Philistine armies were stationed at looking down at David and King Saul. It was amazing to be there in that moment where God made history. We walked down the mountain and drove a little more but made a pit stop on the side of the road, walked down a dry river bed, and collected 5 stones from the very river David collected his from. WOOOWWW!! I can't believe it. It makes me smile to think that I was there. We then went to one of Israel's National Parks where they have the Land of 1000 Caves. There are more like 5,000 caves there, but hey. Our tour guide, Uncle Kenny as he like to be called (who, by the way, reminds me of the father on My Big Fat Greek Wedding. He doesn't look like him, but he sure speaks like him) too us into caves that were dug thousands of years ago. These caves had many different uses such as holding oil, water, etc. They were amazing. We would walk down a small set of stairs and all of a sudden it opened up into a huge cave with hundreds of pigeon holes cut out on the top for the pigeons to nest in; pigeons were a great sacrifice to pagan god's as well as a delicacy-they also served as fresh fertilizer. We went through several other caves in which one I crawled down a hole. It was quite humorous because it was just big enough that I could fit far enough in to where people thought I fell down into a pit of nowhere! I had quite the time getting out though, seeing as getting in is a whole lot easier and I was 15ft off the ground. I got out but was covered in white chalk from head to toe!!! Hey you only get to crawl in to cave holes in Israel once right?! We then went around Uncle Kenny's Kibbutz which was pretty cool. I was extremely tired, so I didn't really understand it all, but the theory of a Kibbutz is amazing. They have them all over Israel here and it is basically a community that lives together and by each one of his or her gifts contributes and they survive as a community. It seems so farfetched as an American but is so normal here. Why can't that kind of community and closeness be normal in America? I think when Jesus said fellowship, this is what he was speaking of rather than our weekly meetings of 10 minutes in between the 2 sets of worship songs at church and an occasional Bible study on Wednesday night. After the Kibbutz we came home and rested before dinner. I have learned a lot about myself as I have been on this trip: #1- I can sleep pretty much anywhere- I think anytime we have a free 5 minutes I fall asleep. #2- The sound of a bus motor lulls me to sleep- I fall asleep at least within the first 10 minutes of the bus starting everytime. #3- I need protien to survive!!!- I have had a way lack of protien while I have been here and just crave a piece of meat!! haha We went to dinner (rice and noodles again :) and when we walked out it was POURING RAIN. We walk about 8 blocks to dinner everynight, which means we have to walk 8 blocks back. As soon as I stepped out it started raining so hard, and by the time we got home the back of my pants were a definite different color from the front of them. Did I mention that it's laundry day? That means these are my last pair of pants... and they are now soaking wet. The dedication of our building is tomorrow morning at 10:30am and we will be the first students to see it! I'm pretty excited. Other than that, it's a relaxed day!
Jessica
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