Easter Sunday

First of all just a couple of pictures of our street vendors. I've meant to send these earlier! There is no food safe practised here!

Easter Sunday at the Garden Tomb
We had 4 services with the first service starting at 630 am. We opened the door at 6am with approx 500 people waiting in the lane. The first 2 services were in English - total 2100 people, the third service was a Scandinavian service - approx 650 people, and the 4th was a French service for approx 150 people. It was an awesome day. The first service was recorded on www.cbn.com if you want to listen to it.

At the end of the day, Sammy (whose son got engaged and we attended his engagement party) brought dinner for all of us. It is called the upside down meal. They cook chicken or lamb at the bottom of the dish, then rice is cooked on top. When they go to serve it, they turn the dish upside down so the rice is at the bottom and the meat is on the top. It was so delicious.

This next picture is the reason we are here. It is the sign on the door leading in to the tomb.

This will be our last post before we get home. We need to wake up at 3am so we can catch our ride to the airport.

Thank you everyone for your prayers, and your words of encouragement while we have been here. It has been an awesome experience - we can't wait to share it with you.

God Bless,

Shalom,

Hugs and Blessings,

Don and Glenda in Jerusalem

Pesach time in Jerusalem !

On the first day of Passover we celebrated with a Sader meal. Henk and Cesar performed the duties for us following the Jewish law, but also reading some scripture to show that the messiah has already come. Normally the meal will take 4 hours to complete from beginning to end, but we did a shortened version so we could get to bed on time. Here are a few pictures.

The full moon over Damascus Gate.

Palm Sunday, Jericho, and our Good Friday service

On Palm Sunday we had the wonderful opportunity to walk the route that Jesus took when he rode in to Jerusalem. We climbed from Bethphage to the Mount of Olives and then down the other side towards the Garden of Gethsemane and in to Jerusalem. It was a very hot day........ 37 celsius but worth every moment. We were surrounded by hundreds of people from many different countries singing and worshiping. Some songs were in English that we could sing along with and others we recognized the tune but were being sung in a different language. Little boys were selling palm branches and olive tree branches for a dollar - it was a beautiful sight. Following are a few pictures.

On Wednesday we were able to travel to Jericho with the guide I had the first time I came to Israel 16 years ago. We were able to meet up with each other when he brought a group to the garden a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure if he was still guiding or if he would even remember us, but I guess we left a lasting impression. Wednesday was his first day off in over a month and he was willing to take us to Jericho. It was so good to see him again and catch up on the last 16 years.

Here is a banana tree!

Mount of Temptation where Jesus was tempted by Satan after He had been in the wilderness for 40 days

The walls of Jericho.

Aladin and me - 16 years later. Hope we can keep in touch and it won't be another 16 years before we visit again!

Wanted to show you this picture. These are some of the hats we still worn by the Russian Jews. They remind us of hockey pucks! How can you tell we are Canadians!!!

A turtle dove in the garden listening to the Good Friday service!

On Good Friday we had a service at 9:30 am and then the garden was not open for guided tours, but the public was welcome to come in for a time of personal meditation and prayer. We had over 500 people walk thru and we were available if anyone needed someone to talk to or pray with. During this time, this lady played her harp! We even had a thunderstorm and some rain showers!

Some lilies blooming in the Garden

The Garden Tomb

Happy Easter!

updates

Where does the time go? One week today we will be on our flight home! Do we have mixed feelings? Yes!! We can't believe that the 3 months has passed already. Our time here has been fantastic and when you ask us "How was it?" we will not be able to put in to words all that we have experienced. I only hope that one day everyone who is reading this, will have the opportunity to visit this special place.
In the mean time here is some of what we have done over the last couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday we did another hike with 5 other members from the Garden. It was a 4 km hike thru the hills west of Jerusalem. A few times as we climbed up the fairly steep rocky hillside, I wondered if I should have been a mountain goat. It was quite a warm day, we packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed the scenery. There were still quite a few wild flowers around so I took a few more pictures. Again we walked across ruins dating back to early Bible times (can't remember the exact time.) We have come to realize that no matter how long you are here in Israel you will never see everything. Everyday the archeologists are discovering new finds, the locals walk the hills and find remnants of ancient pottery all the time.

Our group of hikers and some wild flowers. I decided not to bore you with all the nature pictures I took, plus it is so difficult to get a picture that really portrays the beauty of the land.

As we were waiting in a small village for the bus to take us back to Jerusalem, this parrot is flying around. Couldn't resist taking his picture!

Last Saturday we drove to the Sea of Galilee area. We stopped at Yardenit which is on the River Jordan and used as a site where people can be baptised. It is a beautiful site, but probably not where John the Baptist baptised Jesus.

There was a group of 20 that were having a baptism service.

From there we drove to Yavneet to visit a special family. Peter Hatch (who grew up attending Emmanuel Baptist church in Vernon, his parents still live in Vernon and attend our church) now lives in Israel with his family. We had a wonderful visit with his wife and their 4 young children. The baby is only 6 weeks old. It was nice to see Peter again and meet his family. We only wish we could have stayed longer - maybe next time!

Here are some pictures of their family.

I will have another update showing pictures of our Palm Sunday walk and our Easter celebrations.

Shalom

More random thoughts from Don in Jerusalem

• I'm not sure if it's because we are approaching Easter, but as I stand by the entrance to the tomb directing traffic, more and more people become more and more emotional as they prepare to enter. Some take off their hats in reverence, some start to cry, and some don't have to say anything - you can tell by the expression on their face that the experience has moved them deeply.


• On a lighter side, I have had this question asked more than once at the entrance to the tomb - is there a way out on the other side, or do you come back out this way? Here is my answer. No ma'am, this is the only way out. You know on really busy days with long lineups, the guides have thought about perhaps having two tombs, but we felt it wouldn't go over very well.


• I have guided visitors from more than 53 countries over the past ten weeks with the latest additions from Slovenia, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.


• We welcome people from all over the world, from all walks of life...like the young lady who came in with her daughter early this week, and every day since to spend time in the garden. She has waited 11 years to be able to come to Jerusalem and to the Garden. She is from the U.K., but has worked for the last 7 years in Cambodia. I asked her what she does - she said she rescues young girls from the sex trade.


• I enjoy sharing with each and every group, but particularly Canadians who visit the Garden. I find myself becoming more emotional when guiding Canadians when I share my faith, give the story of what the Garden represents, and take the people around this extraordinary garden.


• We never say anything negative in our presentation about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site for the crucifixion and resurrection. We tell people that we will give them the history of the garden and it is the Holy Spirit's job to convict them either way. It is truly amazing how many people come up to me unsolicited and talk about how dark and depressing the church is and how " it all comes together " at the Garden Tomb as to why this could be the place.


• Looking forward to Easter services - we have I think five or six services over the three days. Good Friday afternoon the tomb is not open for viewing, and the Garden area is open only for reflection and meditation. Sunday sunrise services alone should have about 2500 people attending.


• Looking forward as well to returning to Canada in less than two weeks, but we will be leaving a piece of us in Jerusalem, hoping to return some day to continue serving Him.


• One final thought - a definite answer to prayer and a real encouragement to the volunteers here at the Garden this past week. Nelly, the wife of one our Dutch guides, asked for prayer on Wednesday at 155pm as part of our staff devotions before opening the garden again for the afternoon. She told us of a Norwegian man who was sitting with his head in his hands on one of the benches the previous day. She approached him and asked if she could help. He told her that his marriage had fallen apart and his family, although here in Jerusalem, was back at the hotel. Nelly prayed with him and suggested that he humble himself and return to the hotel to try to mend the relationship. Our group of volunteers prayed for him, then opened the doors to the public to find him standing there with his family ready to visit the Garden. He had been on one my tours the day before and he approached me and introduced me to his family and said his prayers had been answered. I didn't realize this was the man we had been praying for until Nelly showed up at that moment and they both hugged each other. Needless to say, there was a lot of hugging between the family and the guides. We allowed them to take communion after they told us of their story of reconciliation and they left the garden, thanking Nelly again. It reassures us of why we came here in the first place - Mark 10:45. Thank you for praying. See you soon.

Random Thoughts from Jerusalem

No pictures - just some things that come to mind from Don as we serve in Jerusalem.

• A bomb went off recently in Jerusalem and rockets continue to be launched by Hamas in the Gaza strip and fall in the Negev - but we feel very safe here right now.


• We are used to most of the sounds around us - the call to prayer five times a day, lots of sirens, and the busyness of the city outside of the garden - but I do need to buy an alarm clock for the rooster that lives outside our bedroom window, so he can tell the time of day.


• We still feel the need to pinch ourselves often - and we say to each other - "can you believe we are in Jerusalem having a flafel" or "can you believe we are privileged and blessed to be serving at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem ".


• Sarah Palin from the U.S. visited recently. The Mayor of Jerusalem also came to visit the Garden and inspect the controversial "wall" the Muslims have been constructing without permission right next door and on top of the Garden Tomb wall. The wall has been shabbily built, not according to permit, and over our protestations. This week, part of it fell down onto one of the worship areas. Forunately it happened while we were closed - but it could have been disastrous if people were worshipping underneath. Ironic that Sarah Palin was standing in that exact spot a few days earlier. Our director took pictures and emailed them to the Mayor, informing him the wall fell down exactly where the Mayor had stood three days earlier.


• There is a wide spectrum of people that visit the Garden. One day last week I walked by one of the worship areas, only to hear a pastor praying, " Thank you God for bringing us to the holiest site on earth". Not more than five minutes later I overheard someone at the front entrance ask, "So this is Jesus tomb? What did he do?"


• I read the book "Burkas and Beards" by Martin Goldsmith, on witnessing to Muslims and Jews. He said you have to understand the Muslim thought process before you can witness to them. One of several interesting examples - he talked to a group of high school students and afterwards was confronted by a group of Muslim students who aked how he could believe in a Bible where people would delete all the references to Mohammed from the book.


• From the Palestinian neighbourhood with women wearing long coats and scarves to MeaSharim with Orthodox Jews wearing black suits, white shirts, and sporting long wringlets and beards...just blocks away from each other...to Eilat by the Red Sea, a close resemblance to Cancun, Mexico....sometimes we feel we are on a different planet.


• Still I continue to learn from other guides who are genuine servants and examples of Christ's love on a daily basis.


• I have had opportunity to grow in Christ, share my faith, and give testimony to over 5000 visitors I have guided over the past 9 weeks - God continues to teach me that I can do better when I get home with my friends, relatives, and co workers.


• The day we left for Israel Glenda showed me the verse from her daily devotion. It was Mark 10:45 - "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many." It meant a lot to us as we departed for Israel - it means even more now that we can see first hand. We have no excuse for not serving when we have seen His example. God bless you and thank you for your prayers.

Shalom from Jerusalem

Shalom from Jerusalem! We have had a few emails from friends asking if everything is okay as the blog hasn't been updated in a while. YES everything is fine. I guess we have been busy and didn't realize that it has been so long. 3 weeks today we leave to come home to Canada. Sometimes it feels like we have been here for months and other times it feels like we have just arrived! There are still so manys things to do and so many places still to see. We have heard that British Airways may be going on strike right around the time we will be returning. We won't know for another couple of weeks if our flights will be affected, but it could mean that we may have to return earlier, stay longer, or return with a different airline. My coworkers at Menno Travel have assured me that they will monitor our flights; so I'm not concerned. We had a day off today so decided that we would go through our clothes and pack a suitcase with the clothes that we know we won't be needing for the next 3 weeks. Between the clothes and souvenirs we were able to fill one suitcase! We also need to do a thorough cleaning - wash out the cupboards, wash the windows, defrost the fridge and freezer, etc before we leave and since we will be busy with Easter we don't want to leave everything until the last week. Today we went 'exploring.' We walked to Mea Sharim street which is about a 10 -15 minute walk from here. It is an ultra orthodox Jewish neighborhood - a totally different world. We leave our Arab neighborhood where all the women have their heads covered with scarfs to this area that is exactly the opposite with the men with the long beards, long curly side burn ringlets, wearing the long black coats and black hats. We walked by an outside store where they were selling mens shirts - they were all white shirts as that is the only color you see men wearing. That is one of the things that I love about this place; that you can walk a few blocks in a different direction and see a totally different culture! I know all the historical, archeological sites are important and interesting to see, it's just too bad that the tours don't get an opportunity to see and walk around these neighborhoods as well. We then walked to Ben Yehuda street, got a coke, and sat at one of the tables and watched the people go by. When we got back to the Garden, we listened to the different groups worshipping and singing praises to God. Who could ask for anything more!!! Below you will see some pictures of Merv and Merla Watson who are from Abbotsford but spend most of their time here in Israel. We were introduced to each other via email from a couple of friends and last Friday they invited us to their home for Shabbat. What a privilege! There were 12 of us enjoying a traditional Shabbat dinner. It was a wonderful. After dinner, they put on a concert for us. Merv and Merla have been very influential in Israel - organizing and starting the Feast of the Tabernacles, International Christian Embassy, plus many other events in Israel. They were also the ones to introduce the Hebraic style of music and choreographed spiritual dance into worhsip. Merla composed the song "Jehovah Jireh" plus over 500 other worship songs. Their porfolio is long - I would never remember to tell you everything they have been involved in. Anyway, they performed for us, then their daughter who is also an accomplished musician and performer sang for us.

A few more pictures taken from our living room window!

We will send another update as we share our plans for Easter.

Shalom,

Don and Glenda