Shabbat Shalom!

Tonight was an incredible night. I had the opportunity to go with 14 other student to go to a Friday night Shabbat prayer. My Jewish teacher named Ophir let 15 students go with him to one of the synagogues near his house to pray with him and observe the beginning of their Sabbath. The synagogue that we went to was an orthodox Jewish synagogue; however I was surprised by this title because it was a very lively upbeat synagogue service. When I thought of Orthodox I immediately thought of the very orthodox Jews that have the big hats and dress all in black. However there was not a single Jew in there that was that way. Anyways, it was a very interesting experience. After picking up my teacher and his adorable daughter from their house we drove to this synagogue. Now, because it was a Friday night, and this is the night that the Jewish religion starts their Sabbath, they believe that you cannot drive or turn on any light. So, I could not bring my camera and take pictures. =( Anyways, we showed up about an hour before anyone else so we could sit and talk about the Jewish culture and about what we were going to experience. After visiting for awhile we went in after a few people had already arrived and sat down. They gave us a revised prayer book that had the prayers in Hebrew and then on the other side it was translated in English so that we could know the meaning of what they were singing. Oh yes, I forgot to say, they did not just say their prayers they sang them. It was all acapella and they would absolutely just bolt it out and sing at the top of their lungs. They got so into it that they would start clapping their hands and pounding on the tables. It sounded so amazing. For the majority of it I could sing along because I have been learning enough Hebrew to sing along and then the other time I would just close my eyes and listen. You could just tell that they love their god and they were praising Him with all that they had inside. For one of the songs everyone got up and they started dancing around in a circle around everyone else. I of course got right up and joined the dancing circle. Everyone was so nice and loving and invited us with open arms. They love visitors and talked and visited with us for awhile afterward. I had such a good time and got a new insight of how people worship God. It was really amazing to me how much they praise God. I feel like in my prayers I always thank Heavenly Father but I never praise Him and tell Him how wonderful I think He is. But I want everyone, especially my family to know how wonderful I think Heavenly Father is. God has blessed my life with hundreds of blessing every day. I am so blessed to be here and to be living the way that I am right now.