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.

Wednesday 13 August 2014 Tours at the Jerusalem Center

Blaine and I give tours on Wed., Thurs., and Friday. Most of the people are Jewish and from Israel.  Blaine gives a very good tour and the tourists are very responsive and appreciative.

 

Here Blaine is showing the mosaics from the Byzantine period.

 

Blaine is explaining about the mosaics.  They were found near Beer Sheba which is south of Jerusalem.  They date back to the Byzantine period which is between 300-600 CE and have a picture of an animal in each mosaic.  They were the border of a floor discovered in a Bedouin market place.

 

There is also an art museum with art exhibits that change every few months.

Wed. Aug. 13, the students and faculty left to go home.  It was especially hard to say good-bye to the Belnap family.  They lived just below us and have been family to us.  Sam, Jack, Erin, Linda, and Emma.  Belnaps are in our AF ward so we will see them in 6 months.  Dan taught Old and New Testament and let me come to his class whenever I could.



Erin has been my RS Sec., taught school at Silwan with me, and especially was and will continue to be a dear friend.
 

The bus leaves with lots of mixed emotions.



Overlooking Jerusalem from the JC.



The view from our apartment at night.  This is what I look at each night before I go to bed.  I still pinch myself to make sure it is real.



Tuesday 12 August 2014 People and places at the Jerusalem Center

If you haven't guessed by now, our favorite part of our assignment here is the people we've gotten to know.  Below is Mohannd Qara'in  and Bashar, both are security staff and do everything and anything for us.  I tell them the two things I'm going to miss the most are them and the laundry where I can do four loads at once.

Tues. evening was the student farewell dinner at the Oasis.  From L to R: Brent Jones (who is taking John Clayton's assignment), Linda, Mary Beth Jones (replacing Jan Clayton as organist) Jan Clayton, and John Clayton.  We will miss the Claytons terribly.



After dinner we had a memories video night.  There were lots of happy memories captured in pictures.  They even did a separate slide show of the faculty and service couples and gave us each posters with notes from the students.

 

This is the hallway we walk to our offices.  Blaine's office is on the right and mine is on the left.



Bassam Abu Ghannam is one of the security men who have been here since the JC opened in 1987.  He told me once that his marriage had been arranged by his parents.  I asked him if he was happy and he said he is very happy and has 5 children.  He also said the JC is his life and he loves it here.
Since we came home, Bassam passed away.
 

Rana Hallek is one of the office managers.  She is so friendly and fun to be around. She has a quick smile and laugh and is a good friend.



Avital Channa  also is in the office.  She is a lawyer, has a great sense of style, has 2 children, is very efficient, and is a great help as well as dear friend.



Tawfic Alawi is assistant director and is who we directly report to.  He is very fun and easy to work with and you can always count on his support.  He handles all of our humanitarian work.

Blaine and Ranna



Blaine and Avital

 

Ghalib Nubani is the accountant.  He is very accurate and friendly. He likes beef boullion  and Mexican seasonings from the US.
 

Linda,  Blaine, and Ghalib



Our friends from the Ansari Library Association, Namati Ansari (next to Linda) brought a wedding invitation for her daughter and future son-in-law.  The invitation is one of the prettiest I've ever seen.  Her daughter met her to-be husband at her father's funeral 2 years ago.  He is her third cousin.  They are a darling couple and will come back to the JC on their wedding day for pictures.

Monday 11 August 2014 Manougian hair salon, remodel Na'amat, Oasis farewell dinner

One of the hard things about moving to a new area is to find someone to cut your hair.  I was referred to an Armenian stylist on  Salah Edin Street just north of Damascus Gate. Chris Manougian and his father run the shop.  Chris' wife is a member of the church but is not allowed to come.

Chris was not in the shop so his father cut my hair.  I think I actually like him better.  The cost is $45.00, about twice what I pay in Utah.

Na'Amat is a Jewish organization that provides low income families with day care.  They service both Palestinians and Jews.  BYU is helping them with a bathroom remodel.  Blaine and I stopped to see the progress of the project.
  

That evening was the farewell dinner for the faculty that was leaving the JC.  The cooks are great.

 



Ahmad Saheen in the head chef.



Everything is always displayed so nicely.

We dished up our plates in the Oasis and then ate in the students' common area.  Belnaps, Woods,and Seelys are all leaving.  The next farewell dinner will be ours in Feb. 2015.
 

Sunday 10 August 2014 Librarians around Jerusualem

 

The head librarian of the BYU library (Jennifer) and the librarian over the Middle Eastern section of the library (Connie) came to Jerusalem to clean out and update the library here at the JC.  Blaine and I took them around the city and Blaine helped in the library.  The first day out, they wanted to go to Omar's Wood Shop.  This is Omar in front of his BYU flag.  When the JC was shut down for 6 years during the 2001-2007 Intifada, Omar said he almost lost his business. His business is almost all LDS and JC patrons.  He caters to this market by carving LDS themed wood carvings.  He is very detailed in his work.  You can see a difference between his work and that which is mass produced in shops.

 

Mary and Joseph wood carvings

 



We then took the librarians to the YMCA to play the carillon bells.

 



Jan Clayton playing with Connie.

 

Marybeth Jones playing with Jennifer.

 

Linda, Jennifer, Connie and Blaine spell out YMCA.

 

Tower of David, just inside Jaffa Gate.



The Temple Mount was not open to tourists, so we took pictures of the Dome of the Rock from different exits that the Palestinians use. Jewish people refer to this mount as the Temple Mount and Palestinians call it Al Aqsa.



Looking down into the olive orchard on the Temple Mount

 



We enjoyed getting to know Jennifer and Connie.