Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Pictures: Shopping
one of many fitness centers on beach (free)
Johnny and Adele
Tel Aviv
July 26,27,28
Between internet problems and being too tired, I have not kept up with the posts. I am doing 3 for today and I may edit them when I get home. On Monday morning we cleaned the apartment really well in preparation for leaving. Diane and I then headed to the Israeli museum which just opened that day with all of their exhibits after being mostly closed for over 3 years. It was fantastic, and we were so glad we went. Included in the displays were the Dead Sea scrolls and the containers they were found in.
We then went to meet with Sami, who had Dixie's shofars, and to meet Adele who was picking us up to take us to their house for supper. All went according to plan and we had a wonderful time at Johnny and Adele's. She cooked an Arab meal of stuffed squash, stuffed peppers, rice pilaf, spicy soup. It was incredible. We then went outside to fellowship. They have a lovely garden and patio and it was very pleasant sitting out there, until the Moslem's call to prayers started on the loudspeakers of their mosques, and neighborhood kids set off firecrackers left and right. We were jumping with every blast, but Johnny and Adele barely seemed to notice. They told us many stories about how God was working in the Moslem people. It was a wonderful night and as Johnny drove us to the bus stop, we had one last look at the walls of the old city, flooded with light.
I am now sitting in a hotel room in Tel Aviv. I am looking out the window at a beautiful fountain and beyond that, the Mediterranean Sea. We came to Tel Aviv yesterday at about noon. I popped into the sea for a quick swim/bob then went walking to the antique markets in Jaffa. Michele and Diane spent the afternoon on the beach. After we cleaned up we went back to the promenade and watched the sun set over the water. We had supper on a place overlooking the beach. There were tables and lounging couches there and it was a nice way to end our vacation.
Update: We are now at the gate of Ben Gurian airport, waiting to board our plane. They went through our luggage with a fine tooth comb, our bags were too heavy and we had to repack them, but we made it. I am excited to be back home and I can't wait to see all my friends and family!

Our Shabbat

July 25,
Today is Sunday, our Shabbat. Poor Michele is sick so Diane and I decided to take some different buses around town to see some new neighborhoods. The first bus took us to an orthodox neighborhood where everyone was dressed in black, with head coverings. We got off the bus there and wandered around until we saw the sign in the picture. We weren't dressed immodestly by our standards, but probably by theirs, so we got on a different bus to get out of that area. This bus took us through some new areas that we have never seen. Jerusalem is very hilly so there were many panoramic view across valleys, there were also some modern looking store areas. We asked the driver if he went to cental station and he said yes, but his english must not be too good because he reached the end of his route out in a residential area. We stood for about 2 minutes, then decided to walk as we could see the large tower that we use as a landmark in the distance. We have taken the bus past this almost every day but we enjoyed walking under it. When we got to the bus station, Michele was waiting for us. She had a 2 hour nap, and felt much better so we went to do what we do best...shopping! We each bought a pair of shoes, and I am so chickified now, I am thinking of going back to buy more.
I left the girls to walk up to the Jaffa gate to meet Sammi who has Dixie's shofars. I waited there for 25 minutes but he didn't show (it turned out he got a fare to Haifa.) I took a bus back to the church. There we watched an fantastic, award winning film called Restoration. It was about how the Christians are persecuted in Israel. We then had a fantastic time worshipping at church. We were able to sing and dance, jump and use flags. It was my kind of worship!
After church I went over to our new friend Susan's for tea. She lives right by the Ben Yehuda market and is spending several months in Jerusalem. She is a lovely lady and we had had a great visit. She walked me out to the bus stop and we hugged and said our fond farewells. It is sad leaving the people that we met and grew close to but I am looking forward to seeing my family again!

Shabbat,shopping,supper and singing

July 24, 2010
Today was Shabbat again so hardly anything is open. We took it easy in the morning, then went out to the courtyard so Michele could do her paparazzi work, with limited success as most people do not appreciate us lurking around taking pictures of them and their children. We went in and had our favourite meal, salad with hot mushrooms, tomatoes and fried cheese. We then spent 3 hours inventorying our purchases and trying to fit them into our suitcases. At 3 p.m. we caught a bus uptown and had coffee on the terrace of the King David Hotel. It is a spectacular old hotel with magnificent views of the old city. It was fun pretending to be upscale, and we really enjoyed when a group of Jewish people sang their prayers on the terrace. It wasn't so enjoyable when a grumpy European told them that he didn't want to hear them.
Then, for lack of anything else to do, we headed back to the old city to shop as the Christian quarter shops are open Saturday, closed Sunday. I found a bigger suitcase to pack my, and Dixie's (which she forgot in the taxi) shofars. We then went and had a nice supper in a cozy restaurant. It was starting to get dark and we were warned to stay out of the old city after dark, so we left and sat outside the walls to watch all the various Jews, in their wide array of garb, hurry by to get to the western wall.
After a respectable amount of time continuing our paparazzi habits, we walked down to Ben Yehuda street. We were surprised by how close it is to the old city, it seems to take way longer on the bus. It was pretty deserted at 8:20 when we got there. The only place open was McDonalds so we took Michele there for her bathroom break and for some ice cream. When we came out there were a couple more stores oped but very few people, then we heard some lovely singing coming from an upstairs apartment so we stood outside and listened. The songs were Christian ones we knew, sung in Korean and a lady sitting outside told us they were warming up for singing at 9:00 on the street. We then lurked about until they came and the performance was amazing. They have powerful voices and an obvious love for the Lord. Many others stopped to listen and clap along. We met a lady we knew from King of Kings church there as well and she gave us all hugs. It is great to belong to the family of Christ!
At 10 or so, we decided to go home and were once again shocked to see that the streets were now thronging with people and shops were just opening their doors. the bus ride home was as crowded as we have ever seen it, with peopel packed into the aisles, standing everywhere. This never ceases to amaze us little country bumpkins!

Parks and sea creatures

July 23, 2010
Tonight starts the beginning of shabbat again, where everything shuts down. i was toying with the idea of going to Haifa but it is their weekend so there was no room to stay overnight and I was afraid to be stuck there with no transportation. I am also pretty indifferent about going as I have seen enough ruins and old building for a while. Michele and Diane were headed to Tel Aviv for another beach day but my sunburn, that I obtained from too much snorkeling in Eilat, is still very red and sore so time in the sun wasn't very appealing either. I decided instead to do some more museums. I took a bus to the Israel museum to see the Dead Sea scrolls but the girl at the desk told me if I could, I should come back Monday because most of the museum has been shut down for 3 years for renovations and is reopening on monday. I decided that was a splendid plan so I went to the Science museum down the road instead. There I learned about the water system in Israel which is intense. They don't have many water sources here so much of the water is sent from the Galilee through pipelines down to the south. Needless to say the Galilee's water levels have dropped dramatically in the last few years.
There was also an exhibition on the ocean which was fascinating. Again I marvel at God's creation and His radical imagination. We can't dream or imagine what He has in store for us in heaven!
After I was finished there, I decided to walk around the parks and gardens. I was in the area of the Knesset (government) and court house so they have many nice gardens with plants donated from all over the world. It was very beautiful but what impressed me most was all the families that were there enjoying time together. They were biking and picnicing, strolling and playing games. Kids were climbing trees and splashing in the water. Again I noticed how involved the fathers are with their children. It is a beautiful thing, but it made me miss my family.
I decided to catch a bus at around 4 pm because I am never sure when they stop running for Sabbath. It did give me time to organize my pictures and catch up on this blog before the girls returned from their day on the beach!

Temple Institute and time with friends

July 22, 2010
Today we couldn't decide what to do, so we headed into the old city to see Johnny. His wife Adele came in while we were in the shop and it was so good to see her again. After visiting for awhile, we headed to the temple mount to try and get in on the tunnel tours under the mount. They are only by reservation, and nothing was available until late this evening so we gave it a miss. We then wandered around through streets we hadn't seen yet and then headed to the Temple institute. This is where they are building or restoring all the objects that will go in the new temple that they will build. They do extensive research there and have all the details from the Bible and other sources, in order to make the things in the way that God commanded. We were with a large group of teenagers from the US but I was impressed at how much they knew and at how good their Hebrew was. The guide was questioning them and switching back and forth between English and Hebrew. We were lost, but they seemed to have no problems keeping up with what she was saying.
We also had a nice lunch in the old city at Christ Church. They have a nice quiet courtyard and put on a nice home cooked meal. It is like an oasis in the hubbub of activity surrounding it.
We took the bus back to the apartment for an hour of rest, then headed back to the Old City at 5 pm. We were to meet Johnny and Adele at the top of the Mount of Olives to see their outreach to the Muslims. We took bus 18 to Central station and then transferred to Bus 1 which goes right to the Western wall. That was our first time on bus 1 and it was a lot of fun. We went right through some traditional Jewish neighborhoods and we were amazed by the busy streets and the large families travelling here and there. We continue to be impressed by the Jewish fathers and how they help care for their children, and by how the children seem to look up to, and adore their fathers (Abba's.) A large family got on and I gave up my seat so the mother and three of her small children could sit down. They were originally from New York and were very friendly. It was nice to watch them talk and interact with Michele and Diane. So many of the Jewish people seem to have a wall around them, and avoid contact of any kind with us, but both the mother and father were open and friendly so it was such a treat. Afterwards, both Michele and I commented on how it made the tragedy of the holocaust seem so real, to think of lovely families like that being treated like animals and slaughtered. It is horrifying to think of man's inhumanity to man.
We got off at the western wall and we had planned to take a taxi, but none of the drivers wanted to turn on their meters. Eventually we found one who said he would, but it turned out he cheated us anyway. He was bragging about his two wives and driving too fast, and had his meter hidden and set wrong. It left a bad taste in our mouths and we were angry for quite a while as we walked around the hotel looking for our friends. Suddenly we came upon our other friend John, from the two church services on Sunday. He had said he was leaving on Monday morning so we were very surprised to see him. It turns out he had hooked up with this same group, doing outreach, and was attending the same function. He knew where they were meeting and we all joined in on the worship (in Arabic) and heard some of the testimonies of things that had happened in the last week. They had handed out about 23,000 packages with Bibles and the Jesus DVD and they had good reports. We ended up leaving early as we wanted a ride back down the Mount of olives and Adele had to go early to take care of her kids. We didn't want to brave walking, or taking another taxi so we jumped at the chance for a ride. Adele is so sweet and she drove out of her way to take us right to our bus stop for good old 18. It was so neat to see all those believers on fire for the Lord, worshipping while looking out over the old city and the temple mount. There were also many fireworks going off all over town as the students were celebrating their completion of exams. Other than the taxi driver, it was another good day!

Med Sea, Dead sea, Galilee, Red Sea!!

July 21, 2010
This morning I walked Dixie and Sheila up to the cab, shed a few tears as I said good bye then headed back to the hostel. Talked to my new friends Jennifer and her daughter Ellianna from Scotland. They are from Scotland, have Jewish heritage and are trying to immigrate to Israel. They have come there for a couple of months almost every year. They said they would love to go to the beach with me but Jenn advised me to go to the bus station first to purchase my ticket. She led the way and I decided to purchase a ticket right back to Jerusalem. i had toyed with the idea of going to Beer Sheva, looking around, then catching the bus out of there to Jerusalem, but I was unable to purchase that leg in the Eilat station and I didn't want to be stranded in Beer Sheeva.
After that, we took a cab to Princess beach. I had rented a snorkel from the hostel and Ellianna was my capable guide as to where all the best fish lived. There is some coral reef there are quite a large variety of fish. The Red Sea is much colder than the Mediterranean or the Dead Sea, and it was really hard to get into that water but once I was in and swimming, it was fine. I love snorkeling as there is so much to see. It wasn't long until I knew where all the coolest fish hung out as well. I am continually amazed by the variety and colours of fish in the oceans and I only get to see a tiny portion of them so close to shore. The vibrant blues, greens, yellows, the stripes, spots and swirls, the variety of shapes and sizes all lead me to marvel at God's imagination in creation. I was going to spend an hour in the water but ended up spending 4 hours. Jenn and I had a great talk and I feel she is a real soul mate. At about 2:30 we caught the bus back into town, had some lunch and I headed to the bus station. As I was walking down the street, I noticed that my back and the back of my legs were hurting and I realized that I had a sunburn. Too much time floating on my belly! I stopped for some Aloe Vera at the drug store and then went to my bus. Jennifer gave me very good advice for the seats were sold out on the bus. We are assigned seats, but everyone who had bought a return ticket and was returning to Jerusalem were not assigned a seat so they had to stand, sit, or lay in the aisle of the bus. There were six people in that situation. The bus ride took 4 hours, and I was blessed to sit next to a lovely Jewish man who was willing to talk about his experiences in the army and the various wars that he has been through. Every young man in Israel must do three years in the army and every young woman must do two years either in the army or in social work. That is why we see so many young people, in uniform, with guns.
The bus pulled into Jerusalem at about 9:30 pm and I took Bus 18 back to the apartment. It was so exciting to be back 'home' and to see my girls again. Diane and Michelle were excited to hear about our adventures and we stayed up too late talking, but it was another great day!

pictures

Pictures of Petra