A Bear of a week

Sabbath was great, as always. I did some of the things I need to do for my calling in the branch, and spent nice time with my family. The next day Kaleb, Tashara and Alexia went with the students and me to Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum. It is a tough place to go. It starts out with a lecture from our wonderful Judaism teacher, Ophir Yarden. He is an engaging lecturer and did a wonderful job of introducing different ways Israel has regarded the Holocaust. Then we went through the museum. That is always so difficult for me. Tashara went through with a bunch of others. I kept Kaleb and Alexia with me the whole time. It was crowded, but we wound our way through to the things that we wanted to spend most of our time on. We watched a lot of videos of interviews with Holocaust survivors. It was touching and heartrending. There were a few things that Kaleb and Alexia hated seeing. It is good for them to have gone through, but it is hard. I have grown to dread going there, it is too difficult for me.

from inside the children's museum

Kaleb and Alexia as we exited the museum

At lunch time the kids went back with the van that delivered lunch, and I stayed with the students to go up on Mount Hertzl for the rest of the lecture by Ophir. He is a great lecturer and really helps everyone understand some things well. At the same time, it is just after lunch, sitting outside, and it is hard for people to stay awake. I feel bad when students fall asleep while he is talking, but I did too, despite how hard I tried to stay awake. Still, it is great information and a great learning experience for everyone.

Ophir teaching

Students sleeping on Mt. Herzl

The kids went to school on Monday, but I didn’t have to. Instead I got a ton done. It was an enjoyable and productive day. I also got word from Kessy, our Phillipino friend, that she had her baby. Exciting!

On Tuesday I taught class. Then I worked and worked, and got a ton done. Tashara and Alexia had a soccer game tonight, so they brought a friend home with them who hung out with us until it was time for the game. We took them to the school, and then Julianne and I went to visit Kessy in the hospital. Her baby is a big, healthy boy, and they are both doing well. She hasn’t really been able to get in touch with her parents, so really her husband and we are the only ones who really know or who have celebrated the birth of the baby. We stayed for quite a while visiting with her and holding the baby. I am glad to give her some support.

Kessy and her 10 pound baby

holding the baby (making Jul a bit baby hungry)

We rushed from there to get me back in time for Branch Presidency meeting. I love serving with these brethren, and I feel like we accomplished good things.

Today I kept track of how many times I went up and down the stairs in the Center. We live on the bottom floor, and it is 8 flights up to the top. I went up a few more times today than normal, but not much. In the end I did 112 flights today, 56 up and 56 down. I am a stair machine, whether I want to be or not.

Wednesday we did a field trip to the City of David. I went with Jeff Chadwick, and we had a great time together. I always love working with him. We got down there and watched the movie, then went up on top of the small theater roof to get a bird’s eye look at the valleys, mounts, and city and its walls. 

Jeff Chadwick teaching on top of the roof

Then we went below and showed them the large stone structure that I am fairly convinced is David’s palace. From there we went down to look at the Kirdron Valley and talk about what it would have been like to be surrounded by the Assyrian and Babylonian armies, and had a spiritual lesson about why they were delivered one time, but not the other. We also looked at the homes you can see there that bear evidence of the Babylonian destruction.

Students listening to Chadwick teach about the houses on the side of the City of David

From there we went below to see the Middle Bronze wall, the one that David would have had to deal with, and then that he used. It was built by Canaanites, perhaps even by Melchizedek. We had some great conversations about that as well. Jeff Chadwick is such a gifted teacher. 

My class at the MB wall

Jeff Chadwick hugging a replica of a square pillar that he loves so much. In honor of Oct. 21 2015 (and Marty McFly), he wore his pockets outside his pants all day

From there we went to the part of the excavations that allow you to see the Canaanite tower that protected the spring and on which Solomon, and probably others, was anointed king. Then we went through Hezekiah’s tunnel, and had a great time with that. 

In the middle of Hezekiah's tunnel

When we got out, we went down to the Pool of Siloam and had a lesson about Jesus healing the man born blind. I felt like that went really well, and afterwards we had a beautiful duet of “Amazing Grace.” It was a wonderful moment.

From there we went up the sewer tunnel, which really isn’t all that exciting, and then we went out to see some new excavations, which also aren’t all that exciting. As we sat there for a moment, I realized it was my last field trip with this group, and I was overcome with a bit of sadness. I love them, and I will miss them. I wish I had more field trips that I could do with them. They are wonderful, and it is hard to let them go.

last time on the bus with these students I love so much

I met the kids as they came in from school and threw a Frisbee with them. It was a lot of fun.

Julianne spent all Monday, yesterday, and today, working on her app. She has a phone meeting tonight with the people helping her develop it, and she is supposed to have everything detailed out and finished by then so that they can just move forward. She has spent so, so, so much time on it. She got it done, and I think she had great stuff! This is a miracle, and she has worked hard, and I am confident that great things will come from it. I am also glad she can be done with it for a while.

That evening we had a lecture from a holocaust survivor who turned 98 a few hours after being with us. What an amazing story and what an amazing guy. It is incredible that he survived. He should have died many times. He is still healthy and happy and has a great sense of humor. He also talked about forgiving the Nazis because it is important to move on, there is no sense in dwelling in the past and ruining your future, so he just wanted to move on. It was a great perspective, and it moved everyone quite a bit.

Listening to Holocaust stories

Thursday was a good class, I so enjoy meeting with and working with these students. I got a few things done that day, and before I knew it, it was evening. Julianne took the younger two kids to a movie night for their grades at the school. I went with the older three to celebrate Seder (Passover) here at the Center. It isn’t time for it, but we do it each semester so that each student can learn what it is like. It is so much fun, even though it takes a while. I sat by Kaleb. He and I have so much fun together, and it was a great evening.

The head table at the Seder (Passover) meal

The Seder setting

Students at Seder (Passover Meal)

The hand washing station at Seder

Kaleb at Seder

The next day was a great day in a lot of ways. As I prepared for my lesson on the second half of Ezekiel, I had an idea of how to do it. When class started I took the students outside where we could look over the city, and especially the Temple Mount. We read the passages about the vision of the temple, the glory of the Lord departing from the temple, and the destruction of the temple while we looked out on the places it happened. The weather was perfect, and it was beautiful. Then we read about the vision of the rebuilding of the temple, and of the return of the glory of the Lord to the temple, and drew many lessons from that. We were able to point out where all of these things would have been/will be. In the end, it was a great experience, I feel like it went really, really well.

Half of my class sitting outside as we did much of Ezekiel

The other half

Then we went back inside and had some great discussions about Daniel. It is hard to believe that we only meet one more time together. Thank goodness it is for a few hours. But I loved the class, and I love being with this class.

My class posing for a picture on this second to last day together in my classroom

What my class is really like most of the time

From there I left for the Anglican school. It has been a special week for the younger kids there. It is a week about reading. They call it BEAR (Be Excited About Reading). All week they have had fun activities, and Julianne has gone to their school to read to them. Today they were supposed to go dressed as a character from a book. Julianne has worked so hard to make them costumes as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat. She outdid herself, and came up with amazing costumes. It was incredible. 

Jacob and Sabrina aka Thing 1 and Thing 2

Here those things get crazy

Julianne has also worked hard for the last few weeks for a play she and a few other parents are doing for the kids. They are acting out a book, a pretty fun book. She has the lead (in the play she’s not my wife, she’s a witch). So I went right to school and watched her perform it. In the end, she performed it three times, and I saw all three. She, and the others, were fabulous. It really was good.

Julianne the witch

The cast of the play

Sabrina watched the play inently

Julianne stirring her cauldron (I see this many a night)

flying on the broom

Julianne pulls her hat on

We got a bite to eat, then I went to a meeting about getting ready for Jordan. There they announced that for sure we are going to Egypt in January. This is good news. Immediately we started making decisions about who will go there and who will go to Turkey, and how it will all work out. It is exciting news, and I think things will be great!

From there we had some fun with the kids, went shopping, had dinner, the kids did Israeli folk dancing with the students, and Julianne and I watched a movie together. She fell asleep so I went up to watch the Last Crusade with some students (in preparation for our trip to Petra). We had problems getting the movie to work, so we ended up staying up until 1 am. It was crazy, but quite fun!

Today church was nice. Then I spent a lot of time with the kids, playing games and visiting. Then I visited with Julianne. I hope to have some great gospel discussions with the kids after this and to play some more games. It should all be dandy!

Tashara folk dancing

Sabrina and Alexia folk dancing

A bunch of Olive Pickers!

For church we watched General Conference. Then we visited together as a family for a long time. That evening we went to the Fellows’ house, where we had popcorn and ice cream together and visited for a long time and really had an enjoyable, delightful evening. The power of friendship always amazes me.

Sunday started out with a short little trip to the Elah Valley. We went as a family and met the Fellows and a new family from Tel Aviv who has a seminary age student, and went through the David and Goliath story. We first went to Azekah and went through the story there, as well as all the other things to talk about there, such as the line between the Philistines and Israelites, the Assyrian and Babylonian destructions there, etc. 

Azekah from afar

Another view of Azekah

It was amazing how six days earlier it had been so dusty there that the dust poofed up in clouds as you stepped around (the result of excavating), but after just a little rain the ground was great to walk on. Then we drove up to Kiyet Qaiyafa, which is probably Biblical Sha’araim. This is probably where Saul’s camp was during the David and Goliath story there. From there you can see how the Israelites could march down and cut off the Philistines after David’s victory and start slaying them “by the way to Sha’araim.” 

Kiryat Qeyaffa, probably biblical Sha'araim

View of one of the gates at probable Sha'araim (which means the two gates)

View of the Elah Valley, where David slew Goliath, from Kiryat Qeyaffa

Another view from probable Sha'araim to the Valley of Elah

Looking down from the Sha'araim area to the valley, the way the Philistines would have fled, and probably the "way to Sha'araim" where they were caught by the Israelites

Then we went down to the valley and slung stones again. I think everyone learned, and we had a great time.

Jacob and Sabrina walking to the brook of Elah

Teaching the seminary students and families about David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah

Seminary students and families slinging in the Valley of Elah

The seminary field trip group in the Valley of Elah.

 We got back in time to do some cleaning and then Jacob and Sabraina had some friends over to play. It is really good for them to have some peers to play with. It worked out well and I think everyone had a good time. We also helped people get homework done.

Monday was a fun field trip. We went to Ne’ot Kedumim, which is such a valuable experience for the students. They taught them about shepherding, and they shepherded some sheep and goats around, performing a few tasks with them. 

Our guide, Joanna, teaching about shepherding

It turns out that sheep and goats like fig leaves a lot

students herding sheep and goats

students trying to separate the sheep from the goats

We stopped and looked at all sorts of plants, picking and eating some.

Almonds at Ne'ot Kedumim. It reminded us of Aaron's rod.

Julianne picking a fig leaf (very Eve-like, don't you think?)

It rained once, and suddenly grass springs to life

Look at all the grass from that one rainfall! Exciting!

Dates!

A sycamore fig

We ground hyssop, and talked about its symbolism. 

Grinding the hyssop

We drew water from a cistern and talked about how that worked. 

Getting ready to draw water from the cistern

And now we have the water!

We then made a bunch of food from scratch and had a great time. 

getting ready to make the food

preparing the lentil pottage

stirring the lentil pottage

making pita from just salt, olive oil, flour and water

Cooking the pitas

Dr. Whitchurch and I were the judges of who made the best pitas and pottage

We ended up with the Torah Scribe, Zachariya, who has become a friend of mine, teaching us about making Torah scrolls, reading them, etc. The students really get a lot out of this field trip.

 

Zachariya is a scribe credentialed to write Torah scrolls and also the passages for tefillin (phylactries) and mezzuzahs

Kosher writing pens (he gave me one!)

the materials from which you can make kosher Torah ink

Zechariya's 200 year old Yemeni Torah scroll

Zechariya reading from the Torah

Writing the Torah

The 200 year old scroll is beautiful

Me helping him unwrap the scrolls

I love these scrolls

The students were a bit tired when it was all over

 There has been some tension around here lately. We have been restricted from the Old City and East Jerusalem of late. A number of Palestinian youth, men, women, and boys, have taken to stabbing Israeli soldiers or people who just look very Jewish by the way they dress, etc. Sometimes they have used cars to hurt people too, but mostly it has been knives. Some of them have been apprehended, some have been killed. Every action causes a reaction. As we were leaving the field trip we got a call from Kaleb to let us know that the Anglican School was locked down for a few minutes as they assessed the security situation after another stabbing. They had to wait twenty extra minutes before the taxi could come in and get them. They were never in danger, but it made the little ones just a little nervous.

The Anglican International School in Jerusalem

On Tuesday the number and scale increased, and things got much more tense. The students were put on restriction, they can’t leave the building at all without it being an organized trip. They immediately began planning trips to the Israel Museum, etc., which ended up being a good experience for them. It has been sad because this week they had two writing assignments I have given them that were designed to get them out in the city and do some thinking and writing there. They had to do the writing in the Center, which is good, but not as good as we had hoped. Still, everyone is doing well and enjoying themselves.

I went to a dinner and lecture at the Albright Institute on Tuesday evening. It was a very good lecture, and I also made some very good contacts. I really enjoyed it.

The Albright Institute

On Wednesday we met with Joe Uziel, the archaeologist in charge of excavations at the City of David. He took us around the excavations, seeing parts of it that aren’t open to the public. I got a better feel for the gates and what was going on in the city than I have ever had before. He is a really, really enjoyable guy who really knows what he is doing. It was a privilege to get to know him and to better understand the massive walls and very massive gate that was constructed by the Jebusites and which served Israel all the way until the Babylonians came, about 1200 years after the walls were first built. Pretty impressive stuff. And it was so much fun to be there with my wife and good friends. We also spent a little time going through how we would do the field trip on Wednesday.

Joe teaching us outside the walls of early Jerusalem

Joe teaching us underneath some of the excavations

The walkway down to the gate so that people could draw water from the Gihon spring, which was protected by the gate

Julianne and our friends walking down along the massive walls of the gate

Some of the remains of the gate

reconstruction of the gates of Jerusalem, where the Gihon spring was (Solomon was probably crowned here)

Classes are going well. We are moving so quickly. We covered Isaiah this week, and the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, and began covering the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah, covering Micah and starting Jeremiah. We are moving very quickly, but I think the students are really getting it. I so enjoy classes with them, they are such good students.

I got some good writing done on Thursday. Thursday afternoon we got the ladders and buckets from the Center and the Allreds joined our family as we picked the olives from three good sized olive trees. Next week we will press them for oil, but first we pick. I think it is such a great experience for my kids to be able to pick olives here in Jerusalem and just get an idea of what that is like. We had a great time together as a family, and will long remember it.

Tashara is beautiful even picking 

Kaleb picking olives

Jacob picking olives

Sabrina picking olives

Jennifer Allred and Luke Shaffer (a student) holding the ladder for Sabrina to pick olives

We were picking on a hill, so often we had to hold the ladders tightly for those on top picking

Phil Allred picking olives

Often Alexia just climbed the trees to pick what she could reach that way

The Allreds and Sabrina and Alexia show off most of the olives we picked

Tensions seem to be going down just a bit, though we will have to see.

Class on Friday was particularly enjoyable. Some questions from some of the students led us into a discussion that I felt was very meaningful. We really got into the kinds of things that become false gods for us today, and how especially the way we think and the things we value are so influenced by the world that we can end up worshipping both the world’s ideas and God’s at the same time. It was a wonderful day in the classroom.

Afterwards I got little things done for teaching, met with students about their midterm scores (always a bit painful), we went shopping, and all in all I had a great time with Julianne. Jacob and Sabrina had friends over again, I was able to get a bit more writing done, and we had some nice family time. Tensions rose again a bit today, but not as high as they were before. I have hope that things will smooth over soon.

the shopping center at Ramat Eshkol we often go to

In the early evening I went with Jeff Chadwick to give a blessing to a wonderful young lady. She is from the Phillipines, and like so many others, she is here away from her family taking care of the elderly and sending money back home. Many of these are women who go for a decade or more without seeing their children. This particular lady is due to give birth to her first child. She will be with it for a month, travel back to the Phillipines for a month, and then leave the baby there with grandparents while she comes back to work here. Heartwrenching! But it was good to meet her, and I intend to be of as much assistance to her as I can. I have been called as her home teacher, which is a system we have in the church where we make sure that everyone has someone who makes sure they are alright and taken care of. I will do what I can for this good lady.

We spent some time today talking about the great opportunity we have here as a family and how wonderful it is that we can grow closer to each other and God here. We are so blessed! That evening our family watched Princess Bride together. That is such a great classic, I just love that movie. We laughed and laughed together. It was a great ending to a great week.