OUR LAST BLOG FROM iSRAEL....

I should have made some notes so I could remember some of the many thingns that have happened over the three weeks since I last wrote.  The days here become a bit of a blur.  At the end of a guiding day, I can hardly remember which groups I have guided.  I can tell you that we were busy up until a week before Easter.  Since, things really have dropped off.  Easter and Passover were during the same period of time.  Thousands of Jews come from around the world for the celebration.

The Jewish part of the city is packed.  Even many of the streets are shut down.  That creates big issues for tours trying to get around or even local  staff trying to get to work.  All tourist prices are greatly increased.  That means tours from North America and some other countries are over priced and so numbers drop off dramatically.  Also, many people want to be home for the Easter time with their families.

Most of you will understanding what kosher is all about.  The food to be kosher must be inspected by the rabbis.  Killing of meat must be done in a certain fashion to be sure the blood is drained away.  In terms of the menus, meat and dairy are never served at the same meal.  Lets complicate it one more step.  During Passover this year we had two Shabbats in a row.  The last day of Pssover was a Thursday and that means it is a Shabbat.  The next day is the regular Friday at sundown start.  That means that all transportation in Jerusalem stops for 3 days in a row.  The ovens in hotels are never on during Shabbat.

Ready for one more complication??  Before Passover, every bit of yeast needs to be cleaned out of the house and no yeast permitted for the 8 days.  Unless you have been here, you do not imagine what that entails.  Hotels need to clean any place bread (yeast in any form) might have been.  They purged the kitchens.  Hotels have 3 kitchens in case the dairy and meat might come in contact.  Plastic plates are used during the change over and good bye to the wonderful breads.

That impacts all the grocery stores.  Many smaller stores just close as it is too hard to prepare.  We go to a larger grocery store.  The best thing to do is to do lots of shopping well ahead of the start of Passover.  In the store we do our shopping, they cover over half the shelves with white tarps.  Of course the entire bakery is empty.  I had to ask one of our Jewish staff at the garden, why they would cover things like the frozen vegetables.  It ends up that not only do you need a kosher stamp on products, but during Passover there must be a stamp that shows the product has no yeast.  That is not all.  You have to have  to  pull all your processing equipment apart and  inspect that it has been cleaned.  For many companies, it would cost thousands to pull processing machines apart and have them steam cleaned so they do not bother to do it and you cannot buy what they produce during that time frame.  Of course if you were to go into a neighbourhood that is Ultra Orthodox, they would take things to an even greater level.

I won't even try to explain the last complication.  This is the seventh year when farmers must leave their fields fallow.  That means religious Jews will not buy food that is grown on Jewish owned soil.  Of course there are numerous ways they get around it.  Some only buy if grown outside of Israel.  Others will buy if grown by Arabs.  Some Jewish farmers sell their land on a one year contract to Arabs to farm it for them and get around it.  Such is life in Israel.

Donna and I continue to try to see as many places around the city as possible.  We do lots of walking on our days off.  Unfortunately the weather has not been all that great.  Many of you in Canada have been warmer then us.  Last Sunday was a bit brutal.  We headed for church in the wind and rain.  By the time we had made the 30 minute walk we were soaked.  Our pants , socks and shoes were drenched.  We were very cold by the time we got back home and even our rooms had cooled off considerably.  Stone walls without insulation are not much of a match for our little plug in electric heaters. During that night we had a very big storm.  It thundered continually for hours.  It is not just the big bangs like at home although we had a number of them.  The thunder just rolls around the sky and never seems to stop.  Rain poured down.  By the time I got up at 6 to go out and start cleanup, it had stopped raining for a few minutes.  In some spots there were two inches of hail.  It sure thrashed a lot of leaves and flowers.  Today though we are warm and should be in the eighties tomorrow.  Drops off a bit each day for the rest of the week.

Friday morning we have to have our  suite entirely cleaned which includes all the windows and walls.  We will need to be all packed and will  have our ride to the airport at 8.  hould get into Toronto for a quick change of planes and be on to Calgary for the night.  All being well we will be back home by lunch on Saturday

A couple of days ago we had some shopping to do.  So I took some pictures of our local stores. The first two are of our local grocery store.  Everything is packed in.

The darker picture is behind the counter in our bakery.  They are getting pita out of the oven.  And above is our favorite vegetable store.  so nice to get it all freshly picked.

We had a very good time during all our Easter services.  It was a very busy time and we had over 1500 for the 6:30a.m.  ; about 900 for the next and maybe 350 for the third service.  Then we had to get all the benches back in place to be ready for a regular day on the Monday.

If you want to view the service, go to gardentomb.org    and click on the section for Easter.  Also the Garden just started a Facebook page this week.  Just type Garden tomb into Facebook

I  think I will wrap this up.  Thanks for following along and also for those that prayed for us.  gord and donna

APRIL FIRST IN THE RAIN

It is a wonderful place to be during the easter week.  You might think that there would be more visitors then usual.  It is the other way around.  Easter coincides with Passover, so that greatly increases all the hotel rates and discourages tourists.  Also, many people want to be home for the week before and after Easter.

Not that first time visitors would be aware, but the meals change considerably in the hotels.  Since Passover is a time when Jews are to get rid of all leaven from their homes, That has been expanded to many other areas of life.  Groceries stores stop selling anything with yeast..  For some stores it is too hard to clean the store with the detail required, so they just close the stores for the 8 days.  Others will cover all the sections with yeast products.  No good buns and bread available in hotels or stores other then Palestinian.  Of course, that is where we buy at this time of year.

Hotels totally clean the three kitchens they use.  Any dishes that might have possibly had contact with yeast ( which means all the dishes) are not used.  Disposable plates are all that will be used.

Every home has a huge cleaning process.  Maybe a crumb was dropped behind a sofa cushion, etc.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday.  After our 2 hour church service.  ( and it might have gone longer but a man collapsed and church stopped as they had to call an ambulance) we came home for lunch.  Then we went down the Kidron valley across from the Mt . of Olives.  We found a spot just a few feet below the Beautiful Gate ( Golden Gate)  in the Muslim cemetery.  About 3 o'clock, thousands of pilgrims start the Palm Sunday route from the top of . Mt. of Olives and down into the Old City.  They carry palm branches, flags and , banners   There are bands leading the way.  Every so often you can hear them singing from across the valley.  In Jesus entry, he would have entered the gate right where we were standing.  Prophecy tells us the gate would be closed and it has been for centuries.

Donna in front of the Golden Gate with Cindy from Montana.  They hope to come up to Gleaners .  I made the picture below extra large so I hope you can see the pilgrims on various parts of the road coming down from the Mt. of Olives.

We managed to get ahead of the crowds coming into the Lions Gate so we would have a chance of getting home.

Last night was our volunteers planning meeting for the services here on Friday and Sunday.  They have done it here for years and so have learned what works and how to be prepared for every eventuality.

Good Friday we only have one service from 9 until 10.   They expect a couple of hundred people but never know how many will come.  For the rest of the day the Garden is open, but we do no touring.  It is a chance for people to wander around and take time for quiet meditation on the crucifixion.  We are on shifts of about an hour on and hour off through the day.  If individuals want to talk with us or pray with us, we are available.

Friday night, the Garden is taking the volunteers out for a nice supper.  Should be special.  Then Saturday is a normal group and guiding day.  We close a bit early and start the process of moving all the benches and chairs for the Sunday services.  For those who have not been here, we have 10 places in the garden where people can meet for worship and communion times.  Most areas have plastic benches.  These all have to be moved to face a platform area near the tomb.

Sunday morning, we are starting just after 5.  We go out and clean all the benches and make last minute preparations.  By 5:45 we will meet for prayer.  All the staff are assigned places to manage people as they start coming in at 6.  Apparently some individuals will have even slept in the lane to get in right away.  The lineup spreads down our long lane and into the street.  ( the street is what used to be the Road to Damascus.) For the first 30 minutes there is music and the service starts at 6:30.  They expect over 1200 people.  That packs the seating areas that will be set up so all can see the speaker and tomb.  On Sunday we do not let people wander in the Garden and to the tomb.  That area would not even be safe as there is a large worship team with all their cords and equipment.  Our job is to manage that with all the volunteers.  Apparently it can be a challenge as some want to force their way to the tomb.

We are hoping a group that came earlier in the week will have gone back to India.  It is a group that believes they have descended from angels.  They all wear white.  They see themselves as above everyone else and do not take instructions from mere mortals like us.  Their guide this week had a terrible time with them.  He even told their leader that if he did not make them behave, then the Garden would never let them come back.  At one point, he had to carry one of the men in the group out of the tomb as he refused to leave.  Such is the life of our volunteers.

When the first group.leaves, we will have breakfast together supplied by one of  our paid staff.  Then it is all hands on deck as we open the gates again for the second service.  At this one we have a communion service near the end.  I have been asked to lead that part of the service.  It should finish about 10:30 and then we open the gates again for the third service.  It is Scandinavian at 11.  While it is going on, part of our staff will clear out areas that are not being used and get benches back in place as we will be back to groups by 8:30 the next morning.

Something that should be fun is a Palestinian Muslim couple supply lunch for the staff each year.  Those that have been to Israel will likely remember Sammy.  He has been selling postcards, hats, olive wood small items, etc. just outside out gate for the last 45 years.  It is a big deal as he carries in a huge platter with lamb and rice.  We all clap and express out appreciation.  There will be chicken and salads so should be a good bash.
Such will be Easter for us.  I will try to get some good pictures for the next blog.  For those that would like to see the first service live, you can go to the CBN network.  It should start at 8:30 in the evening your time.( of course that is Saturday night for you.)  Or it will be posted on the site.  To find out all the information, type in gardentomb.com    Then pick the Easter link.  You will see the additional link for the podcast. They even include the order of service so you can follow along with the singing.  Maybe some of you want to have a home fellowship and get ready for Easter with some friends.

I have had some wonderful groups over the last couple of weeks.  One that sticks out was a group from Hungry.  I thought it would be translation which is harder.  To my delight it was all grade 12 students that speak English.  They all attend a missionary school.  What a great group of kids form all over the world.

I did have some interesting students the week before.  The first group were also from around the world.  They were a great group and likely from the responses they were mostly not believers but all very interested.  The group were all law students from Harvard University.  I finished with them and the next group were again university students.  This bunch were from the States and all MBA students.
Yesterday I had a lovely Mennonite family from the U.S.  They were the old order with the mom and girls all in long dresses and bonnets.  There were 7 children in the family but absolutely attentive to everything and expressing easily their love for the Lord.

We did spend one day at the Biblical Zoo.  It was great.  Again we were with the couple from Montana as we had the same day off.

There are so many animals there.  the picture below is in a very large enclosure.  This only show the giraffes and zebras or some of them.  In addition there were a kind of deer, rhinos and a hippo in the same enclosure.  I think other animals as well.

My shoe was falling apart on a seam.  On the way home We passed a shoemaker.

It was immediate service on his old treadle machine. And all for 20 shekels.  That might be $5.  Now to the right is a big deal.  We had a couple and 2 single men in for a supper- well really a breakfast of the finest food.  Pancakes, fried eggs and BACON.  It took two packages to give us about 3 slices each.  I doctored it up with some brown sugar from Canada.  I think it worked out to about 80 cents a slice.  It was worth every penny.  The Palestinian store just down the street is not owned by a Muslim but a Catholic.  So bacon is available.  Maybe I can talk Donna into one more "feast" before we come home on the 25th.
All for now.  Have a wonderful Easter

We send our blessings.  gord and donna

HALF WAY THROUGH MARCH ALREADY

It is hard to remember all the things that have happened in the last two weeks.  There have been a number of wonderful groups.  I had Steve Vaughan and Pastor Jeff from Vancouver Island last week.  I had previously had Steve as part of a Pastor's group I was responsible for a couple of years ago.  Jeff is the present pastor of Campbell River and there were seven of the Campbell River church group that we knew well when I pastor there.  So the one night we took those that wanted on a tour of the old City. 

Yesterday, we toured the sister in law of my best friend, Don Scott.  Had them here for lunch and then they came with us to King of Kings church in the evening.

I am in trouble now as I downloaded all the pictures and I cannot
find a way right now to move them around to put them in some order.  So please bear with me.  Donna and I had a three day weekend and used the Garden car to go down to Eilat by way of Tel Beer Sheva.  It was a wonderful three days.  Then we returned by way of the Dead Sea.  To the right is a rock formation at Timna.  This is the location of the ancient copper mines.   Tel Beer  Sheva is below.

On one of our free days we went down to the City of David.  They are doing a huge excavation.  This used to be a parking lot.  They have found much from David's time.  They will dig a layer of a civilization.  Take out all the aritfacts.  They measure and take pictures and then start again and do the same with each layer of civilization below.

The picture to the left is of a rock formation but in the foreground is the copper mine.  Some believe the mines go back to Solomon's time.  We started our journey near the area where David killed Goliath.  Not far from there are ruins at Beth Shemesh that include a series of man made caves.
Our first night we stayed at Ramon Crater.  The picture will be below.  It is named after the astronaut from Israel killed with the Americans on re-entry.  The have a wonderful presentation in memory of him.  It is a huge water formed crater.

Since the picture above is from Eilat, I will mention it.  The city is near the border with Egypt and is on the northern tip of the Red Sea.  It was lovely and warm.  Over 34C.  We did lots of walking in the evening. Has a Los Vegas feel to it.  Very fancy tourist hotels.  They have great places for diving and wonderful coral reefs.  There is an underwater observation place.  This is just one of many pictures we took through the window.  The park also has massive tanks that have everything from sharks to something over two hundered species of fish.

I wanted to get Donna to the border with Egypt as it was only a short distance away.  You can see it on the right.

Donna wanted to get her hands into the Red Sea.
The yacht in the background is what I am considering buying her but I think I will have to save some more.

The two pictures to the right were taken on a Tuesday.  That is the day along with Thursdays when most of the Bar Mitzvah take place.  This particular day there were many of them heading to the Western Wall.  Family groups come from the States and it becomes a huge production. They will have an entire tour bus and then hire a small band to lead the procession.  When the boy reads the Torah in public for the first time he becomes a man in Israel.  The women's part seems to be to make lots of noise and throw pounds and pounds of candy.  As you can see below, there was enough left on the street that
we could all get a good handful.

We were also into the Purim week at the same time.  It is based on the story of Esther.  They all cheer for the good people in the story and hiss and boo for Haman.  It becomes a dress up time for several days of that week.  You see children and adults all over the city in costumes.

To the right are a couple of University students getting into the spirit of the holiday.


Above I mentioned some caves that are actually at a Tel called Maresha.  They are cone shaped.  They look like some of the highway storage buildings for the salt.  The dig a small hole down through the surface and then cut sandstone blocks for building.  The shape stops it all from caving in.  They have a series of them in this area that are connected and huge.

Below I hope I can show you two road signs you will not find in Canada.  The one says "beware of camels near the road".  The other says "Firing zone on
both sides of Road"  Sorry my pictures are all over the place.  Maybe by the time we get home we will have this Blog business figured out.  Blessings to you all.  gord and donna

MARCH IN JERUSALEM

I had intended to get a blog out much sooner.  Several things happened.  I had a gastro issue for 8 days.  Finally, I got to a doctor.  He was great.  Wish I could take him back to Vernon.  He is only 93 years old and cut back to  part time for the last two years.   All the stomach issue is finally resolved.

Some of you know I have a different taste in music then many of my peers.  Southern Gospel is not my favorite.  I have been "forced" by good friends like Jim Wilson, to listen when I have gone to their home.  Now I am in the inner circle.  We had Mike Huckabee and his many buses here one day.  I guided for one of the buses.  Ends up, I had their soloist in my tour.  It was Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin brothers.  Before they left , he found me to thank me and gave me a big hug.  Still not sure about that genre of music.  I do want some respect now from you Southern Gospel folks.

Many of you know a week ago Friday, Jerusalem was hit with about 6 inches of wet snow overnight.  It does huge damage to the trees.  The Garden has made progress with snow removal.  Besides the push brooms, there was now a piece of particle board about 18 inches by 40 inches.  We could only push the snow a couple of feet before we had to tip the board as snow  was really heavy.  We all worked hard over the next two days to get all our paths and stairs clear.  Some day they may buy a shovel or two.

The snow resulted in damage to the skull at what could be Golgotha.  By Saturday morning, the nose of the skull had broken off and is a pile of stones at the bottom.  Of course, over the last few years with the hard surface stone breaking away from all the vibration of buses a few feet away, it is not surprising.

Donna was finally able to get out of a black jacket last week.  It has been surprisingly cold.  Neither one of us came with enough winter clothes.  One of these days, things will get warm and stay warm.

We attended the Palestinian church were we went our last time here, but for a few reasons we decided to go to West Jerusalem Baptist.  A bit farther to walk but we do not mind that.  The pastor is home in the States so visiting preachers.  Three Sundays in a row have been close to the 2 hours.  Two of the preachers were not easy to understand due to language issues.  Enough said.

In the last couple of weeks we have had two big film crews.  They come when we are closed in the morning.  The one is from Crossroads church in Ohio.  The crew is 17 people.  They are recording for the Easter Sunday service.  The church has 5 campuses and 40,000 people.  The other crew was from another large church doing the same kind of thing.

Big is not always the best.  One day we were not busy.  The next guide ready to go is near to the reception.  It was my turn but I knew we had enough people to cover the groups coming.  When individuals come, they have a brochure or audio guide.  Two English couples came and they were about to head off on a self guided tour.  I felt constrained to ask the receptionist if she would like me to take them.  It ended up, another English speaking couple joined us.  I do not think they were believers and they had lots of great questions.  Ends up with the one English couple ,  he is a Baptist pastor and the other man is one of his Elders.  They knew we were from Canada.  When we finished at the tomb, the pastor's wife wanted to talk.  She has a sister in the Vancouver area.  The sisters daughter had been killed in a tragic hiking accident the week before we left home.  The sister has
been really struggling with God and the church.  There is much more I could say but do not want to share a private story.  During the lunch hour , I emailed my brother and asked if he would follow up if no other person was available.  He replied that he would be happy to do so.  I also wrote a couple that are very loving and compassionate and lived not that many miles away.  They responded immediately and contacted a friend that was living near the family and attended the same church.  God has a way of doing things.  I am in touch with the Pastor in England, and his sister in law really needs our prayers as her broken heart is not letting anyone into her life.

Some of the guides here are retired pastors.  They are interesting people.  Others come from a variety of occupations.  One is a bachelor named Joe Armstrong.  He is a couple of years older then us and is a Texan.  He is such a fine man.  About ten years ago, he made a decision to be serious about his faith.  He is a man that is so gracious.  He loves everyone.  I worked with him each morning this week sweeping the leaves and dirt off our area of the paths.  He is a very humble man.  I knew a little bit about him from others and went on line to learn more.  If you type in his name followed by the word "publisher", there is a lot about him.  He was the publisher of at least 10 major magazines.  The first was Rolling Stones.   He has worked with the Kennedy family and vacations with them.  For a number of years he worked with the news team at ABC.
If you want to get an idea of the man and a great graduation speech he gave in 2012, go to the link below.  It will be in two sections so when the first finishes, be ready to start the second.
( I will put the link in the email)

Paul on the left is an engineer, Ceasar in the middle is a Jewish believer and wonderful young man.  It is Joe on the right holding a bronze of General Charles Gordon, that was an influence on the British buying the property.


I had a very happy surprise a few days ago to welcome a group from Canada and the first person I saw was Ruth Goertzen from Parksville.  She made our day.  Was so good to see her.  Donna was busy in the shop so only had a minute to visit.  Wilf and Ruth along with Reg and Gina were on tour with us a number of years ago.  I am waiting for Reg and Gina to retire and bring groups or even guide here as we are doing.  They will be great at it.

For those that have been to Israel, I am sure you remember how things get taken into the very narrow streets with stairs in the Old City.  The tire out behind it  is the brake.  You stand on it and hope you can stop.  We did not stay to see if they made it down a long series of stairs without spilling.

I am not sure that my email notice regarding updates to the blog page is always going through but  I will try again.  We do appreciate your prayers for our health, safety and ability to serve God well.  We do feel very safe and none of you would be nervous in the streets with us.  God bless.   gord and donna

ALMOST TWO WEEKS IN THE LAND

This is my second try on the blog tonight.  I had the last one half done and something went wrong

and I lost it all.  I had mentioned a new word for some of you. 

 It is "balagan" which means a big mess.  That is how Donna felt about these cookies when they all melted together.  She is now figuring out the oven. The lines are made with a knife.  As you can see, we can buy great fruit and vegetables in the street markets down the road.  When we went out Saturday afternoon, it was not just shops selling, but trucks had come in and pallets of every kind of fruit and vegetables were on all the spaces available.  I think the food above cost us about $10.  Donna sees all the vegetables and is ready to start a Gleaners operation.

Donna had a big balagan yesterday.  She was on noon duty in the shop and a large Chinese group were buying.  It would take too long to explain but the people pay in US dollars, we have no American coins to make change.  So they have to take it up to the next highest dollar and then give change in Shekels.  Try explaining that to someone that does not know your language.  With all of them wanting to buy at once and then one lady deciding to return her bag full, Donna was a wee bit stressed.  

Our big balagan in the country was two days this week with  one of the worst sand storms on record.  Almost 400 people went to hospital by ambulance with breathing problems.  The red sand came from Egypt and the rest of Northern Africa.  It was everywhere outside.  The walks and benches were covered.  The worst part is they had a small shower in the night and it plastered the sand like mud.  It took a long time to sweep and mop benches the next morning.

Normally, the volunteer guides do not get Saturday off as our Messianic staff have the day for their Sabbath services.  We did get our first Saturday last week and went to a church where some of the Jewish staff attend.  It was wonderful.  The 150 minutes was a little long to sit but we enjoyed the service.  They have many Israelis attend.  When you drive up you would find it hard to think there is a church in this industrial building.  A few years ago they bought the entire top floor.  As you can see below, they have turned it into a very nice worship center.  It seats about 400 and was almost

full.  The music has words in English and Hebrew even though all the singing is in Hebrew.  For the sermon and every other part of the service, they have a very good translator and do it smoothly.  Most of the congregation were young couples and college age.

The picture below is a balcony that runs the entire length of the building.    Overlooks Jerusalem.

I have had many unusual times guiding.  There are far less large tour groups coming right now.  One day I had a group and warned them as we always do that when we go down to the tomb, that there are cuts in the bedrock.  If people step back to take pictures, they could fall.  It happened to a  lady from Seattle.  She was just four feet from me.  She went down backwards and it seemed so slow as she sort of rolled, I thought she would be okay. The problem was she landed on her wrist and shattered it.  Fortunately, a married couple in the group are doctors.  We still had to take her out in an ambulance.  The other hard thing is she was the only one in her group travelling alone and the group were flying home at 2 a.m. while she would still be in hospital.

Most of those that come to the Garden are committed believers.  It is great for them to think of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection.  These last number of days I have had a number of couples or maybe 4 or 5 people at a time.  The one day a couple came to the window that spoke English.  The reception would usually give them a pamphlet or audio guide.  We can take them when we are not busy.  I felt compelled to say to the lady at reception that I would be happy to take them.  They were from Montreal.  While the lady was in the washroom, the husband told me she was Catholic and he was Anglican.  He had been here on business years ago and told he he wanted one day to take her to the Garden tomb.  When we got to Skull Hill, two other Canadians joined us.  A 21 year old guy from B.C. and a girl with him from Ottawa.  It ends up he is from Lumby which is about 8 miles from our home.  He knew our grandson, Caleb and the son of a couple  (Liebels) in our church.  I asked each of them if they had any church background.  They looked at me as if I must have been kidding.  They had nothing to do with church.  Anyway, I always share how I came to a personal relationship with Jesus when I was very young.  It is great to have a "job" that I get to tell people all day long that God loves them so much, He sent the Messiah, Jesus, to die to pay the price for our sins. That He took our punishment on the cross, died,buried and is risen again.  Then I noticed the lady was crying.  She wanted to talk with me and I am so glad I offered to take that group.  I felt led to give her my card and told her if she had questions or ever wanted to contact me, to feel free.  I had two similar experiences later this week.  So I appreciate your prayers that I might be bold and sensitive to the spiritual needs of those I lead.  So much more I could say.

Here is another very special prayer request. The man in the picture is Rami.  He is one of our gardeners from Bethlehem.  I included some of his story in the blog from two years ago and you could find it if you wanted to check the older blogs.
We learned what is happening in recent days.  He has about 40 acres outside of Bethlehem that the family has farmed for years.  In recent months, some of the young Jewish settlers have moved on to his property.  They try to say it is theirs because God gave the land to the Jews.  Even though Rami has the deed to the property, he is in danger of losing his land.  It is part of the income he earns for his father and family.  They had threatened him if he comes onto his farm.  As it is land in an area under the Palestinians, the Israel army will not protect him and the courts of Israel are not stopping the settlers.  No wonder there is such tension in this country.  Apparently under the Ottoman laws, if he does not work his land, someone else can come onto it and plant and it becomes theirs. It only seems to apply if a Jewish person takes it from a Palestinian and not the other way around.  The young settlers have set up tents and burned some of his crops.  Rami is an amazing man.  As a Christian, his greatest concern is that he will know how to love these people.  It is not the older settlers but a group of young guys that are on the property.  In the last few days he has been allowed on his property and they have given him back his tractor.  If you think of it, would you pray that he would not lose his life or be seriously injured.  As well that he would be able to love them as he knows God wants.  I am also praying that they will leave his land.

Well, enough for this time.  Blessings.  gord and donna

ALMOST OVER JETLAG

We   left home on Saturday at noon for our oldest grandsons wedding at Emmanuel Baptist in Vernon.  It was a beautiful wedding and we were so glad to be there.  We had to leave for the airport part way through the reception.  Glenda Weglo drove us to the Kelowna airport.  By 11 we were at our Vancouver hotel with the prospects of our few hour sleep before flying on to Toronto  and within 90 minutes on to Tel Aviv.

This is not the best wedding shot but it does show the 9 Bunn kids plus Andrea, the newest Bunn family member.












We knew we were headed for Israel at the  Toronto airport.  Of course there were a number of Jewish people on the flight.  I always book an aisle seat and Donna next to me which leaves the one seat by the window.  Along came an Ultra Orthodox  rabbi .  His was the window seat but he had a problem.  They will not sit beside a lady.  He had the stewardess with him to ask me to move to the middle and Donna to the aisle.  Such is life.  Before we took off, the row in front only had one person so he sat there.  Of course he was up and down, changing his clothes and putting on prayer shawl and phylacteries.

As we were leaving Toronto, the snow had started and they were lining up the de-icers.  We made it out just in time as later over 200 flights were cancelled.

All our flights went well and we were in our apartment at noon on Monday.  We have a very nice space in one of the larger units.  Nice until we have extra amount of cleaning on the final day here.

Tuesday, Pierre Jutras, our missionary in Poland came with one of the Polish believers I had met on the building projects.  Since some of those receiving the blog met Pierre and Slawek  on those trips, I have included their picture in front of Skull Hill.

Sorry the picture is hard to make out.  It was our rest and grocery day but I did enjoy taking them on an extended tour of the Garden.  They had lunch with us and afterwards I took them on a wee tour to Solomon's quarries .
We had to get on our way to do our shopping for the week.  The Garden has enough in the kitchen for us to get by for the first day but we needed  a bigger shopping time to stock up with the basics.

We walk almost 2 miles to our grocery store and use the Garden cart.  It was full by the time we were done.
On the way back we bought our fruits and vegetables locally.  I should have taken a picture.  It was almost all men shopping.   It is only a small counter and half of that is a scale.  People put stuff in a bag and then on the counter and go get some more bags.  There is no room to put down your own veggies.  But we managed.  That is an Arab shop.  It is different in the Jewish grocery store.  We had forgotten that the older and middle aged women like to try to cut into the line in front of you if you even glance away for a minute.  The lines are slow and may stop so the cashier can have a good visit. Not much like Real Canadian Superstore.

The weather has been sunny and around 60 degrees.  Cools in the late afternoon.  I am not wanting to make you jealous but the almond trees are in flower.

Today was my first day of guiding.  It is pretty slow right now so when we have individuals or couples show up, we can often take them around.  I really enjoy doing that.  So my first time out was with a Jewish guide and her group of four.  Two of the ladies are believers from Florida and they had two Jewish friends from their home town.  It was a really good time to share the Gospel.
Shortly after that I had a pastor from the States that has been a missionary the last 22 years in the Ukraine.  He had been praying last night of how he felt the time was just being a tourist.  The spiritual input was just what he was needing and I had lots of time for him.
Shortly before lunch a couple came and the person at the desk was going to send them off on their own with   the written guide material.  At the last moment, he asked them if they would like one of our guides.  The fellow was from England and the gal originally from Romania.  I ask right away if they have a Christian background so I know where to start with the explanations.  He said he was a Roman Catholic but did not believe anymore.  She did not reply.  I had a good time with them.  They listened intently as I shared about the place and gave my testimony.  At the tomb, she started to ask some great questions.  She had been raised Greek Orthodox.  She wanted to know if I thought her church or his could forgive sins.  My answer was "no a church cannot absolve us of sin from my understanding of the Bible".  Her next question was how could she be forgiven then.  It was a great time to share the Good News.  She had started to read the Bible at one time and I really encouraged her to get into the gospels.  They stayed around the Garden for some time.  On the way out she saw a table with Bibles that we make available for those that want to read Scripture in the Garden.  She wanted to know if she could buy one.  We have New Testaments that we can give away.  She was very appreciative.  I cannot remember her name, but maybe some of you would pray with me that in the next few days, she might get into the Word and the Word into her heart and soul.

That is all for our first blog.  Hope you can read it.  Blessings.  gord

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NEXT BLOG SHOULD BE FROM JERUSALEM

We are getting very close to our second time serving at the Garden Tomb.  We plan to attend Caleb
( our oldest grandson) and Andreas' wedding on the 31st.

Reception is at 4:30 and we will have to leave by 6:30 for the Kelowna airport.  Overnight in Vancouver and fly Sunday morning at 8  to Toronto with a short stop and on to Tel Aviv.
We should arrive Monday the 2nd around noon.  We are to have immediate guests.  Our good friend and missionary, Pierre Jutra and one of the Polish believers that I have met on a work project, are on a short tour of Israel.  We hope to be able to spend time with them that afternoon and the next day.  The Garden gives us a day after we arrive to settle in and get over a bit of the jet lag.  It will also be our time to get to the grocery store and stock up a bit.

We had not planned to do a blog this trip but had a number of people ask us if we would.  So we will give it a try.  I will send out an email each time we update the blog.

We would really appreciate your prayers.  Many have questions about safety and we do appreciate prayer for that.  The reason we are going to the Garden is to be able to share with Christians about the resurrection.  We want to help believers have their faith encouraged.  There is also a wonderful opportunity to share a message of salvation as many that come to the Garden are not believers.  We would love to be used in clearly sharing that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again that we might be forgiven and have eternal life.  This is the big issue on my heart as we go to serve and we need your prayers.