In the conversation with our host family last night, they mentioned favorites. They were married and had three children when they lived in Providence, RI, USA. They were both going to Brown University for their Ph.D.'s. In the class of one of their children, the teacher assigned a project where the child was to list all of his "favorites." Favorite color, favorite animal, favorite food, etc. Evidently in Jewish culture there are no such things as favorites. Their son was befuddled when he was continually pressured to make decisions about which items are his favorites. Eventually, he picked random things like green, "because green traffic lights mean you can go." I just thought it was interesting, and I can totally relate. Often people ask me what my favorite mission trip was. They all had their own qualities, I can't rightly place any above another. In each of them I learned different things. It's hard to rank the importance of those lessons. It's interesting how we're pressured to pick favorites as children. I remember my debate between green and purple. Green won. It still wins. Anyway. . .
I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the only Protestant church in Be'er Sheva, called Nachalat Yeshua (http://streamsinthenegev.com/). The pastor is a Messianic Jew from Virginia (USA). The service is translated via headset into three different languages: Russian (there are many Russian Jews in the church), English, and Spanish. I met some of the Spanish-speaking believers and had a wonderful (but brief) conversation with them. They are from Peru, and their entire family (5 children, 8 grandchildren) lives in Israel. I didn't get a chance to ask them what brought them to Israel, but I will hopefully get to see them next week. It was so invigorating speaking in Spanish :) It's really rusty, but we communicated well, I believe. I also met two other MSIH students who are 2nd or 3rd year students. Evidently there's a great community of believers within the school, and Bible studies and prayer meetings are pretty much held every night of the week. Also, we learned that a couple that is in the church (the husband is a 3rd year medical student) has the same host family as Laurel and I! That was exciting to learn, and I'm looking forward to them when they return from the USA in mid-August.
Bicycles are a huge blessing over here. That's how I get to church and anywhere else I go. I'm SO thankful that the guy I'm subleasing from said I could use his bike!
Also, it has been confirmed by Tohar and my host family that the word Cherec (pronounced kher-es) IS an ancient Hebrew word for "sun." Shemesh is the more common word used (in the Bible and today), so the girl I talked to before had never heard of it. Just a little tidbit! Also, make sure you do the throaty "h" sound when pronouncing it. A regular "h" sound makes it mean "destruction." That's a fun mistake.
The doves outside my window are very loud. Their coos sound like the long pipe toy we used to spin around as kids or like the sound of wind passing over a hole. It's kind of spooky sometimes. I don't mind doves, though :)
Well, that is my day so far! I hope you all are enjoying the lovely weather I've heard that the USA is having right now. Just so you know, it's cooler here :) A high of 86F (29C) today. Not bad, especially considering it's dry heat.
For those of you who were wondering, the "mizraakh" in the web address for my blog means "East."
להתראות
I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the only Protestant church in Be'er Sheva, called Nachalat Yeshua (http://streamsinthenegev.com/). The pastor is a Messianic Jew from Virginia (USA). The service is translated via headset into three different languages: Russian (there are many Russian Jews in the church), English, and Spanish. I met some of the Spanish-speaking believers and had a wonderful (but brief) conversation with them. They are from Peru, and their entire family (5 children, 8 grandchildren) lives in Israel. I didn't get a chance to ask them what brought them to Israel, but I will hopefully get to see them next week. It was so invigorating speaking in Spanish :) It's really rusty, but we communicated well, I believe. I also met two other MSIH students who are 2nd or 3rd year students. Evidently there's a great community of believers within the school, and Bible studies and prayer meetings are pretty much held every night of the week. Also, we learned that a couple that is in the church (the husband is a 3rd year medical student) has the same host family as Laurel and I! That was exciting to learn, and I'm looking forward to them when they return from the USA in mid-August.
Bicycles are a huge blessing over here. That's how I get to church and anywhere else I go. I'm SO thankful that the guy I'm subleasing from said I could use his bike!
Also, it has been confirmed by Tohar and my host family that the word Cherec (pronounced kher-es) IS an ancient Hebrew word for "sun." Shemesh is the more common word used (in the Bible and today), so the girl I talked to before had never heard of it. Just a little tidbit! Also, make sure you do the throaty "h" sound when pronouncing it. A regular "h" sound makes it mean "destruction." That's a fun mistake.
The doves outside my window are very loud. Their coos sound like the long pipe toy we used to spin around as kids or like the sound of wind passing over a hole. It's kind of spooky sometimes. I don't mind doves, though :)
Well, that is my day so far! I hope you all are enjoying the lovely weather I've heard that the USA is having right now. Just so you know, it's cooler here :) A high of 86F (29C) today. Not bad, especially considering it's dry heat.
For those of you who were wondering, the "mizraakh" in the web address for my blog means "East."
להתראות
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