Dad is finally here!

June 23, 2009
Dad is finally here!
After taking a taxi from the kibbutz to Tiberias, then taking a bus to Jerusalem and finally taking one last taxi to my hotel, I arrived to find out my reservation had been canceled…twice. At least that was what the German receptionist was explaining to me as I stood in the lobby with suitcase and guitar in hand with my full pack on my back. Great…now what?
However, after showing her some paper work and listening to her whisper to her boss about who knows what for about 20 minutes, she finally handed me a key and gave me a room number, 517. So I got on the elevator the size of a small closet and there was no level 5. So I went up as far as this elevator would take me and got off. Then took a flight of stairs up to the 5th floor (my suitcase sounding like I dropped it off a balcony with every step it slammed into as I dragged it up behind me).
Once I got situated in my room I called Ingrid, a friend from the dig who I knew would be staying at Ecce Homo (which is in the Old City) while I am in Jerusalem. She and I met up at the Jaffa Gate (located on the west side of the Old City) and she took me on my inaugural walk through Old Jerusalem. We stopped at the Western Wall to pray—that was surreal—which was a great way to start off my time in Jerusalem.
After walking around for about a couple hours or so we stopped at “Everest Kafeteria” to get a drink. This was one of the funniest experiences I have had yet in Israel. I don’t have time to type out the story now but I can tell you about it when I get home…let’s just say we got fed for free and made friends with Ziad, the store owner?, who I think would marry Ingrid if she consented.
Ingrid and I had a great night talking and enjoying all the free food and drink that Ziad kept bringing out, even though we said “no thank you” repeatedly. Continuing our walkthrough after our episode at the café, we walked past a lot of the well-known sites in the Old City but I didn’t go in because I wanted to wait for Dad. Eventually we ended up back at Jaffa Gate and parted ways. Dad and I are planning to meet up with her for dinner or something one night.
Back at the hotel, I was walking up to the elevator doors when I heard my name and turned to see Dad. He was at the coffee bar, of course. I ran over and gave him a huge hug. We spent the rest of the night chatting in our room and then went out to get some food for Dad.
Monday morning we headed into the Old City. We went to the Church of the Redeemer, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Burnt House Museum, the Western Wall (Dave, I kissed it for you), walked through each of the Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Muslim Quarters, the Temple Mount, (to name a few) and got lost I don’t know how many times. Being lost never lasts long though because it really isn’t that big of a place.
Standing inside the walls of the Temple Mount and walking up to the Dome of the Rock was the strangest feeling. Knowing that we were standing where the Temple had been, where Jesus took a whip and drove the animals out of what had become a “den of thieves”, where countless lives had been lost in battles over the centuries and where so much is yet to happen…words fail to describe.
Jerusalem seems far from the quiet life of the kibbutz and worlds away from Carmel, Indiana. Dad and I are so excited, yet overwhelmed to be here.
Internet now costs us each time we want to use it so you may hear from us less often but we’ll check in when we can. I might write posts a few nights in a row but not be able to put them online until later so who knows.
If you are the praying type, please pray with us that we would be sensitive to what the Lord wants to do in our hearts while we are here, for continued safety, and that we would be willing to learn and to look beyond the protestant, mid-western, American paradigm we have grown up in.
Haley Kate