March 26, 2008

Greeting to Familes and Friends of the work/tour group now in Jerusalem. We have just ended our tours here and will be leaving the hotel about 1:30 a.m. tomorrow. We spent most of today walking in the old city entering at Stephen's Gate. We followed the stations of the cross and exited near the Wailing Wall. We have a brief meeting late this afternoon and will then prepare for our trip home.

We thank God for health and safety and for your interest and prayers.

From the work/tour group.

Tuesday, March 25th

Today we toured with our guide and bus driver. The day began with our trip to Bethlehem. We were able to support the local economy by purchasing gifts at a local cooperative. In conversation with the shop keeper we learned that he was a graduate of the Evangelical Boys School in Hebron that was supported for many years by MCC and operated by Aida and Ida Stoltzfus.

After Bethlehem we visited Yad Vashem, and then visited Ein Karem the home of Zachariah and Elizabeth and the place of Mary's visitation to Elizabeth. We returned to our hotel and had dinner with Ryan Lehman and Bassem Taba who shared about the current programs of MCC.

Tomorrow is our last day of being in Jerusalem and we will be walking inside the Old City of Jerusalem. We are all looking forward to returning home to our families and loved ones on Thursday.

Blessings to each of you,

Bob, for the group

Lancaster greetings

Greetings everyone! The East Chestnut Street SS class has been trying to keep up with your activity...thankful for health and the good work you've done in Nazareth. Had a good Easter message from Pastor Sue about Mary in the garden -- was easy thinking of you being there! All's well here except for a heart scare with Connie. Thankfully, cath Monday 3/24 revealed a false positive. Blessings as you prepare to say goodbye and will be praying for safe travels home. --Sue Shirk

Easter Monday

We have been to the Dead Sea area today. Saw Masada (scaled it by cable car)...then on to Qumran, and Jericho....and all within that area, including Mount of Temptation. It was incredibly hot....low 90's or more...dry, dry, dry....tried dipping in the Dead Sea.....and so glad for shade and fluids at every point.

All are well, and tomorrow we head to Bethlehem in the morning, and in the afternoon we are scheduled to see West Jerusalem, the Kinneset, Holocust Museum, Ein Karem, the home of John the Baptist, etc. In the evening we have invited the MCC couple, Heather and Ryan Lehman, to come and speak to us of their work in this city.

We are being fed well, and any pounds we may have lost in Nazareth, have been regained in the abundance of hotel food. We have shared almost every evening about the sites we have visited each day, one person having prepared in advance to expand our understanding of these places of interest.

Off to a good night of sleep we hope! We are getting eager to see all of you soon.

With our love and prayers,

Nancy for all of us

Easter Sunday - 10:00pm

Greetings from Jerusalem!

We arrived here safely late afternoon yesterday after a great send-off from our Nazareth friends, and after a good day of touring from there to here. We went first to Haifa where we worshipped with Garry and Ruth Denlinger and their Messianic congregation, then to the place of Elijah having challenged the prophets of Baal, and then on to Caesaerea, and Joppa, where Peter had his life-changing vision, and where Jonah took a ship to Tarshish instead of Ninevah.

And then we came up to Jerualem and arrived about 6:30pm, had dinner and a short debriefing time together and then to comfortable beds in our new location, a hotel that is about three years old, and stands where "no-man's land" once was, then the border between Israel and Jordan.

This morning we worshipped in the Garden Tomb, and then went up the Mt of Olives, and walked down to the place remembering Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, Garden of Gethsamene, place of burial of the His mother Mary, and then came into the old city through Stephan's gate, and walked through the Moslem quarter and exited at Damascus Gate. It was in the high 80's today with brillant sunshine. Tonight Dale and Anita Thorne, good old friends of Martins from Nazareth, invited us to come and see the House of Prayer they are developing here in Jerusalem.

We are unable to give you photos from Jerusalem because we lack the USB cable to camera, so words will need to do. We have remembered all of you, our families and friends, on this special day, and trust that you too have celebrated Jesus today with us.

All are well, with the exception of one sore knee, and we are off early in the morning for a day of touring by bus Jericho, Masada, and the Dead Sea area with a guide.

Will try to post tomorrow night as well.

Nancy for all of us

Friday, March 21

Greetings to our Friends and Families,

Sorry we lost the script that was to go with the pictures so now we will try again.

Since our project at the nurses' residence was completed after floor waxing today, we have refinished several pieces of furniture, cut down a tree, sewed curtains, painted a railing and cleaned our flats. At four o'clock today we all are invited to a local home for tea. We have been enjoying the local hospitality.

Most evenings we have been meeting as a group to discuss the Biblical sites we have visited and to meditate on Holy Week. Four of the pictures sent on the last blog were taken at one of those meetings.

At noon time today we watched as the last truck load of cement was pumped up to the roof of the new OR. A picture was included in our last blog.

We will be in Jerusalem from Saturday to early Thursday morning when we leave for home.
We are not sure if we will have a computer available to blog during those days.

Thanks for your interest, support and prayers.

Reported by Roy and Esther

March 21

H

Thursday, March 20th

We were successful in meeting our deadline, which was today at 1:30pm, when the hospital had scheduled a knaffe (the cadillac of local desserts) party for us and all the hospital staff who wished to come, esp. the maintenance staff. We did it in local style, working up to the last minute to get the floors done, but wonder of wonders it all came together. And in the speeches that were given, it was obvious that the hospital leadership was sincerely grateful and amazed that we got it all done. They said to Bob that hopefully this kind of teamwork could happen every six months or every year. I responded that such a comment is like saying to a newly delivered mother, "hopefully you will do this again!"

To all of you who have been supporting us in prayers and thought, and financially, you would have been pleased to see the outcome, as we are. We have all learned alot about each other, from each other, and from the local staff. Elvin Weaver coordinated all very well, and the rest of us followed well, and the comment was made today that the other half of the building had been done by a local contractor, and it was clear to those in attendance that we did a better job.

Tomorrow we are told that there remain some jobs for us elsewhere, but the mountain is behind us, and we are headed to Jerusalem Sat. morning, but not until one last good day here.

Signed: Nancy Martin

March 19

Greeting Friends and Families,

The jobs at the nurses' residency were putting in screens, washing windows, washing and polishing floors and doing final touch-up with paint. Some masonry was repaired. While these jobs were being done, several of the women cut out fabric for new drapes for several flats.

After lunch we were given a tour of the construction of the new OR floor of the hospital. Tomorrow they will be pouring forty truck loads of cement on the roof. We also visited the unfinished basement of the nursing school where future plans call for an auditorium and social area.

This evening half of our group will be visiting and sharing a meal in Palestinian Arab homes. Then tomorrow evening the remainder of the group will do the same.

Thanks Lois Weaver for your blog and pictures.

Signing off for today.

Reported by Roy and Esther

I love Grandpa. I like butterflies. - Ezekiel

Briella loves Sears. - Briella (After a visit to the mall with Grandma, Briella came home and wrote SEARS on a paper and asked "Does this spell anything?)

JESUS. - Eriyona

love - briella

We just had supper together. Ezekiel is staying overnight. You guys are working hard! Good to see your progress. Lois

March 18, 2008

Hello Friends,

Work continues to go well. Painting, plumbing and wiring are nearly completed on the nurses' dorm and, hopefully we can finish with a full day of work tomorrow. The hospital is planning a celebration party for us on Thursday.

We will try to download a picture of hospital construction for Midge.

Beilers are enjoying the comments from their family members.

March 17

Hello every one
Daniel and Priscilla Fisher are doing fine.

Our group spent most of the time today painting which is now nearly finished and it is looking good. Much of the electrical work is nearly completed and Elvin informs us that tomorrow we will start on the plumbing.

During our evening meetings we have been reviewing the Biblical sites that we have visited. There are eight other volunteers (not from our group) that we are getting to know and we have invited them to join us in the evening. The four men (that do not have their wives here) have just left to get ice cream for the group. Wives, your husbands are longing for you but are
filling their needs by eating ice cream.

Chip and Jan, thanks for replying that you had a good trip. Chris is very glad for the painting clothes you gave to her.

Reported by Roy and Esther Wert

March 16, 2008

Saturday, March 14

After a week of work, we took Saturday to tour western Galilee by bus. We had beautiful weather. We visited the following places:

--Zippori, located in western lower Galilee, remains of a magnificent city dating to Roman, Byzantine and Crusader periods. From a fortress on a hill we saw snow capped Mt Herman.

--Ibelin, visited a large school started by Elias Chacour, who now is archbishop of the Greek Catholic Church. Elias's vision is to serve Christians, Jews and Muslims creating an atmosphere of understanding, reconciliation and hope.

After a huge and delicious noon meal, we went to Akko (Acre) on the Mediterranean Seacoast,

which is a journey into 5000 years of history. Excavations have revealed, "Many nations and religious movements have left their mark on Akko--the Canaanites, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Byzantine Empire, Crusaders, the Mamelukes through to the Turks and the British."

This is the second day we have had a wonderful Arab Christian, Joseph Abdalla, as our guide

and he will be our guide in the Jerusalem area.

Back at Nazareth in the evening we met with Gary and Ruth Denlinger who work in Haifa under Mennonite Mission Network. We said good-by to Jan and Chip who left our group at 1:30 a.m. to return to the States. Jan and Chip, we miss you already!

Palm Sunday, 16th

We walked down the narrow, steep streets to the Church of the Annunciation to view the Palm Sunday procession which included band music, persons carrying large palms and flags. The procession was concluded with bag pipe music as they entered the church. The narrow streets

were crowded with Arab Christians and the children were dressed beautifully carrying flowers and candles. After the procession entered the church, we walked one block to worship at Christ Church (Anglican), where we shared communion with the congregation.

Many churches have processions through the streets of Nazareth on Palm Sunday. As we climbed the hill to return to Nazareth Hospital, we met our guide, Joseph, as he marched in procession of the Greek Catholic Church. He stopped to introduce his family and to pose for pictures.

Some of our group are going to visit Upper Nazareth this afternoon and we will have a worship service at the hospital chapel this evening.

Thanks for your prayers as we feel supported by our friends and family back home.

Reported by Roy and Esther Wert

Friday March 14, 2008

Enjoying another day here in Nazareth! The work party continues to make progress. Painting trim, and ceilings. Installing new shutters. Patching wall defects. We hope to start painting the walls on Monday. Posted pictures include several on people working as well as a group photo from our visit to Nazareth Village. Will be touring northern Israel tomorrow. Looking forward to the next week and a half in Israel.

March 12, 2008...More Photos from Nazareth

Here are some photos from our first week in Nazareth. As we indicated yesterday, we have toured the Sea of Galilee region. We stayed at the Rosary Sisters B&B the first four nights, and are currently staying in flats on the hospital grounds. In addition to the work project, Chip Foderaro is working with a radiologist from Nazareth Hospital to help refine CAT Scan protocols.

Wednesday, March 12..Work Project Update

Our primary job is to remodel the nurse's dorms. The electricians were in before us to install wiring, and so they had to chisel plaster, and now we are patching the channel grooves and holes.

A lot of sanding has been done on the the walls and woodwork. Tile is being installed above the sinks in each of the rooms. Painting of outside railings is happening currently.

Electricians are installing the wires in the conduits that were channeled in previously. All walls need to be painted as well as woodwork and trim. We are also covering each door with Formica. We are also installing all the plumbing for the water lines that were stubbed in up above the roof, because the solar water heaters are on the roof.

All windows are being newly screened, and new roller shutters installed. An additional project is the constructing of 20 wooden beds.

My personal assessment is that we are on target for this 2 week project. Great weather!

Elvin Weaver, Project Coordinator

PS from blog poster: Elvin's requirement is ice cream every evening after supper (which we have been getting just down the street from the hospital!)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Our work project is really getting off the ground. Today we were able to accomplish more patch working and plastering of the walls, as well as sanding windows and doorways, and tiling above the counter tops. The ladies were kept busy sanding and painting the metal railing outside the Nurse's Dormitory. We are very grateful for beautiful weather. The sky is a beautiful blue today (it had recently been cloudy due to dust from the southern Negev Desert.) The temperatures have been in the 70's and low 80's...perfect weather. We have a beautiful huge red bud tree blooming right where we are working. It must be a very old tree, as it is a number of times larger than the red bud trees we have in Pa.
This past weekend we had some nice tours of Nazareth, the Nazareth Hospital, and the Sea of Galilee area. There is so much history here, it is hard to take it all in at times! You almost have to pinch yourself to believe that you are seeing and walking the same terrain that Jesus walked when He was here over 2000 years ago! Some of the highlights were the ruins of the large Roman city of Bet She'an, Capernaum, Mount of Beatitudes, Mount Tabor, Ein Harod, etc. etc. The Jezreel Valley is absolutely gorgeous, with all the beautiful, fertile farmland...it is a very deep green right now during the spring. Israel is behind on precipitation, so everyone is very concerned about the coming summer. It is amazing how diligent and adept they are at not wasting water. Their agricultural expertise and technology is very impressive!

Monday March 10

Having a wonderful day here in Nazareth, Israel. We moved this morning into our "flats" here on the grounds of the hospital. Enjoying wonderful weather. We started our work project, and it is going well. One member of the team indicated that we are off to a "running start". We have seen a number of historical sites here in the Nazareth area. Reading the Bible will never be the same for all of us. The passages come alive when you have actually seen the area where the events in Jesus's ministy took place. By the way, are all enjoying good health!

PS We have been having some computer "issues", that we have hopefully worked out. I hope you see more posting in the next number of days.

Safe Arrival

Dear Everyone,This is to let you know that we all arrived safely last evening in \nazareth about 6 pm...to very warm weather, that had just arrived that day! Thanks to each of you for your prayers...things went well, and you will hear the stories in due time.The rest of the group is off seeing the town of \nazareth today, while I am in meetings.More later.......Nancy Martin

Preparing

Enjoying a Saturday at home. Reviewing material and starting preparations for an exciting adventure. (I also wanted to see if I could post a photo with my blog entry). --chip (and jan)