Monday 25 August 2014 Goodbye to Claytons :(

 

 

It's always hard to say good-bye but it was especially hard to have Claytons leave.  We have lived and worked with them every day for over 1 year.  There's some people you know will always be dear friends.  From left to right: Mark Slight, Eran Hayett, John Clayton, Scott Reynolds, Jan Clayton,  and Tawfic Alawi bidding farewell on the 7th floor. 

 

A farewell line- Tina, Jan, John, and Tawfic



In the garage, the sign said it all.  The Claytons leaving and the Jones coming.



We took them to the airport for a final goodbye.

 

We'll miss them terribly.

Sunday 24 August 2014 Monastery and Concert

Sunday, August 24 we went to the Islamic Art Museum.  They had an interesting video about the Muslim religion and artifacts from the different periods.  After we drove by an old monastery and got out to take a look.

Linda in front of the monastery.

That evening we had some of our friends for dinner and concert at the JC.  From

left to right:  Dalal (lives in the Old City with a beautiful view of the Dome) Innas, our friend and contact from Silwan Elementary, Linda, Naris ( Dalal's 17 year old daughter) and Namati Ansari (Innas' aunt and friend from BYU contacts.) 

 

 
 
 

We had a blessing on the food and when the Call to Prayer came, the two moms knelt facing Mecca and said their prayers.  I admire their devotion and consistency of prayer.  They pray 5 times each  day.

Saturday 23 August 2014 Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Saturdays (Sabbath) are our busiest days.  This Sat. we drove to pick up our "caregivers" who need a ride to church.  Public transportation doesn't run because it is the Jewish Sabbath. They block off the streets in their neighborhoods so no one can drive.  The streets are empty.  Even the roads that are not blocked have very few cars.

This is Svetlana Birliba from Moldovia.  She cares for an older Jewish man.  She lives about 20 min. out of Jerusalem.  Since there is no public transportation on Sat. someone needs to pick her up for church.
 

This neighborhood is near Mea She'arim, an ultra orthodox area.

 

Sat. afternoon we go into Bethlehem for their meetings.  This is Martina and her mom, Dima.  They put Martina in a boarding school so she would have enough food to eat.  Both mother and child were quite emotional at church after being apart 1 day.

 

Dima, Sahar Qumsiyeh, Scott Reynolds, Linda, Jason, and Kauder after church.



We home taught the Marcos family.  Linda, Scott, Yara, Odah, Ameer, and Sanah in their living room in the apartment above the church.  We gave a lesson on the blessings of FHE.



Scott is leaving this week to go on the Jordan Semester Abroad program.  Here he is with Sana, Yara, Nadeem, Odah, Ameer, and Linda.

Friday 22 August 2014 Tours at the Jerusalem Center

The tours we give include a 13 min. video of the JC, an organ recital lasting about 15 min., a tour of the 7th floor of the JC, overview of the city, description of the 4 temple periods, and a tour of the Biblical Gardens. 

This is the water fountain designed by Israel Houdani.  There is a holding tank underneath that recycles the water. Jan Clayton explains the concert series and introduces the music she will play. The tours range from 1 person to 200.

Jan talking to a tour

This is a tourist from one of the American Jewish agencies that works with LDS Charities. Sanas is from California and had nothing but good things to say about working with LDS Charities.

Jan plays the organ for each tour.



Tuesday & Wednesday 18-20 August 2014 Palmahim Beach and Enas, Dalal, Naris

Blaine and I took the Nickles to the airport on Tues. Aug.18.  They went to Portugal to visit Gary's sister and brother-in-law who are on a mission there.  After we dropped them off, we took the Hopkins to Palmahim Beach that is near the airport.  It is a beautiful, clean beach with warm water and nice waves.   It is not very crowded and a great place to try the Mediterranean Sea.

 

 

 



On Wed. our friend Inas Ansari called and invited us to go into the Old City with her to visit a friend of hers.  She wanted us to see a home in the Old City as well as meet her friend Dalal.  We stopped at an apartment that her family had rented and were going to fix up for a brother and aunt to live in.  The rooms lead out to an open stairwell.  The bedrooms are on the 2nd and 3rd floor with the kitchen, bath, and living room on the main floor. I asked Inas what they did when they had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and she said they go outside and go down the stairs.  Silly me

This is the stairwell that accesses the bedrooms from the main floor.



This is an apartment her family have.  Her brothers live here.

 



This is the alley entrance to the apartment.

 



There is a maze of alleys to get to homes in the Old City.

 

 

We then went to her friend Dalal's house.  It was very bright and cheery and had a great view of the Temple Mount.  It was very small with only 3 rooms but those 3 rooms were decorated with bright colors and were very cute.  From left to right: Linda, Naris (17-yr. old daughter) Dalal, and Inas. 

This was the living room/ bedroom.

 

This was Dalal's bedroom. Dalal lives there with her daughter and a son.
 

This is the view from their front door. They are literally a couple of blocks from the Dome of the Rock.

 



The patio is just off their kitchen, an extension of their home.  It was like their own little world.  There were plants all around the perimeter of the patio and another amazing view of the Temple Mount.
 

This is the view from their patio.  They look down onto the Temple Mount grounds.

Sunday & Monday 17-18 August 2014 Orienting Arden and Lorraine Hopkins, Ansari wedding phots at JC

 

  

We picked Lorraine and Arden Hopkins up from the airport on Fri. Aug. 15,2014.  They are the couple that are replacing the Foxes in Tiberias.  Arden is retired BYU music department.  Lorraine plays the piano and has taught for many years.  They stayed on level 5 without kitchen facilities, so they had most of their meals with us.

 

 

We took them to the YMCA Carillon bells on Sunday. From L to R: Arden Hopkins, Jan Clayton, Lorraine Hopkins. John Clayton, Rebecca Call, Linda, Brent Jones, and Marybeth Jones.

 



We spell YMCA after.



That afternoon all of the service couples went to lunch at the Colony Restaurant near the Old Train Station.



When we got back to the JC, Namati Ansari's daughter and fiancé were there for wedding photos.  The JC in the past had a lot of wedding photos taken here.  It got to the point where it was out of control so brides can come only if they get special permission.

 

Weddings are a very important part of Palestinian culture.  They go all out.  The groom buys gold, fancy party dresses, furniture etc. for his bride. A typical wedding starts around $30,000.00.

 

Her shoes and henna tattoo were great though the shoes looked uncomfortable.



Her dress was so big she had to sit in the back seat by herself.



Monday the nuns from St. Joseph's came to get clothes for the Gaza people.  We had clothing left from the students.



Lunch was in the Old City at Michael's with the Hopkins.





Friday 15 August 2014 St. Joseph's pillows and ANERA

 

Friday, Aug. 15, we took 50 pillows over to St. Joseph's hospital.  They are treating people that have been injured down in Gaza  These pillows are for the people staying with the patients.

 

When we delivered the pillows to the laundry, some of the workers had fun with them.

 



Paul Butler works for ANERA, a Palestinian charity located in Shiek Jerah.  LDS Charities have worked on a large scale with ANERA in the past.

Thursday 14 August 2014 Tours at the Jerusalem Center

Linda is giving a tour in the Biblical Garden.  It is named that because many of the plants in the garden are mentioned in the Bible. Zatar, hyssop, rosemary, olive trees, Cedar of Lebanon, pomegranates, etc. are all here.  There are also 2 olive presses that the students use in the fall to make olive oil.

 

Linda is explaining how the grinding mill crushes the olive and the pit before it is put in hemp baskets.  The hemp baskets are stacked in the oil press and pressure is applied squeezing the oil from the olive.





This is the entrance to the garage.  BYU has a fleet of cars and we check one out when we need to go somewhere.  Blaine is very familiar with the roads in Jerusalem.  Linda also drives but not as confidently as Blaine.