Shalom #32

MERRY CHRISTMAS to our dear family and friends........

We love you and miss you all.   We feel humble and blessed to have the opportunity to be service volunteers in this Holy Land, the land of the birth, life, death and Resurrection of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We testify that He lives, His Gospel is here on the earth and He has a great plan of happiness for each and everyone of us.  He knows us, loves us and wants us all to be happy.  He has given us Prophets and wise leaders to help us through these difficult times.  We can have peace even though the world is in turmoil.  He is the one who can give us this peace....

Shalom #31

At the end of each semester, students decide what they want to leave behind as donations which are then given to several organizations....one is a battered woman's home.  These donated items are a great blessing to those who have to flee immediately from their homes or difficult situations.  The students have enough gifts they have purchased to take home that these items are a relief to not have to pack.  Shoes and clothing are then washed, sorted by size, bagged ready for delivery to the shelters.  Even the leftover toiletries are used and needed.

A little of something is so appreciated when you have nothing!! 

Shalom#30

Fall Semester 2008 has officially ended with the departure of  our 81 wonderful students.

It's amazing how close we have become to these young people and the love we have for them.  They left in two different groups - one at 3:00 a.m. and the next at 7:00 p.m the next day.  There were many tears from the students as they said their goodbyes to the Jerusalem Center and their new friends.  

Kendra, repairing a zipper of her roommates luggage so she could finish her packing. 
Brother Allen checking in keys and linen
Sure glad all this laundry is sent out!

Brother Allen helping the girls weigh their luggage.  Let's see....81 students...2 pieces of luggage each...
Angela and Allie taking a break from packing

Shalom #29

Merry Christmas to the Holy Land from the Brigham Young University Fall 2008 Semester students.

 

The Christmas Concert performed by the students, several faculty and one service volunteer (Sue) was enjoyed by the season ticket holders and the local community. Dad and others who didn't sing in the performance were there to greet the guest and had been much help behind the scenes to the success of this program.  Our wonderful service couple, Norm and Dorene Squires, where the Director and Pianist/Organist.  They are so talented and their love of music came through to each of us as we had our practices and then performed. 

 

The performances were held two nights....Friday was the night for our local Palestinian neighbors and others who could attend and Sunday night the Israeli communities and others and it turned out that there were no empty seats. The tradition here for an encore is not a standing ovation but a continuous clapping of the hands in unison.  The students loved it.

The program was divided between traditional songs about the birth of our Savior, then several seasonal songs and a rousing rendition of the traditional Jewish favorite,"Hanukkah", which was not sung on Friday night but on Sunday night after which there was cheering and a long and loud clapping in unison. The closing songs where a beautiful trumpet trio of "Jerusalem", and two choral numbers with organ  from "The Messiah",

"The Hallelujah Chorus" and "The Glory of the Lord". 

The following are just short audio's from several numbers ....enjoy!

"Monotone Angel", a cute song about an Angel who wants to be in the Christmas Choir

"Jerusalem"  ...a trumpet trio.  They stood at the back of the auditorium by the Organ....

with the lights turned down low the audience could enjoy the view of Jerusalem at night.

Shalom #28

Id ul Adha --The Great Feast, Feast of the Sacrifice is a four day Muslim festival commemorating Abraham's sacrifice and coinciding with the pilgrimage to Mecca.  The Muslim's believe it was Ishmael that was to be sacrificed not Issac.  We went into the Old City and entered at the Damascus Gate.   The walk ways were lined with merchants chanting their bargains and beckoning buyers to come to their stands, "They want to help you spend your money!"  These videos give a slight idea of the crowds and noise of the city.  We missed several opportunities to take pictures of sheep being led through the streets to where they would be sacrificed and later eaten at the family feasts.  

Shalom #27

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Jerusalem Center......

Santa welcome's you to Brother & Sister Allen's apartment.

We were fortunate to have a nice Christmas tree and olive wood carvings left behind from the former couples. 

The Jerusalem Center was quiet while the students and faculty were in the Galilee for 10 days.  We kept ourselves busy decorating the center for Christmas and also hosting tours of the building.   The Jerusalem Center is open for tours to the public Tues-Friday.  The visitors to the Center come from all over the world.  They enjoyed seeing the festive Christmas decorations and many wanted their pictures taken in front of the grouping of  Christmas Trees.  On the days we hosted tours, our visitors included organized Israeli tour groups that had booked way in advance, an LDS tour group from America, neighbors who are curious about the building on Mt. Scopus with the arches, walk-ins visiting Jerusalem who had a couple hours and had read in the tour books "best to see in Jerusalem"; the Mormon University and organ recital.   One group we hosted had 150 Israeli's from several retirement centers.  As we introduced ourselves we told them that we are volunteers here and what our responsibilities are.  We also tell them about our family.  The comments are great when they heard we have 9 married children and 33 grandchildren.... actually they were amazed.  First that we would have so many children and grandchildren but that we would leave them to come here for 18 months at our own expense.  Many had questions about the Mormon Church but we are not allowed to enter into discussions  as per the agreement with the Israeli government and the Mormon Church that no proselytizing of any kind can take place.  The tour takes in the 8th and 7th floors of the building and last about an hour.  It includes a 10 minute movie about Brigham Young University, the BYU Jerusalem Center, how it was built, information about the architect, and so on.    The guest are then escorted into the beautiful auditorium with that magnificent view of  Jerusalem for an organ recital of classical music such as Bach, Beethoven, etc. performed by our master organist.    From there we guide them outside where they have the glorious view of the Old City Jerusalem and then walk through the Biblical gardens.  The Biblical gardens have several ancient olives presses  with the first one dating 2,000 years old and the other 1,500 years old. The millstone is an impressive stone and to a few select groups we remind them of the scriptural story of the millstone and little children. We end the tour walking past the 700 yr. old olive tree that was transplanted from the Galilee.  It didn't survive the transplant so they grafted in some  branches from a healthy tree but along with the branches there were somehow seeds from a raspberry bush.  So we tell them we have the most unique olive tree in Israel....a Olive/raspberry tree.  They love that story. Wouldn't you know that when there was a tour of high school students they wanted their pictures taken with that "cool" guy Bro. Allen.  


This lovely nativity set was purchased by the Center over 10 years ago from a Master Wood Carver named George Llamas.  He just pasted away several days ago.  We had the opportunity to meet him on our first visit to Bethlehem.  He includes several of our Prophets who have purchased nativity sets from him. 

This set is kept in the Safe at the center during the off season.

Our students leave for home in 2 weeks.....we have grown to love them and will miss their friendship.  We are looking forward to friends coming for a visit during the holiday seasons........they will help us celebrate the season while we are away from family and friends. 

Shalom #26

We are thankful for our wonderful family who are living the teachings of the Savior, Jesus Christ and by their great example teaching our grandchildren to follow Him....

 ....we are thankful for the opportunity to visit the Wailing Wall...the most sacred site to the Jewish people.....

...... we are thankful for our apartment at the Jerusalem Center that gives us the glorious view of the city of Jerusalem......knowing that the Savior walked these streets so close to where we live.......

.....we are thankful that Temples dot the earth in these latter-days that unite families

for Time and all Eternity.....and that all our 9 children have been married and sealed to their wonderful spouses in the Holy Temples of our God......  

....we are thankful that a miraculous event occurred because a young 14 year old boy was searching for truth... 

....we are thankful we were able to watch the rising moon over Bethlehem....but imagining the night the Shepards saw a new star in the sky......

....we are thankful we made it to the top of Mt. Sinai to see the sunrise where Moses received the 10 commandments....10 rules for personal happiness and now centuries later will still bring us great joy as we obey!......
......we are thankful for God's beautiful creations: dark nights that show the glorious heavens....worlds without numbers.....mountains, streams, lakes, snow, rain, wind, blue skies, clouds, trees, plants, animals, birds, fish.............

.....majestic rocks.....

......we are thankful for special places to gather family and friends..........

THANKFUL: adj 1: conscious of benefit received

THANKSGIVING: n 1: the act of giving thanks

Thanksgiving 2008 finds us in the full-time service of our Heavenly Father and 

His beloved Son.  Living in Jerusalem and serving at the Jerusalem Center for

Near Eastern Studies these past four months has been an amazing experience filled

with opportunities to come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ,  in the land of His Birth, life, death and resurrection.  We could serve to the end of our days here on this earth and never ever be able to repay our Savior for His Atoning Sacrifice in our behalf.  Because of our love for our Savior we are willing to leave our wonderful family and dear friends, our home and all the family activities that mean so much to us for 18 months.  Even though there are times of  missing home and family, this service opportunity has brought so many wonderful people into our lives.  The students, full-time staff and management, Professors and Branch members are such good people.  Having never lived abroad we have enjoyed learning and experiencing the culture, customs and diversity of the peoples of the Holy Lands. 

Being Thankful means so much to us......

Shalom #25

We visited the Baha'i Gardens this past week with the service couples.  One of the couples had visitors and had wanted to take them to this spectacular site. We were invited to join them....and are we ever glad we did.  The Baha'i Shrine and Gardens are the most beautiful grounds and are at the top of our list of "must see" in Israel. It is the international headquarters for the Baha'i faith.  In Frommer's Israel guidebook the Gardens & Shrine are listed in the "Most Important Holy Places" to visit. Haifa is the international headquarters for the gentle Bahai faith, which began in Persia in the mid-19th century in a blood bath of persecution. The book states, "the shrine was built to memorialize the remains of one of the Baha'i faith's martyrs, Bab Mirza Ali Muhammad, who was executed by Persian authorities in 1850.  It is built in the port town of Haifa  and has the most breathtaking views of the city and harbor.

   

This is the shrine of the Bab's remains, incidentally, which were hidden for years after he died a martyrs death in front of a firing squad.  Eventually, however, his followers secretly carried his remains to the Holy Land.

In Frommer's, it states, "Baha'is believe in the unity of all religions and see all religious leaders-Christ, Buddha, Muhammand, Moses-as messengers of God, sent at different times in history with doctrines varying to fit changing social needs, but bringing substantially the same message.  The most recent of these heavenly teachers, according to Baha'is, was Baha' Allah.  He was exiled by the Turkish authorities to Acre (across the bay from Haifa) where he wrote his doctrines, and died a peaceful death.....the shrine entombs the remains of the Bab, the Baha' Allah's herald who died a martyr's death in front of a firing squad."  It was so interesting to us to learn about this religion.   Many things in their history parallel the story of the

Prophet Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

This picture does not do justice to the gardens. Imagine this whole mountain side with immaculate gardens, hedges, fountains, beautiful flowering plants, etc.... 9 levels above the Tomb and 9 levels below the tomb.  We are looking down on the tomb probably from level 5.  

Shalom#24

Our Jerusalem Branch had a service project at the Augusta Victoria Hospital olive groves.

The hospital is owned and operated by the World Lutheran Federation.  We are neighbors with them here on the Mt. of Olives.  In past years the students have helped out but this year our Branch had the opportunity.  One of their objects is to help the poor and needy Palestinians.  The olives are taken and pressed for olive oil which the hospital then sells to help their special patients who can't afford to pay their bills.

Shalom #23

Whoever said doing laundry was boring hasn't

visited our Linen Exchange! Once a week (usually

Wednesday night) the students come into the

laundry room for clean linens.  We have these

four great students - Angela, Mikael, Julie, and

Andrew who take a "job" like this and turn it to a "party"!

Notice our supplies of TP! - Very important.......

 

This is 1/2 of the pile of linen that comes

in.  We only hand it out....we don't have to wash 

or fold it.   Housekeeping sends it out to be cleaned.

It usually takes us less than an hour if all the

students show up on time.

Shalom #22

As we were exploring the Old City we came

upon a "smelly" area.  We had found the

meat market section.  There are several

dozen little shops with fresh meat, fish

and a kitty enjoying all the scraps.

Notice the Tail still attached.  That is

one of the yummy parts!

Tongues

Lungs, etc.

Shalom #21

So we decided to take a walk into the Old City and

it was very warm that morning.  We were thirsty

and stopped at this little stand for some fresh

orange juice.  These pictures speak for themselves.

*notice fingernails!  We did drink it and it

was really refreshing....I just couldn't look at

his hands, table or washcloth.

Shalom#20

Bethabara was revered by the early Christians as the site associated with Jesus' baptism.  It is located beyond the Jordan River in the modern country of Jordan.  The Hebrew word, beth means house or place, while abara means to cross or ford, suggesting a place where travelers forded a river.  In the gospel of Matthew it says that John the Baptist baptized "in Jordan" (3:6), the gospel of John says that he did so "beyond Jordan" (1:28; 10:40).  the Apostle John may have meant the  east bank of the Jordan River.  At a very early date, Christians began honoring this site we visited.

The Greek Orthodox Church has recently built this new church on property close to the baptismal site as are several other Christian denominations building new churches in the area. 

This is an area where possibly Jesus' baptism took place.

Today, the Jordan River is a small river compared to 

what they believe it was at the time of the Savior.

We felt a very reverent and sacred feeling here.