Israel

Unmatchable. I am saying it now- there's no chance another place will have nearly the same kind of feeling as Israel, no matter where you go. This place felt comforting, but not in the same way as you would think. Upon arriving there was just a whole different feeling when walking around, like I was without a worry in the world. Think of the weight you carry on your shoulders and then imagine it being let go of for a little while. I guess you could say that in Israel I just didn't feel that weight. For most of this trip, we were in Jerusalem, but first I have to include a little story from our layover.

Tuesday

We left Split but had a 6-hour layover in Zagreb so we just went and got food. We decided we didn't want to go to town after talking to one of the tour booths and went to a restaurant they suggested that was near the airport. Not going to lie, the area we went to felt like a town from the initial times of covid where no one was out. The food was great and after 3 hours we decided to walk back because we wanted to save money. Yeah, well the walk back got a little sketchy. We were walking along a highway, next to the airport outskirts with our backpacks on, which contained all and everything important. We probably could have walked onto the airport runway if we wanted. This is what we probably looked like:

Then, as we got closer to the airport, a taxi driving by stopped after it passed us. I was thinking oh boy here we go. I knew Haley was going to freak, as she slowly did. This is where Haley and I are very different because I tend to be more relaxed in complex situations and she does not like to remain that way at all, lol. The taxi didn't only stop, but it began to back up towards us. The man in the taxi was surprisingly young and reminded me of Lucas Scott from One Tree Hill almost identical and offered us a ride. Instantly, I was like no we are good because I know you're never supposed to take a ride from strangers (see mom I wasn't completely stupid). And he continued to insist and said he was going to the airport anyway so there was no point in us walking. Haley, tired with her two bags, said "Ok" and I looked at her like "DUDE." Honestly, the guy seemed genuine, but I knew it still wasn't the smartest thing but proceeded to get in the car after Haley (sorry Mom). We made it safely, don't worry.

Wednesday

Around 3ish, we landed and once we got off the plane, everything was in Hebrew. Shocker, right? The airport itself was super Jerusalem-like. The passport control after landing was long and finally, we got through. After being approached by many taxi guys trying to scam us, we found the real taxi line and paid a very high fare to get to our hostel, which was kind enough to leave our keys out so we could get into our room after 3 am. The hostel was so cool and I highly would recommend it if you are ever in Israel and don't mind staying with other people. Staying in the hostel allowed us to meet other people and God created a lot of opportunities to talk to other people about Jesus and that made it a million times better, too!

We got up around 9 am out of habit. Getting to do my quiet time in Jerusalem felt unreal. I opened up my bible to where I was studying and of course, I was in Luke 19, in which Jesus starts his ministry in Jerusalem. God's timing is perfect as always. I liked Luke 19 because it made me think about how God has given us gifts and resources to share with others that sometimes I forget to use or don't take advantage of. Often, I can find myself using the talents God gave me for things that aren't in the intention to bring Him glory, honestly, sometimes to bring myself Glory, which is selfish, but true. I am imperfect and forget to live a life like Jesus. His grace is so great that even though He has to remind me over and over again, He forgives me, which He also would do for any of us. 1 John 1:9 comes to mind, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (shoutout Eli because He gave me this memory verse this week). There are countless times when I have to remind myself that all I have is not mine and worthless in the end, rather it is Gods, to be used in partnership with Him as He intended it to be and to use to further His kingdom. Thank you, God, for being loving enough to show me those flaws and to help me work on improving them over and over again.

After some hostel complimentary breakfast, we set out to explore the city we had yet to see, and dang, Jerusalem is unlike anything else. I wish I could describe it, but those of you who have been there will know what I mean, and those of you who don't, I guess you'll just have to go see it for yourself (I'll go with just lmk when). The city is constantly alive and just beautiful. The buildings in Jerusalem are all made out of the same stone, which oddly enough reminded me of TCU. The whole thing was just not what I expected at all because when I think of the terrain Jesus was in, I think of the desert where he fasted for 40 days, but Jesus wasn't always in the desert, duh. Jerusalem has beautiful large parks and streets that are filled with trees and other greenery. It was also not burning hot (like I imagined it - however when we went to Masada it was). It was super hilly, breezy, clean, and just overall pretty.

We started our time off by going to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, which only part of them was on display, but still super cool.

We ended up walking back through one of the largest parks I've seen in a while and was where we had lunch. This park was just so beautiful. We got to see the Jewish grade school children running around playing games (without technology!), people walking their dogs, a large large large playground that I would have loved as a child, people bathing in the sun reading books, and people playing piano in the middle of the park, and so much more. Then in the middle of it all was a gorgeous restaurant that had AMAZING food. I'm not sure why I was so surprised, but I was. Haley continued on with her love of truffles as it was on the pizza she ordered. I had a salad that was impossible to finish, but also amazing. The photos are deceiving because it was huge. Some of the best food we've had even though I say that in nearly every blog.

Later in the day, we went to the market, and talk about a place to get lost. This place was again just so cool. This place was somewhere where people frequently went and worked. It's such a different life than ours back at home and it's so humbling and awesome to get to experience, even if it's just for a few hours. They're used to tourists, but it was still cool to be there and check out all the different foods, clothing, and such. This is really when we got to start thinking about what people think of America in other countries because we would see kippahs with Trump on them in certain areas, then we would see aprons that made jokes about Israel having our back. Jerusalem was just filled with so many different cultures that it was a great place to learn. Haley tried baklava for the first time here and loved it.

Ended the night with more walking around and finding some cool art in the streets. We passed by students who were doing dances in the square, then even protestors. There was a new experience around every corner here.

Thursday

What a great day. This is going to be a long story, so get comfortable.

We got picked up bright and early by the greatest tour guide ever and I'm not sure if I can pronounce his name right let alone type it. So we will call him TG as an abbreviation for tour Guide. TG brought us breakfast, which was a piece of Falafel, which wasn't the falafel I was thinking it was going to be. It was a piece of a pizza-like thing pictured below.

However, we already got muffins from one of the best muffin places EVER. They cooked them that morning. Once they're made, they put them on a shelf and you can grab them yourself, it's cute.

Walking in Jesus Footprints

Our tour started off going to the Mount of Olives which was probably the coolest place ever. It was just so cool to be in such a significant place, but what was even cooler was what Jesus did in these places.

• The first place we drove to was the Church of Pater Noster. It is a church built on a spot where Jesus is said to have taught the disciples how to pray, or taught them the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:7-14). All around this church was the Lord's Prayer in nearly all languages. Underneath the church was a save where people associate with Jesus teaching about the destruction of Jerusalem and His second coming. It was so great having a tour guide who knew scripture so well because he often pointed to different parts of scripture which you'll notice as we go through this. Here he brought up Matthew 24 and 25. We came across the one in Spanish and I forgot until that point that I knew it in Spanish from my class in middle school and even a little of the Latin one. It's so cool how God made us able to memorize scripture and how that memorization can stick with us forever.

• The view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives was just breathtaking. The Mount of Olives was so important for so many reasons one of the biggest being that this is where Jesus ascended to Heaven and where He will return. It is also a place where Jesus came to pray and be in solitude with God. Taking in this view that He would have seen tons of times was just so unreal. The Mount of Olives represents an everlasting hope that Jesus will be the same person to us forever and never change (Hebrews 13:8). I couldn't stop gazing out at this place because it is exactly what Jesus did as He wept for our broken world and the action He was going to take for us because of how much He loves us. It was so amazing to me because I am such visual learner and when reading I try to picture things in my head (as most people) and having these places, even if they're now different, helps create that image for me. So I can better understand the stories so differently.

• Next was the Tombs of the Prophets, which was so interesting. The man who was "guarding" the gate was responsible for letting people in and telling about the tomb. This position was taken on by his family for generations and responsible for protecting it. We got down the stairs to where we could see the graves that held the 5 feet humans and the man educated us on how they buried them. Included in the tombs was Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, but also some of their followers.

• Then, Dominus Flevit Church was our next spot, which translates to the Lord wept. This spot was associated with where Jesus wept over the city because He knew what coming. In Luke 19:41-44, He weeps and talks about how little the people know of what's to come. He talks about destruction where not one stone will be left on top of another. All of this was fulfilled when the Romans came and took over Jerusalem in 70 AD after destroying the city with fire. According to the people who excavated the city at the time, there was not a single stone left on top of the other in its original position, which makes sense because Jesus said there wouldn't be. This story shows us that He wept because He was human and had the same feelings we do! He loved us and feels for us. He knows all the emotions we will ever deal with. We can look to scripture and know that He is with us and has experienced the emotions we have and is willing to support, partner, and help us carry that weight if we ask.

• As we were going from these places, the main road we were driving on was the place where Jesus rode through on Palm Sunday. It was weird to be driving on it, but also it's been covered and changed since the time He did these things. It was cool to picture Jesus riding a donkey down this road, which would have been so beautiful. It's truly such a blessing to get to see all these things, as much as they've probably changed.

• Gardens of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations was our last stop on the Mount of Olives. Within the church is a rock, which many believe is the rock where Jesus prayed in agony calling out to God the night before His arrest. The church itself was beautiful and so well crafted. There was a church service going on in the main area, but we were allowed to walk around it. It had such detail that your eyes couldn't help but wander around. The garden had hundreds of years old said to have been dated back all the way to when Jesus was alive. If it was true, this would mean they were present to see Jesus. At this garden, I really began to just feel and think about the weight of what Jesus had done for us. Then, TG began to tell us about how olive tree branches that have been broken off have the ability to mended back, or grafted in as Paul talks about in Romans 11. Paul uses this metaphor to show that the roots support the branches not the other way around. God is to be our foundation or root of our life. Through His grace, He is able to mend anyone through their faith in Him and give them life. Further, the Olive tree also becomes a symbol of abiding in John 15:1-8, where apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but if we remain with Jesus we can do it all.

• Ok this spot is a little tough to organize, but the Church of Saint Peter is built near the Palace of the high priest Caiphas, where Jesus was brought and Peter followed Him there. This place was where Peter denied him three times (Luke 22:56-62). The church was located on Mount Zion, and because it was where Peter denied Him three times, it was also known as the Church of the Cock. Under the palace was also a dungeon like place associated with where Jesus was held for a few hours after he was arrested. It is also thought to be the burial location of David. In Acts 5, Peter and John were supposedly held here after the resurrection. In one of the photos you can see that on one of the walls of the dungeons that you can kind of see a face from the angle we were standing at. Some of the tourist also in the cell with us pointed it out to us and said that it's supposedly the face of Jesus.

• Also on this property, was the main road that has been fairly untouched since Jesus' time. It was such a dominant road that it would have been nearly impossible for Jesus not to have walked on it, which is crazy!!!! Specifically, it was probably part of the path that Jesus had to walk after He was arrested.

• Another place on the walk down to the Church of Saint Peter was a lookout point that was similar to the one David had when he was looking out over Bathsheba.

• Then we went into the Old City. We entered the Old City, which was slightly different from Jesus time (about half the size), through Zion Gate. The main defensive gate for its intentional architecture meant to slow down enemy forces. Honestly, I think it is so cool that this still remained in tact. There was bullet holes still on the wall from some war. We walked through the city and it was unreal. It was so so awesome. I love art and there was a ton of it everywhere in the shops.

• So, one of the many times I was editing this blog, I was nearly finished with writing everything, and included in that was a quote of what I was feeling when I entered one of the supposed places where Jesus was crucified. When I moved the quote over from my notes, which included what I had written immediately after I left the place, I deleted it from my notes so there is no way to get it back (I even checked my recently deleted). Something that TG had told us is that the Holy Spirit in us guides us and can make us feel a certain way. TG didn't believe that this was the place where Jesus was buried, but wanted us to decide for ourselves. Some time ago, a church was built over the spot called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The person "in charge" of it is a Muslim because there are 8 different denominations of Christians who wanted to be in charge, but they couldn't decide who to be in charge. So, they gave it to someone of none of the denominations. The whole place was filled with what felt like a lot of idols. To me, it just didn't feel right. Yet, I can't tell you where Jesus was buried verse where He wasn't. What I can tell you from what I wrote after I left is that I never felt a feeling like I did as I did in that place. I felt so uncomfortable, hyper-focused solely on getting out, disgusted, and more. I can't tell you why I felt that, but I did. The instant I got in there I wanted to get out. My head was aching, and I don't get headaches regularly, not really at all honestly. It felt like God was blocking everything in there out of my head. As TG spoke about why people thought this was the place, it all went in one ear and out the other. I could only focus on how awful I felt and my desire to get out. Can't tell you if it was maybe because of the incense or the Holy Spirit, but it felt like I had something blocking everything out of my head. I didn't even want to take photos of anything in there, just to get out. Upon getting out, we prayed and I felt better, it was crazy. But I did take a photo before I went in of my not so favorite spot.

• Then, we got to visit a beautiful viewpoint from the top of a building after we had lunch in a nearby restaurant and were carted around for a little.

• Then we got to go to a church that had some great acoustics. TG was trying to get us to sing and you should know I most certainly objected. He sang though, and it did sound pretty cool. Outside, we went to where Jesus healed the cripple in John 5:1-8. It was super cool because, again, this story is just so sweet to show how caring Jesus is. He heals and continuously saves us.

• The Antonia Fortress was where He stood for trial before Pilate. This place has now been built over but the stone still laid there, which was unbelievable. In John 19, we read the story of Pilate not wanting to crucify Jesus because he knew Jesus was innocent, but he ends up conforming to the desires of the crowd for selfish and fearful reasons. I think so often we can see the Pilate as such a bad guy, but we are all the Pilate. I choose to conform all the time for my own sense of security, whether thats in times of just not saying anything or doing anything. God reminds me that He calls us to be set apart and this story is a good example of what not to do :) . We are all sinners and we are all the reason that Jesus died. However, thats whats so sweet - that He did it for us. We get to live because of what He did so we can rejoice in that and what that means for us. This place was unreal.

• We walked through the Old city until we went through the New Gate where we came out into the Arabic area. On the inside of the gate was the Christian quarter of the Old City. In the Old City (probably should have mentioned this before), the area used to be dived into 4 quarters between Christians, Muslims, Arabic, and Jewish people, but these days it's only a little bit more mixed. When you cross over from area to area, it's a completely different feeling and setting. There is so much culture in Jerusalem, it's so hard to be able to take it in in such a small amount of time. Throughout this trip, we were able to learn so much about other religions, have conversations with people, share the gospel, and be in awe of God's creation. This gate was supposedly the one Jesus entered Jerusalem from - Not the big gate, but the little one below.

• After leaving through this gate, we were on our way to the Garden Tomb, another potential spot of Jesus burial and resurrection. On one side of the garden, there were cliffs that resembled a skull, and these days it doesn't exactly look like that anymore, but with old photos you can see it. In John 19:17, it says that Jesus was crucified in a place called the Skull and also in verse 41 it says that it was near a garden, in which they buried Jesus because of the lack of time. The tomb not far away made this the most likely place because of how it aligned with scripture. The garden itself was beautiful. I was so peaceful. Even though the place of His burial is still debated, what the location of the garden represents is what matters. That Jesus died, like DIED, for us. For me. For you. For all of us. Yup, He did. Then, He rose and we get to have a personal relationship with Him. Like one on one. How could we want anything other than that?

To wrap it up, we went to the Temple Wall/ Wailing Wall. It was just a cool experience to get to see such a meaningful place where people have prayed. We come back here the next day with our new friend so I'll come back to this spot. We left and were on our way back to our sweet sweet hostel.

Something I want to point out is that when going to these places it was important not to get too caught up in it and I was watching myself with it. I think one of my biggest thoughts going into this trip was that although it was super cool to see spots where some of these stories are THOUGHT to have been, the location didn't matter, but what matters is what DID happen. I don't need to see any of these things to believe that Jesus died for me, for us, but the places we went to and the stories that they represented were what mattered. It's so easy to get caught up in idolization of the places for what they represent rather than what the stories mean to us.

That night we had some pretty cool conversations with a few different guys who lived in the hostel. It was so awesome to see how curious they were about our faith, but also to learn more about what they believed. Also, just learn more about them because these were people from all over. When we were talking to them about Jesus, it was such a surreal feeling knowing that all of what we were saying wasn't us, but it was the Holy Spirit speaking through us. I had no idea if I would be ready for conversations like the ones we were having, but God was in control so I didn't have to worry. There was times where I got distracted watching the Holy Spirit work through Haley, but then in the conversation I was having where we both ended up talking to people about things we both kind of were "more equipped" to talk about. It felt like Haley and I were doing exactly what we were created to do. God being so intentional had the organization of the room simply being the way it was so that we could have the conversations with the specific people He wanted to use us to talk to through. This wasn't the only time we were able to have these conversations. God provided more and more opportunities and all we had to do was be obedient and wait for the Holy Spirit to move. The day we were leaving, we talked to these same guys for another hour or so about more of the their questions. I loved loved loved every part of those conversations. Not only with these guys, but with one of our new friends we met on our tour on Friday to the Dead Sea.

Friday

Masada and Dead Sea tour

• So this tour initially was kind of confusing - honestly it was probably because I wasn't in control of the information for this tour this time, Haley was. Definitely a good thing because I can always use some work on not having control lol. Anyways, we got picked up by a large van that took us to a hilltop cafe which was actually really pretty. It had a great view of the city. Again, we bought croissants the day before so we could eat them before we left. I am a HUGE fan of croissants, but I am not a fan of croissants filled with anything other than chocolate. Haley is the opposite. Back to the main story, we waited at this beautiful spot for a while until we got our correct bus number and we were off.

• This drive is really when we got the feel of the Israel we imagined. Lots of desert. We even got to stop to see a camel that was chilling on the freeway exit.

• First we went to Masada. If you want to know the history of Masada, you're going to have to look it up because I was more focused on how I was melting in the heat. I obtained a phenomenal sandals tan on this tour that remains visible today. The story is actually pretty interesting... from what I listened to.

• Then we went to lunch and ended up sitting with some french couple on our tour. This was actually so fun because the girl didn't speak the best english, but it was fun figuring out what she was trying to say at certain times. We also got to know a girl from Denmark who was traveling alone. She was super cool and we even hung out with her after the tour.

• Then we got to the Dead Sea. Little did I know how dangerous it was to get into. The warnings they gave us made the couple behind us on the bus decide not to go in. You were supposed to have shoes, should only be in there a maximum of 20 minutes, the water would burn even if you only had the smallest of cuts (thankfully my Ireland boot cut had healed), and we weren't allowed to swim on our stomachs. I realized those people who had photos sitting there reading their books probably weren't actually reading. We proceeded to enter without shoes cuz we're cool like that (more like cuz we're cheap like that). Getting into the water was hard without shoes because the ground was on fire. Thankfully there were some wet areas. We managed to get in and avoid the rocks and float around with our new group of friends. We entered the green mud side not the black mud side, but it was still nice. It was going to be too hard to switch sides once we were in. I brought my phone so we could get some photos.

• On the way back, we stopped and there were great dates there they were selling. I normally don't like dates, but they were sooo good.

So, what we didn't think about was the fact that we were in Jerusalem... a place highly populated by Jewish people... who were all about to check out of work for the Sabbath... meaning ALL THE STORES WERE GOING TO BE CLOSED. We had no idea what we were going to do because we never had to deal with this before. So, we ended up joining our new friend Michelle. Michelle took us to the Arabic neighborhood to get some kabob street food and I never had better kabobs. They took the kabobs and put them in pita bread that they cooked over them and added lettuce, tomato, pickles, and some sauce (some different type of taziki). The food was just great. I so could have had like 5 of them.

We walked around with Michelle for a little while and got to know her. As we were walking around, she taught us a lot about Israel. She was awesome! We ended up running into these little boys who were trying to sell us water and ended up just standing around us hanging out. They were amused with us. They were pointing out my one dimple because they had one dimple, too. Keep in mind they didnt speak much english, but enough to get some conversations going. After, we left and had a really great talk with Michelle about faith, went to the wailing wall to see all the people there for the special day of the week. It was super cool.

Saturday

We decided to take the relaxing route on Saturday because we had been so go go go. We went to a nearby coffee shop that was basically the only thing open and just camped out there with our bibles and headphones. This cafe had phenomenal croissants. I did have one for breakfast and another for a snack.

We went back to the Arabic area to get the kabobs again for lunch. Amazingly, we ran into two of the boys from the night before again. Haley went down to talk to them while I roasted in the sun and got sunburnt. I ended up joining her after 5 minutes. As we were talking to the boys, Haley left for a little to go get them some treats because they were our new friends. I was talking to them the best I could, but the language barrier was tough. THANKFULLY, google translate has a voice option and we began using that and passing the phone back and forth to talk. It was surreal using the technology to break this barrier. Gods creation is good. Haley returned and these boys refused to take the candy out of politeness, but then we translated that it was a gift. They ended up taking it eventually. It was crazy how different it was for them because of where they were raised. They were working in the blazing hot sun and probably everyday without a care in the world. It was really humbling.

We ended our day sitting in a park that was nearby. It was the perfect place to just sit and simply feel Gods and His glory (read Garden City - it's good). Our amazing TG organized us a cheaper ride to the airport and was just so helpful in it all. He was truly a blessing to have met.

At the airport, we just hung out after being in security for so long. On the plane, God presented such an opportunity to just sit back and watch Him work. I was sitting in a window seat and was trying to fall asleep because it was around 2 am and a little girl next to me was just sitting there staring off as her mom was basically asleep in the other chair. I could tell she was just uneasy. As I was sitting there with my eyes closed listening to christian music trying to fall asleep, I totally felt like God was telling me to give her an AirPod. I had no idea why, but I did it. I didn't even say anything and just went back to closing my eyes and when I peeked open my eyes to see her, she did the same thing I did. I woke up about an hour later and she was passed out with the AirPod in and I was just in awe. God can do such wonders. He can bring us such peace even to people who may not know Him. He knows how to satisfy our every need in ways we couldn't even imagine. Gosh He is just so good. It gives me chills just thinking about that interaction. He is always looking for ways to help us.

When I was initially writing this, I forgot about this, but looking through photos I remembered. Its funny because I took a photo so I would have it as a reminder of God is always looking out for us and boy am I glad I did.

Gosh Israel was just so cool. Actually, God is just so cool. He is SO good. You know how your heart can recognize a place? Like the feeling you get when you go back to your hometown? The feeling of just security and trust? Yeah, that's what Israel felt like even in the midst of a bunch of different religions. A sense of confidence and certainty that Christ did and is exactly who the Bible says He is. And He never is going to change. This trip was full of a million little miracles like each day of our lives and I am feeling so blessed to have been able to experience it. Especially for the many things God opened my eyes to see.

This was the hardest blog to blog about because there was so much and Wix kept not saving my edits. I was nearly done and it wigged out on me. So, I have worked many hours on this blog so I hope you enjoyed it. The stuff that disappeared will never be found again so maybe it's not what God wanted me to include in this blog, but whatever is able to be posted is.

Catch ya later ♡,

Monroe in Rome