Our last day of work

Today was a very tiring day.  We are not sleeping very well due to jetlag (not being able to go to sleep at night and then waking up at 1, 3, and/or 4 a.m.  We worked a full day today at the House of Prayer and it was a very productive day although it left us all exhausted.  The guys finished all the yard work including pulling up huge cactus plants, tilling the ground, mowing, weedeating, etc.  The girls finished painting 2nd and 3rd coats of paint in the apartment of the prayer house (which had 14 foot ceilings).  We ate falafels for lunch which was a new adventure.  They are like a pita bread sandwich stuffed with humus, chick peas, cucumbers, lettuce, tomato and who knows what else.  They eat very healthy here and Jay and I are loving it.  They were delicious!  We walked down to a Jewish market to find some dinner tonight and we ended up eating a chicken shwarma this time and then we walked around the market for a while looking at the shops and things.  We came back early tonight and showered and all are going to bed early.  We have a long day tomorrow....prayer walking all morning until lunch and then we start touring Jerusalem tomorrow afternoon.  

The thing that has intrigued me more than anything while being here is the diversity of religions.  We are in the Holy Land and Christianity is such the minority!  We have been working right next to a Muslim school and it is right in the middle of a Muslim community as well and then 2 blocks up, there are devout Jews and their community.  You see some very strict followers of their religion and then you will see those that aren't.  However all of them do not know the Father and are working hard to fulfill the law and have no freedom in Christ.  I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to experience Him in a way that I am not bound to the law and have freedom in Him.  However we have been amazed at how devout these people are to their "religion."  We are hearing the Muslim call to prayer all day long and it convicts me every time of how committed we SHOULD be, yet we lack the stamina and desire to do so.  If Christians were as devoted as these other religions, how much more effective would we be in sharing Christ with others????  I have been very saddened by their distorted view of God, however, encouraged and challenged at the same time.  Please pray for us tomorrow as we will be walking for hours as we encounter all of these people groups.  Pray that the Lord will open the hearts and minds of Israelis and that He would give us the wisdom, strength and words to say as we come into contact with them.