The Arrival in Jerusalem

Shalom!

I arrived safely in Jerusalem on Monday in the late afternoon, thank you all for your prayers. So far this week I have mostly been resting and doing some running around town. Jet lag hasn't been a problem; I've been sleeping quite well every night! On the 29th I will be moving into my permanent housing. I will be staying with a family that has five children, the oldest of which just turned 6! Needless to say they are happy for more help with the children and household duties. I will also be spending at least 15 hours a week in prayer and worship.  I will try to attach some pictures of places I go and give some explanation as to what you are looking at!

One place I visited this week was the Temple Mount where I saw the Eastern Gate – the gate the Messiah will return through. I find the methods the Muslims have used to close it off rather interesting. They know of the prophecy that the Jewish Messiah will one day return and come through the Eastern Gate. So, they completely blocked it and filled it with stones (you can see the stones on the outside of the wall, not the side visible from the mountain top). Then, just in case that wasn't enough they put a cemetery on the outside entrance because they know that any holy rabbi or Jewish leader would NOT come near the gate since they would be defiled by the dead bodies. They have no idea what type of power they are dealing with!!!

I want to particularly remind all of you to be praying starting now. Tomorrow, for those of you who don't know, they Muslims in the U.S. have planned to march in DC and have a day of prayer in front of the capital. Pray, pray, pray!!!! We have been crying out for God to show His mighty arm and disrupt this march with bad weather. LOTS of rain, but the storm would need to be a rather severe one to keep the marchers away, possibly even hail. There are scriptures in which God used or speaks of using hail as a judgment on his enemies. This is not an event to ignore, the Muslims are perfectly aware of what kind of affect such an event could have on our nation. We must cry out for mercy on this country.  God is not too small to intervene, but He will not do it unless He sees the repentance in our country that He is looking for. When God begins to call a nation back to Himself, He does it as gently as possible. Perhaps He will start with some bad weather, if that doesn't work then maybe some severe weather, such as prolonged droughts or flooding or earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes. Then if the people still refuse to repent He will chose something more severe, such as turning them over to someone who will put them into captivity.  We have waited far too long to repent as a nation, we are on the verge of running out of time before we are placed into complete captivity and left there for a long time. America! Don't be too proud! It has happened to many other nations, it CAN happen to you! It is time for us to cry out for the church to wake up out of its deep slumber and repent. So I urge each one of you to stand with us and pray that God would cause this Muslim day of prayer to be thwarted, that the weather would make it impossible and that there would be no available building for them to use at the last minute.

Ok, so my update ended up being long anyway! I love you all and please continue to pray for Israel as well as our country.  Oh, I almost forgot. I have been asked to include this information in my update. If any of you are interested in helping me financially during this faith walk in Israel you can contact me for more information at:

Thank you soooo much for all of your support already, both financially and in prayer. I am truly blessed!

Hugs to you all!
~Lydia