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Shalom from Jerusalem,

Whew! What a trip to Israel this time. I left Texas at noon on Friday, and arrived in Tel Aviv at 3:30am Sunday morning. This is my 33rd trip to Israel and it is the first time I have had a flight cancel on me. Got to Zurich just fine, but had mechanical problems and the 9am flight canceled, leaving a plane load of passengers to fly on the only two flights remaining in the day (or rather I should say night) at 9pm and 10:45pm. Finally got to the B&B at 5:30am. But, I had a nice surprise waiting for me at the airport… Will met my plane! I was so glad to see him.

We took the Sharoot from the airport to Jerusalem. It was my first time and may I say quite the experience. A sharoot is a big van and holds about 10 people. It is much cheaper than taking the taxi from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But, the down side is that it stops about 10 times before your stop, so lots of patience is required. I wanted to try another slice of Israeli life. I was so glad Will was with me. Interesting. I would probably do it again. The people on the front desk at my B&B said “welcome home.” I feel that way every time I come to Israel—I am home.

First thing on my to do list was to see the “tomb” of Jesus. I really did not want to give James Cameron any publicity, but I felt the need to report what was going on in Jerusalem. Here it is: NOTHING. The tomb is located in a neighborhood and is really nothing. It is in a rose garden. Will and I met a man who had lived there from the beginning of the founding of Talpiot and he said that last week, all the media was there. One would really have to go looking for this tomb. Zola would say “why are we surprised at the unbeliever?” This is all about an unbeliever trying to make a buck off of Christianity with sensationalism. James Cameron should be sued for slander and libel! This is just such a non-story. Our Messiah was crucified and rose from the dead, period. More hoopla has been made about this documentary in the U.S. than here. It was false 27 years ago and remains false today.

As usual, my pattern of eating at one of my favorite places was another priority. Foccica. Just good. Will and I met Taki and had a great time and great food.
Today was also the first day of Purim. All around the city, people are dressed in costume. Most of the little girls are Esther and the little boys are IDF soldiers or superheroes. That is what Purim is all about—a superhero saving her people. We must never forget that there are evil people in the world who want to destroy the Jews. And if they want to destroy the Jews, they will also be coming for the Christians.

One of my greatest joys is to see people fall in love with Israel. My friends Becky and Marshall have rented an apartment here in Jerusalem for two months and plan on absorbing the culture. They will be taking some Hebrew classes and visiting many of the sites around Israel. I look forward to showing them some new places—shopping of course. Got to help the economy.

Tomorrow is grocery store day. I am hoping my friend doesn’t remember me as the “pie crust” lady. I got him this time: I brought my own pie crust. My extra bag looked like a supermarket with pecans, mushroom soup, sweet pickle relish, and on and on. Just a little slice of the States.

I am planning on going to several cities in the Gaza strip with other media to report on the situation in that area on Wednesday.

I am so blessed to be in Israel!

Off to bed.

This entry was posted by Sandra on Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under From Israel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.