Jerusalem House Of Prayer

We stayed at JHOP for our first two weeks in Israel (that was back may 26-June 10). Its located right on the top of the Mount Of Olives! how cool! Down the one side of the mountain was the Garden of Gethsemane and there are beautiful old olive trees everywhere. We enjoyed delicious pita and cucumbers and hummus for breakfast everyday! :) I loved how their prayer room was set up, they had the room on the roof in a glassed-in circle. The view was incredible looking over Jerusalem. It was always so windy at night, I loved it :) :) A constant cool breeze up on the mountain :) One of my favorite thing about Israel, especially being up on the mount of olives, was the wind… there is always this beautiful refreshing wind cascading over your skin, bringing a coolness to the night, dancing around you as you pray out over the city lights. mmhmm [Ruach].. BREATH. WIND. SPIRIT. This place is filled with beautiful hearts who are passionate about Jerusalem and seeing restoration between jews and arabs and seeing the Lord return to restore a New Jerusalem. It was so great to be able to participate in their 24/7 watches. I was so blessed and encouraged by some of the staff I got to know really well, they were so helpful and sweet to us, the Old City was a short bus ride away and we tried to get down there every other day between classes and homework. I helped to lead the 8-10pm prayer/worship set :) its was so fun, I had my lovely Chinese lily rocking out on the djembe and sarah on the keys then I played guitar and sang, though we may not be the most talented I had so much fun just worshipping out to the Lord not worrying how we sounded, the Lord puts songs in our hearts and I believe he delights so much in when we sing them out. A couple times while there our group was hit with some conflicting beliefs touching on the edge of extreme christian zionism.. it provided for good discussion and a time of learning for our team and talking through what exactly the bible says about Jerusalem and Israel and the end times, its something that still confuses me but I'm not sure we'll ever really know all that stuff, I don't think thats the point. As stated by one Israeli in regards to end time theology.. "when that becomes your focus, you lose your focus." The prayer house was filled with people of many nations and generations.. people from france to china, to korea, and Kirghizistan, it was so awesome to fellowship in the same house with so many believers of such different backgrounds. Every friday night then, for Sabbath, or Shabbat, we would have a big feast together :)