It’s me, Rach, again! Welcome to our first full day in Jerusalem! It’s one exciting ride…so hold on!
We, me-Rachel Snelen, my twin sis-Melody, our mom-Joy, and Emma Hustad, started out our day by having devotions on the veranda overlooking the city gates, at the King David Hotel. It was a perfect backdrop as we read from our Bibles about events that took place in this very city thousands of years ago!
“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore!” Psalm 125:2
********************* “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem…” Psalm 122:6
The picture on the right is the Jaffa Gate–where we met up with our lovely tour guide and began our journey! 
As we were listening to our tour guide explain the history of the Jaffa Gate, we all got distracted by a sweet little kitty playing peek-a-boo in the city wall! That definitely got us laughing! The cat was so cute and acted like he owned the place!
Once we arrived inside the Old City, we were quickly drawn to a BELIEVERS bookstore! We went inside instantly and started looking around. Emma struck up a conversation with the owner and asked if he had any gospel tracts we could pass out.
He was very helpful and gave us a bag full of tracts in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English, for free!
However, we were warned to be careful when passing out tracts, because you can get arrested if caught sharing the gospel with anyone under 18 years old! Who knew?
The bookstore owner also gave us each a free book for ourselves and we were very appreciative of his kindness and generosity!
During our tour, we were taken to a roof top, giving us a birds-eye view of the city!
It was an amazing site!
We found it interesting how such a small place can hold so much history!
As we were making our way to the Western (aka: Wailing) Wall, we heard a lot of music and commotion….it turned out to be a Bar-mitzvah.
Jewish tradition celebrates when boys turn 13 yrs. old and when girls turn 12 yrs. old. 
This ritual welcomes them into “adulthood”. I really like how they recognize 13 year olds as adults and there’s not a “teenage” phase. I think it teaches them much needed responsibility at an earlier age.
While observing the Western Wall ,we were amazed at the reverence Jews show towards it. We found out that the wall is considered the Holiest site to the Jews. 
They go there to pray and also mourn the destruction of the temple…
They even write out prayers to stick in the cracks of the wall!
Mel and I decided to follow Jewish customs and we each added prayers to this “sacred” wall!
Our fervent prayer is that the Jews put their faith and trust into Yeshua the Messiah that came to save them (and the world) over 2000 years ago!!!
Let’s see—our next stop was Gethsemane ( Matt. 26:36, Mark14:32) as well as the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:29, Mark 13:3). We were very intrigued by the ancient olive trees that are still alive! The structures of the trees were very fascinating! I wish I could plant one in my backyard!
After awhile, we all took a short break from walking and got out our Bibles. 
We read verses that related to the places we just visited. It was phenomenal to see the words in the Bible come alive! The historical and geographical accuracies of the Bible is incredible!
We spent some more time walking through the old city, before exiting through the Damascus gate.
At that time we heard some loud shouting and saw some people fighting! A group of Arabs had started a fight with some Israeli Military soldiers.
We got out of there as soon as possible!
I had no idea there was such tension between those two ethnic groups. This trip has been a huge eye opener in so many ways! And it’s just the first full day! However, it did make us even more motivated to hand out Christian tracts!
One of our favorite places of the day was the tranquility we found at the Garden Tomb. 
This site is the projected burial place of Jesus! We had a wonderful, thorough guided tour of the garden, given by a little Englishman with a walking stick. He was a hoot! So funny and very informative!
We took our time at this beautiful location. The whole feel of it was totally different from the chaotic city. We even met a Christian tour group from Alabama and Tennessee who invited us to their communion service in the garden. 
It was the perfect place to recognize what Christ did for us on the cross and to share in communion with other believers while celebrating the EMPTY tomb of Jesus!
Our mom also sang a spontaneous duet with a lady in the tour group! It was an amazing event and it’ll stay in our hearts forever!
Once we finished visiting the Garden Tomb, we made our way to the main section of the city. 
We stopped briefly and tested some shofars, an instrument made from a horn of a ram. We made some really silly noises!
Next, we picked out some food items at the “shook” (market). 
The selections were so large that it made it hard to decide what to purchase. We ended up getting olives (best ever), figs, pita bread, pickled garlic mushrooms, and dates. Our final stop of the day was at a friends house for a time of fellowship. We had pizza for dinner and a delicious carob cake for dessert.
After we ate, we sang some songs, had prayer time, then made our way back to our flat…after a quick power nap!
I still have a hard time believing all this occurred in one day! Needless to say, we were pretty wiped out!
We didn’t stay wiped out for long though, because the very next day we had another full round to go! That’s when our extraordinary quest to Galilee began! Camel rides, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee…this’ll be one day you don’t want to miss!
I’ll see you then!
After finishing up our fabulous days in Galilee, we (me-Rachel Snelen, my twin- Melody Snelen, Emma Hustad-our Fellowship of Christian Athletes mission partner, and my mom- Joy) made our way to Tel Aviv, where our ITF Pro circuit tennis tournament was being held.
We thank God that they were willing to sacrifice earthly comforts and conveniences to spread the Gospel…for the sake of you and me!
Just spending quality time with my sis and mom was splendid.
