love came down

dear friends,

in less than 24 hours, I will be leaving my beloved Israel.
God has shown me so much during my time here.
as I depart, all I have is thanksgiving in my heart for His faithfulness towards me.

"blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." matthew 5:8

cannot wait to process all the goodness He's poured out.
see you all very soon.

with so much love,
r.

[shot at the dead sea during debrief]

to move mountains

dear friends,

allow me to share with you my incredible journey.
let us start with the location.

in the beginning, each member of our faith journey asked the Lord where we should go. one received galilee, I received nazareth, & another jericho. we decided to cast lots & received galilee. soon after we discovered that nazareth is a town within galilee. upon consideration, we decided that we would go to nazareth & then travel to tiberias, both in galilee.

now mind you, with all these things, we really had to ask the Lord, & though at times we all received different things, He eventually allowed for us to act & blessed our decisions.

so we take the bus to nazareth. constantly in prayer & eager with anticipation, we finally arrive at our destination. from there came the frustrations.

we attempted to talk to a muslim guy & he was completely shut off. it was an interesting experience trying to bless him & being almost ignored & stared at with such strange glances. after this, we kept following the spirit & were finally led to the church of the annunciation. almost immediately, my spirit felt heavy. throughout the whole time we were in there, I felt a large range of emotions, mostly fitting in the categories of frustration, anger & detest. there was a strong sense of disillusionment about the place, as it felt like a totally blatant monument basically worshiping mary & not our one true God.

"And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ' A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.' And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." matthew 13:57-58

personally, my emotions were going out of control, so I had to pull myself away from this place & when I stepped outside, my heart felt much more at peace.

from there we met a guy whom we talked to for a while, then felt led to go towards the nearest mall because it was getting dark and we still did not find a place to rest for the night. we were hungry & tired & also growing a little anxious that we just might have to spend the night outside without any shelter or food. along the way, we decided to stop by a random building, and it turned out to be a gym for christian arabs. after talking to some people, a girl came by to talk & was so interested in where we came from. we jokingly told her that we did not have a place to stay, and she invited us to her home. I was so astonished that I kept asking her, "really?!!"

with this divine appointment, we walked to her home where we met the rest of her sweet, loving family. within minutes we became part of the family. they offered us food, their place to stay for the night & great company. we ate, talked, watched arab idol, played instruments, played games and laughed for hours. before we left, one of my teammates told me that I would receive a lot of favor during this trip. & true enough, there was so much ! they started calling me daughter & seriously pouring out their love. even still, I cannot believe just how much we received from God.

in the morning, after a delicious breakfast, we were able to bless the family with a time of worship & original design. we proclaimed truth & life over these people who had so much love to share. I had never received so much from complete strangers. when it was time for us to say our goodbyes, I had so much sadness in my heart, but also a good amount of hope that we would see each other again, and that one day, I would be fortunate enough to bless them even more than they have blessed me.

there are other parts of this story that I can share in person when I have the chance. bottom line: it was a most beautiful first experience at a faith journey.

my faith is, at times, as small as a mustard seed. but for Him, that is simply enough.

this is my prayer in the harvest
where favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
this seed I've received I will sow

love,
r.

above is a picture of signs I found in nazareth. it broke my heart to see them so publicly displayed & so widely accepted.

my soul longs for You

dear friends,

today was a great day.
there were a few moments this past week that were rough for me spiritually, but looking at the bigger picture now, I see that they were all for loving discipline & I am better and stronger because of them. and it all led up to this day.

we journeyed to the infamous yad vashem, better known as the holocaust museum. needless to say, it was an emotional experience. my senses were overwhelmed with this place. what I saw, read, felt--my heart genuinely throbbed & broke for the people affected by this grotesque event in history.

from there, we met up with a palestinian christian friend we made last week in jerusalem. he generously invited us to his home where we ended up worshiping & interceding for the nation & for his church. God led me through which songs were on His heart, so naturally & gently. there were old songs & new songs & brand new songs as well. it was one of the most blessed worship times I have ever had. the Spirit moved radically within the space. it was truly amazing.

then we were able to participate in the palestinian church service, and we were so fortunate to meet with other believers. it is amazing to see how God provides such divine appointments with which to bless us.

as I shared, there were times of spiritual attack this week. but throughout it all, He never failed me. each moment of hardship was followed by a moment of great blessing & encouragement.

He always brings me back to my favorite verse:
for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
ecclesiastes 3:1

tomorrow, I am embarking on a faith journey (see luke 10 for more details). two of my teammates & I will be gone for two days & will be taking no money, no extra clothes and no provisions. after much prayer & consideration, we are heading to galilee to see what God has in store for us there. please pray for me, that God would show me His glory & also challenge me in a new & interesting way. there is much excitement, but also some fear mixed in.

will update again after my trip !

love,
r.

above is a picture from yad vashem, symbolizing the millions of burnt books during the time of the holocaust.
"where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings."
heinrich heine

in every season

dear friends,

you will never guess where I was last night.
so I will tell you.

I was at a club. at a dance party. at night. in Israel.
but with a purpose.

it was seriously so much fun, being invited to hang out with a bunch of people our age with the intent of being set apart, blessing the youth of Israel & also having good, clean fun. we found out that the party was held for the east asia studies department at tel aviv university, so we, being asian, were a huge hit ! dancing & talking with everyone was really awesome.

we were even able to bless one of the girls with prayer & she shared how special that moment was for her. and then today, my team had a divine appointment when we unintentionally bumped into her at the university ! we talked to her for several hours about so many subjects & was able to invite her to our dinner party on saturday.

lately, God has been really been drawing me back to Him. at times I find myself dissatisfied & anxious about the things that I have to do in the very little time I have remaining here. the goals & expectations I brought into this outreach rise to the surface & draw attention away from the one I love & bring me to a place of unrest. it became all about the "do, do, do" mentality.

but during this week, He has really redeemed & restored me unto Himself & I have come to this conclusion: if I am to leave this outreach saying with my whole heart, " I have fallen more in love with Jesus" then I will be more than satisfied. because that's just it--that's all that matters. it isn't about how many souls I've brought to the Lord--it's about my soul returning humbly to the foot of the cross, ready to be used, but even more ready to adore & worship my faithful king.

"I'm coming back to the heart of worship
and it's all about You
it's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the things I've made it
when it's all about You
all about You, Jesus"

He has already done so much for me & within me. more than enough.

two weeks left. falling more & more deeply each day.

love,
r.

a time for everything

just got back from a week-long traveling excursion !

places we went to
sites we have seen
things we have done:

day 1:
be'er sheva
negev desert

day 2:
camel riding
masada
ein gedi
swim in the dead sea
jerusalem

day 3:
tel megiddo
beit she'an
galilee

day 4:
tel dan
banias
mount hermon

day 5:
mount of beatitudes
st. peter's fish at the sea of galilee
st. peter's primacy
capernaum

day 6:
caesarea

so of course, after going through this busy schedule, my body decides to shut down.
now I am in bed recovering.
feeling better & better.

a time to travel and a time to rest.


more pictures here:
http://awellinadesert.tumblr.com/

love,
r.

some kind of wonderful

this past week has just been amazing.

yesterday, for the first time in my life, I participated in door to door ministry. my partner and I took a certain street & knocked on doors asking people if they would be willing to answer a survey about spirituality.

the first place we went into was a tattoo parlor with two somewhat intimidating men talking inside. with lots of love & smiles on our faces, we went in and started to talk with them about spirituality & what their views were on Jesus & Christianity. one of the men was very eccentric, talking to us about his beliefs in Buddhism & declaring how ridiculous he thought Christianity to be. though we could tell he was set in his ways, I definitely feel that we sowed a small seed, and he asked us if we would come back next time with some instruments, and play him songs. I can't wait to go back !

after this, we walked around & chose a building. starting from the very top, each tenant rejected us politely. but the very last one we knocked on was the one that God intended for us. the man who opened the door asked us if we wanted to come in, and we were so excited ! I had never expected to be invited in, especially when we had asked them if they could participate in a survey. right when we entered, he offered us hot beverages & cookies. he & his cousin were so engaged & were so interested in who we were & why we were here. after talking about ourselves & listening to them about their lives, we got to talking about religion.

these two young men were Jewish, but from what I could gather, they were not practicing. and that's the thing that I'm realizing more and more about the younger generation in Israel--they know that they're missing something, but they don't know what it is, so they decide to loosen their grip on the more "religious" aspects of their beliefs. we casually talked about what we believed in & they told us what they thought. it was so awesome to be so free & open about what I believed in & not to be so cautious and careful about what I could and could not say in front of them. towards the end of our time together, I was able to put a hebrew version of the new testament into one of the man's hands, and it was so amazing to see how intrigued he was by it. I'm praying that he'll be drawn to it one of these days & be able to read it through.

there was one part of the conversation that really stayed with me. we were talking about biblical prophecies coming true about Israel & how we were here because we really love Israel & are praying for it with great fervor. as the men listened, they shared that they were shocked that we loved Israel, because the media made it seem like everyone hated this nation. they said that it was so encouraging to see & hear that there are people who love this place & are praying for it. isn't that crazy ? love really is the answer.

after about two and a half hours of conversation & enjoying each others' company, my partner & I got up to leave & as we left, we exchanged numbers & names for facebook etc. as we walked out of their apartment, we were filled with so much joy. we literally could not contain ourselves & we jumped up and down and praised God for allowing so much favor to be upon us. both of us prayed that He would allow us to be invited into someone's home, but I think we both didn't really believe it would happen. but God, in His graciousness & mercy, provided so much more than we expected. needless to say, it was such an encouraging day for me.


and today, we joined with an organization to sing worship in front of a shopping center. it was so cool because as a huge group of us began to sing, so many people stopped & took loads of pictures & even sang along ! we were told that the people here love musical, public events & it's true. it was such a blessing to see such acceptance & intrigue in their eyes.



as we worshiped, we also interceded for this nation. one woman in the group, as I was in the crowd of worshipers, pointed at me and asked me to come up to the front. she asked me to lead the group into a time of prayer for a topic that God places on my heart. God really gave me boldness & courage, because at first I was overwhelmed. but He told me "pray for awakening, that their eyes would be open to me, the truth." so today, I was given the opportunity to stand on a box & lead a group of 30+ believers into intercession. it was an amazing experience, one that I won't ever forget. the lady told me later that she felt God chose me to lead this time & close us with prayer. man, He's too good to me.

and there are many other stories, but these are the ones that are really on my heart right now to share.

God's really working here.

love,
r.

lift me like an olive branch

so almost right after I posted about how we will be spending Christmas just in Tel Aviv, we decided to go to Jerusalem for the last day of Hanukkah (Tuesday)! oh man, the Old City is absolutely beautiful.

starting with the Mount of Olives, we stood watching over the entire city with the view of the Dome of the Rock in plain sight. it was so fascinating to be standing on the ground where so much has already occurred & where so much will occur in the future.

"behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. for I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. on that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. and you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him."
zechariah 14:1-5

many people believe the words of the old prophets to be allegorical, fiction, not to be interpreted seriously. however, I truly believe that these events will come to pass. & it's amazing that I was able to stand on the ground which will be split in two in the days to come.


[an olive branch from the Mount, given to me by a boy named Oman]

then we went into the city, & visited the different quarters--Jewish, Armenian, Muslim & Christian--& visited the hotspots there. the Western Wall, Damascus Gate, the Holy Sepulchre, & the Garden Tomb.

lately, God has really been showing me His heart for this nation. it is crucial that Israel be saved & that their eyes be opened to accept Christ as their savior. & just seeing the Old City makes my heart yearn for the day when He will return.

must go back soon.

love you,
r.