We assemble the packages in our lunch room. Similar to playing musical chairs or doing a "cake walk", we walk around in a circle. First, you pick up an empty bag, then add the water bottle, the towelette, sunflower seeds, etc. etc. While you are walking back to where you started, you tie a knot in the care package and leave it on the table. Then you get another empty bag and start over. The 1000 packages were completed in less than two hours.
The older gentleman with his back to the camera is Shimon who comes to CFI 2 or 3 days a week just to see if he can help. Today his job was to have the plastic bags ready for each volunteer they walked by. Shimon had quite a history in Russia. One day he was showing me various photos of himself as a young man. He fought in World War II and was a German prisoner of war. After the war, Stalin sent all the POW's to Siberia because "they might be spies." Shimon showed me a letter to his mother from the Russian government stating that "he had been killed in action." After Stalin's death in 1953, Shimon was allowed to go home. For 11 years, Shimon's mother thought he was dead, then he was released from Siberia. Can you imagine? Shimon and his wife made aliyah in the mid-90's. Kay and I first met Shimon in 1998 just shortly after his wife passed away. After making aliyah, Shimon has come to know the Lord Jesus as his personal saviour. “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers. Jeremiah 16:14-15.
These are the reusable towelettes in a pouch.
The Word of God. A Book of Psalms, Tehellim in Hebrew, designed for your pocket or a small space in a backpack. So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11.
The completed packages go into larger bags for carrying. We only had 500 of the water bottles which is a very popular item. CFI buys directly from the Israeli Army Suppliers and the soldiers are very appreciative that someone cares. CFI does have a tremendous opportunity to show the love of the Lord Jesus. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:25
Frank and Karen are from Australia. They run the kitchen and cook for about 30 of us each day. It is a blessing to have a good, hot meal especially for me since I don't cook. Last week a soldier that had dropped by CFI joined us for lunch. When young soldiers of the IDF feel comfortable to "stop by and see the Christians", to me, we bring honor to the Lord Jesus. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 1st Peter 2:17.
Friday afternoon on my way to congregation which is just a few blocks away. I was the last one out the door and had to lock up. The photo below is from the front steps of CFI.
Right by the entry way.
Roses starting to bloom in our parking lot. I am the rose of Sharon, And the lily of the valleys. Song of Songs 2:1.
Below are the flowers along the wall by the drive-in gate. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land. Song of Songs 2:12.
An Israeli restaurant located behind CFI actually wanted to know who did our landscaping so they could call them. That is a being a good witness for Jerusalem.
I do like the orange flowers below.
Pansies by the walk-gate.
The congregation that I attend is currently meeting at Israel College of the Bible which is located at the corner of Ha Neviim and Strauss Streets. "Ha" is "the" and "Neviim" is "prophets". In English, the name would be The Prophets Street. A Hebrew Bible which commonly is referred to as the Old Testament, is divided into three sections: 1) Torah. The first five books of the Bible written by Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). 2) Neviim. Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. 3) Ketuvim which means "writings". Books of the Bible like Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, etc. In a Hebrew Bible, the words are the same, the books are the same, just arranged differently. The last book in a Hebrew Bible, also called a Tanach, is not Malachi, but II Chronicles. Tanach is an acronym from Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim.
On one corner of Ha Neviim and Strauss is the Bikur Cholim Hospital. Bikur Cholim is the oldest hospital in Jerusalem being 170 years old. It is the only hospital in the City Center. Much more modern hospitals like Hadassah are away from "downtown". These buildings made of stone last forever. There is no insulation. Once the stones get cold in the winter, they stay cold. Likewise in the summer. The apartment buildings are the same.
The emergency entrance to Bikur Cholim is adjacent to our congregation entrance.
The old church building which currently is part of Israel College of the Bible. Our congregation rents week by week to meet here.
The main entrance.
The photo with the stain glass did not turn out real well but if you zoom in, you will see the seven species that God described to Moses in various parts of the stained glass. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; Deuteronomy 8:7-9
Also, if you zoom in, you will see the words of a song during our praise and worship. The overhead has Hebrew on the right; an English transliteration on the left; and English words on the bottom. This particular song in the photo is a classic hymn, Living for Jesus. Only in Jerusalem can the entire congregation be singing Living for Jesus in Hebrew while one old man from Texas quietly sings the English portion.
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