Who needs all the skin on their feet anyway?
Holy Land Blog Day 7
Guess what time it is????? BBB TIME!!! Wooooooohoooooo! It is currently 9:40pm here in Jerusalem, which is 1:40pm San Antonio time. Today we were back on the grind with a full day of friends, fun, food and learning the land that the people in the Bible lived on. This is fascinating stuff, yall! And guess what? No, really, guess what?.....WE HAD ALL 45 TEAM MEMBERS TODAY!!! Praise God! Todays Fitbit readings are: 74 flights of stairs (Today I am happy, not really, to introduce to you 2 new members of my feet …blister #1 and blister #2. Super fun!), almost 8 miles, and 18, 375 steps. I’m not 100%, but I’m pretty sure my feet hate me. #CalgonTakeMeAway
Fun facts for today…
So, do you have a Fitbit? If so, you know how you can set it with different goals? Well I have a goal that sets off a rocket every 5000 miles. Well, today on the journey to “Lose the Skin on Your Feet” my rocket went off at 8:40am. My rocket has NEVER gone off before 9am. I don’t usually get to work until 9am. Then my rocket apparently got tired and sent me stars this afternoon. I’m positive the Fitbit program writers are looking into what has malfunctioned on my device. It has NEVER had this much work….EVER. #BlisterSister
My BFF Queen Mary made a funny today. Very funny! She said to me, you know how they say “You leave your heart in Texas?”, well we can now add “and leave your hip in Israel.”. LOLOLOLOLOL. She cracks me up!! #CantFindMyHip
This next thing is something that has been happening for days and it makes me almost cry from laughing so hard. My roomie, Ruth Towers, is quite the little shopper if you weren’t aware. We have a shop that Pastor Ben has known the owners for years so we all feel comfortable there. Ruth has been there EVERY DAY. She has shopped and shopped and shopped. She has even been allowed to stay in the back inventory closet alone to find what she needs. When we went last night I was asking about a pair of sandals and the owner asked me what size; I replied with “a 6-6.5 in US sizes, when over the dressing room wall I hear “that’s a 37 in their sizes”. She’s climbing on ladders to get things, she knows every square inch of that store. Ruth has done a full inventory I’m pretty sure and I think they may offer her a job. The running joke is that Ruth has to hurry back after our study trips to work her evening shift at Shabon’s shop. #LoveMeSomeRuthTowers
Now for the gravy…
Today we saw several cities/towns that are mentioned heavily in scripture. We were able to see the “backyard” of Sampson and hear scripture while seeing the land directly in front of us and related where things took place. It brought the Bible to life in an even bigger way than before. The Sampson and Delilah story came to life in front of our eyes. And to hear about David and Goliath and see the actual land that this took place on…this is crazy! I’m sure most of you are like me in that we believe the scriptures and stories told in the Bible but feel almost like it happened so long ago in a far, far, away galaxy, that it somehow keeps us separated from the full truth of the story. Not today. We were standing looking at the fields and valleys and hills, and springs, and crops, and seeing multiple towns from 1 Overlook. It made us feel a little part of what these men and women in the Bible must have felt and as little of a part it is, it is huge in our minds and hearts. JUC has a saying “Read the Land, See the text, Live the book”, and NOW I know what that means. We read the land today!
We also saw an ongoing excavation project (pictures included) and were able to visit the beautiful Bell Caves (pictures included). Mary led us in singing in these caves and it was magical. The voices of this team praising our God in this cave was mind-blowing and something that will stay in my head for a very long time to come. Next, we headed toward Ashqelon and were able to see the Canaanites Fortifications and walked through the world’s oldest Arch. I have lots of pictures of all these beautiful sites and will try to post as many as I can so you can see the beauty we got to see today.
When we were done there, we headed TO THE BEACH!! We went to take a dip in the Mediterranean Sea and it was perfect. Before we headed down to the water we did a group prayer/blessing for Charman and Frank Bonazzo’s 7thwedding anniversary. To hear our team speak blessings over them and lift prayers for them was a purely sweet moment. They stood in the middle of us and we surrounded them with our love and our words. Teary eyed were many! Then it was time….to hit the water!!! The water was warm, the sun was out, and we had all 45 team members together! It was the perfect ending to the perfect day (minus the blisters).
Tomorrow we are packing up our stuff and will be hopping hotels for the next 4 days. It’s an early day with a 5:30am breakfast and 6:30am the bus leaves. Tomorrow during the day, we get to go to the Dead Sea and float!!! Who’s more excited than me? No-one!! Tomorrow night we stay in Jericho and can’t wait to see what that’s all about. We will keep you posted on how we are moving and how the Holy Spirit is moving in and around us!
Have a great rest of your day while we hit the hay!
Sarah Morris
Beach Loving Blogger
