I N T E R N A T I O N A L S . 2 0 1 0

 

"I was glad when they said to me, 'come, let us go to the house of the Lord!'"

 

This morning was our first morning in Jerusalem.  We had an early show so we had to leave our hotel around 9 to get to our base on time.  Sorry no details about this base...however the performance was just amazing and G-d moved in a very powerful way, and in many different people, some of them unexpected.  Day time performances for the Internationals have a little bit of a different feel than our usual night time shows.  The soldiers are not usually as enthusiastic, on the other hand every base and every soldier is different.  The soldiers today were not as energetic throughout the whole program as some of our other performances have been on this tour but at the end of the show and after talking with them for a long time it was incredible to see how God touched them.  We were also honored to have at our show today the mother of three sons.  Two of her sons have been killed in battle, and the third is going into the army very shortly and will be serving in the same unit as his older brothers.  After the first son was killed in battle, the father of this family suffered a heart attack and died due to grief.  One of our shows in the north was for the unit that the middle son served in.  One of our shows in the south was at the base he was operating out of when he was killed, so during this tour we were able to perform for many of the soldiers and people connected to this story.  Shimon knew the mother and arranged for her to come to our show, it was remarkable!  She was very thankful and spoke a few words at the end of our show hopefully if we can pull it off the video we can get the text of what she said on to one of our last posts.  When we danced with the soldiers at the end of our show to "Machiac", she joyfully joined us and danced for the duration of the song!  What an incredible woman!

 

There were other ways that G-d moved today through our show.  This was our last performance here, and for the last couple of shows our wonderful sound guys, Yoav, Shai, and Samuel had been making comments like they were kind of sad that it was going to be over.  Today when the show was over they shared their hearts with us and with the soldiers who were watching and it was really incredible.  They explained how they had loved this 2 weeks, and enjoyed being around us so much, how they realized again how important it was to be an Israeli in their own land and that the Lord was with them.  One of them told us how he was bitter at the country for what he had to go through in his military experience, how it was frustrating to live here because of political corruption and world pressure, but after spending the 2 weeks doing shows with us he was having a change of heart and looking at being an Israeli in a different perspective.  Many times during this tour before going on the stage for a certain song or dance you could see Samuel, eyes glued to who ever was on stage with a peaceful smile on his face enjoying every second of it.  They made several comments like "This is the best show that we have ever worked for, we don't need Elvis Costello or the Pixie's, you guys are the best, and we got to see your whole tour for free and loved all it..."  Its very humbling to hear people say that, and we can only stand in awe of what G-d does with clean and willing vessels, after hearing them speak their hearts today, all of us left the base feeling extremely honored to be called to this ministry and that we could be given this opportunity here, in Israel!

 

After leaving the base we went to Beit El, which in Hebrew translates to the House of God.  Beit El is where Abraham stopped after being in Be're Sheva, and probably more commonly known as the place where Jacob had the dream of the angels climbing and descending the stair case up and down from heaven and where he wrestled with the angel and made him bless him before leaving.  We learned after Jacob was blessed concerning his descendants and the land, he took the rock that he had been using as a pillow and stood it up right and poured oil on it as an offering to the Lord and as a reminder of G-d's promise to Abraham concerning the covenant.  In an act of faith we all built our own alters to the Lord concerning the promises of G-d in our own lives, and we believed that He put them in our hearts, and that those promises will come to pass!

 

Our final stop of the day after a long time in traffic was a place called Nebe Samuel.  It is the highest point in the region and has spectacular views of the northwest side and the eastern hilltops of Jerusalem.  This is also the place where the prophet Samuel is buried.  Recent excavation of the area indicates a substantial settlement from the first temple period. 

 

As I'm writing this my friends are shopping it up on Ben Yehuda st because our show was this morning...this tour has been incredible, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and our good friends here in Israel the song selection of our show this year was right on, the show itself really built to the end and everyone who saw it seemed to really love it and enjoy it.  G-d really gave Cheryl great words of encouragement and hope when she spoke and people were deeply moved.  I hope that we have conveyed that in this blog.  Be sure to talk with people who were here on this trip and listen to the stories they have and that they experienced in person.

 

We are working on getting more pictures up as fast as we can, it has been a bit of a challenge the last few days mostly because of technical difficulties. 

 

Blessings from the city of the Great King, Jerusalem! 

 

 

Today we woke up in Eilat and loaded the bus for our almost 5 hour drive back towards the north of the country. We had a time of worship on the bus and a good discussion about our devotion for the day followed by some DST (designated sleep time) as we drove. We stopped and ate lunch in the city of Arad and then arrived at the military checkpoint where the IDF security vehicle met us and escorted us into Hebron where we would perform tonight for the soldiers who oversee the city of Hebron. This was a first for the Internationals to get a chance to perform in a base within the Palestinian Authority area of Hebron. In addition, our bus drivers' son, Amnon Nadivi, is stationed on this base so we got to see him as well.

 

We arrived early in the afternoon and the army graciously arranged to take us into Hebron to visit Ma'arat HaMachpela which are the caves where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah as well as Jacob and Leah are buried. The patriarchs and the matriarchs of our faith! It is the land that Abraham originally purchased thousands of years ago to bury his wife Sarah upon her death. It was truly an amazing experience and a place where the average Israeli citizen is not allowed to freely go. In fact of all the years the Internationals have been coming to Israel, this is only the 2nd time we have been able to visit this place. We are so thankful to God for this amazing gift and are in awe that we were allowed to go.

 

The show was most amazing and we had such a good time. You may have seen on the news from just Monday of this week that one of the Jewish police officers in Hebron was attacked and killed just 2 days prior to our arrival. It is the soldiers at this base who had to deal with all of this mess and we had the privilege of coming to be an encouragement to them in a time of great stress on their base. God knew months ago when this show was arranged that this shooting would happen and that we needed to come to lift their spirits. The soldiers all told us that our show and our presence with them meant more to them than words can say and we know that it was the Spirit of God falling upon them that truly uplifted their spirits.

 

After the show we loaded up the bus and went up to Jerusalem. YEAH! Our favorite city in the world. It is the most incredible feeling that I cannot describe to you when you get to enter Jerusalem and see the walls of the city. Whether it is your first time or your thirtieth time, it is an indescribable and very emotional experience. Those of you who have been blessed to have this experience know what I am talking about. And for those of you who have not yet been to Israel, our prayer is that you will very soon have the life changing opportunity to come to this land. We got to the hotel about 11:30 pm and headed up to our rooms. This will sound really weird but I am telling you that when we arrive in Jerusalem, it is like we are home. We will all sleep well tonight.

 

Everyone is feeling good and we are blessed. Thanks so much for all of your prayers!