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