Grandpa playing Carillion Bells
Dear Family,
After much frustration and angst, I think I have figured out how to post on our blog. Our dear Tami was so kind to set this up for us and even wrote out all the directions step by step so that when we arrived over here it would be simple and easy for us to stay in touch. Well, the sign on was in Hebrew and it's a little hard to know what to do. One of the sisters here is a blogger and she offered the suggestion of trying to change the blog from Hebrew to English.....what a novel idea!! It worked!! So hopefully we are on a roll now. I don't know where to start so much happens daily here in our lives. Maybe I'll start with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which happened today. Today is Sunday. Our Sabbath was yesterday - we celebrate the Jewish Sabbath. The volunteer couple, Norm and Doreen Squires, who were called to play the beautiful pipe organ and run all the Sunday night concerts here at the JCenter have also been invited to play every Sunday the Carillon Bells at the Jerusalem YMCA. This is the only one in Israel. They play together and start around 11:00 a.m. He plays the upper notes and she plays the lower. Then at exactly 12:00 they ring twelve bells. When we arrived he had me sit with his wife and try it out on a practice key board. After a while I had it down and we started playing "I am a Child of God" on the real keyboard. We then played the French children's song of "Ferres Jacques". It was kind of special to know that "I am a Child of God" was being heard over a large part of Jerusalem. After my debut, they took over and played a nice medley of songs. A few seconds before noon they stood up and DAD got to take over and make the 12 bong notes for 12:00 o'clock. Who would have ever thought his start in music would be on the Carillon's in Jerusalem.
Yesterday, our Sabbath, we attended church in Tiberius (Galilee). A new senior couple had arrived on Thurs in Jerusalem, Bro & Sister Madsen from Logan, Utah to serve 18 months in Galilee. We were asked if we could help drive a car over to Galilee so that the couple would have a car there. The Squires (the organist) drove the Center's van with the Madsen's and all their luggage, etc. The senior couple that is in Galilee had a car but would need it to drive back here. We really enjoyed the ride. It's about a 2 hr drive. It was so interesting to see the Bedouin people in their tents with their flocks of sheep and goats on the hill sides. We did not think we would get to visit Galilee for quite some time. All along the way you could see military look outs on the hills. We followed the Jordan river for part of the way and on the other side is Jordan. Several years ago the Church purchased a run-down villa over looking the Sea of Galilee, remodeled it and made it into a lovely Chapel with several bathrooms, a large room with a good size kitchen for having branch dinners and parties. There is also a nice 1 bed apt for the couple living there. It has an amazing view and off in the distance you can see the Mt of Beatitudes. Bro. Madsen will be the new Branch Pres there and Dad helped him set apart his new counselors selected from the Branch. After our meetings, we had a nice dinner with the branch and then headed back to Jerusalem, stopping by the Jordan River location where the Savior was supposed to have been baptized. What a commercial spot it is now with shops and a restaurant and bar. It was interesting to see posted pictures of people from all over the world being baptized in this very spot - large groups like in the 100's. Infact, there were groups being baptized while we were there.
On Friday we went to the Western Wall -known as the Wailing Wall and witnessed the devout Jews praying on the beginning of their sabbath. Several thousand men gather chanting, dancing, singing praises to God. Many dressed in their black coats & pants along with their black hats. They all seem to have beards with a large curl of hair coming down the side of their face. In one area there was a group of young men all very handsome - made me think of our priest quorums - chanting, singing, dancing together. The women were in normal clothes. There was a partition between the men and women and large crowds on each side. Each group edging their way up to the wall where they could put their written prayers into slits in the morter of the wall. It was really amazing to see this.
I have so much to write about.....like our first time of checking the students out for the semester.....what an experience that was. Well, we love you all and miss you.
Love, Dad & Mom
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