Day Three in Tiberias

Recognizing that once again I am sharing things that are a month old, I will pick up events where I left off last week.  (Over time I may catch up to actual time rather than DMT—delayed monthly time, but who knows, events are happening so fast, I will have to find another means of communication, but certainly not texting!) 

Recall that we arrived in Tel Aviv on Jan 27, was escorted to Galilee by the Madsen’s, spent the next day touring sites along the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee.  Here is what took place on the next day-- 29^th of January.

The Madsen’s took us on a quick run through town so we would know where the bank and post office were.  How to find a grocery store.  Which roads to take to get back to the Branch house when we approach Tiberias from the west and the south.  (It looked like it was following a cow trail!) Of course, they pointed out their favorite bakery and immediately our mouths began to water.  Then they headed for Nazareth where they had done their outreach projects doing English classes and teaching orchestra.  We met two administrators from St. Joseph’s High School, the Director from Na’amat Girls High School as well as two English teachers, and a College Administrator from Nazareth Galilee Academic Institution.  In some cases we think we could offer what skills we have, in other cases maybe not.  

We are now focusing our outreach skills on ridding the Branch House of Black Mold, deep cleaning 28 window wells that have 3 sets of trays holding the glass, a screen, and a metal shutter protection and 2 sets of floor to ceiling windows, 12 x 20’, not to mention the glass on the stairwells.  This modern design is wonderful, but those little hands that go along the stairs find that the glass is a wonderful medium for art.  (I just checked my blog and I already wrote about the windows, but as there were no pictures I am including them here for lots of sympathy about the size, number and complexity of this project!) Now I can't the window frame picture... so no sympathy needed.

The next outreach is locating the people in our branch who are spread from Tiberias where the Branch is to Haifa to Nahariya to Tal to Ha-glilit with Nazareth, Migdal Ha-Emek, Tamra, and Safed in between.  Many speak Spanish and very little English, others Russian, and others Hebrew.  It is at least a drive of one hour to the closest and 2 hours for those furthest—one way, of course.  They seem to love being visited even if we don’t speak any of their languages because there contact is very limited with church members.  They have many stories to tell us of their adventures in this land.

But I digress, back to the rest of the day with the Madsen’s.  After our visit with the administrators we head for Ramzieh’s, where a feast awaits us.  This dear lady is an administrator in a school district.  She introduced us to her beloved daughter, son-in-law and baby, fed us like we were kings and queens.  Sister Madsen had interviewed her for a short life story and delivered it on this day, so it was tender to see the love shared between them.  This baby is so beautiful.  She has big black eyes and the most endearing smile when her grandmother sings her a song from her own childhood.  Makes me homesick for our grandkids.  Fortunately, I got see one of our grandchildren on Skype not to long after this visit which made us very happy.

Heading home, the Madsen’s prepare us for what is in store on the following day which will be Saturday, and is the Sabbath or Shabbot in Hebrew.   As we share a birthday pizza with Yaron on his 15^th birthday, we hear that we need to prepare a pot luck dish for after our church meetings, then pack our bags for traveling with the Madsen’s back to the Jerusalem Center where they will deliver a fireside for the BYU-JC students and then hop on a plane.  How can we pack a bag?  We haven’t even unpacked anything yet!  We don’t know where anything is!

 We will remain at the Jerusalem Center for several days, meeting the other volunteer couples, taking a short tour of the Christian quarter in Jerusalem, hearing a concert, taking a tour of JC Center, signing papers, meeting administrators about security, cars, banking needs and then finding our way home back to Tiberias!  WHAT!  We actually have to drive out of here?  HELP!  We can’t do this, somebody else should drive us.  HELP!  Tune in for the next exciting episode.