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Shalom from Israela!

The GTS headed out from Cyprus on Sunday evening and arrived to the beautiful Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. The first night the 1^st and 2^nd year groups were able to stay together in the Old Jaffa hostel, and then said their goodbyes at breakfast.

Our first day in Israel was one to remember. The GTS 1 began our Experience Israel Journey with a walk through the city to Independence Hall. As we sat in this simple museum hall, we were astounded by the history of this house. This was the first home built on what, only a hundred years ago, was two large sand dunes. Those sand dunes were quickly transformed into a growing Jewish neighborhood, then a thriving center of culture and arts, and finally a sprawling modern city. This house that began it all was also the home of the first mayor, the first art museum, and the place from which on May 14, 1948 (5 Iyar, 5708) David Ben Gurion proclaimed the state of Israel. We were moved and humbled as we sat in this same room and listened to our tour guide speak from her heart about Israel’s right to exist-a freedom we take for granted but is fought for every day in this old and new land. And this, we learned, is the meaning of the name Tel Aviv: it is an old and new city.

The history of this place goes much further back, however, than those sand dunes. On our second day, we walked through what is called Old Jaffa, or Joppa. You can read about this place in Acts 10:1-11:18. Peter was at Joppa staying with Simon the tanner when, through a vision, the Lord spoke to him saying “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” Peter was then directed from the Lord to follow the men sent by Cornelius. At the home of Cornelius (a Roman centurion), the Lord poured out His Spirit and revealed to Peter that “God has granted to the Gentiles repentance to life” (Acts 11:18b). This is where those of us who are gentiles are grafted in; we are adopted into the family of God! This truth fills our hearts with gratefulness, and after our walk through Old Jaffa, we were blessed to have a time of worship and team building at the beach.

Other things we did while in Tel Aviv include visiting a Messianic ministry house called Dugit, celebrating Purim together, and, for many students, their first trip to a shuk (an open bazaar or market). The ministry house of Dugit is a place in downtown Tel Aviv where people can go and have free coffee, look at books, and ask questions and hear answers about Yeshua and Messianic Judaism. While there, we were blessed to receive a practical teaching on how to approach and begin conversations with Jewish people about their Messiah and how to explain the Gospel in a culturally applicable way.

For Purim (the Biblical feast set forth in the book of Esther) we had a costume party on the roof of our hostel. This was especially exciting as we only had the few things we packed for our trip to work with. At the party, we had pizza, hamantaschen (the traditional cookie eaten at Purim), and we read through the book of Esther aloud together. This was a lot of fun as we all said boooo whenever Haman was named, we cheered when Mordecai was named, and we sighed sweetly whenever Esther was named. It gets quite comical in the verses that say their names back and forth, over and over again.

Our time in Tel Aviv was such a great way to begin our trip. We greatly enjoyed our stay at the Old Jaffa Hostel where we had great views from the roof and many opportunities to talk with the other guests and plant seeds in their heart of the Gospel and the goodness of God. On the third morning, we left Tel Aviv and went south into the ancient city of Beersheva. So you can check back in with us later to read all about our wilderness experience.

Many Blessings,

The GTS Blog Team

Photo Editor: Marissa H.

Blog Writer: Hannah B.

Blog Editor: Marissa H. and Hannah B.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.