Community

As I look back over our first week here, I have a few big realizations.  The most profound is yet another lesson on community.  Scott preaches it all the time, but sometimes we can start to take it for granted - until we don't have it.

Since Scott and I were married, every move we have made has culminated with a welcoming reception from a church.  From our move as newlyweds to Garland, TX, to AHUMC, to Riverside, we have always had people take care of us.  Helping us move, bringing us a meal, helping us unpack.  This move to Jerusalem, we have been alone.  And it felt scary, lonely and sad.  For days I've even been unreasonably mad at our landlord for deserting us here.  Of course, he had no responsibility to us other than handing us a key, but I sensed the difference and its taken me this long to sort it all out.  

Lesson learned - we need others.  The prayers our friends, family and community have prayed for us has carried us through so in no way were we truly alone, but on the ground, in the middle of a foreign speaking country, we felt the absence of community in a profound way.

So guess what we did today?!  We looked into worshipping communities and found one near by.  Services started at 5pm so we were worshipping at the same time as Riverside this am!  I wanted to cry walking into this place.  Filled with English speaking believers worshipping Yeshua in English and Hebrew.  It was beautiful, comforting and spirit-filled.  Loved it!  The church is called King of Kings Community and their mission "to be a compelling, Messiah-centered, Spirit-empowered, disciple-making community that reveals the true face of Yeshua (Jesus) to Israel and to the nations."  How incredible is that?!

And yes - we did make it to the Western Wall yesterday!  Story and picts tomorrow.