HAIFA, Israel - American and Israeli flags draped the coffin Sunday of the American Christian teenager killed along with 16 Israelis when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus last week in the coastal town of Haifa.

Around 500 people gathered in the Christian section of the Messianic cemetery near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Haifa to mourn Abigail Litle, 14, the daughter of a Baptist minister who, as part of his ministry, took his family from Harrisonville, Missouri to Israel in 1989. The audience included leaders from many Messianic congregations in the country, Christian Arabs and many friends of the family.

The mourners, Christians and Jews, sang "Amazing Grace" in Hebrew and English, lead by the Beit Elyahou quire, remembering the girl with a wide smile and golden hair. Speaking for her classmates, Sarit Ben-Kiki said Litle had become their "guardian angel."

"We will remember you always," Ben-Kiki said. "We won't forget our angel."

A very touching word was given by Pastor Shmuel Awaida who leads the Beit Elyahou congregation. Pastor Awaida was raised in an Arab family and is now pastor of a Messianic Fellowship. He was interviewed few times on national radio and had the opportunity to speak out for the Messianic Jews.

Kenneset Member Yuval Steintz represented the goverment in the funeral. In his word he said that "he has been to many funerals in his life, but in none he saw a funeral with such peace and hope".

He said that Abigail "was born Christian in a Messianic family, but what is important here is that when she grow up, she choose this way of life too".

In a eulogy, U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer said: "She's a true bridge between our two countries, having been born in the United States and now, in eternal rest in Israel," Kurtzer said. "She's a true bridge between our faiths."

Litle's father, Philip, held a Bible and told the mourners in a choked voice of how he choose Abigail's name for its meaning in Hebrew, "father's joy." In within his voice, people could notice he had real hope that one day he will meet his daughter again.

Philip Litle works as a minister and administrator in the Baptist community, serving foreigners and local believers. He sent all of his four children to Israeli Hebrew-language schools.

After the simple wooden coffin was lowered into the ground and covered with earth, each family member left a red rose on the grave.