A God that cannot be contained

Today we had the privilege to visit the temple mount first thing today. We had to wear extremely conservative clothing because of the holy sites that are there. I was the yearly, one token Joshua student that gets stopped because of their skirt. My skirt had a little slit in the side and it showed my ankles so they were kind enough to give me a longer skirt to wear over it. i looked ~fabulous~.

Ronan wasn’t technically allowed to teach us the bible on the temple mount so we had to be really sneaky about it.

At one point we made a little too much noise (in true Joshua fashion) and we got asked to be quite by the security guards. They so kindly reminded us that this was an islamic holy site and we needed to respect it and be quite...whoopsies.

The dome of the rock was gold and massive and restricted so we couldn’t go in it. Oh whale ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The second site we hit today was the part of Jerusalem called the City of David, where we learned a bit about the story of David conquering the Jebusites in 2 Samuel 5. Our tour guide explained to us in more detail the water system for the city of Jerusalem in the time of David, and how it was effective yet it would have been too easy to seize the pool and block the city’s water. Then he explained to us the tunnel that was dug during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah to move the water from the spring to the pool of Siloam inside the city walls, and we got to walk through that very tunnel! During our trudge through the tunnel we started singing hymns that echoed gently through the tunnel, which brought a very chipper and happy feel to our group. Overall, 10/10 would recommend everyone goes here.

Our third stop for the day was Israel’s official memorial for the victims of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem. Our tour guide Ronen spoke about the significance and the layout of the museum. We started the museum tour with seeing trees dedicated to people that risked their life for the betterment of the Jewish people. Then we went through the museum and saw documents, photographs and shoes of children, clothing articles, and survivors on screens explaining their stories. We saw many other things it was so heartbreaking and very heavy. Those words aren’t enough to explain the gut wrenching feeling when reading and seeing what the past looked like during this time. They have been through so much but they are still here and it’s so amazing to see how God preserved the Jewish people and had his hand over them. The best part of the museum was at the end the balcony faces towards the homes of modern Jewish people that are living their daily life. It was incredible to see the future and how they have come out of the past stronger then before and that they still lean on God. It gave a whole new appreciation and understanding for this country and what the people here have gone through.

God’s been teaching me about his faithfulness to his people and we’re included in that too, not just the islamic people. Hallelujah we serve a god that cannot be contained within temple walls or monuments or shines.

Written by: Kaylee Detlefsen, Kimberly Needham, and Jessy H.