How Do These Things Work?

In preparation for going into the Old City in Jerusalem, Maggie, Beka, and I gathered together three long sleeved blouses and three scarves. While these weren't necessary to wear in all sectors of the Old City, your arms must be covered if you want to go to the Western Wall, and we brought the scarves so that we could be culturally sensitive and have head coverings if we needed them. The hard part, though, was trying to figure out how to put the crazy thing on my head! Was it suppose to be like this?
No, that can't be right. Wait a second, I think I've got it.


Uh, don't think so. Besides, I'm picking up local radio waves.



No, that's Lawrence of Arabia.


Definitely still Arabia.
Despite these valiant attempt to wrap the thing around my noggin, this was the response that I was getting.



I sensed that the head wrapping was not going well. Darren broke in, "Maggie, would you please show her how to put that thing on." With Maggie's help, we finally got the scarf figured out.


Now we were ready to go. Weren't scarves popular in the 80's or something? I don't think I'll ever be able to understand their appeal. Of course, not being able to manage the thing may be part of the problem!

We are finally settled in our permanent house, and I can say that I've experienced my first military move. The Thursday that we moved from the Nordau house to this house on Wingate was crazy busy. Thankfully, Darren was able to get the day off so that there was one adult to oversee the movers who moved us out of the Nordau house, another adult to oversee the unloading of the shipment of all the household goods, and a third adult to direct and unpack inside the house. Our goal was to unpack the boxes and get them out of the house as fast as possible, even if that meant returning to bookshelves and cupboards later in order to reorganize. By working together, we got a lot accomplished and organized in just a few days.
The house is three stories but six levels - tons of stairs! It is perfect for entertaining and it's awfully fun to live in, too. The kids rooms are all in the top level, enabling them to play and be completely separate, in their rooms or in the family room/toy room in the basement, if they want to be.(Sorry about the sideways pictures of upstairs. I couldn't get the file download to recognize that I had rotated and saved it and I didn't know how to make it!) Halfway between the main floor and the basement, my room shares a landing with the school room and a bathroom before the stairs continue down to the basement. The main level is the representational area where large sliding glass doors open up into a couple patios and the rest of the yard. My favorite patio is this one, just off the dining room, because it is enclosed by the trees, flowers, and red wooden fence that separate it from the alley below.
Three weeks after moving in, we are throwing our first party. It is a blessing to start with a church party, the kick off party for the youth group who are Beka's age(around 13) and who have just moved up to the next class. Beka is nervous about fitting in and not being able to speak Hebrew. Maggie and I were able to make her laugh and, hopefully, reassure her from our own growing list of mess ups that, "Well, Beka, it can't be any worse than this!" The Lord has blessed us with a wonderful house, and we hope to use it as a ministry opportunity to invite others in and proclaim truth from our lives.

Easy is Not Always Best

On Saturday, we were out of town and so were unable to worship with our church family in Rishon Letzion. We used that opportunity to go into Jerusalem on Sunday and worship with a small church there. As I told Mom Saturday night, that while I missed seeing everyone at Grace and Truth and listening to the preaching, I was so looking forward to hearing a service in English! I would be able to sing the songs, and I wouldn't have to work so hard to keep out all the distractions and focus on the translator. While it was easier to sit and listen to the service, I found that the easiest isn't always the best and that God had blessed us with providing Grace and Truth, a wonderful church in which to minister and worship.
Grace and Truth is predominantely a Russian and Hebrew congregation. The service is conducted in Hebrew, and then a translator with a microphone translates into Russian, the sign language interpreter translates to the deaf section in front of us, and then one of the English translators stands near us and translates into English. Talk about opportunity for distraction! The church doesn't boast many creature comforts that we Americans are use to, such as personal space, air conditioning, and English. What you can't see in the picture is the 20-30 Russians who sit just outside the door in the alley, and the heat, or the sitting and standing people into the two hallways and adjoining office rooms, one along the wall with the projector screen and the other behind the photographer.
While not an easy, comfortable place, Grace and Truth is a wonderful place to worship because they preach the Word in truth and love each other in unity and community. The first Sunday we were there, I was struck by how loving and unified the congregation seemed to be. It reminded me of Trinity and Hillcrest, and that in and of itself made me want to stay! Then the service started and they sang and prayed and preached, all in Hebrew and Russian, but their zeal and love for the Lord and the truth that they spoke from God's Word finalized that this church was where we would be worshipping. I loved listening to them preach and sing and pray in Hebrew. Even though I couldn't participate or understand everything, worshipping with them opened my eyes to the universal church of God. We were worshipping God together in unity, and the unity had nothing to do with our language. Darren commented later that it felt as if the curse of Babel had been reversed for those few hours, and believers from different nations and tongues could praised and worship God together.
The church is a Reformed Baptist church with a gun-toting preacher! Yah, that was a shock when I first saw it. I was sitting in the young adult Bible study on Thursday night and almost burst out laughing in surprise when I saw a big hand gun tucked into his belt. Of course, I wasn't going to interupt him or question anything he said as long as he had that gun close - maybe that's why he wears it! Actually, it's because he takes his role as protector very seriously - protector of his family and of his church- and in Israel, that can mean more than just insurance. Pastor Maoz and his wife share the name, in masculine and femine form, which is the Hebrew word for blessing. Please pray that this church will always be that blessing to the family of God that it edifies. The church's website is www.gnt.org.il if you want to read more about it.

I Will Make You Fisher's of Men

"Despite Jesus' extensive ministry in Galilee, only three towns/villages are mentioned by name, Capernaum, Chorozain, and Bethsaida. All are criticized for their lack of faith in Jesus. The attitude of Bethsaida stands in vivid contrast to that of some of its native sons, Peter, Andrew, and Philip who gave up all to follow Jesus."(The Holy Land, 205)
At present, not a lot of excavation has been done in Bethsaida, partially because it took archeologists so long to find it. One would expect a fishing village to grow up right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, but Bethsaida sits 2km north of the shore. An earthquake crumbled many houses and raised the level of the coast, pushing the water further away from the village. Only after taking the earthquake and topography change into account did archeologists discover the ruins.
A pebble path winds its way through Bethsaida, cutting through piles of rocks and rubble. A clear outline of the town and its houses have yet to be uncovered, but there is one house whose floor plan can be clearly seen. The picture isn't super clear, but you can see the doorways and the divisions of the rooms, all labeled by little signs. There are three small rooms to the north, a kitchen on the east, and one large room as you enter in the main doorway. This house likely belonged to a fisherman and his family, for a fishing hook, lead weights to weigh down nets, and a curved bronze needle for net repairs were found scattered throughout the house. The house dates back to 200BC-AD100, and the fishermen disciples probably lived in houses very similar to this one.
Careful! The beautiful scenery and cool sea breeze is marred by one small thing - land mines. Planted during a past war, most have been uncovered and cleared out. Don't take any chances, though - stay on the path.

Bumping Into the Language Barrier

Each one of us, I'm sure, has heard a student of the English language, hilariously, or shockingly, misuse or mipronounce his words. In any event, we have either laughed out loud or have snickered silently. Maggie and I found ourselves in just such a hilarious situation, only this time we were the cause of the snickers.
This particular Sunday afternoon found us at the Stop Market in downtown Herzliyya, perusing the shelves in search of our weekly groceries. One item on our list was a whole chicken, so we headed over to the meat counter, eager for the opportunity to practice our Hebrew. (Chicken in Hebrew is "oaf").
"Ani(I) rotsah(want) achat(one) ahf(nose), bavakasha(please)," Each deliberate word sailed proudly across to the butcher's ears. A pointed finger indicating what we were really after kept him from staring at us stupidly.
"Lo(no)," he corrected us graciously. "Ani(I) rotsah(want) oaf(chicken) gadole(big)." We noticed that a new word had been added and reiterated it eagerly.
"Ani(I) rotsah(want) achat(one) ahf(nose) gadole(big)."
"Lo(no) need achat(one)," he explained patiently. "The word chicken singular already."
Confident of getting it right this time, we tried again. "Ani(I) rotsah(want) ahf(nose) gadole(big)."
"Oaf(chicken)," he smiled as he pointed at the chickens. "Ahf(nose)," he laid his finger on his nose, which was itself quite gadole!
Amazingly, we left the Stop Market that day with a large chicken instead of the large nose that we so adamantly said we wanted. We also took with us a good laugh at our mixup, greater sympathy and sensitivity for those studying a foreign language, and thankfulness for the patient, thickskinned butcher who understood our mistake as the confusion of two Hebrew students and not as a criticism of his most predominate feature.