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

CHRISTMAS AGAIN IN JERUSALEM

It hardly seems possible that it is Sunday again.  Tomorrow is the celebration of Eastern Christmas.  It feels cold enough to be Christmas.  We walk to our local Palestinian church.  It was windy and we got there to find out they could not get the electric heaters to work.  We all met in the only Sunday school room.  All 9 of us.  It was a good service.  I have been asked to preach next Sunday.  We wold like to try some other places for the experience but for now want to encourage this church.  May visit some others the last few weeks here. 

It hardly seems like it was Dec 27 since we last blogged.  The days are very full.  Right now we are on a long shift between days off.  We ended up working on our last day off on Monday as there were more groups then guides.  Now Weglos are back home.  We sure miss them.  They set an amazing stadard for Canadians.  They served and served and served.  Glenda baked when she had any free time.  They would be welcome here any time they could come.  Since we arrived on Nov 29, all the volunteers we started with have gone home.  A new group has started to come.  We go out for supper on Saturday nights.  I am trying to figure out the risks from the menus I don't understand.  Most is either Bedouin or Palestinian dishes.  So far so good but I did see something someone else ordered last night that I am glad I missed.  I was going to insert a picture from last night but it won't allow me right now.  I did start this earlier and when I went to put in the picture, I lost all my work.  The pictures might come seperately if at all.

The guides are assigned groups.  We are given the name of the country, the number of people and the place they may have communion or worship.  Most of us keep the records for fun.  This morning I counted up the numbers.  Maybe my computer problems today are like those in the Old Testament that when the kings counted the army out of pride, they were punished.  Anyway, I now have taken 1835 Nigerians.  They are so special.  Some have so few clothes suited for this weather.  We are now to be headed into another 4 days of rain.  In total I have had 67 groups and 4306 people.  Some groups might be only 2 or 3 and others I have had have been as many as 90.  Takes a toll on the voice but God has allowed me to be able to keep going every day.  Most of the Nigerians are a full bus of about 52 people. 

I have also had some unusual groups.  Somehow I have ended up with some of the VIP groups.  So far I have had the president of the National Rifle Association, president of the Southern Baptists, the Israeli Guide school and yesterday an unusual group from the Phillipines.  They may be VIP in name but everyone gets the same treatment.  The Filipinos came as 39 people.  They were all brought and paid for by one man.  I had never heard of him.  His name is Manny Pacquiao.   I was told he is a boxing champion.  They had lots of young children with them.  The great part is they are believers.  The one lady that may have been his wife paid for everything the group bought in the store.  It was big bucks.  I was talking to our son and Don told me that he is only the most famous boxer in the world right now.  Someone else told me he was paid 15 million plus winnigs for his last fight.  So I guess it was not a hardship to pay the bills.. He is also a  member of the Filipino government.  I did go on line and thought you might be interested in one link from http://www.christianpost.com/news/manny-pacquiao-is-a-bible-quoting-maniac-says-rick-warren-76047/

We are now on better internet wi-fi.  It was so slow and sometimes we would not be able to connect.  Ended up that a modem in our bedroom had not been working and we were getting the signal from another apartment.  Nice to be able to do clear Skype with the family now. 

We are signing off for another blog.  Blessings.  gord

A VERY DIFFERENT BUT SPECIAL CHRISTMAS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Almost Christmas....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OUR THIRD SUNDAY IN JERUSALEM

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not your typical police car back home.

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

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

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

Blessings for now.  Gord for Donna