A VERY DIFFERENT BUT SPECIAL CHRISTMAS

Thanks to so many for your Christmas greetings!  Internet is even more valued then ever before.  We get frustrated when the wi-fi bounces us off for a few minutes.  Gone are the days when all we could do was play pong.

I should start with Christmas Eve.  Remember that in Israel there is not a holiday at this time of the year.  So we worked with tour groups the full day of the 24th.  In the few minutes we had at the end of the day we worked to get all the benches in the Garden turned around to face a platform that would be used for the  Christmas service.  It was a bit late for supper and when we were finished , Donna and I headed to the Old City.  In at the Jaffa Gate and to Christ Church.  I asked someone about David Richardson.  I had heard he ushered there on occasion.  For those of you that know Don Richardson  ( missionary that wrote the book Peace Child), David is a brother.  The second lady I asked  was an usher.  She said she was housesitting for David.  As we talked, I found out she is from Qualicum and had attended Bethlehem Walk.  The world is small.!

Christ Church is a beautiful small Anglican church.  From 6:30 to 10:30 they had different music groups playing carols for an hour each.  We stayed for over an hour.  Donna enjoyed the singing so much that at one point I think she lost her voice.  It was a beautilful way to spend Christmas Eve.  After, we walked through the Old City in the Christian Quarter.  Lots of action even though later in the evening. 

Christmas Day we opened the one present that had managed to get here from home.  We were out to work by 7am.  It was really cloudy but the rains held off.  All the benches were covered in a heavy dew so lots of drying them off.  The people started coming.  Ended up with 805 for the service.  Over 600 of them would be Nigerians.  Wish you could have heard the singing.  Here is the Garden Tomb worship team.

They are all Jewish believers that are part of the staff.  The service was in the Anglican traditon.  Reading of Scripture with carols in between and then a message.  One of the highlights for me was after the service as the music team kept playing. Many of the Nigerians moved to where the  music was played.  Then the very lively carols started, as well as some of the wonderful Jewish praise songs.  The Nigerians were right into it including trying to get the mikes and sing along. 

I had the opportunity of reading one of the passages in the service .

I hope you can get the idea of the congregation from this one picture.


It took a while to clear the place out.  Then the men had the job of trying to get everything back to where it belonged for the next morning. 
At one-thirty it was time for dinner.  There were 14 of us that sat down to turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  Of course we had some Canadian things and the Brits had their traditional parts to the meal.  Christmas pudding was served.  We had the old fashion crackers and the hats to wear.  Even a little gift exchange. 
We had to walk off the big meal so from 4 to 6 we went into the Old City with Weglos and explored some areas that we had not yet seen.  We managed to use chat with Caleb and had to use the telephone to call Dad Perkins.  It was a full day.

Boxing Day was very busy here.  It seemed like a number of groups arrived that had not made bookings.  In the morning I had 7 groups.  We had to do them faster and every time I finished one there was another one waiting.  I did not have a stop from 8:30 until after 12.  I am not complaining. 
Today (Thursday) the Garden set a record for the most people attending in one year. I think it is something over 276,000 people.  So folks are still coming to Israel.  Tomorrow we have our day off.  I think we are both ready for it.

I should comment on the sounds we hear every day.  The Garden is usually a quiet place compared to other parts of the city.  The first sound is at 6:10am and is our alarm clock.  I think I will enjoy waking to the soft sound of the clock radio when I get home.  Then there are all the daily calls to prayer.  The minurets are within 300 feet of the property.  Makes it really hard when guiding as they are in direct line to the area of Golgotha.  I almost have to stop talking for the minute.  We are surrounded with Catholic churches.  I still have not figured out when their bells ring.  It is definitely not on the hour or half hour.  Friday before Shabbot begins, the ultra Orthadox in a nearby area start up their large speakers playing music to welcome the Sabbath.  I mean it is really loud.  Donna cannot get over the number of sirens that are also part of the neighbourhood.    At night we often hear very large fireworks going off.  Palestinians seem to fire them off for birthdays and other occasions when they must think life is too quiet.  There is also a buzzer/bell that rings in the garden whenever a new group comes and no guides are available.  That means finish as fast as you can and get back to start again.  There are good sounds.  In the garden are the sounds of many people singing praises.

I don't think you wll see a sign like this at a shopping mall back home.  The print may be too small for you but it says something like "safe room"  It is in between the stores in several places in the mall.  It is the bomb shelter.  Just in case it is ever needed.  Here you do not even go into the grocery store without walking past a guard that is to check your bags. 

One more picture to introduce one of our guides.  His name is Ceasar and he is such a happy young man.

He comes from South America but born of a Jewish mother which makes him Jewish.  He would like to immigrate to Israel.  Even though he is Jewish, he cannot get his residency because he belives in Yeshua.  If he would be willing to say he is of the Jewish faith he would have no problem.  We have several others on staff in the same position.  One man has been turned down but his two sons are both in the Israel army.  It is a big issue here.  Ceasar is one that just bubbles over with joy all the time.  He does most of our Spanish groups.  Is fluent in English and good in Hebrew. All of us as guides are to be able to do a tour in less then 20 minutes.  Even less if it is busy.  I don't think he could do it if his life depended on it.  The rest of us do our best.  He just grins and does the tour as long as he thinks he would want to do it. 

Today the director asked me to take an interesting group.  Israeli tour guides make a very good income.  The training is very long.  In the course of 3 years they visit as a training class at least 200 sites.  One of them is the Garden Tomb.  I had the privilege of giving 45 of them the tour today.  It was a really good group to take.  They had lots of good questions.  Ones that gave me clear  oportunity to share the Gospel. 
 
Yesterday I had a small group of English speaking people.  It works out that if individuals come in on their own, the reception will tell them one of the guides is ahead and they can join for the tour.  Four young men of Chinese background joined the group.  They were all graduates of Simon Fraser University.  I find the easiest thing to do is ask people if they have a Christian background.  Otherwise I don't know how much of the Biblical information they may know.  Three of the men said they did not go to church but one did.  He made a point of walking along side me  so we could talk.  He told me he had called his wife that morning and she had asked if there were any spiritual moments that had happened that were special for him.  He had told her no.  Just before, I had shared with the larger group  how I had come to faith through John 3:16.  He thanked me.  I finished the tour and was headed for my next group but realized he wanted to talk.  I think I really missed out on what had just happened.  It was only at lunch that I started to put it together.  He shared how much he had appreciated my sharing my conversion.  He was fairly emotional.  He said he was to be baptised last September in an Alliance church.  He was to write out his story but could never seem to get it done.  What I think I missed was that he most likely could not get it done because he had no story to tell.  He then shared how he had spent the last number of moments writing like crazy about what had happened.  What I now believe I missed was his round about way of telling me as a result of my sharing how I came to Christ and his experience in the Garden, he had just been born into the Kingdom.  The staff here would have allowed me all the time in the world had I picked up in that moment what was most likely going on.  We do covet your prayers that in the business of hundreds of people every day, we would be sensitive to the special opportunities.  That as I guide non believers, I would know the entry point to share the right things from the Scriptures.  All for now.  gord and donna

Almost Christmas....

It is another Sunday afternoon.  We have had lunch and I am hoping to have enough strength on the wi-fi to be able to do the blog.  I have all kinds of experiences I would love to share but I should write them down as they happen.  This is an amazing place to live and serve.
I can remember this morning.  We went again to East Jerusalem Baptist.  It is an easy walk.  For those who have stayed on tours with me, it is only two minutes from the hotel we use.  We were met by the pastor in the church yard.

It is a Palestinian international church.  Was very small this morning (13 of us).  Donna was asked to do the reading for the 4th  Advent candle.  Many of the Americans that usually attend were home.  I have been asked to preach in January. 

Tonight we go with Weglos to our friend and guide for supper.  Roni and Irit are very special to us.  He phones here ahead to ask them to put my name down to guide his tours.  I had a VIP group for him this week.  I cannot tell you who it is but he is the leader of a group that has been very much in the news this week.  Enough said.  Then on Wednesday Roni brought a family from New Zealand.  The man was of Malasian background.  Came to faith at age of 14 in Ottawa.  Thrown out of his Muslim home.  A Messianic Jewish women raised him.  Told him one day it would be wonderful if he could minister to Jewish people.  He has a job but has taken courses to equip him in his faith.  They now are on a list to host Israeli young adults travelling to New Zealand.  He hosted Roni's son and wife a few years back.  He had his wife and teens with him and it was a wonderful family to be able to meet and share the Lord.

We had some slow times here as far as groups go.  But then there would be times we were almost overwhelmed.  One day we had 15 buses of Nigerians and the next day 17.  Each bus would be about 50 people.  So a couple of mornings I was guiding a bus load only to return to reception without a stop and do it over again five times in a row.  The ones from the north of the country need translation as half the group do not speak enough English.  That is always more challenging.  Most groups have one person that does a good job of translating but I have had it otherwise.  It was cold and wet at the first of the week.  Once they started to worship, things warmed up.  Wish you could hear it even for a few minutes. 

From some countries there are a few groups with a bit of a confused faith.  They would understand the cross and resurrection but likely have some of the remains of a pagan belief.  There are some that would be wanting to get things blessed in the tomb and then take the objects home to sell.  Some Indonesian groups go into the store before their communion to buy oils to have them blessed at the communion time by their "priest"  And then we do have mixed groups of Catholic and Protestant on the same bus.  Makes it hard as they will not be having communion together. 

I am almost always asked by someone in an African group if they can have their picture taken with me.  That is the start and 20 pictures later it ends.  So I decided this week that I would ask if they would let me be in a picture with all of them.  That was all good.  Except I could not get one of them to take the picture as they all wanted to be in it.  So I had to ask someone close by from Singapore.  So here we are.

I cannot help but think hour after hour that these are all people that will be with me in the Saviour's presence.

Last night was a bit of a Christmas party.  I should have taken some pictures.  Many of the staff only work part time and some live a distance from here.  So we were about 30 people packed into the living room of the biggest apartment.  Glenda had arranged it all and did lots of baking to go with the finger foods.  I need to admit that I do not always enjoy these kind of packed parties.  Last night was very special for Donna and me.  We were in a corner and thinking about the various people God had brought together in that little space.  A young Palestinian mother with her two year old.  She has been seperated from her husband.  She is  a bright and beautiful lady.  She is a very new believer and wants in every way to honour the Lord.  Another mom is a single Jewish lady that has adopted two Palestinian children.  They were sitting with us and are wonderful children.  Sylva is an Armenian women of about 55 years.  She had a boyfriend but her mother has never allowed her to marry.  She does some of the cleaning including the washrooms.  The worship team was so good.  A Dutch Israeli with a great heart for the Lord.  He led and played guitar.  A Jewish lady played the flute.  She is single and has committed to play her flute in Seniors places where the last of the Holocost survivors are found.  She is a professional musician and works here a couple of days a week.  And Shukry is fairly recent Palestinian believer and he was playing the bongos.  Then besides other Israelis were the 4 Canadians and a contingent of those from England. 

So much more I could tell you.  This week is going to be busy.  Guiding tomorrow.  Then on Christmas morning we start at 8 am to completly rearrange all the seating in the Garden.  We know there are 525 Nigerians already booked.  Plus the service at 10 is open to anyone.  There could also be a number of other groups that will show up from tours.  We are praying that it will not rain.  All the benches are plastic  and there is no way to protect anyone from the rain.  We will not be havng tours after, but we are all assigned places to "usher" in the Garden. Translated, that means crowd control.  It is a service of Scripture readings and carols with a short message.  If the Nigerians get going, they may be enjoying the worship so much that they just decide to take over.  I think I would enjoy that. 

After the service, the men all try to get the garden back to how it has to be for tours the next morning.  The dinner is only for those living in the Garden.  Two of the coulples from England have 2 each of unmarried but adult children staying with them.  So I think the little turkey is going to be stretched to feed about 14.  The Director has invited everyone to their apartment for a movie in the evening.  That will be a full enough day.

One little incident to share from yesterday.  I had over 50 Nigerians.  I had toured them and left them at the tomb to finish there and go to their communion.  I had to take another group.  I found out from Don Weglo, that one of the men had picked a small branch off an olive tree.  That was the start.  If  Don had not got them stopped, the trees would have been stripped.  For the next hour you could see different people walking around with branches in their hands. 

From our temporary home in Jerusalem, we send you all Christmas greetings.  Gord and Donna

OUR THIRD SUNDAY IN JERUSALEM

It is Sunday afternoon and most of you are still sleeping in Canada.  Let me go back to Thursday.  It was our day off.  Hannukah lasts 8 days and we were already into the first few days.  It finishes at sundown today.  It commemorates the 8 days that Israel was able to have the oil last that should have only lasted one day.  This was the time needed during the Maccabeas, to have new oil consecrated.  So it is like the 8 days of Christmas .  There is even  gift giving.  When we went shopping on Thursday. We had to buy some special donuts made for the holiday.
Of course the sign says buy 5 and one free.  - so it was a bargain.  We had Weglos over for supper and they helped us eat them.  On the way out  of the Old City today we saw some soldiers sitting with a nice box of more donouts.  I asked if he was sharing and he actually wanted me to take one.  I didn't but he was very willing to have me take a picture.

While I am at it, I will show you a couple of the kind of Hannukah lights most of the homes have on the outside of the house or in the windows.  Since last night was the start of the 8th day, all the candles are lit.

It is getting much easier to know our way around the side streets.  Even though the Old City is like a maze, we don't get lost.   Would you have ever picked out the building below as a grocery store?  It is in the basement, but nothing for us to recognize unless we had gone with someone else

We are doing better with food.  Donna has learned  what the oven temperture is most likely to be.  If you saw my picture, you would realize how much I am suffering.  I am on red meat deprivation.  Well we have had hamburger a couple of times.  But then if you saw the meat  below hanging in our butcher shop, you might want to go without red meat.  I put the picture in for the sake of our 9 grandchildren. 

Saturday night we decided to go down to the Western Wall to see all the lights.  There was a good number of people and lots of army with fences across the big plaza area.  We found out Prime Minister Netenyahu was coming to the wall.  We waited some time and were getting cold so started off- but too late.  The army shut off every entrance/exit.  A few minutes later, lots of security.  Then  the SUV's and finally 4 identical very large Audi's with all the back windows blacked out.  They did their thing.  Two of them backed under a part of a building for the Prime Minister to get out in safety.  They do not want you to know in which car he is riding so they shuffeled the cars around and eventually went out as fast as they could with all the twists and turns in the area. 

For those of you concerned about safety here, there is no sense of any issues.  Donna has the afternoon off on Tuesday and will go on her own about half a mile to the grocery store.  All the ladies would do the same.  Police and army are very present. As a matter of fact, this vehicle fitted for trouble sometimes parks at the end of the driveway that leads to the property at the Tomb

Not your typical police car back home.

This morning we went to East Jerusalem Baptist Church.  We will likely attend it on a regular basis.  It is Palestinian.  The pastor lives in Bethlehem and he and his brother started the Bethlehem Bible College a number of years ago.  Some mornings, he cannot come if the security limits those coming out of theWest Bank.  He is an older man and we enjoyed meeting him.  A number of people in the church from the US and other places,.  as well as the Palestinian believers.  Much of  their ministry is to Muslems in other places including Bethlehem.  They had a supper for Muslems last week with about 1000 to the banquet.  They had an evangelist and about 200 raised their hands that they wanted to accept Christ.  I don't know what that would mean for them and how they will do follow up.  Several in the church work with the poor and sick.  One of the men works to get the lame wheelchairs.  I gave them the webpage for Gleaners.  And another big need is medications.  I have been offered opportunity to preach in this church.  It is all in English.

Israelis sometimes come on thier own or in groups to the Garden Tomb.  They may come out of curiosity or deeper interest.  Some seniors groups tour around places in Jerusalem.  This week I was assigned a group of 60.  I really enjoyed the group.  I did not know how easy it would be as they have different interests.  We do get to share what we believe the Garden could all be about.  So that means talking about the crucifixtion, burial and resurrection of Yeshua.  When we were at the tomb, one lady asked me about some verses I had quoted from the New Testament and wanted to see them.  I got a New Testament and showed her.  When I offered it to her to keep she shared that she already had a Bible.  In front of 6 others in her group she told me that she was the only Christian in the group.  Really good to see her take what must have been a bit of a hard stand.

Groups are slowing down.  Still lots of Indonesians and Nigerians.  You can pray already for the weather on Christmas day.  We are not open other then for a 10 am service.  This week a tour operater phoned to say he will be bring 325 Nigerians for the service.  And we could have maybe 100 others???  All the seating will be on outdoor benches and it could be fairly cold.  Nigerians already wear one hat on top of the other in this weather.  So I will report more on that I am sure.  If it all happens, I am sure it will be the most lively Christmas service I have ever attended.

Blessings for now.  Gord for Donna

Another Day Off

It is a good thing I am not waitng too long between blogs or I would never remember all the things we have been doing.  The days are very full and long.  Sunday morning we attended an Arab service in the Old City.

 One of the men on staff was leading the worship.  The church is associated with the Alliance.  Was nice to see Christmas decorations.  No carols sung and no songs we recognized.  The good thing was to see many young Palestinian believers.  The entire service is in Arabic but they had earpieces with translation.  They sang some of the songs so many times I think I almost learned the language.  When the preacher started he was using a mike.  He did not need one.  He shouted from beginning to end.  So there we were holding the earpiece tight with one hand and covering the other ear  trying to catch the English.  It did not work. 

I am having some trouble moving pictures where I want so they are out of order.  Below is Donna with Glenda in the shop..  Donna is getting better at it all the time.  Her stress is when a couple of groups come at once.  Everyone wants prices or help at the same time and the pressure is on as the Israeli guides are trying to get the groups out the door and onto the buses.

So

So while we are on to Glenda and Donna.  I went with them shopping in the Old City through the Damascus gate last Friday at 12:30.  That is when thousands of Muslem men are coming back from Friday prayers at the Mosque.  Three of us going in while 5000 men coming out.

Good time for them to sell shoes in the great shoe store.

And everyone was selling.  We bought strawberries here.  Everything is fresh

This is Home Depot in the Old City.  Bought cheaper here than at home.  Spray paint for $2.50 and individual service from the owner.

On our way back through the old city, we picked up a few things for lunch.  Right near the grocery store is the Christmas Shop in the Christian Quarter(Catholic)  The owner brought in 3 forty foot containers of decorations and was almost out of stock.

It really helps when the signs are in English like this one instead of Arabic or Hebrew.  Of course you can read it and know it is pointing to the refrigerators. 

Donna did not buy the fish here.

There are dozens of candy stores like this in the Old City.  Think a good occupation here would be dentist.

And lots of these stands as well for pickels and olives.

Donna is a very careful shopper.  She likes to save money and check out prices.  Here she has a big problem.  In our local markets, there are no prices on items.  The one little market where we buy most of our fruit and vegetables has an interesting way of weighing and pricing.  This week she bought a lemon,  avacado, bannans and tomatoes.  The man put them all in one bag and wieghed them together.  Not sure if he looked at the weight before he said 15 shekels.  So be it.


In the afternoon we headed out for a walk.  Back into another part of the Old City and eventually ending at the Western Wall.  Young Jewish soldiers were getting ready for some kind of special 5 mile run to honor Jerusalem.  I am not sure what it was all about.  We were ready to watch them race off.  Someone must have forgotten to tell them that in a race you run not walk.

At the heart of all we do is to tell the message of the Gospel.  I have had hundreds of Nigerians in groups and here is part of one of them.  They become so excited when we start to talk about the resurrection.  I am going to see them in Glory.  I sometimes say to them that if I do not see them on earth, maybe we will be neighbours in heaven.  I love to think of it as much as they do. 

I want to finish with something I think I mentioned before .. the very first day I had a group of Mormons.  One of the group is a lawyer and writer.  He is finishing a book on the life of Jesus.  I share my testimony and then a little thing on a Jewish song.  Gives me a great chance to share the Gospel.  He asked me if he could share it in the ending of his book.  This week he emailed and asked if I could write it out for him.  I did last night and he wrote back thanking me this morning.  So I am pasting what I wrote and say day after day as part of my tour .

" One night when I was six years old, I got out of bed and went downstairs.  My father wanted to know what I was doing out of bed, and I told him that I wanted to know how I could go to heaven.  He took me on his knee in his big chair.  Then he opened his Bible to John 3:16.  He said to me that when it says "world" it included me.  Also when it says "whosoever"  that also was for me.  Then he read the verse in a way I will never forget.  " for God so loved Gordy that he gave his only begotten son that if Gordy believed in Him, Gordy would never perish but Gordy would have everlasting life".  He helped me to pray and ask Jesus to forgive my sins and accept me as His child.  That night was the starting place in my life as a child of God."
 
I learned about a song called Dayenu from a Jewish friend that had my wife and myself into their home on a couple of occasions for Passover.  Dayenu means "it would have been enough" or sufficient.  ( you can insert the actual words for a couple of verses if you like)  The song talks about various things God did for the nation of Israel when they were leaving captivity in Egypt.  It starts with a good thing but finishes each verse with an unresolved issue.  The point of the song is that when God does something for us, we should be thankful, even if we cannot see the entire outcome working for our good. 
 
During my time here as a guide at the Garden Tomb, I like to help people think through the life of Christ.  reminding them that if Jesus was born in Bethlehem as the very son of God, and I believe He was, and if that is the end of the story, I cannot say Dayenu-  it would have been enough.  If He taught , loved healed and ministered for three years and then it was over- I cannot say Dayenu.  If he died on the cross for our sins at Golgotha as wonderful as that is- I cannot say it would have been enough.  If He was put in a tomb and the stone was rolled in place, and He is still in the tomb.  I cannot say Dayenu.  It would not have been enough.
 
But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead as He had promised.  And I can absolutely say  --Dayenu!!  It is my joy and confidence to believe in the Risen Saviour.  At the Garden Tomb, every day we have the privilege of reminding people about the crucifixtion, burial and resurrection.  We may or may not be in the "right" place where it all happended.  It is not the place that is important to be certain about.  It is to be certain about Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Gord Reeve

Our First Day Off

How could we be looking forward to some free time while we are on a "vacation" in Jerusalem?  It is not a holiday in any sense.  The first reason is that we are still on the last stretch of jetlag.  The second is that we have 12 hour days.  We do get a break for lunch and coffee.  Well, not always coffee if there are a lot of groups coming at the same time.  And the third reason for Donna is that she still feels some of the stress working in the gift shop.  When you have a few big groups all coming into the shop at the end of their tours it is very busy.  Many of them do not speak English.  Some like many Nigerians do not have much money but they still want to buy.  Donna is learning the things she needs to and a couple more days, I am sure will be more relaxed.

The guiding is finished at noon before the shop is finished.  So I am trying to get lunch started.  Even managed to get most of supper one night.  We were getting down on food to eat, so the one morning I managed to go down the street and get enough for supper.  We buy lots in the street markets close by.  This morning, we took 2 of the carts and walked to a larger store.  I hope the things we bought are what we think they are. Fortuantely, a bag of flour on the shelf had a little hole in it so we knew it was white flour.

This was on our way to the store.  And it is Dec 7.  The store is about a mile or more away.

The Garden is to close at 5pm but it is not that simple.  People are not all wanting to leave.  Then they go into the shop and want to be there for a few more minutes.  After they go, the ladies in the shop have to do the counting.  The guides all go into another room and count all the donations for the day.  It is about 6pm before we head to our rooms and start supper.

Here is Don Weglo, our fellow Canadian doing some of the morning sweeping.  There are hundreds of feet of paths and stairs.  With the staff dwindling for Christmas, there is much to do in our 6:30am sweep.  Donna has been on washing benches.  The following should give you an idea of just one section of benches.  With wind and rain a couple of afternoons this week, it makes a bit of a mess.  Lots of leaves coming down.

The best part for me has been to be able to get at guiding.  I love it.  My first group was 57 Nigerians.  They are a great group of people to lead.  I have now had a number of groups from the USA.  In addition I have had groups from Singapore, Kenya, and India.  The India group was with a translator.  Some of the groups are believers that are very much like us.  But we do get groups that we would find very differnent.  Strange belief system by our standards.  To hear and see the depth of some worshipping is very moving.  I have also been able to take some that have not come with groups but find the Garden on their own.  Those times are really great as it means I usually have more time with them to share.  Every group I get to talk about the cross and what it means.  Some of the groups are mixed with believers and unbelievers.  And almost every group I have someone asking how they could be a guide here.    There were 8 volunteer guides here when we came and by the first of the week we will be down to 3 couples in residence.  Two more couples are to come in January and Weglos go back to Vernon  at that time.  Wish you could be here to see and hear just for an hour. 

So shopping is almost done for the day.  Donna has done the vaccuming while I have been typing.  The laundry is in the machines.  She will likely be hanging it  on one of the roof patios as it is still sunny today.  And we are getting our physical batteries recharged.  Will be going into the Old City at noon to pick up an electrical converter.

Our friend Roni that is the guide we always use and some of you know, was here with a group of pastors from San Diego on Wednesday.  He had not been on the tour in the Garden for 20 years.  The outside guides have a room to relax while we take their people on tour but Roni came along with us.  It was also my "exam" by the chief guide.  I passed so looks like we get to stay.  Roni has invited the Weglos and ourselves for supper next Monday.  We have to see if we can work it out and he was going to check with his wife.  Next week is a school holiday for Hannukah so Roni wants us with them  for the lighting of candles and to share in one of the nights of celebration.

Well I think I will finish with taking you out of the Garden on a little shopping trip.  This is very close to our area. 

I am standing on the street taking the picture.  This is where we buy our meat.  We bought hamburger one day this week.  Could not see it anywhere so asked.  It was like our childhood days.  They asked how much we wanted.  One kilo was 44 shekels which is about $10.  They cut off a chunk of meat and into the grinder it goes.  Want to see what is also in the counters beside the chicken?  I want to show you anyway.

Yes, they are sheep or goat heads and the legs behind that.  And parts you might not want to eat as well.

Just down from the butcher  are many vegetable stands.  The sidewalks are crowded on the right side with the stalls.  Trucks come in all morning from the farms with the stacks of fresh veggies.

We appreciate your continued prayers.  Bye for now.  Gord and Donna

Guiding,Gift Shop and Communion

Saturday was busy here.  We start work at 6:30.  Each of us has an assigned area to sweep or wash benches.  So it is 7:15 when we get "home" for breakfast.  And then at  8:15 when the guides meet for prayer and start guiding by 8:30.  The ladies start at 9 as their part depends on the groups already having had the guided tour. Of course, for Donna there is a bit of house work to try to squeeze in  the spare moments.  Saturday evening most of the volunteers go out for a supper.  Glad the half hour walk there was up hill so coming home after supper was all down.

So this is some of us having that supper

We are closed on Sunday but a surprise for us yesterday was chain saws outside our door about 7:30.  Of course Jews and Muslems do not have Sunday as a day off.  So a crew was here to cut down a number of trees.  The Garden is open all the other days so it was the only time for that kind of work.  What a big mess.  The Weglos , oursleves and a couple from Sweden headed off to West Jerusalem Baptist. 

Donna and the Weglos outside the church

 It is in a Jewish area but all are English speaking and not many Israelis.. They have their service in Hebrew Saturday nights.  The service went for two hours.  Then the 30 minute walk back home.  Except all of us needed a few groceries and the store is near the church.  It is a real grocery store.  All the labels are in Hebrew so you do have to guess at some things.  It was a late lunch.  Then there was the problem for all the volunteers.  It was obvious the contractors were not going to get the branches cleaned up and pathways swept for the morning when we would open.  So out we went and spent almost 2 hours hauling branches and sweeping.  Twelve of us were walking to King of Kings church for the 5pm service.  Again a half hour walk.  It was a very lively service for2 hours.  We stopped for falafel on the way home.

I don't know if you can pick out the man up the tree.  It was about an 80 foot pine.

Today I had my first opportunities to do the guiding.  Up until now I was in training.  That meant I would go with other guides to listen and observe what they do.  I was  anxious to get at it.  My first group was 46 Mormons.  It is great to be able to share my testimeny and talk freely about the crucifixion and resurrection.  As a matter of fact we are required to share.  The primary goal is " to present the groups with the Gospel of Christ's death, burial and resurrection in a biblical, inspiring , and relevant manner..."  How is that for a job description?

The second group was 53 Americans and the third was 20 Canadian Pentacostal pastors and wives from Canada.  I love doing this.  Of course we also have Jewish groups and secular groups and get to share with them.

Up until today we have had 8 volunteer guides.  Within the week, five of them will be returning to their homes.  So it should be busy even though the number of groups slow down with Christmas.

Tonight we have not gone for a walk.  Did enough around here today.  Some time tomorrow, one of us will have to head down the road and find some food for our supper.  Otherwise we will be having cereal for breakfast and supper.

We will try to post again on Friday as it is our day off.  We knew we were not coming here for a vacation.  It will keep us busy but is exciting to be able to serve the Lord here.

In the church bulliten Sunday there were two little Food for Thoughts that apply to us.
"In order to live off a garden, you practically have to live in it."  Well it is not a food garden but we live in it and this picture with Donna is not far from our front door.  The second one was " you dont have to lie awake nights to succeed.  Just stay awake days."   We are not "trying to stay awake at nights.  Jetlag is tough business with a 10 hour time change.  You can pray for Donna as she was asleep last night at 9 but awake at 1am.  Hard to go long on that kind of sleep.  Blessings.  Gord and Donna