It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been here 9 days, and we’re headed back for Canada tomorrow evening. It’s been a whirlwind of emotion, revelation, and seeing God move right before our eyes. I wish we could post all of our thoughts on e-paper, however, it’s been quite overwhelming, and I assure you we are all still digesting what has taken place over these past few days. We have been doing a lot of walking intercession, simply enjoying and observing the land, and that in itself is obedience too!

Though we can’t post all of our thoughts and detailed agendas as we have originally thought and desired to do, the following are highlights of the trip thus far in picture format for your enjoyment.

Be blessed,
-Zak

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Hotel elevator that automatically opens/closes doors on each floor during the Shabbat (Sabbath)

...?

Angels captured on camera in the form of orbs!

On the way to Mount Zion!

Taken from the Mount of Olives, this is a view of the Temple Mount, specifically the sealed Eastern Gate, where Jesus will one day enter through.

Another view of the Temple Mount, including the Dome of the Rock where Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac, and where it is said that Jacob saw the vision of angels ascending and descending from heaven to earth through a ladder!

The actual Garden of Gethsemane. The olive tree on the right is over 1,000 years old and still bears fruit!

A clearer view of the Eastern Gate

Ali Baba's internet cafe

Can you guess what we're drinking?

Yaniv (our tour guide) with his beautiful daughter Arava invited us to his home for afternoon tea. He's been an amazing guide who has been such a blessing and a joy to be around. Thanks for the Israeli hospitality, Yaniv!

The tomb where Jesus was buried. He is not there, for He is risen!

The Western Wall (Wailing Wall) - the men's only side

Group photo at the Western Wall

A Bedouin shepherd with his herd of sheep!

A herd of camels! There were easily over 100 of them which is considered a very large group and uncommon.

At the city of Massada, where King Herod's mountain palace is carved into the peak of the mountain atop the 3 steps on the right!

During the cable car ride up to the mountain palace

Another group shot with Yaniv (tour guide) and his brother Roi in the middle!

Mike at the Dead Sea. Unfortunately, the waves were quite high and water too cold to go in for a dip. We did wash our hands in it though!

Go in peace!

Canada stands behind Israel

Yew-Thong's secret identity caught on camera-- a fisherman! We see him casting his nets into the Sea of Galilee. No fish were caught...

Eating local food...

...the McKebab! No joke. It was worth the $10USD we paid for it. Surprisingly tasty too!

Annie Elliot is not chinese, is she? This is one of the signs used by our hotel to show where we were to sit during breakfast/dinner.

Ontario stands behind Israel too!

The one-and-a-half asian squat by the side of the road!

The beautiful view of the coastal city of Haifa

A local man hammering copper into spectacular and intricate copper plate designs

The view from our Palm Beach hotel in the city of Acre (Akko in Hebrew). The sunset was breathtaking!

Another view of the beach and coastline from our hotel room

All aboard the Worship Boat at the Sea of Galilee

Today we visited Cana in Galilee where Jesus performed his first miracle (John 2:1-11). It was interesting that our tour guide (Yaniv) pointed out that the writer specifically said the servants filled the jars with water up to the brim. The reason he suggested was that when the water is filled up to the brim, there would not be any room for anyone or anything to be added to the jars thus solidifying Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine.

The viewpoint at Megiddo

Pastor and Evelyn at Megiddo

We also visited Megiddo where we learned that it is a significant place for anyone who wants to control that area. Megiddo is situated so that anyone who wants to pass by that area, the people of Megiddo would see them no matter what. That is why Megiddo has always been a significant and desirable place for people to conquer. Megiddo is also mentioned in Revelations as the place where the final battle of Armageddon will take place.

Revelations 16:15-16 – ¹⁵“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” ¹⁶Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

We then visited Mount Carmel where Elijah faced the prophets of Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18) from King Ahab. Not only are we again reminded of God’s faithfulness to the Israelites through this passage but that Elijah wasn’t the only one prophet of the Lord but that there were 100 others hidden by Obadiah. These 100 hidden prophets were the remnants that the Lord had prepared and that we represent the remnants of this day in fulfilling the promises of the Lord.

Representing Canada atop Mount Carmel

Blessings,
-Mike

On day 4(February 28, 2009 Saturday) we visited the “Way of the Cross” (VIA DOLOROSA). We entered the Old City through the Lion’s Gate and came out through the Jaffa’s Gate.

Different parts of the world have been divided into 12 gates, each named after the gates of the Old City, and allotted a time to watch and pray for Jerusalem 24/7.

Places like China, Hong Kong, Singapore etc. belongs to the Lion Gate while Canada belongs to Jaffa Gate. When we were outside the Lion Gate, I was reminded of the Jews who were in Habun and Shanghai of China and how they longed to go back to Jerusalem but were not able to do so. Today we, a group of Chinese people fulfill their hearts’ longing.

When we came out of the Old City, Yaniv, our guide said they need the Jaffa Gate because they need to connect the port on the west and at that time, I know that Jerusalem, the heart of Israel, is linked to Canada which is called to heal the nations.

Today we went to Yad Vashem Museum, Western Wall and it’s tunnel, and Davidson Centre (Archeological garden – South Wall Digs). I was so touched at the Yad Vashem Museum. This Museum displayed a lot of Jewish Holocaust history. We used to or at least I used to think that Nazi Germany was the one who persecuted the Jew. In fact, all the countries were following Nazi Germany to persecute Jews and set up policies to make the Jews miserable. At the end, they all put the Jews into concentration camp or sent them back to Nazi Germany to be murdered. Unfortunately, Christian also accused the Jews as our precious Messiah murderer and persecuted them. I felt so ashamed that we all found guilty in the sight of our Lord.

When I reached the Western Wall (Wailing Wall), I thought I would experience something special when I touched the Wall. Well, nothing magically happened. All I could hear from God was God left the building and He is no longer here. Then where did He go??? Oh yeah, we are the Temple of God and He is residing in us.

Did I mention today we only have heavy rain but did not have strong wind to blow us away like yesterday?

Hi all!

Today we are staying by the sea of galilee! We are now in a boat museum (yes I’m using the FREE internet here!) where archeologists uncovered a 1st century boat that was believed to be used during the times of Jesus and His disciples!

We’re about to head off and take a boat tour on the actual Sea of Galilee on what is called a “worship boat” where the owner is a Messianic Jew who got saved by people just like us – gentiles. He was so blessed by visitors who came to Israel and their testimony rubbed off on him, and through that, He came to know Jesus as Lord. Through this, he started his own fishing boat line where he takes visitors out on the sea and sings songs and shares his testimony with them.

It still is rainy today, but the rain has been a welcome sign that we are in the fullness of the times, referring specifically to the gentiles being in the land. So praise God that we as a mission team from Canada are here walking in faithful obedience, doing walking intercession!

We have felt your prayers, and continue to covet them. It was awesome to connect with you all through webcam on Sunday! Sorry for the short note today. I hope to update with another post later in the evening with pictures and more thoughts of the past few days!

Lots of love as always
-Zak

It had been a hectic first two days – we went from the Old Testament to the New Testament, all in the 48 hours since we’ve been here.  Not only is the time we’ve witnessed compressed, so is the City of Jerusalem.  Everything and every places are so much more closer than we had imagined – Gethsemane, the Upper Room, Calvary, the Tomb.

Unfortunately including the end times!! It is so much more closer than we can imagine.

We saw paganistic practices everywhere we went, even amongst our brethen.  The urgency is clear, ”as the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

Evelyn and Yew-Thong Leong
Day 1 and 2

Isaiah 49:16 reads:
“¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.”

It’s so true! Our names are not just engraved on the palms of His hands, but on walls and street signs in Jerusalem!

Hope to find more!

Sorry for the delay in updating! We’ve been super busy as you can imagine. Here are the highlights of yesterday (Day Two):

We started the day at 8am to beautiful spring-like weather as we Canadians are used to. It was sunny with a light breeze, a winter-like weather I can only wish Canada would have.

Spring weather!

We boarded our bus and headed to the City of David. It took us a few tries to get to the main entrance due to several road closures. We started by visiting a very high point in the City which overlooked pretty much all of Jerusalem. The view was breathtaking to say the least! We were just south of the temple mount, and we imagined the point where we standing to be the place where King David would stand and look out at the view down into the city. Because Jerusalem is very hilly, houses are literally built upon one another, so it’s very easy to see the rooftops of houses which made it very easy to understand the scripture reference of King David falling into sin when seeing Bethsheba bathing on her rooftop as that’s really how the layout of houses are here!

Entrance to the City of David

View of Jerusalem east of the Kidron Valley

We also went into a very narrow tunnel system that was built around Hezekiah’s time and used to channel water from the Spring of Gihon located outside of the city walls back into the southern tip of the city. It was then a very powerful rain storm hit and we made a quick dash back to the tour bus.

Narrow Tunnel

The next highlight was visiting St. Peter’s church where it was believed that Jesus was held captive in the basement cells there. We went down to the holding cell area and you could actually see holes in the wall where they would put chains through it to chain down prisoners so they couldn’t escape. It was a very significant highlight of the day as we stopped to reflect on how Jesus might have felt after being handed over to the authorities and betrayed by Judas. Also, it was then that he was betrayed by all of His disciples (including 3 times by Peter hence the name of the church), so it was a very lonely time for Jesus as everyone he knew deserted Him at that point.

Holes in the rock to shackle prisoners to the wall.

We also got a chance to visit Mount Zion where we saw King David’s tomb! At Mount Zion, we also went into an area that is believed to be the Upper Room where Jesus and His disciples had the last supper. We’ve read all these events in the bible countless times, but it literally came to life today as we visited all these regions. It’s like you have a vision of the scripture in your mind as you see these places firsthand and it so easily connects and makes the bible ever so real.

Tomb of King David

The Upper Room where it was said that the Last Supper took place!

The last place we visited today was the Israel Museum where there was a massive miniature replica of Jerusalem in the second temple period. It really helped put into perspective how the city ran, and where we were earlier in the day if we were to be in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago. In the Israel Museum was also the Shrine of the Book which housed the actual Dead Sea scrolls. The Dead Sea scrolls are actual scriptures written on parchment (including the book of Isaiah), and this to me further legitimized and authenticated the bible, and all the more reinforces my faith.

Miniature Jerusalem in the second temple period

Shrine of the Book where the actual Dead Sea Scrolls are housed and on display!

It’s hard to believe we did all of this in a day’s journey. Tomorrow, we’ll be going to the garden of Gethsemane and observing communion (weather permitting). We will keep you updated after tomorrow’s events!

Hi everyone! We wanted to post this last night when we arrived at the hotel, but was too exhausted.

Here’s what I wrote:

Shalom Canada! We’ve finally touched down in the Promised Land! It’s been quite a journey already, and we’ve really only just got here! From the 11hr flight, to the slight delay at customs, and even the traffic filled drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I keep wondering if it’s true — are we really here?

Our guide Yaniv has been nothing short of fantastic. He is extremely knowledgeable and very accommodating. We’re now at our Hotel (Moriah Classic in Jerusalem), and we’re calling it an early night today as we’re all very sleep deprived. We get down to business tomorrow, aiming to visit such places as Mount Zion, King David’s Tomb, the Upper Room(!!!) and Government Hill. Mike and I will be attending a Young Adult Worship Intercession in the evening (we are 7 hours ahead of Toronto), then our jet-lagged selves will probably hit the sac right after.

Apparently, it is going to be pouring rain these next few days just as we have arrived, but it is much needed as Israel has been experiencing a severe drought.

Time to sleep as we are waking up at 6am tomorrow! Good night afternoon, Canada!

Hi all! Zak here.

We are less than 4 hours away from taking off to Israel! The excitement is really starting to kick in, but I believe I’ll feel the totality of it once I’m actually on the plane.

I’m all packed and ready to go, and still have plenty of space in my luggage. In fact, I’ve got so much space that Pastor put 3 tins of Tim Horton’s coffee grind into it too! Talk about bringing something Canadian, eh?

We’ll be heading off to the airport shortly to meet up with the rest of the mission team and check in! I claim a first class seat upgrade in the name of Jesus!

Again, we ask that you remember us all in prayer, and we highly anticipate great things to come during these 10 days!

Love,
-Zak