October 27, 2012
Hello from Jerusalem or should we say Shalom from Jerusalem!
After 18 months we have returned to volunteer at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.  For those who are new to our blog, the Garden is where we as believers believe could be the place where Jesus was crucified and the tomb where we was placed when we died.  We don't know for sure that this is the place, but there is a lot of evidence saying this could be the place.  For us, it doesn't really matter if this is the actual spot, but we do know that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, his body was placed in a tomb and he raised from the dead 3 days later.  This is what we celebrate and worship.
We left Vernon on October 22, a week later than planned due to Don not feeling well enough to travel.  A bad cold that made his slight case of asthma to cause him grief, made us delay our departure for a week.  We knew that by the way he was feeling he could never do the 5 hr drive to Vancouver to catch the flight, then a 8 hr flight to London, a 9 hr layover at the London Heathrow airport, and then a 5 hr flight to Tel Aviv.  He is feeling much better, and now it is a matter of getting over the 9 hr time zone difference and jet lag.  Today is our 4th day in Jerusalem and we are starting to feel a little more 'with it.'
When we arrived, we jumped right in and started helping out.  Don did his first tour) a group from Canada) on Thurs morning,( (we arrived in Jerusalem at 430 AM Wednesday morning) and I started to learn the new touch screen tills.  Again getting my brain to think in Shekels, and doing exchange rates between Shekels and US dollars or Shekels and Euro, when your brain is still in a time zone somewhere across the Atlantic ocean was a little challenging.  Today after 3 days, I think I've pretty much got it.  Every once in a while, I have to stop and think it through. 
It was so good to be back - it felt like coming home!  Tonight, we walked to our favorite Falafel place for our first (of many, we hope) falafels.  They tasted just like we remembered.  Then we walked around remembering all the places we had been here last year.  Tomorrow we are going with the other volunteers on an outing arranged by the Garden.  It sounds like we are heading up to the Sea of Galilee area to do some hiking, maybe swimming, and a picnic.  It sounds like fun - we're looking forward to getting to know some of the other volunteers that we haven't worked with before.
I will post again in a couple of days but now my body is telling me it is time for bed - I've made it to 10 pm!!!
Thank you again to all who are continuing to pray for us.  We are not feeling any unrest so trust it will stay that way.
Shalom for now.
Glenda and Don