The Chain Bridge over the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary.

Wayne and I are in Budapest, Hungary, reconnecting with some of the believers here and a few MJBI graduates. Great to be here.

Wayne and I are in Ethiopia tagging along with a medical team. We have been in Addis Ababa for nearly a week now. The team has moved on to Gondar. The trip has been amazing. Here in the capital they ministered to 6,000 people and about 500 made decisions for salvation. Blind eyes and deaf ears were healed. The time has been incredible.

Wayne and I have met with a number of Jewish believers here to talk about opening an MJBI in the future.

Please log on to culture vs content for detailed info about the trip.

Fashioned after the Holy of Holies from the tabernacle of Moses in the Bible, the MJBI prayer center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a beautiful place to see and experience. It is has been a blessing while staying in the facility to hear the prayers of the Argentines ascending to heaven throughout the course of the day and evening, sweetly, generously. 

In my book, prayer is not a formality, rather an expression of my life that is wholly dependent on God.  Here are a few quotes on prayer:

God does not stand afar off as I struggle to speak. He cares enough to listen with more than casual attention. He translates my scrubby words and hears what is truly inside. He hears my sighs and uncertain gropings as fine prose. –Timothy Jones

Prayer is not a discourse. It is a form of life, the life with God. That is why it is not confined to the moment of verbal statement. –Jacques Ellul

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. — John Bunyan

When a man has found the Lord, he no longer has to use words when he is praying, for the Spirit Himself will intercede for him with groans that cannot be uttered. –John Climacus

Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude-an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God. –Arthur W. Pink

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. –Brother Lawrence

Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work. –Oswald Chambers

Here is a sobering video that the MJBI produced about the reality of anti-Semitism in the world today.

Here is the MJBI banquet 2007 video, “Come to the Table.”

The Messianic Jewish Bible Institute, MJBI, has live schools, congregations and works of compassion in Odessa, Ukraine; St. Petersburg, Russia; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Jerusalem, Israel; Buenos Aires, Argentina; with affiliate schools in Almaty, Kazakhstan; and Seoul, Korea.

Here are a few photos.

Dancers and banners during worship in a congregation in Buenos Aires, Argentina 

MJBI graduates in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Yossi and Bevi in Jerusalem

Messianic Jewish congregation in Almaty, Kazakhstan, holding a prayer shawl over the children during prayer.

Affiliate MJBI school in Seoul, Korea, first graduating class

Recent photo of Pastor Olen Griffing, MJBI board member, teaching at the MJBI leaders’ and pastors’ retreat held in Myaki, Ukraine, this October 2007.

Bonnie with Holocaust survivors in St. Petersburg, Ukraine.

Here are a few pictures of Ukraine today. The country has made amazing progress in the last decade. See my post yesterday.

Mall in Odessa  

Odessa Port

Odessa Opera House

Odessa Lighthouse

Odessa, Ukraine. This is a typical courtyard in Odessa.

These pictures give you a glimpse of what Odessa, Ukraine, looked like when we arrived in 1996. Since then, the city has undergone major rebuilding and refurbishing, and parts of it are really gorgeous. I will show the contrast in another post. 

Typical mailboxes outside the apartment buildings in Odessa, Ukraine.

Another picture of a courtyard

Apartment home

Open door from a street in Odessa

We found the people’s hearts to be just as open and beautifully intricate and receptive as this door.

Jesus’ heart swelled with compassion when he looked upon the city of Jerusalem.

We have not been in a place to receive Internet. We have been on the go, visiting the Galilee area, Tiberias, Capernaum, Kursi, Meggido, and the Jordan River. We arrived in Jerusalem early last evening. Right now, I am using Bevi’s computer; but I will post some pictures when I can download them and figure out how to get wireless on my computer here.

We are staying with Yossi and Bevi and having a great time. Wayne is with Yossi today at Revive Israel center. More about that later.

I am always inspired as I enter into Jerusalem. The traditional white stones gleaming in the sunshine are the first thing you notice. Of course, the wall surrounding the Old City is something that stands out. But the most prominent sight in Jerusalem is the mix of humanity. The sea of humanity flooding the streets is overwhelming, and the need is apparent and great. I feel the press of their need as I mingle and interact.

As the center of three major religions, the convergence of the spiritual, the fanatical, the faithful, and the searching are brought together in one city on any given day. There is tension and peace at once. There is hostility and joy. And there is hope and fear. The scars of terrorism are visible upon the buildings and streets and upon the brows of the citizens of Israel. You feel it all when you come here. And you understand why David wrote, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

This is the city of God. This place needs the real peace of God that Jesus promises those who abide in Him: peace that surpasses understanding. I feel that peace in Yossi and Bevi’s home. I feel it in my heart as I walk on the streets. But I don’t feel that peace in the atmosphere of the city. It is charged with conflicting spirits and confusion.

And even as I look at this city and walk around its ancient stones and gaze at the people on the streets, I know this is not the ultimate.

There is a city that we as believers long for that is beyond this world. It is a city whose builder and maker is God. A city not of this world nor built by the hands of men. A heavenly city. Maybe it is the Holy City in another day and time, when the true peace of God reigns.

In all situations, I am constrained that I am a traveler–even in Jerusalem–the city of our God. I am a traveler with light feet and a heavy heart. I am a traveler passing through, refusing to gather, except for the harvest, the sheaves of wheat.

Those I will lay at His feet when I see His face in that city someday, whose builder and maker is God.

There are multitudes in the valley of decision in this sea of humanity searching, and today, well today, it presses on me.

We traveled from Tel Aviv to Caesarea yesterday. Today we are in the Galilee area. Please see Culture vs Content for details and more pictures.