Closer to the Church (from June 11th)

My new friend that I met this weekend picked up the kids and me today for a small tour of the city and to show me another grocery store. I had mentioned that I saw on the map how the church we want to go to is close to a certain landmark, so she took me by there. We didn’t go to the church itself, but where she did show me will be a huge help in finding it. If everything goes well, we’ll get there this weekend, or maybe even Wednesday night, depending on my husband’s work schedule. I know that I’ll need to drive while we’re here, but that thought is still a little scary – it’s really crazy here. Once again we drove by the Old City today – I want to go there so bad. I can see the Dome of the Rock from the hill where my house is; it’s there just teasing me. I’m so close, but I can’t see it!! I hope we get to go soon.
My friend was telling me today about her neighbor. They came to see her once on a Saturday to ask for help. They are Jewish and therefore couldn’t work on the Sabbath. The heater that was keeping their food warm became accidentally unplugged and they needed a non-Jewish person to plug it back in for them. It seems to me that walking next door and asking for help was more work than bending over and sticking a plug in the wall. To someone like my friend, who says she is not “religious”, this makes anyone who believes the Bible look a little wacky. I assured her that the kind of laws the Jews are imposing upon themselves are not what was intended by the original law, but rather are things that have been added through the years. I feel so sad for these people. God’s chosen people, but they’re so blinded. Unfortunately, the rules for me here are very strict. I am not allowed to “proselytize” in any form. Besides jeopardizing my husband’s job, it is also against Israeli law. There are many Americans here though and I’m hoping that I can be a good testimony to them and they will ask me questions. Pray for me in this, please. I’m also very interested in learning Hebrew, so I could use your prayers in that as well. We don’t have very long here, as far as learning a language goes, so I need to work fast. Until next time…Lehitraot! (Goodbye)