October 8, 2020

Lee and I continue to care for the people in Jerusalem, but now from Washington state. I am still the Relief Society President of the Jerusalem Branch and Lee is the District Clerk.  Lee has meetings with Pres. Lifferth (who is in Utah) and the Branch Presidents in Israel.  I keep in touch through email and WhatsApp with the sisters in Jerusalem and Beersheva.  We have participated in District Relief Society meetings, held online, and in other meetings.  For those in Israel, it has been hard.  The whole country shut down because of Covid-19, and no meetings in person have been held since March, 2020.  The faculty and their families stayed in Jerusalem at the Center in hopes that students could come for Summer Term, but that did not happen, so the families left in July for t  he United States.  Other Americans left also, so for the Relief Society in Jerusalem there is just Heather Howell, who is the one active member and also the Jerusalem District Relief Society President. She ministers to the other sisters (3 of them) in the Jerusalem Branch.  Her husband is the Branch President of the Jerusalem Branch, so they have the weight of the whole branch on their shoulders. A new branch was also formed, which now includes women who had been members of the Jerusalem Branch.  This new branch, the Jordan River branch, is an online only branch and members are those who live far away from the nearest branch, or who because of their job or transportation cannot get to a branch meeting.  This is a great blessing for these members, who wanted to join with us, but could not.  While in Jerusalem, I had one sister use WhatsApp and I could use it to display the meetings to her.  She lives in East Jerusalem and cannot get in to Jerusalem, so now she is a member of the new branch, and that will be better for her.  It is an incredibly challenging time, since no one can meet in person with the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic devastation is real.  We are blessed to be able to keep in touch with these dear members through various online formats and I am grateful to know so many faithful women in Israel who are making the best of their circumstances.

Back in the USA

We spent March 17th during the day..finishing up packing, giving away all our food to Firas and the faculty families.  We had just bought a lot of meat a few days before we were told we had to leave early, so we had lots to share.  It was kind of a surreal time--leaving 5 months early, saying goodbye to the staff that we love, taking an N-95 face mask to Neomi, who met us in front of the Center, but had us put that and alcohol wipes on the ground for her to pick up--she stayed 15 feet away, so no hugs goodbye.  A couple days earlier, I had taken baked goods to all of the staff to thank them.  The Security, maintenance and house keeping staff were all so kind and generous.  There was no way to thank them enough.  Lee and I met with Eran (the director) to thank him for our 13 months there, and we gave him all of our shekels (1300) and asked him to give them to whomever could use the money.  We learned the next week, that the staff was cut down to 30% and then the next week to 15% (government required it so there weren't so many people in the building) and wished we had given him 50,000 shekels, as the need will be so great.

Did I  mention that just before this time, when I was studying 2 Nephi 32, I felt the Spirit focusing my attention on Pressing forward...with a brightness of hope.  I felt the Spirit very strongly and pondered on this scripture many times.This hope is really needed, as we left our dear sisters in Beersheva.  They cannot meet together, which gave them such strength.  Fortunately, they can join in an online meeting with Tel Aviv, but can't take the Sacrament.  These women are so faithful and remind me of the branches of the churches described by Paul in the New Testament.  The branch at Bethlehem is similar, but with fewer people.  We learned today (April 5) that Brent Allred, the branch president of Bethlehem was able to get money to Yolaunda, a member there, and she was getting groceries for a family there.

We had an excellent flight home.  Our seats were upgraded, so Lee had plenty of leg room and I slept better than I have ever slept--8 hours!  It was a 15 hour flight to San Francisco, so there was still lots of time to waste.  We landed at 6 AM in San Francisco.  The airport was nearly empty.  As if the COVID19 wasn't bad enough, we learned that SLC had an earthquake that morning and the airport was closed down, so many of the students couldn't fly back to SLC that day.  They had to spend the night and fly the next day.  We got on a flight to Seattle about 9 AM.  There were very few passengers, and we all spread out.  One person was coughing a lot and I worried that she was spreading COVID germs everywhere, but Lee and I have not gotten sick.

We spent a great week with Powells and then drove down to Nevada to spend 10 days with Salls.  We stopped to get luggage at Hales (they had been in Jerusalem with Lynne and  Lee's cousin, Ron, and ad brought 2 suitcases for us), spent the night with Grams and left the next day for Henderson Nevada.  We had a great 10 days there playing with the kids and helping Janet and Jeffrey with chores and date nights (take out food and dinner on Jeffrey's office roof).  Then we drove back to Grams's home for General Conference and for the rest of the month, most likely.  There is still a shelter in place order, so no one is going out except to walk for exercise or to do grocery shopping.  All non-essential businesses are closed.  Millions of people have lost jobs because their businesses were forced to close.  Even Toyota of Kirkland has fewer hours and had to lay off many people.  Luckily, Adam is still working, but reduced hours.  It's really hard to stay at home all day, but much easier for us than for families!  All schools are also closed.  The church has closed all Temples, all church meetings, and all missionaries have been sent home.  This is especially hard for the young missionaries, because they will have to see if/when they can return to their missions in the future. The prophet called for a world-wide fast last week and again this coming Good Friday. 

Today is General Conference.  It is a celebration of 200 years since the First Vision.  A new Proclamation on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was read by Pres. Nelson.  There is a new insignia for the church with replica of the Christus statue as part of it.  We had the Hosanna Shout today after the 1st Sunday session  It was so spirit filled--Hosanna to God and the Lamb.  Lee and I were with Grams in her family room, watching and participating.

March 16, 2020 Last "Upper Room" experience

March 17, 2020 Important pictures to save

March 16, 2020 Walking the Jerusalem Center grounds and Tzurim park before we leave

Tzurim Valley

March 16, 2020 Packing to leave

Packing to leave on March 17, 2020

March 16 2020 Scenes of beauty

Here are pictures taken around Jerusalem during our last week:

March 6, 2020 Lee playing the organ at the Jerusalem Center

I had a deeply moving experience while at Sacrament meeting in early March.  I felt the words, "You are so privileged to be here".  This was one of those experiences when you feel the Spirit giving truth.  Following the words was a feeling of gratitude and a sense that we might not be here much longer.  Later in the week I took a picture of Lee playing the organ.  I am writing this on March 14--on March 12th we were told that we had to go back to the United States because of the Coronavirus outbreak.  There will be no more tours or concerts here.  The students are leaving on March 28th.  Update:  The students found out on March 14th that they also had to leave on March 17th and 18th.  Everything in Israel is shut down--the students would not be allowed to go anywhere outside of the Center.  So in 2 days they finished their classes, flew home, and will take their finals online once they get back to USA. We feel so badly that they cannot finish their semester and that the staff at the Center will have their hours cut.  It has felt surreal as we've had to wrap our heads around the idea that we are leaving and will most likely never be back.

March 4, 2020 Women's lunch

The women in the Center and also Sydney Ludlow joined together for lunch to celebrate Krystal Pierce's birthday, which was the week before.  It was our last time together as a group.

Left side front to back:  Margaret Lifferth, Erin Belnap, Becky Kidd, Larissa Properzi, Sydney Ludlow

Right side front to back:   Jill Judd, Krystal Pierce, Kelly Carlson, Joyce Asay

February 25, 2020 Driving back to the Allenby crossing back into Israel

We only stayed at Petra for 3 hours because the torrents of water were getting so deep that the one place to enter and exit and we didn't want to get stuck there.  We were at a fairly high elevation and the rain turned to snow--a truly unique experience!  And eventually the fog was so thick, the driver had to slow way down because there was almost no visibility.  We were very glad he was driving!

February 25, 2020 Petra in the Rain

We knew there was rain in the forecast for Petra, so we brought warm clothes, umbrellas and a change of clothes.  But isn't was just rain--it was a deluge.  And because the rain fell down the mountain it collected in gullies and pretty soon we were walking in 8 inches of water (yes, we had even brought a change of shoes, luckily).  We were able to see a Petra that very few people get to see.  In addition, the hawkers had all left, so we weren't bothered by people trying to sell us things.  But we did feel badly for them because they left everything either open to the rain or covered with plastic.

February 24, 2020: The Treasury Light Show

We drove (we had a driver who was devout Muslim) into Petra too late to explore, but we decided to go to the Petra Treasury night show.  It was pretty hilarious--we walked in the dark with the only light being candles set in paper bags along the route.  We arrived and were invited to sit down on filthy rugs (which I did reluctantly), offered tea (which we declined) and then a young man played a one string instrument and played it.  Then the young man who was the spokesman gave a talk about peace, love and some other things that sounded more like the hippies in the 1960's than anything else--basically he had nothing to say.  Then TA-DA--they turn on 3 large lights that lit the Treasury in different colors.  That was it.  It was so funny and strange that we rather enjoyed it just for the experience of seeing what they thought was a great light show.

February 24, 2020 Madaba and Mount Nebo

Because the students were slated to go to Jordan during Easter week, we couldn't find an organ substitute, as they were all playing for their own congregations.  So Lee and I decided to take our own trip to Jordan--it ended up being quite an adventure.  Just getting across the border was scary.  The Coronavirus was just starting to be an issue and we saw a Japanese doctor be taken off the bus by the guards--and told to take his luggage.  We have no idea what happened to him but it was somewhat alarming to us.

We first went to Madaba Church of St. George to see the famous Madaba mosaics.  They were more faded than what you see in pictures, but thrilling to see.  We also went to another church that had beautiful views and a pole that showed the flying fiery serpents and it formed the shape of a cross.

The church of St. George with the Madaba Mosaic

The other church that also had incredible mosaics.  The sign said that on a clear day you could see the city of Jerusalem.

Note how on the right there is the pole with the fiery flying serpents that forms a cross.

 Incredible mosaics!