LAST BLOG FOR THIS TIME IN JERUSALEM

I have tried to do blogs each Sunday but missed this week.  Now we are down to our final three days so we wanted to send our last post.  This week is the first for the Spring to be open over the noon hour.  Tour groups cannot come in but individuals.  If groups come in before noon, they are not having to leave until they finish their worship.  Each couple has a turn from noon until 2 p.m.  to be on duty.  We have the rest of the day off other then our 6 a.m.  cleaning project.  Today is our day.  That allows me time for the blog and we hope to get much of the required cleaning done.  There is a very big checklist of what we are to clean before we leave.  Tomorrow is our last official work day.  Friday is the day they set aside for the cleaning but we hope to be nearly done before then.  Friday is also the exit interview with the Director.  It is his option to invite couples to come back.  We have talked about whether we would want to come back, and if it were in a busier season we would  be interested.

We have a few shekels left and Donna has been talking about a few things she would like to look at in the markets.  So that could be this afternoon.  Donna had been looking at shoes each week.  She likes some made by a company on a kibbutz in Israel.  Valentines Day  it happened.  Not that it was related to the day.  Naot shoes are coming home!

We continue to have interesting people in the Garden.  A good size group came with Governor Mike Huckabee.  Also with the group was Pat Boone.  He is 78 I think and his voice used to be much better.  He had written a song for communion and sang it for the first time here.

Mike Huckabee below

There are a number of well known leaders that are believers that bring groups to the Garden.

We have an Israeli guide that I have got to know a little from times he is here.  He shared his testimony with me one day.  He had a dog that was extremely well trained.  He could take it anywhere without a lead.  He could give signals and the dog would do exactly as he wanted.  In a time when things were very tense with the Palestinians, he was in the Muslim Quarter.  Some men surrounded him.  His dog took off and would not come back when he called.  He followed the dog and was able to get away.  The dog would wait for him but not come to him.  The dog led him all the way to Jaffa Gate and then sat in front of a man.  The man ended up being a believer and talked to the guide about the Lord.  It was that event that was the starting point for his conversion.  I had a group of his a few days back.  He came into the office later looking for me and told me he would be back with a small group in a few days and wanted me to guide them.  I said I would if I was available.  As it was, I was to take a larger group but had to help someone else for just a couple of minutes.  Someone else took the group.  When I returned, there was my friend with his group of six.  Ended up being the President of Delta Airlines and his friends.  Was a good group and I believe one of the couples were not believers so another wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel.

 The couple with Donna are from England.  He is an Atkins and Donna on her dad's side have the Adkins.  But the relatives of both from several generations back are both from Selly Oaks which is not a big town.  Could be the long lost cousins.

 Dor was a sea port in Phonecian times onward.  Has many civilizations.  Even Napolean was there and buried his famous cannons in the sea as he fled to Egypt.  The one cannon in now in the museum.  Dor was one of the corners of the tribes.  Below is part of a huge ancient temple on the water front.

We were bad on Sunday-  we skipped church.  We used the staff car and went to the Tel at Dor.  It is one of our favorite places.  We took a couple that had never been there.  The day was to have been raining but it was for the most part clear and warm.  Felt so good to be back by the Sea.  I had never had the time to climb all over the Tel when we have stayed there with a group   This time  we had all the time we wanted.  Even had a long time in the wonderful museum.  Thought of many of you that have been with me in the past as we stayed there in the kibbutz.  They have renovated the guest houses and are building two larger hotel type buildings.  They will only be two storey but it will be very nice when they finish.

It has been a great experience.  Hope you enjoyed following our experiences.  appreciate your prayers.  Now the long (12 and a half ) hour flight to Toronto on Saturday.  Two hour stop and the 5 hours to Vancouver.  Overnight and the last flight to Kelowna.  Blessings.  gord and donna

I MUST REMEMBER TO ALWAYS TAKE MY CAMERA....

It now feels like we are getting much more down to the wire.  That means the things we had planned to do are having to be scheduled  carefully.  This morning it is off to church and then to tour some sites with wild flower as well as the Botanical Gardens.  I enjoy flowers but they are very special for Donna.  The good thing about the Botanical Gardens is that we can eat lunch there.

Things are still fairly slow for tourists in Israel right now.  There are lots of reasons.  I have asked for any other jobs so that we can keep occupied in a useful way.  So I have been able to take most of the wood railings off and now have two coats of varnish applied.  I hope to do the last coat tomorrow and won't take long to get them on the next day.  There are a few hundred feet that had to be done.  Above are a few pieces drying in the sun.

One of our guides is a real character.  He set me up with a Chinese group.  Our Chinese speaking guide was off that afternoon.  Caesar had already discovered that the translator was very limited.  I knew I was in trouble when I started by saying " My name is Gordon and I am a volunteer from Canada."  He looked at me and said "what"?  It did not get much better.  I felt badly but did the best I could.
One afternoon a couple came from the States.  There were to have been 15 in the group.  No one was jumping to take them so even though I was not the next to be guiding, I said I would be glad to take them.  The man wanted to know what kinds of people come to the Garden.  He looked a little worn out and it was not that he looked desperate for a meal but leaning that way.  He introduced himself and his wife as the owner of one of the NBA teams.  He told me the team but I had never heard of him.  We had a good tour and I had a very good opportunity to share the Gospel with them at the Tomb itself.   That night I checked on line to see about him.  He could afford supper as Forbes lists him worth 1.8 billion.   Great to be able to share with rich and poor.  I was also given two groups by the Director  that I guess would be called VIP.  One was for a group of Church of England.  I found out after that one of the men had made a commitment to Christ after the tour in the worship time.  Wonderful to have a small part.  I also had the leader and his group of Baptist pastors from England.  He is the head of the world baptist body.  I don't know anything about the group but they were a good bunch to guide.

Between the last sentence , we have been to the Baptist church on the west side of Jerusalem.  They had a small team there from Moody Bible Institute.  After church we kept walking toward the Knesset to find some gardens with wild flowers.  We ended up at the Botanical Gardens.   Other then a couple of beds around the restaurant  the flowers were not planted yet.

I am sorry Donna, I know the picture is not the most flattering, but that pizza was all hers.  I did end up helping a little. We had a great lunch and a very good long walk.

On the way back we crossed King George street at the same time as 4 mounted police.
.  The one is off and it is not every day you see a horse left in Jerusalem so the rider can go to the cash machine

To the right  is part of the Botanical gardens.  We ate outside.  It is hard to see but the sparrows are all over the table and finishing off the salad of these two Israeli women.









Last night our volunteers went out for our weekly supper.  We were in an Armenian tavern.  It was down below the streets in the Old City.  A most unusual place with dozens of very large antiques.  The place was loaded with ancient stuff.  The meal was very good.  Saturday evenings are my time to try to stave off red meat deprivation.  I wish I had taken the camera as it was most unusual.  This week will be shoe shopping for Donna.  She can not rush at it but she has been going to the window of the same store for 10 weeks so I think she is just about ready to get the Neot shoes.  We are also trying to figure out how much food we need to buy as we have less then two weeks.  Anything left over we can pass on to other volunteers that will be still here.  No sense though in doing too much shopping.  I hope I still get to eat the last few days.

There is a very complete list of things we are required to clean in our apartments before we leave.  They give us a day or two at the end.  Some of the things we would not be doing at home.  We think we will start on the list soon.
I went out a couple of mornings ago and decided to take pictures of all the things that I point out as I am guiding.  Maybe some time at home I will have a chance to "guide" using the PowerPoint and the same talking points.  Donna must have snuck up on me this week as she took this picture when I did not know she was there.

 We start at Skull Hill and move our way down to the tomb.  We are to be done our part in no more then 30 minutes.  It can be hard if the group is slow moving on the paths and take lots of pictures.  Then they may ask lots of questions.

 I am sorry that my little "friend" is a bit hard to see.  He is in the center of the picture on the flat rock.  It is a coney.(hirax)   They live in the rocks.  This guy comes out any time it is sunny as he likes to warm himself.  Trouble is, he distracts everyone just at the crucial point in the presentation.  Read about him in Proverbs 30:26

The picture to the left is of the famous Golgotha.  General Charles Gordon decided in 1883 that this could be the place of the skull.  The picture on the post is from 120 years ago.  Just to the right of the pole and above is what can now be seen of the left eye socket.  I know a picture like this does not do justice but if you come over you can see for yourself.






I know I have taken you all over the last week in terms of time.  Yesterday we went for another walk in the afternoon to an area where Donna had been told there were the beginnings of the wild flowers.

The field had many of the anemone and it was worth the long trek.



Again I would want you all to know that we feel extremely safe in Israel.  We live among a Palestinian neighborhood without any unkind reactions.

It is a very divided country.  Many parts of the land have Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.  The Palestinians living behind that concrete wall in the top of this picture know a different life. They can only travel to this side with a special permit.  It allows them to come for specific purposes and most have to be back the other side by 10pm.

I hope this will post.  Blessings from gord and donna

ANOTHER SUNDAY IS ALMOST PASSED IN JERUSALEM

I was just discussing with Donna that we now have only two more Sundays left here as we should be home on Sunday the 24th.  We will likely visit two other churches as we finish out our time.  You at home are still waiting for the Super Bowl game to start and we with the time difference will hear the score when we wake up.
This week was pretty slow for groups.  We had traded our day off so we could spend more time with the Jutras.  Pierre is from Quebec and Hanna from Poland.  The two children are 9 and 10.  They serve with our Fellowship  in Poland and as some of you know, I was able to be there in March with a team from Canada.  They have been in the country and traveled in the north with a rental car.  Plans were made for them to arrive Tuesday evening near the King David hotel to return the rental.  I walked up to meet them and direct them to their hostel.  It was a rainy evening and they did not come.  So the long walk back home.  Finally we connected by Skype/phone.  They were in the city in time but it is very easy to get turned around.  Was about 7pm when we used the phone to "guide" them to a parking spot by the Damascus Gate.  Only a five minute walk to our apartment where Donna had supper all ready.  Later we walked them about 20 minutes to the hostel.  Of course in the morning we had to be up early as Pierre and I had to get the car returned.  For Wednesday and Thursday we were able to introduce them to many of the sites of the Old City.  Each day we returned to our place for a warm lunch and to try to get all of us dried off.  The weather was good for the country but not for touring.

Friday we had to be back at work and Jutras knew by then how to get around to many of the sites.
I had a group in the morning ( not many  groups this week) and was not really aware of who the leader was. There was an older pastoral couple that I did meet so presumed they were the ones.  As I was walking along someone said something to me about Col. North.  The pastor did not look like my remembrances of Oliver North.  I had a good session explaining at Skull Hill about the Gospel.  I share my testimony and try to be clear about why there was a crucifixion and the wonderful truth of the resurrection.  We finish our tours at the tomb.  I had shared how I came to faith at age 6.  As people are going into the tomb 7 at a time, I try to give opportunity for any questions.  A man asked me what I had been doing with my life since then. As I was answering it finally dawned on me that this was Oliver North.  When I finished, he came over to talk with tears in his eyes as he was so moved with the reminder of the cross and resurrection   He took me to meet his wife.  Later he wanted to meet Donna and made time to take her as well to meet his wife.  It was like we had know each other or a long time.  I was telling him about a rather well known man that I have mentioned before in my blog and how he was in a small group.  He shared with me that he had been on the phone with this man 2 days before and how the man is so close to coming to faith.
I was not busy at the time and so stood at the back of  Col North's group as he was speaking to them.  He had shared with me that several were not believers.  To hear him tell his group that he was aware of this fact and he wanted to have them know how they could come to Jesus was really great.  He took  time to explain to them Romans 10:9 and 10.  Many of you may know his name as he was in the very public eye in the Iran Contra affair.

Saturday was really slow for groups.  Finally I had a real group other then having a couple of individuals in the afternoon.  Let me say here that some of the great times to share are when there are just a few people that have walked in the gate.  You can get to know them much better.
Anyway, the group I had were 40 people and all men except 3 young ladies.  I asked where they were from and they were from Germany.  Yet they all spoke English.  My were they a hard group.  They sat there at Skull Hill and listened but only 3 of the group seemed to have any warmth in their expressions to the things about the Lord.  As I was walking to the next area I found out that they all lived in Germany.  It was a group of U.S.military.  I guess they were were being toured around and not really choosing to come to a Christian site.  I did get to talk a little more with some of them.  As hard as it was to lead this group , I thought what a privilege to be able to share like that with these young adults.  We don't know what it will accomplish.  A reminder that I sure value your prayers.  Saturday was also more of the rain which does make it hard here.

Today dawned a bit warmer and sunny and should be that way until Wednesday.  Even the Almond tree is starting to bud and bloom.

“Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch
of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, You have seen well: for I am ready to perform My word.”
Jeremiah 1:11, 12.  It is the first tree to bud in the Spring.  Very special for here as just 100 feet from where I do my presentation on Skull Hill(Golgotha) is Jeremiah's Grotto.  Within 40 feet is a broken cistern.

Jutras came to our place early so I could give them a private tour of the Garden.  We spent a few minutes at the house before heading to our church.  It was back here for a lunch Donna had prepared.  We spent the afternoon touring and a large portion of it was in David's City and the Pool of Siloam.  We said goodbye as they headed back to their hostel.  They fly very early back to Poland.  While they were here they did a big service to the Garden by translating our brochure into Polish.  Individuals can get a brochure that helps them tour with an explanation.  We also have Audio guides in many languages.  They are going to do the digital recording when they get home.  If you want to hear what it sounds like in English, go to www.gardentomb.com  There are other things about the property and ministry on the site.

I didn't get time for many pictures this week but this one is this afternoon overlooking the Mt. of Olives.

We have a full week as our next day off is Sunday.  The ladies do get a couple of half days to do laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping.  God bless you all.  gord and donna

WE HAVE HAD A GOOD SUNDAY: CHURCH AND TOMBS

It is a good thing for me that I try to blog each week as even 7 days makes it hard to remember.  As far as guiding goes, it was a harder week as  fewer visitors.  The days go much faster when there is one group after another.  Two of my favorite groups this week were smaller ones.  I had 7 young men from Switzerland.  All were keen young believers    They were enthused about their faith.  I also had a group of Promise Keepers from Canada.  Their leader, Kirk is the president and he was a part of the group I had in Israel a year ago.  It was great to see him again and lead his tour in the Garden.  I have tried to convey that we get a huge variety in terms of reasons why people come and expressions of worship. 

Below is a group of Indonesians getting on costumes and spreading out banners and flags.  They had one that represented the Golden gate of Jerusalem and they marched

Indonesians
through to anticipate the coming of the Messiah.  Next thing they are wanting three of us as guides to march with them.  It was great to be a part of them.  I also had a young Muslim couple from Quebec.  They had lots of questions.  
Lat Sunday we went to the Old City . It was a great afternoon   We went to the roof of a place overlooking the Western Wall.  I have lots of good pictures but can only include a couple.

The lower one is looking through a glass frame of a model of the temple that would have stood where the Golden dome  is now.
Monday we were off to Bethlehem on a Palestinian bus.  It will only take you to the checkpoint,  Beyond is an area under Palestinian control  We were to be picked up by our pastor but he forgot.  Managed to phone and he sent someone else.  We toured around for the morning and then went to the Bethlehem Bible College for lunch.  They have an amazing campus.  A number of buildings including a very modern teaching center and dinning room.   The first picture is from the roof of the pastor that guided us.  He is in the picture below with Donna.  In the background of the view shot is Herodium, the man made fortress of Herod outside Bethlehem.

Above is the Palestinian side of the checkpoint.  The huge concrete wall must feel like a prison to so many. 
The pastor lives above the church and they were very gracious to us.  His church is called the House of Bread

And to the right you can see one of the towers that is part of the wall. 

To the left is the new building at Bethlehem Bible College.  

We had Monday and Tuesday off as our major weekend break.  Tuesday morning found us taking the light rail system to the Jerusalem Central bus station.  It is a great system.  Buses were leaving every 15 minutes for Tel Aviv.  About a 45 minute ride.  You arrive at a huge bus station.  It is 7 stories and buses arrive on 3 floors.  It is part of a 200,000 sq ft. facility.  We had not been there before and thought we could walk to the beach but found out it was too far.  So into sheroot number 4.  They are vans and function between a taxi and a bus.  We had a great day to be on the beach.  It was plus 27C.  We walked all the way along to Joppa.  Had lunch in a little cafe.  Then it was the long walk back.







You can see Donna above but you did not hear here shout a minute before as the wave came in over her shoes.
Signs are not easy to read in Hebrew.  This one below is sort of  in English.  Can you read "no bating"  is permitted.


                                                             
And above we are at Joppa.  We walked from  where the hotels are in the distance.

Donna asked why I took a picture like this of people a little on the heavy side in the water.  I know I would have been in trouble if I took a picture of some of the others that were swimming.

We wish you could meet some of the great people we get to work with.  Below is Matilda on the left and Miriam on the right.  A great contrast.  Matilda has been a believer for one year and has really grown.  She is raising a young son on her own after her husband left her.  She lives in the Old City as a part of the Palestinian Christian community.  Miriam is a Norwegan Israeli.  She is very much of the conviction that God has given all the land to the Jews and so it would be an offense to God to even negotiate with the Palestinians.  Yet here they are as two Christian sisters walking together at lunch in the Garden.


Below is a very special brother.  His name is Rami.  He works here as our gardener.  At the age of 20 he heard the Gospel on the streets of Bethlehem.  He has had 4 years of Bible School at Bethlehem Bible College.  He has no status in the Israel side of the country.  He can come to work here on a permit allowing him outside of Bethlehem from 5am until 10 pm.  He met his Palestinean |Israeli wife when she was giving out Bibles to Muslims in Bethlehem   They now have 3 kids.  In order to be with him, she has had to give up her Israeli citizenship and do the same for their children       They lose out on a better education and lots of other privileges   It would take much more time to explain  . He shows no bitterness.  When we have Muslims that come to the Garden, we point them out to Rami and he goes to talk with them and share the Gospel.  He speaks Arabic.  Understands English but does not speak it well enough to be able to guide here.  I am praying that one day there will be the means for him to work a bit less and have enough to get some more training in English.  He is one of the finest men I have met.  


After church this morning we went on a special tour of the property owned by the Dominicans.  They do not allow tours by the public and keep the site fairly private.  They have about 40 tombs.  It was very much a learning experience for us as we guide people to "our" tomb and talk about tombs lots of the times.   One of the tombs  in their property is only 7 feet from the one on our side.  They have a huge church that few attend as well as a school for archaeology and Biblical studies.

This week we have the privilege of having the Jutras in Jerusalem.  They are Fellowship missionaries in Poland.  They should pull  into Jerusalem at supper time on Tuesday.  We have switched some days off and it looks like I can guide them on Wed and Thur.  Also I think I have Friday morning free.  Then Sunday is a day off.  It saves them getting a guide here and allows us to serve them a wee bit.  You can be praying for them as they are touring right now in the north in a rented car.  They have the two children with them.  They have fed me at their table and I never expected to return the joy in Jerusalem

Blessings to all from gord and donna 
  

IT FEELS LIKE SPRING....

It is Saturday morning and other then our 6:30 work project, we both have the morning off.  We have a few more staff members then we need at the present time.  Groups have slowed down.  The Nigerians are all back home.  Other countries are just getting going after the Christmas season.
So this morning was haircut time.  We brought our clippers and have a converter from the 220 current.  Our clippers did not get the message.  Donna just about had her hand vibrate off.  The job is done and it feels so  much better for me.

Of course , I may have kept my hair  longer if the weather had not warmed up so much this week.  We are amazed that the flowers in the garden seem to have all sprung back up after the beating in the snow.  Our gardener is Dutch background so is very happy with her first tulip.

She also managed to borrow a chainsaw.  It was not too busy on Tuesday, so they asked if I would cut up the large limb that was left from the tree that was broken in the snow.  After that there was another tree that had a broken top.  All the needles are in the broken section.  Both trees are pines and very brittle.  I was more nervous with the second tree as it is shaped like a snake.  We did not want to break other trees or benches but it was really hard to figure where the weight would be.  I ended up going up a ladder and cutting a section higher up first before taking down the rest of it.  So here are a few pictures of the logging adventure

.The tree above is the one that broke off by the tomb.  The one to the right is the snake tree.  Rami is up trying to cut off the broken piece hanging down so I could go up and cut off the horizontal section below him.  The next picture is finishing this tree.  Then to cut all the logs for firewood which is very valuable here.

Nice to be able to do something I have done before.
It is very expensive here to bring in people to cut trees and right now they have so much work around the city as a result of the snow.

On Tuesday evening a group of us went to the large Lutheran church in the Old City to listen to a Holocaust survivor.  We thought it would be in English but thankfully they had someone translate from the German.  It was very special.

The couple in the middle are the ones that shared.  His family were mostly all killed.  He shared some of the miraculous ways that he was able to get to Switzerland as a young teen and his life had been spared.








We try to get out some evenings or on our days off and keep exploring and enjoying the walking.  This week we went  a block from here to what has been called Solomon's Quarries or Zedekiah's Cave or....We do know that it has been a huge quarry for stones for the temple and walls.

It is just to the left of the Damascus Gate.  You can walk in for over 1000 feet.  Some places it is over 300 feet wide.  

I had Donna stand across from me in one of the quarry areas so you could get a sense of how big the areas are.  The picture above is to try and show you the lines from where they cut the large stones.  The Freemasons use it here in Jerusalem as they see Solomon as being the first Freemason.  I think he would be very surprised.

Another wonderful building is the Hurva Synagogue. It is in the Jewish Quarter of the city.  Has a long history.  Sadly, the Jordanians made sure it was bombed in 1948.  Since 1967 when the Jews again could go into this part of the city, they put up one of the large arches as a way to represent the former building.  In 2010 they completed rebuilding it.  We went in the one evening during evening prayers.  I could go to the main floor area.  Donna had to go up 4 floors to the women's gallery.  There was an elevator but seeing as she does not read Hebrew, she decided the stairs would be a better choice.

The curved building is the old Jerusalem city hall.  It is pocked with bullets as the Old City  is behind me and at times Palestinians would fire bullets at the building.  This is the corner of Jaffa street.  Now the light train runs up just past the building on the left.  Of course no buses or trains today as it is Shabbot.

 Donna and I have been out for supper at this little restaurant a couple of times.  It is just inside the Jaffa Gate.  It is owned by Palestinians and is beautiful and clean.  Come on over and I will treat you to supper....

The picture above is right near where we buy some of the groceries and the stall on the right is all candies.  We live half a block from here.  I know Glenda and Don are looking and wishing they could be walking along here right now!  We were walking in the Jewish Quarter two nights ago and a salesman was displaying his wares on the edge of this stairway.  These are the Yarmulke or Kippah hats that the Orthodox wear.  The black hats are the Ultra Orthodox.

 I have a few others sites to include from this week.  The Ultra Orthodox do not like you aiming a camera at them.  This one above is taken with the camera held at my waste so I did not know if I would get it.  We did a few night shots and sort of turned out.

We will be having our three day break starting tomorrow.  We may take the bus to Tel Aviv and walk along the promenade in the sun....That is if there is still a warm day.  We have not taken a ride on the city train as yet so that may be another thing.  Not sure if we will meet up again with our friend Roni.  He had talked about getting together on Tuesday.  He will be at the Garden late in the week with a group of pastors from Canada brought by Christian Journeys.  We plan to go out for supper with Roni and Brian at that time.  We were down by the Western Wall two nights ago and Roni was walking near us with a group.  He invited us to go with the to the Western Wall tunnels but we did not want to interfere and were showing a new couple the Old City.  This is all for now.  We look forward to having the Jutras from Poland here as of the 29th.  We have arranged our days off so we can guide them for the two days and the Sunday.  Blessings to you all.  gord and donna

IT'S RAIN...IT'S WIND...AND THEN SNOW!!!

The last time I wrote was last Sunday.  I tried all week to get the blogger program to take pictures   So today I had to switch to Google Chrome to make things happen.  I am including some from this week.  We are involved in the daily routine.  The only issue is the weather was anything but ordinary   Things started getting very cold for Israel.  Our apartments have no insulation or things like weather stripping.  The power to our buildings is not enough to have more then one or two electrical heating appliances on at once.  So we have to turn off the water heater tank that sits on the roof.  It supports the solar panel heat we should be getting.  To use the kettle for coffee, the hot water system gets shut down.  We have 3 electric heaters that have the oil inside.  When we do put them on, all other major systems have to be shut down.  We now have the cold penetrating the walls and floors so it is never warm enough inside.  

You have likely heard that Israel had more rain this week then probably happened in any week in the last 50 years.  In with the rain came the wind.  I was soaked with every group I took out to guide.  Umbrellas would have been nice but they would all be wrecked.  We went for a walk on the one morning and there were dozens of them lying on the streets.  It blows inside out- why carry it any further.  Just drop it right there.  I am sure in an hours walk I would have found over a hundred.  Imagine around the country

Many of the shops right around this part of the city are outside with a plastic or umbrella type covering.   Lots of outside cafes.  Junk from them was everywhere.  As you can see below,this is half a block from our place   Every night the street sweepers come out and try to pick up all the trash on the streets.  It took a few days this time.  Wednesday  night we had supper at the Directors apartment.  They were to be on a day off on Thursday so he asked me to look after the morning cleanup crew as there was a possiblilty of some snow.  When I got up and out after 6 there was already 4 inches of very wet snow.  Some of the trees were already under the strain of the weight.  I called the Director and he and his wife came out.  All of the volunteers went to work.  We were shaking snow off the long palm branches as they were touching the ground.  We have several tent structures that we had to get down and some that we had to clean snow off before collapse. Every few minutes we would hear branches break.  Since the entire city traffic was shut down, the staff that live in the area could not come to work.  I thought we would not get open but we tried anyway.  We could only sweep off half the paths due to time and the fact that some areas were not safe due to the trees.  We have four very large pine trees.   They are different then    our pines.  The branches spreed in a very large area at the tops.

Snow was still coming as you can see by the picture to the left.  We warned all the staff that one tree at the top of the stairs that go to the tomb was really dangerous.  We had a new guide come that day from   Singapore named Ben.  He was in his room so did not know.  He had only seen snow once before so he came out after we all headed in for a late breakfast.  He was standing under the tree when he heard the cracking sound.  God was so gracious as he had just seconds to run.  The tree limb was a foot thick and it of course was thick with branches covered with snow.  It would have been well over a

 ton.  It is not easy to see but the green branches in the bottom left are the parts that came down.

Forgot to tell you.  We don't have shovels, axes or chainsaws.  No stores open with the snow

The Director decided we should use a small pruning saw and loppers to tackle the mess.  His wife sort of suggested it was not realistic but Richard said the way to eat an elephant was one bite at a time.  So I can hardly believe it happened but by 1 pm all that was left was a trunk like branch over 20 feet long.  Of course a  couple of us had to guide between shoveling and cutting branches.  Two men from the volunteers used wheel barrows.  They hauled all the branches out to the street and put them  into the city dumpsters.  These are huge containers that are spaced a block apart through most of the city.  They filled two of them.  Good thing the stores were closed as they used all the space

 We had a most cold but blessed day.  Glad it is over.  The rest of the week was recovery and lots of groups.  This morning I had the privilege of speaking at the West Jerusalem church we attend.  Would you believe the three phase power was down to one. That meant no regular heaters.  Second Sunday in the cold.
I have not figured out how to print properly between the pictures.  Sorry about that.  At the bottom you will see us coming back from one of our grocery shopping trips in the cold.  Also a couple of pictures of the huge covered market.  Trust you are all well.  We are doing well.  Donna even was having to help someone else in the shop to solve their problems.  She is doing great.  Blessings.  Gord and Donna