Praise the Lord I have a date for departure! I will be flying out at the end of next week. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I have greatly enjoyed seeing so many of you and getting to know some new faces as well. It has been a good trip and I feel rested and ready to go back!
The Elav youth conference went very well. I will include some stories when I get back to Israel and have a chance to hear them first hand. They had a total of 800 youth. 600 were from Israel (a mixture of Jewish and Arab youth – some managed to get their papers from the PA), 200 were from other countries. Praise the Lord that they didn’t have any major issues, so far all I’ve heard is that things went well.
The situation is Israel continues to be a bit precarious. The Arab nations are not backing off on their attempts to cause trouble. More flotillas are scheduled to arrive at the blockade and they are continuing to blame Israel for the peace issues. Turkey is still taking a key role in all of this. I’m not sure how the world can listen to these Arab leaders who so blatantly say that they hate Israel and won’t be happy until it’s completely obliterated off the face of the earth (which is what the Arab leaders say to one another and to their people, publically), and then when they turn around and say to the Western world that they want peace etc. we believe them and act as if the other was never spoken. We must learn not to be swayed by what the media tells us, but do our own research and find the truth. Everyday we have opportunities to exercise our ability to discern the spirit behind the messages given us by the media.
Since we are on the topic of media, I listened to a very interesting Glen Beck program on Fox last week. He had Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece and a minister running for office in TX on with him. It was so good. I’ve only watched his show a handful of times, but I would certainly suggest checking it out in the future. It was so encouraging to hear someone in the mainline media declaring that hate is not the answer, only love, and that Jesus is the only one who can solve this world’s problems!!!! He said he would be uncovering some interesting items this week, so if you get a chance to watch any of it, it could be beneficial. There are truth speakers out there; we just have to learn to distinguish between those who do and those who don’t. We must listen with our spirit! Lord teach us all to discern according to Your Spirit.
Oh and one last little tid-bit. Gaza has opened a brand new upscale shopping mall this week. It has three levels and offers products from all over the world. However, the media is not mentioning it anywhere because Gaza is supposed to be a poverty ridden place and without building materials because of Israel’s blockade. This is a perfect example of why we must be discerning and not allow ourselves to be swayed by our human sympathies, but to be swayed only by what God says. Here is a link in case you don’t believe me- http://www.jerusalemonline.
This update is a bit shorter than normal, but I just wanted to send out a quick one in the midst of my preparations to let you know the good news about my ticket! I’m sure future updates won’t be this short!!! Blessings and have a wonderful week!
THINGS FOR PRAYER
- My visa is good through the 15th of Oct., so pray that everything goes smoothly at the Ministry of Interior in Jerusalem when I go in for an extension.
- Pray for continued finances beyond July.
- The father of the children I nanny is still having hearing issues; pray for complete healing!
I will include pictures in my next update!
Shalom
~Lydia
