Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Back Again, 2 Months To Go

God's timing is so good! I think He's trying to teach me something that I didn't know I needed to be taught. Okay, so after the chain mail incident, I headed off to the airport. I had been delayed for 1 day exactly. Everything went smoothly this time and the flight to Frankfurt was pleasant. I sat next to a really sweet Indian man who educated me a little on life in India. On the flight from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, I sat next to an awesome believer who was going to Ramallah, of all places. I told her that I live right next to Ramallah and then we began chatting. She's from Chicago & she'll be working in the West Bank for almost a month. We exchanged e-mail info & made tentative plans to meet up while she's here - maybe even this weekend. After we exited the plane, the moment that I had been wondering about for so long finally came. I approached the passport control booth and the girl took my passport and asked me one question: "How long do you want to stay?" That was it?! I told her I wanted to stay until June 15th and she stamped it. I couldn't believe how easy it was. Even when I came to Israel the first time and didn't have all the visas that I have now it wasn't that easy. I was astonished and I knew that God really wanted me back here. Why at this time exactly, I'm still not sure, but He's teaching me to trust His timing. I was very pleased to find that my luggage had made it onto the plane with me (the one day delay had me worried), not only because of my stuff, but I had 25 bags of Easter candy to give to the American volunteers for Easter. I would've been heartbroken if something had happened to that candy. I happily gathered my precious cargo and headed towards the exit. Wilma had told me that she & Erin didn't have the truck, so I needed to take a bus to Jerusalem and then maybe a taxi to the apartment. I had been silently wishing to God that someone would give me a ride home, and I hoped that the lady I met on the plane would offer to drop me off in East Jerusalem since it's next to Ramallah, but she didn't. And so, I stood in the arrivals section trying to figure out which way to go to get a bus. Then I heard "psst, psst" next to me - I glanced around and saw a man trying to say something to me in a low voice. I looked at him wondering what he wanted and then out of nowhere Wilma and Erin popped up from behind him and surprised me. I was so shocked and excited that I screamed. It must have scared the man because he just took off; I still don't know what he wanted - maybe he was going to offer me some mithril to wear. ;) But Wilma & Erin were there and now I wouldn't have to find a bus and pay 50 shekels to get to Jerusalem and then another 20 or 30 shekels for a taxi. And it was wonderful to see my roomies again!! Of course we talked non-stop all the way home and most of the evening. I heard a lot of frustrations with school in their stories and I was glad that I hadn't been here these past few months. That may sound terrible, but it's true. God's timing. He knew it was better for me to be at home with my family, and indeed it was. And I've been told by a couple of people that they thought my plane was delayed in coming back so that I would arrive at just the right time to get in, and that may very well be true. Erin came in on the exact same day and time a week before I did, and she didn't have any problems either. It seems as though Friday @ 3:00 p.m. is an anointed arrival time. :)
And so I'm back. I haven't been to school yet because I've been sick ever since the Frankfurt flight. My throat started hurting suddenly on the plane and it hasn't stopped since. I can't remember having this kind of throat pain since I had strep as a child - I should probably go to the doctor, but I'm trying to gargle the pain away first. The highlights of being back so far (besides seeing my friends again) are the sunrise Easter service at the Garden Tomb - yes, I said sunrise...I got up at 4:30!!, and passing out the Easter candy. It was delightful to see the smiles on everyone's faces! I may try to go to school tomorrow...it'll be nice to see the teachers and the students again.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Past 3 Months/Heading Back

As I'm sure anyone reading this knows, I've been in Georgia for the past 3 months. My dad and my grandpa have both had health issues which are hopefully now resolved, or at least on the mend. It has been quite an emotional roller coaster in many ways, but like I've already told so many of you, God's timing for everything has been spot on. And now it seems as though His timing is bringing me back to Jerusalem for the next 2 months to finish out the school year. As far as I can tell, I'll be a teacher's aide (which unfortunately probably means substitute) for the bulk of the time, and then take Wilma's class for the last 2 weeks of school because she's leaving early - again!! - this time for her granddaughter's graduation. (She always has some sort of good excuse to get out of school early!) ;) When I come back to Georgia in June, my plans are to begin fundraising to be able to live in Israel and work with Chrissie S. in the ministry of reconciliation between believers. I have never attempted to raise support before, so this is going to be something new for me.
I'm now heading back to Israel and this is the 2nd day of my journey. However, the actual travel hasn't even begun yet. I arrived at the airport yesterday and 30 minutes after we were supposed to depart, they informed us that there was a broken piece of equipment on the plane. The plane couldn't fly without it, so they were waiting for the replacement to come in around midnight. I was going to wait and fly then, but I found out that if I did, I would have a 13 hour layover in Frankfurt and then arrive in Tel Aviv at 3 A.M. It wouldn't have been easy or fun getting back to Palestine at 3 in the morning, so I took the hotel deal and now I'm back at the airport waiting to leave at 5:50 p.m. I've had a couple of interesting experiences within the last 24 hours, one that I'll call my "almost, but not quite, mithril experience." I was in the hotel elevator and there was a man showing chain mail clothing to a woman. Because I'm such an LOTR dork, I asked him what it was. He told me it would fit me. - ?? - I said that it reminded me of mithril in LOTR. "They say that mithril is the chain mail that feels like fabric," he said as he held a section of it out for me to feel. I couldn't see what type of garment it was, but it was really nice work. He asked me if I was "interested" & I told him I was just curious. I found out later that that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. He came up to me later as I was about to leave and told me that he makes his chain mail clothing by hand, link by link. He then told me that he's the best in the world - everyone who sees his work says so, and then came the clincher - he was part of a bondage wear/adult convention! Yikes. He makes the "clothing" for women to be photographed in; women such as dominatrix queens and Playboy playmates (he then proceeded to name names), and informed me that the sizes ranged from an A to a GG. And he doesn't sell any of his pieces - they are too special to him. So now I was a little uncomfortable. He unexpectedly started showing me pictures of his clothing, of course with models wearing the pieces, and by my reaction he knew I didn't care to see them. He continued to brag on his skills as a craftsman, "best in the world" was mentioned several times, and then he asked me if I was interested, meaning interested in posing in one of his pieces. I held back my inner reaction of disgust and appall, and politely told him no, and out of my embarrassment and discomfort I told him that I'm a missionary, and I'm not interested in that type of thing. It probably sounded a little haughty, which was not my intention, but it just came out. I told him that I only admired the craftsmanship aspect of his work. He then began educating me on the cause of the housing bubble dating back to Jimmy Carter -??, and then moved on to his high intelligence, his physical fitness, his age (57), and his single status. He admitted that he's not married because he likes to argue too much. And I haven't even left Atlanta yet...