Today was our first ACTUAL day out in Israel. It all started at 9:30 and we went downstairs to eat breakfast. The people at this house take such good care of us.. it was a feast. I didn't really like much of it, but the pita and hummus were BANGIN! haha it was so good... im pretty sure I could eat my weight in this stuff. We then walked down to the old city to the Jaffa Gate. We walked all along the wall and saw amazing stuff... it all started to look the same after awhile but it was great all the same. We went down and were attempting to get to the Damascus Gate but got lost in the Arab market... much worse than China town, and amazing at the same time! There were so many people. I'm pretty sure I've never seen so many people at once actually. There were things such as meat carcas's hanging as we were walking by and the brains were just sitting out there... welcome to Israel! We finally made it to where we were eating and had a great lunch. We headed back to the house and got ready for church at 6. We went to a Messianic church and it was definitely different. I've never felt such a burden for a nation before than sitting in that church and praying for Israel. To know that this is God's promised land and yet there are people who do not accept his grace and mercy and live by the law to make them whole. I was very taken by the passion that these people had knowing that the people that were walking in the city below them hate them and everything they are about. They still prayed fervently for everyone who has not known Jesus though. We were directed not to say words such as "evangelize," "crusade," or anything about Christianity because that is illegal here. After church, Katie, Kara-Leigh, Alexis, Ryan and I were able to go get dinner by ourselves so we went to this pizza place down the road... it was good and then we stopped for gelato! AMAZING! I am very tired and ready for tomorrow... It's quite cold here. We got extra blankets last night since there is no heat here.

picture #1- Arab Market through a peep hole on the wall

picture #2- Dome of the Rock from the wall

picture #3- Ryan singing the star spangled banner as we were walking down the Jaffa Gate haha

picture #4- Katie and I

picture #5- View from our terrace on top of our building

Until tomorrow...

Jessica