Our new (and 4th) semester of students are here and they are a very cohesive and fun group. We are still trying to learn their 92 names.
Jon Schmidt (of the Piano Guys) was in Jerusalem with a large tour group and attended our Sabbath worship. Later in the evening, we walked over to Augusta Victoria for his piano concert. He used the old upright piano there (not a very impressive instrument). Despite the substandard piano, he put on a great show.
Sunday evening Jim played his organ recital at Augusta Victoria. Many of our students and the visiting BYU alumni group came. Jim invited anyone to come up to the loft while he played, and they really liked that! The acoustics in Augusta Victoria are magnificent.
Jim walked to Garden Tomb to meet up with Jack and Jeannie who were in town leading a group of 50. Cousins Dave and Satu Woodland and Susan and Shawn Garbett were with the group as well as Bay Area friends Michael and Sara Ellison. The Garden Tomb guide did a nice job. Everyone was able to go in the tomb.
The "Cool Couples" (the current name for the Welch, Rosen, Barker service couples) picked up Ophir Yarden, the student's Israeli culture teacher, and we went to the Yedidya Synagogue in West Jerusalem. It’s a “liberal orthodox” synagogue. Never got that quite straight! But we welcomed the sabbath with them. It was all in Hebrew, but we could follow along thanks to some kind Jewish helpers sitting beside us. A very thin veil separated the men and women in the synagogue unlike many more conservative synagogues. Definitely a liberal bent here. We loved reading the commentary in the English/Hebrew book they had. There is SO much history to absorb here, Christian, Jewish, Muslim.
Jack and Jeannie ended their tour (50 people) and joined us for Sabbath worship. The last few weeks have been mobbed with guests all wanting to sit in the Upper Auditorium for the church meetings. Some are greatly disappointed when they are sent to overflow rooms. We try hard to accommodate as many as we can (the room seats 345). The last few weeks, those in overflow come to the Auditorium after the meeting for some private time there as Jim continues 20 minutes of postlude music. Luckily for us, Jack and Jeannie were able to stay here at the Center for the week. It is so nice to be able to have family stay here! (Siblings, parents, and children can stay at the Center. That's all.)
We held our every semester student Music and Talent preview. We had about 15 numbers, lots of good musicians—piano, violin, recorder, voice, and even a poetry reading. Deanne, Patty, and I did our 6-hand piano “Le Secret” schtick number. All a hit!
As it turns out, Sundays are not the day of rest here :) We left with Jack and Jeannie at 9:30 and went to the British War Cemetery which is one of the loveliest spots in Jerusalem. Next, off to YMCA where we met up with 6 students. We took in the views, played the carillon, all 6 students tried the carillon out which was very fun. We walked the students over to Herod’s tombs. Courtesy of Fadi (CEO at the YMCA), the 4 adults enjoyed a quiche lunch on the YMCA patio. It was a perfect afternoon to be outside. Not too hot, not too cool. (These days are numbered!) Then off to the Knesset for their tour, but we had read the time wrong and got there too late. Security was not going to budge at all on letting us join the tour 10 minutes late. Instead, we went to Bible Lands museum across the street, which J&J really liked. Antiquities! In the evening, Jack gave the visiting law school students a lecture on the raising of Lazarus and legal terminology in John. To end the evening, there was a chamber music concert, a Beethoven string quartet and a Brahms clarinet quintet.
On Tuesday, Jeannie and Jack joined Jim on a trip to Augusta Victoria where he played the organ for them. Then they visited the Russian Church of Ascension, Russian Church of Mary Magdalene, Garden of Gethsemane, Church of the Agony, Grotto of St. Mary the Virgin, Grotto of Gethsemane, and an afternoon excursion with Jeannie to visit Bernard and Sylvie Thibaud at Maison d’Abraham. A lot of French speaking!
The 4 of us took the bus to Damascus Gate. We met up with Dave and Satu at Austrian Hospice. It's such a lovely place. Then Lithostratos at Sisters of Zion convent; Little Western Wall; Cotton Merchants; a visit with artist Udi (always a hit); Christian Quarter Road; lunch at a nice little place near St. Savior’s monastery (shawarma and falafel); and Shroud of Turin museum at Notre Dame of Jerusalem. Caught a bus back to the Center's lower gate.
Jim went to the Knesset with J&J and Dave Woodland the next day. The guide was good but not as fun as the guides the other two times. More church visits at St. George’s Cathedral and St. Stephen’s Basilica where Fr. Jorge Vargas let Jim play the organ, his first opportunity there.
Friday was our last day with Jack and Jeannie. The are leading a 10-day tour for just 6 people this time. First stop on the way to dropping them off in Tel Aviv was Abu Ghosh for the 12th century Crusader church with the beautiful flowers and grounds and the spring in the crypt. Then to Ein Kerem for visits to Church of St. John the Baptist, Mary’s Spring, and Church of the Visitation. As Jeannie read the Magnificat, she said that she could say the same things—that she has been blessed in so many ways. Then to Tel Aviv where we stopped briefly at Eretz Israel Museum so Jack could check it out for a possible stop with his group. Jim thought they’d go to the Shuq there (Carmel Market), but it was a beautiful sunny day and a holiday and the beach traffic was intense. Couldn’t find parking and they wove their way through a maze of alleys and young people partying at cafes. Was sort of fun, actually, but he gave up and took them to their Sheraton Hotel where the nice doorman let him park free for a couple of hours. They checked in and then they had the most delicious pizza at a Greek restaurant right on the beach. Mushroom, spinach and leeks, tomato and anchovy.
It was District Conference this past Sabbath. Our student choir sang a rousing “Rejoice, the Lord is King” by Dan Forrest . They nailed it—in 2 rehearsals. Jim played prelude music, joined by Mary Ellen Rosen (piano), Patty Barker, (“The Spirit of God” piano duet), and Sagit Zilberman playing “Kolob” on the soprano saxophone, super jazzy. Prelude music was the best show in town this week followed by an equally great meeting! David Seely, Mike Tilden, Jen Belknap, a Russian sister from Tel Aviv (Sister Ledneva), then Elder Alvin Meredith and his wife Jennifer. The Merediths are off to be President of BYU-Idaho. Later in the evening, Jim played a mini concert for the Merediths.
There was quite a bit of local activity this week for the Jerusalem Day holiday. Many people were out in the streets protesting/celebrating. No issues here at the JC luckily.
Nicholas called us Saturday morning saying a huge backhoe and excavator were digging up our back yard, after coming down through our neighbor's vacant lot next door to us. Nicholas sent us some videos. The hillside and cliff below us (not on our property) had started crumbling a few weeks ago from over-saturation and threatened the house below it. At the end of April when we were home, we observed people on our lower property and went down to talk with them and met Peter Evans (the homeowner) and a contractor. Peter said that they would be doing some terracing to try to stop the slide, but didn’t say how or when this would happen. So this action was all a surprise to us, since no one had notified us. Clearly a difficult situation for Peter, but now we have a huge dirt road on our property below the house. A good amount of the vegetation is gone... Wish us (and our neighbors below) luck.
