Sunday, 22 Jan 2006

Location: Israel

January 10th, 2006

Happy New Year!
The news from Israel has been especially concerning lately with Sharon’s illness, and seemingly added national instability. Lately Emily and I have been tuning into KTIS FM on the internet. Listening to news about Israel reminds me of a story about a Missionary doing public health training. The topic was house flies and how they spread invisible germs. The teacher carried on and on about germs and sanitation, complete with an enlarged picture of a fly. When the students were asked if they had any questions, one lad raised his hand and said “ I can see why you came to live with us we don’t have any bug that big, and ours can’t do invisible damage.

If the international news was my only source I would say to myself “I would be afraid to live there.” Being here really puts the news hype in perspective. Just as God’s eye is ever on Israel, so is the rest of the worlds. It is quiet here, people live in peace with one another. We have many Arab, Druze and Bedouin towns within five minutes of our house. There is political turmoil but life goes on and so does the country. I don’t mean to totally minimize things but the balance is so off.

A recent headline read A Picture is Worth a Thousand Lies. There was a picture of an Arab woman hugging a tree with a menacing Israeli tank and soldier in the background. The claim was that the Jews who left the settlements had destroyed olive trees. You may have seen the photo, it was a hoax. It was set up by anti-government Jewish young people. The tree had been trimmed ( they do so in the late fall) and they cut them back significantly ( we did it here too). Do not believe every photo and always read the second to the last paragraph to get a few of the real details. One of my favorite news sources is a column by Caroline B. Glick in the Jerusalem Post. (On-line) I usually see it on Fridays so I don’t know if she writes everyday. She offers a well balanced perspective.

My sister was here over Christmas. We had a gas. We spent most of our time in Eliat, in the Red Sea. She is a big scuba fan, Emily and I were very happy on the surface watching the sparkling fish and beautiful coral. We enjoyed the site just over the border in Egypt the most. I had snorkeled there 25 years ago, it was fun to share it with my sister and daughter. Emily and Artemis went to Petra Jordan also. Petra is an ancient city on the Nebetean trade route, it is cut out of rock and the building are very ornate and well preserved. I stayed back and helped Santa with some gifts for Emily and others. Another highlight was a camel ride into the Sinai, afterwards our Bedouin guide made bread and served goat cheese. It was a little touristy but we all enjoyed it a lot. We had such a nice time together, we were sad to see her go.

Christmas eve Emily and I were in a Christmas play here in Migdal at a nearby Christian Guest house. We think it was the first ever in thin community. We invited anyone who was interested to come and watch, later we had cookies and egg nog etc. It was very fun to share our traditions with them. Much thought and prayer was put into it. We then had a gift exchange with the members of the cast. It was new but a very wonderful eve. Santa found his way under our tree and we had a sweet Christmas Morning.

Emily is going to a formal high-school dinner this month. It has been fun finding and dress and boots for her to wear. We’ll try to post a photo. Please let us know if you are able to get to the web site. we have had some trouble with that lately.

The Director and his wife are coming back on Feb. 12th. We have really enjoyed our freedom to run the place in a more relaxed style. (We keep up standards, don’t worry)
They want us to move back into the flea spray house. I will not be able to do that. (I am feeling much better, very mild chest pain, the numbness is almost gone and I have had the energy to run on a few occasions) There might need to be some changes, please pray for us to have wisdom and direction.

We are really enjoying our time here with all the challenges included. This weekend we may go Skiing on Mt. Hermon with an Israeli family. I hope it works out.

Much love,
Tasse and Emily