J.J.’S ADVENTURES MIDDLE-EAST THE LORD’S FAITHFULNESS
MYSELF Here I am under this tree, contempling the presence of God. This book is a glimpse of my Trip into the Middle-East with amazing friends. How amazed I am by all the History that took place in the Middle East, I traveled through the Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Israel and Palestine. The beginning of the Year 2013 has been Great, Full of challenges, Full of Grace, Full of Joy, Full of God! I would never thought I’d be able to get there someday. this book will take you through my little adventure, Thank You for your time, for your prayers and for your financial support to make this real.
The Lord took me on this Journey to teach me to be a real Leader, to be vulnerable, to teach how to be a Father, and above all to show me His Love for His people. God has been challenging me and I took the challenge! Enjoy this few pictures! J.J. Teriitehau Hopuu
2
Everything began in Hawaii Kailua-Kona University of Nations, Youth With A Mission. October 2012 I felt the Lord calling me to go and Staff a Discipleship Training school called «Voice For the Voiceless» in Hawaii God has provided and here I was January 2013. Focus on media advocacy against injustice I did applied and here it is. 27 students, 8 staffs, a married couple head leader. I have no word, Just look at the picture, just look at it! God has been changing lives, He has been pouring His Love upon their heads, 11 weeks of lecture and look at their faces!! after Lecture phase we split up into 3 teams. 2 staff per team, going to Jordan/Israel, Thailand/Vietnam, Kenya/Uganda. I got to be chosen to go to the Middle East! I LOVE THEM ALL!!
© Photo by Malissa Pellegrino
3
Here is my team from the Left we have Holly, Fabian, Meritha (my co-leader), Me!!, Elizabeth, Timothy, Eric, Nicholas a.k.a George a.k.a Hammoud, Azjargal and Enkhbayar. Nationality represented : United state of America, Alaska, Polynesia, Mongolia, Haiti! The Lord brought us together for a purpose, and I gladly say! I Love each and everyone even myself! Ok Let’s go! Š Photo by Malissa Pellegrino
4
Mafraq - Jordan Jerusalem - Israel Amman - Jordan
Amman airport, March 31st 1:15Am. hello Surprise, we found out that our Mangolian married couple had to be sent out because they did not apply for visa. Welcome to Jordan we had to send them in Israel to get their visas, my friend and my bags got lost for a few days. 6am Good night every body.
Bethlehem Palestine
Map trip: If you have an apple device click on the name of the city
5
2
AMMAN - JORDAN
Amman, the capital of Jordan, where everything is trashed everywhere in the street, there is no recycling, no many dump around the spot. People are very nice, very warm and relational culture, live in community and if you are a foreigner they will look at You till you disappear, especially women. It is where you do not look to crossed the road, You just Go for it, where people honk all the time for nothing.
7
Islamic country, Five times a day, the mosque cry out loudly, kids work and old men sit down and look around, shop keepers are always yelling and oustide. trash everywhere!!
8
First few days we had orientation about the culture, dress code, talking code, everything code, first dinner and lunch, where the food seller guy wants a picture with American girl, so cute!
9
Jabal al-Qal'a
ere we met anoth e m ti r u o g n ri Du ay, we had felrw o N m o fr m a ter Te rship time and o w , e m ti ip h s w lo h a blessing to c u s ! re tu ic p p u gro God has been have them over, English center e th t a m e th g in us hing English c a te re e w y e th where a Café and and help running with people, s ip h s n o ti la re e k ma ies! sharing testimon a head up! the guy on the Right! Ali, ouor translator, Always nicely dressed, hair full of Gel, always joking, full of stories, we asked him about prostitution and he said «They no have! I mean they have but it is Shame!» we found out that it was kind of a huge thing going on undergrounded! Ali was a huge blessing from Heaven! he is handsom! waiting for his paper work to be able to travel! 10
Jabal al-Qal'a The Amman Citadel is a national historic site. Known in Arabic as Jabal al-Qal'a, the L-shaped hill is one of the seven jabals that originally made up Amman. it is said that it was a church before, catholic, i am not sure. great history behing, look it is HUGE!!!! 11
MAFRAQ - JORDAN REFUGEE CENTER 3
The church is kind of hidden they are building new building with kitchen, a huge Learning center for refugees but also locals!
Up in the North of Jordan, a little town called Mafraq, our ministry was most of the time overthere, we were working with a church with the pasto Noor here on the right this church is helping syrian refugees to get a place to stay, register them, getting financial support from all over the place, they gather clothes, bedding, stoves and get to share tesimonies, listen to the refugees, at least a thousand people everyday crossing the border to come into Jordan, even the Refugee camp is full. at first people get to the camp then to get out of there they have to know someone in Jordan like family or friend, then they get to the church and get helped. Thank You Lord for this church! they receive volunters all the time, they are building facilities to help everybody in an efficient, tangible and practical way!
13
The church is helping more than five thousands family and new hundreds of thousand arrive everyday, knocking at the door looking for help, because they just lost everything they had, almost got killed, almost got trapped at the border, above you can see a lot of papers, one paper is a person register as a refugee and they had so much piles by their office, when you see those kids looking at You, innocent eyes, wondering what just happened, why are we running away from home, looking forward to going back to syria, looking forward to end the war. It was painful to see this taking place, young child, new born, young parents, old ladies, most of them we saw sere women, because the men might have been arrested and killed, or they stayed behind to fight and God only knows if they would make it back to their family.
14
Beds, sheets, shirts, pants, jackets, stoves, fridges, food, first aid, we were distibuting to families.
15
we were visiting families, sitting with them, « We feel honored to have You» they say, «Tea or coffee?» they ask, «praise be to God» they repeat They usually live into a small room with bathrrom, small kitchen, with at least ten people in it. this is the first family we went on visiting, the woman dressed in black and her son in the middle just got there the day before, they just lost all her family more than 20 people, a plane came above and bomb the underground house, she saw her son and his friend getting bombed, the son here has a piece of metal under the lips on the right from a lost bullet. All the stories we’ve heard from families are the same, «Death» «killing» «blood» «bomb». They were so generous, they let you sit in the best room of the house, they give you the best thing they have, even though they don’t speak the same language they are so warm, always praising God to be alive. 16
4
ISRAEL - PALESTINE
Out of Ten people, six of us crosse the the Kingdom of Jordan to the State of Israel! it took us at least 5 hours to get through borders, questions, bus ride, taxis ride, another bus ride and then a little bit of walk. It is half way through outreach and being in Israel at that time was amazing, we missed the Pass-Over but the country is just so different than Jordan! so much cleaner, greener, the roads there is much better than Amman, it was great!
God has been telling ÂŤhow about if I show you how I am moving in here?Âť I was actually amazed by the people, by the nature and ofcourse, the places where the Lord has been as a man, and moving as Lord of the Land! 18
The Wailing wall or western wall,in Old city of Jerusalem by the Jewish quarter, the total height of the Wall from its foundation is estimated at 105 feet (32 m), with the exposed section standing approximately 62 feet (19 m) high. The Wall consists of 45 stone courses, 28 of them above ground and 17 underground. A lot of people come here and place some prayer into the wall, there is a section for men and one for women. It is really interesting how people can see the Last wall of Herod’s Temple
19
50 cm/19.7 inch
20
The Temple Mount or the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim own it at this time, the Jewish are angry, in the bible it is where Abraham almost killed his son, in the Coran it where the prohet Mohamed went away and got some new rules from God. Visitors are not allowed to go in there, unless you are muslim and sometimes Jewish. the Jewish say that if this dome is destroyed then they will rebuilt the Temple of God and then The Messiah could come On the left a replication of the Old city of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. pretty empty...but how amazing it is! 21
The Last very place before the Lord has been caught by the soldier, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Olive trees look like they have been here since, so old, so huge, the presence was so strong!! I love this place!
22
The place of flagellation we were in Jerusalem for a little bit, we were working on a photo project called ÂŤVia DolorosaÂť which is the Jesus trail from on the way to the Cross, there is 14 different stations, we got to walk where Jesus walked before he got crucified! what a privilege! Lord is so Good!
where they laid him to start taking off his clothes and burring him.
23
Each stations has his own taste, from Pilate’s palace, where he met his mom, when Simon helped Him with the cross, where Veronica wipped Jesus’ Face to Golgotha! I was a little bit disapointed because every place they built a church on it, everything kind of lose his accurability, but it still preserving the history. God has been filling my soul with his Love, asking me «what would you do if you are persecuted for my name?» I was wrecked by this question! I got to think about it and realized that my life is empty, empty of taking risk for Jesus, empty of being the real soul saver, the encourager! then i realized that my Life is based on personal choices more than giving God the wheel, God has been taking me through the world, providing everything that I may get through Discipleship school, showing His Power in my Life, using me with my gifts! I decided to give all back again to God!
24
We were mostly hosted in Palestine in Bethlehem where Our Lord was born, the church of Nativity, from all over, people come to pray, see, touch, weep, being at the very place to whom is called the ÂŤMorning StarÂť where he came in to the world as man, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Jesus the Messiah.
25
Like I said we were mostly hosted in Palestine, Palestine which is a small part of Israel. Palestine being a arab side and Israel, Israeli side. between them a 8m/26f seperation high wall, 723Km/449 miles long! on the Arab side you can see when you enter into the area a red sign like the one on the left, every Kilometers you could see a tour like the one on the down left. israeli soldier survey the area, even though Palestine is for mainly Arabs, israeli citizen have been building settlements among different area in Palestine, a serious strategyto try to get the Arab out of the country, Israel for Jewish is their promised land and being an palestinian is that you’ve been disobedient to God and so you have to be out of the promised land! Division is real over there, for a Land they would kill or be killed, religious conflict, It is so strong, but even though the division arabs live their lives peacefully, try to get a Job, they are Generous and so kind.
26
Our ministry in Bethlehem, we were working with different organization who take care of people with disability, kids with physical and mental diseases, distributing wheelchairs to people who need them. We found out that in Islam man are allowed to marry Four women, the very first bride they have to marry is the first cousine, then they have kids and see the result. when they have kids and see that the first baby has a handicap, it’s a shame so they try to let the baby go. the three guys on wheelchairs (down left) are brothers in their twenties, mom and dad are cousins. our time there was really amazing, get to spend time with amazing children, play with them, giving them food, read the bible to them! for sure these organizations needs volunteers! so if you are up to that!
27
The Cave of the Patriarchs Situated beneath a large rectangular Herodian era structure, the series of subterranean chambers is located in the heart of Hebron(Al-Khalil)'s old city in the Hebron Hills. According to tradition that has been associated with both the Torah and the Quran, the cave and adjoining field were purchased by Abraham, and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, considered the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people, are all believed to be buried there.
DEAD SEA The Lowest place on Earth, - 400 meters under the Sea level, the Dead Sea, whe you do not need to swim, you just float! haha it is amazing but it has its inconveniences, you can rub your eyes with the water unless you want to go blingd, you can’t drink it unless you want to die, you can’t fart it burns (my friend tried, i did not), you can pee in it and yeah its enough said! but it has such a beautiful view of Jordan!
28
«Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.» Matthew 4 The mount of temptation! Amzing place, a super view on Jordan, it is believed tha is where Jesus was tempted for 40 Days! a church is build on the mountain, you can see some wholes in the mountain (below picture) it is said that sheperds would rest in there and finally made houses in it!
«Zacchaeus, ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.» Luke 19
29
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” John 11 amazingly Lazarus tomb is so well protected, we went there, saw where jesus was standing, stood by there, sit down and I asked God, what if it was me Lord?would you do that to me? then he said «what, raise You or weep?» I had to choose...Really? hahaha! God has been Good! we’ve been into the Jordan river as well where I got to baptize two ladies student and my ladie co-leader! such an amazing moment where we’ve seen doves landing on the place! The spirit of the Lord is upon us! What a great Time!
30
As the sun goes down, this season was coming to an end, the Lord has blessed me with so amazing beautiful people that i called my children, my students, a lot of responsability to be a Father, I enjoyed it, I thank the Lord for my students I love them all! Excuse me for my broken english writting, I did not get to put all my pictures, I know i missed some area we went to and other stuff but I got to see God moving into my life much stronger than before, this season of Staffing DTS has been amazing and I thank God for my Leader Amos and Ellen Hathway for letting me be apart of this! I thank God for my Fellow Staff, Troy, Myrjanna, Jamie, Rochelle, Meritha, Sammantha, Angie! Awesome Job everyone! 31
I really hope you enjoyed the mini ride, I tried to be as good as i can, on the pictures or the comments, Thank You very much for your support, for prayers, as the next season is coming, we will see where God is gonna take me, I pray that you would be touched or touched again by God’s Love, Mercy and grace! Pray for You Guys as you read it! Feel blessed, Get better! Enjoy God’s presence! Love and Aloha J.J Gerard Teriitehau HOPUU 32
Š J.J Gerard Teriitehau HOPUU July 2013
33