Hike

On Sunday, Feb 27 I went on a hike with a few of the other volunteers from the Garden. Don wasn't feeling good so he stayed back. It was part of the Israel trail that starts in the north of Israel and follows it all the way to Eilat. One of the staff members at the Garden, Rikki, lives in a town, Matta, that is about 1 hr from Jerusalem. This town overlooks the valley of Elah where David fought Goliath. I can imagine David picking up the stones as the hills are covered in stones - big and small. It would not have taken him long to fill his pouch!
There are many evidences of settlements throughout the area dating back to different times in history. Last summer on the hills not far from their homes, a fire wiped out a lot of olive trees and low growing brush, and Rikki and her husband discovered new caves that they had never seen before. They went into one of the caves and found some old pottery dating back to the crusader times or possibly even earlier.
Spring is just arriving in Israel so we saw many beautiful flowers blooming as well as the almond trees in blossom. I hope I don't bore you with the many pictures but I couldn't resist.
These look like crocuses but are actually cyclamen's growing in the wild! A few of the valley.

The town of Matta.

A fallen olive tree.

The hills were covered in poppies and these yellow flowers that looked a little like daisies and dandelions combined (if that makes sense.)

Our group on the hills overlooking the valley of Elah and the town of Matta.

An almond tree in blossom!

Poppies!

Star of Bethlehem flower!

Another almond tree in blossom. I know I'm from the Okanagan and I see fruit trees in blossom all the time - but it was so beautiful and smelled so good!

Our group having coffee at a small little coffee shop in Bar Bahar which means Bar in the Hills.

We climbed up to this fortress where we stopped for lunch. The structures show that this was probably built back in the Roman times but was used as recently as the early 1800's. It is now a national park called Beit Iila or (Elah.)

Having lunch!

On our way back we saw 2 sheperds with their 500 goats having lunch on the mountain side. Then the shepherd stood up gave a couple of loud weird calls and all the goats fall into line, started coming down the hillside following him up the road. What a sight!

This a the marking of a gravesite dating back to the time of the Marmaluk's (not sure I spelled that correctly!) One one of the hikes that Rikki and her husband were on they discovered this cave and saw a human skull, and then another and then another. In total there were 19 bodies. They reported it to the authorities and they said they were aware of it and that it had been used as a burial site dating back I think to the times of the Kings! Enjoying the sunshine and the view. I even got a little tan!

A few last pictures of flowers in Rikki's yard.

It was a great day. While I was on the hike I kept thinking "If only these hills could talk - Oh the stories they could tell." It is truly amazing to walk through so much history.

Till next time;

Shalom,

Shalom

Glenda

The miners from Chile

For all our friends and family back in Canada still suffering with the cold...the beach in Tel Aviv last Saturday. You can see the city of Jaffa in the background. It was a beautiful day, but windy. By early afternoon the wind caused a sandstorm so we couldn't see Jaffa at all. It was still a nice outing even though we did get lost a few times in Tel Aviv! On Thursday, Feb 24 the miners that had been trapped in Chile came to the Garden for a visit. We're not sure how many of the rescued miners came as we had conflicting reports or the number either 24 or 30, but the miners and either their wives or significant others are the ones wearing the white hats.

This is one of the miners who is holding his 4 month old son.

The Bible Society of Israel gave each of the miners a Spanish Bible. This picture is the representative from the Bible Society presenting the Bible to the miner who was the last miner to surface.

I had to get a picture of this man and the t-shirt that he was wearing

It was an inspiring afternoon. They had been at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre earlier in the day with film crews everywhere and it was a little frustrating for them trying to get around. Our director, Richard, said no filming in the Garden so hopefully their visit to the Garden Tomb was meaningful for them. We were certainly blessed being able to host them.

Don and Glenda

Engagement Party

This is the engagement party that we attended although it seemed more like a wedding reception in many ways.
The engagement party started at 5 pm but as the Garden doesn't close until 5:30 we never arrived at the party until approx 6:30 pm. We drove across 'the border' from Israel in to Palestine to a hotel in a suburb of Bethlehem. I can't remember the exact name but it would be like Richmond or Burnaby is to Vancouver.
The men were ushered to one room and we were led to the room where all the loud music was playing. As we entered we saw that the groom to be was giving his bride to be the jewerley she is wearing in the picture and placing rings on her fingers. People did turn to see us when we came in and we were looking for a table to sit at when the grooms mother came to get us and showed us to a table right at the front. At that moment is when it was time to cut the cake so I was able to get a few pictures. I was encouraged by the groom's mother to take pictures and even had her son and future daughter in law look directly to me so I could get a picture. After that I was approached by another lady wearing the scarves over her head (no ones face was covered), who said please no more pictures as some of the ladies were not wearing their scarves and so that would not be honoring to them if any of the men saw their picture. Once this part was over they started dancing, first just the groom and bride and then others joined in. The groom came towards us to say hi and welcome and then pulled us on to the dance floor. None of us knew what we were to do, but it seemed like we were to dance in honor of the bride. There were a couple of other Palestinian ladies on the floor too so we just tried to follow them. When we saw other ladies come on to the floor we made our way back to our chairs.
We were then given glasses of orange juice and some of the cake that had been cut.
After that for the next hour and half there was continous dancing with different people coming on to the dance floor to dance with the bride. There was a DJ and it seemed like he would announce something and then different people would get up and dance. We were also pulled up to the dance floor a couple more times for whatever reason, and again followed the other women as to what to do. The groom also stayed most of the time and would often jump on one of the tables or chairs and dance up there. He did go at one time to visit with the men.
Now Don says in 'his room' all they did was sit at a table and talk. There was no music. He said when they entered the room all the men stopped talking and looked at them. Sammy came and got them and ushered them as well to the front of the room. He then brought three 2 litre bottles of coke, a couple 2 litre bottles of sprite, a couple bottles of a strawberry/banana drink all for 5 men to share. Palestinians do not drink alcohol so none of that was served; but most of the men smoke so it was a smoke filled room. Don did take his puffer so had to use that a couple times on the way home!!
So it sounds to me like we had the better party, although my ears were ringing when we finally left around 8:15 pm!!!
The first couple pictures are of them cutting the cake. Notice what they are cutting it with. A VERY LONG SWORD!

He is holding the sword waving it over his head! She is not moving away, she is dancing!

Sharing wine together! They also fed each other a piece of the cake like we do in Canada.

Two cute little girls on the dance floor. It was so cute watching them as they were also moving their hands and hips to the music.

It was a great evening and we were back in our apartment by 9 pm as the party ended at 830pm. We left around 8pm and by then most of the women had left. Don said the men were wondering when did they know when their wife was ready to leave. Then they watched and saw the men would receive a text message, get up and leave!! Who says the woman doesn't have some control!!!

As we were about to leave, Sammy's wife asked a friend to take a picture of her with us. I also asked the friend if she would take a picture with my camera and Sammy's wife said no because she wasn't wearing her scarfs.

I asked Sammy on Saturday, what happens now. He says now that they are offically engaged they can see each other in private without a chaperone and can now touch each other in public. On July 8 they will have the wedding ceremony, but it is not held in a church, it is just a ceremony to say that they are now married. If Sammy's son wants to talk to his fiance now he must first talk to her father who will give him permission, but after the official wedding if the father wants to talk to his daughter he must ask Sammy's son first.

Sorry for the delay in getting this blog posted, but we had Saturday off so went to spend the day in Tel Aviv on the beach of the Mediterranean; then spent most of Sunday feeling miserable as I have finally got the cold that has been circulating around the staff. Also Sunday was a stormy rainy day with thunder and lightning, and huge wind gusts. We stayed indoors all day, listened to Pastor Robert's message from the previous Sunday, read, did cross stitch, and watched a couple of movies that we had brought from home. It was a very relaxing day.

Till next time...

Shalom

Don and Glenda

Engagement party in Bethlehem

We have been invited to attend a Muslim Engagement party for the son of the man in the picture below. Sammy has been selling souvenirs in the lane leading to the garden tomb since 1969 when he was 8 years old. He is Muslim and has become a very good friend of the garden, always helping wherever he can. Apparently he has also chased away some young Palestinians that he knew were trouble! He sells these souvenirs from the back of his car, and is the typical guy trying to get you to buy his things...10 postcards for a dollar, camels $1.00, Jerusalem bags 4 for $10.00...anyone that has been here knows what I'm talking about! He does very well and the olive candle sticks that you see on top of his car are the same that we sell in the gift shop, but his are much less. Not that I'm trying to take business away from the garden, because I also know that the prices we have in the gift shop are much less than in many other gift shops!
Anyway, he is a very friendly man, and tonite (Friday) he is having an engagement party (an arranged marriage) for his son and we are invited. So 9 of us from the garden are attending. It is at a hotel in Bethlehem. No one really knows what to expect, other than we have been told that the men need to wear a suit and tie, and the women have to be dressed smartly. Don didn't bring a suit, but I guess he will be fine with a shirt and tie. We also know that the men and women won't be together and we don't know if that means we will be in seperate rooms or what. Anyway, we are very excited to be included in such a celebration.
He also sells old coins - shekels- so I asked him how much these coins would cost for me to buy. I would like to bring some back for us to use in our Bethlehem Star presentation that we have at Christmas at our church. He says to me "Don't worry, I will give you a good price you tell me how many you need and we will make a deal...money isn't everything when we're friends." So I have no idea but I will buy some and see what 'a good deal' is and then get more if indeed it is a good deal. Glenda

More pictures from the garden

I thought I would send a few more pictures of the garden so you can have an idea of what we get to enjoy everyday.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, every morning we get up at 630 am to wash down the benches and chairs, sweep the paths so that it looks nice and clean when the vistors arrive. For the last few mornings, it is more a manner of drying off the rain, although the birds still leave us a few of their droppings!! For the last week this has been my area to clean. I haven't counted the number of benches but it usually takes me between 30 - 45 minutes depending on how dirty the benches are. We just use a mop and bucket.
This picture below is in the center of the garden where alot of the groups will have their worship time. It is a wonderful place to worship as it overlooks the entrance to the tomb. I sent a previous picture where a group of Nigerians were worshipping.
This is another area of benches that we clean. This path leads to 'Skull Hill' or Golgotha.

Skull Hill.

Don leading another group from Nigeria explaining the significance of 'Skull Hill.'

Don explaining to a group the wine press that was also discovered in the garden, giving more evidence that this could be the garden and tomb where Jesus was buried.

Don leading a group at the tomb, and showing what they will see when they enter inside.

Again we thank you for your prayers as we live and serve here in Jerusalem. Every morning we wake up and thank God for the opportunity we have. We have only been here a little more than 2 weeks, but it seems much longer than that. We were asked the other day if being here is what we expected. We had to think about that as neither one of us had any expectations, but both agreed that this is beyond anything we may have considered. As I sit in our apartment writing this blog, (as I have the morning off) I hear a group singing "How Great Thou Art." Throughout the day I will hear "Because He Lives", "Amazing Grace", He is Lord" and more. The other day as I was taking the communion tray (a lot of the groups bring their own olive wood communion cups which we set on a silver platter with the bread) to one of the worship areas, a man stopped and wanted a picture with me carrying this tray. Everything here just seems to mean something special and we often see men and women weeping as they enter and leave the tomb, as the true meaning of what Jesus did for them becomes reality. We are encouraged as staff that if we see a person or a couple sitting off on their own, to approach them and offer to pray with them if they so wish. I had an afternoon off a couple days ago, and I just sat on one of the benches and 'took in' the sights and sounds around me.

The Garden is often the last stop for a group before they leave Israel and head back home. Having the Garden as the last stop seems to be the best way to end their time here as it 'wraps together' everything that they have seen and heard; and they can see the final outcome of Jesus and His time on earth. To end with a worship service before going home is a wonderful way to end their trip.

I am enjoying my time in the gift shop. We can be very busy, but usually only for a short time as the groups have finished their visit in the garden and are picking up some last minute souvenirs before they leave. I really enjoy talking to the visitors when there is only one or two in the shop and we have time to find out where they are from. I talked to a pastor yesterday from Georgia that has been bringing groups to Israel. This was his 60th time! What wonderful stories he had to tell. Well I better go. The reason they give the wives a morning or afternoon off here and there is so that we have time to do our grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, etc. As my close friends know, those things are low on my priority list (well cleaning and laundry anyway); but we have invited another volunteer couple over for dinner tonite so I best find a vacuum cleaner and do a load of laundry. We have a laundry room here at the garden for us to use, so that is very convenient. God Bless.

Shalom

Don and Glenda