The Biblical Zoo is special because they host all the animals that you can find in the Tanach (Old Testament)… and they even have a Noah’s Ark for the kids to come inside, watch a short film about the story of Noah, and of course buy ice cream and snacks. (I’m pretty sure Noah had to eat while he was on the ark, anyways)

Here are a few pics from our day… the whole collection can be found on our Shine facebook page:

~Click here to see the full collection~

Two weeks of Monday Night Basketball, and both times have been a success.  We split into two groups this past week, older and younger kids.  Scott and Cole, an awesome father and son combo, took the older kids and taught them passing and lay-up drills while the rest of us played with the younger ones.

Relationships are being built and the kids are having fun! Thanks for all the prayers!

A complete state of chaos and mess!

I can hear the workers in the next room speaking Russian to each other, mixed in with the sounds of hammers, scrapers, painting, and whatever else they are doing to finish the other rooms.  Its been a whirlwind of a week, to say the least. BUT, its coming together shway shway as we say in Arabic.  (slowly, slowly).

I moved in this past Sunday with the help of some friends from my congregation.  At that point NONE of the rooms were finished, so it was only my things that moved…. I stayed on the couch at my old place.  By Monday night, one of the rooms (and one toilet ) was completely finished, so I was able to camp out in there.  Tonight (Tuesday) they are working and we believe that everything should be finished late Wednesday night. (thats true faith there)

Its been interesting these past few days, talking with random people down here.  I have been asked by pretty much everyone the same question over and over again, tonight was no exception.  Alex, one of the workers, asked me what I’m doing here.  I get this a lot, so I start with my normal “Why I’m in Israel” speech to which he interrupts me and says, “No. Why are you HERE, here?” (referring to the area)  After I explained to him what I’m doing and why I decided to live here, he just looks at me and says, “you are a pioneer.”

It was a simple sentence, but one that really meant so much to me.  Even though I am NOT the first one to do such a thing, for him I was.  Leaving the comfort of my life in the quiet Ramat Gan, to dive into the madness and noise of South Tel Aviv… it was unheard of to him. I’m pretty sure he thought I am absolutely crazy, but then again there are moments when I think the same thing.

Pioneer.  This word keeps playing over and over again in my head, and as I look out my window to see the streets below filled with grime and filth, I can only wonder what my “prairie” will behold.

My very first (of many) trips out to the villages in the bush of Botswana was one I will never forget.  ’Till this day there is an image that will be forever engraved in my head, and it was this memory that I was taken back to.  I remember walking around the village, from hut to hut, when all of a sudden I noticed a little boy sitting in the sand munching on something. As I looked closer, I noticed that it was a bird… a dead bird… and he was eating it.  I was totally disgusted, but intrigued at the same time.  I mean, he was eating it like a kid would eat an ice cream cone. Feathers and all, that bird was this little boys “afternoon snack”. I would have taken a picture, but I think at that moment I was in shock.

Back to yesterday… when I looked up again I noticed that she was holding in her hands a bird.  Not just any bird, but a pigeon.  She was holding him by his wings pinned back so his feet were dangling.  I didn’t know what to do or say, so I just said, “What is THAT?”  She doesn’t really speak Hebrew well, so she just smiled and chuckled a bit.  I then decided to ask her if she was going to eat it, and she said, “Yes!” (Like, what else would she do with it?!?)

Once again, I was in a bit of shock.  First of all, this is Tel Aviv.  The city.  Not the bush of Africa, but the city.  I really couldn’t believe she had just captured this bird and was going to eat it.  My mind was racing.  I looked at Brent, and he just smiled.

After she and her bird left, we began discussing all the possibilities for that bird:  pigeon soup, fried pigeon, pigeon and rice…. etc.  I’m not sure how much meat is actually on a pigeon, but we had a few laughs with our lists.

There are moments in life which you will never forget, and that bind together with other moments.  This was one of those. I guess the saying is true for any place in the world… You can take the woman out of Africa, but you can’t take Africa out of the woman.

(and this time, I actually got a picture)

I’ve been spending time looking at places for the youth center, but to be quite honest its been torture.  I haven’t found one

single place that I would even consider, yet alone want to live in as well.  Today I even went inside a place with no floors… NO FLOORS!  There were just piles of dirt all around, and I’m talking about the 3rd floor no less.

After seeing this place, and being horrified by the thought of living there, it struck me…. There are thousands of people living there right now. Most of them are refugees and foreign workers, who can’t afford NOT to live in places without floors.  They do not have the luxury of saying ’NO’ when they are given a place like that.  And it humbled me.

This is why I must find a suitable place for the center.  I’m determined to make this place a beautiful respite for these kids…. a place to get away from what they experience day to day…. a place they can feel comfortable and at home in.

And though its frustrating and painful, looking and dump after dump, I have to keep on looking.  I have to believe that somewhere out there there IS a Needle in a Haystack!  I just need the endurance to find it.

The other day I was riding my bus to school in the morning and I saw a woman that comes to the Food Distribution each week.  I smiled and waved at her; she smiled and waved back, acknowledging my presence on the bus.

After a few stops people got off, so I went back and stood next to where she was sitting. We greeted each other and I asked her what she was doing all the way on the north side of the city.  She told me she found a job for the week, cleaning a house in Ramat Aviv.  I was so excited to hear she found some work, even if it was only for a week.  We then continued to converse in our broken Hebrew until we arrived at the University and I got off.

The funny thing, throughout the ride, was the way people were looking at us.  I can only image what we looked like: two very odd peas in a pod… one American girl and one Eritrean refugee speaking in a language that is neither their own.

But for me it was comfort.

Though the differences were clear and obvious to most, for me they didn’t exist on that ride:  There were no color differences…. no boundary or origin differences…. no language differences… no status differences….

There were only two friends… talking about life, family, jobs, etc. on a bus in the morning hours of the day.

And I jumped off that bus happy…..

Because, this is what makes everything else WORTH it all!

Off all the people who came we had 7 different countries represented: Eritrea, The Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Israel, Ethiopia and Turkey. There are so many AMAZING photos to choose from, and its difficult not to post them all, but I will just share a couple of my favorites:

(and I had to get a picture with this little guy and his mom!)

(to see the whole collection, click here)

Help-Portrait is a way to give back to the community via photo’s.  To make a long explanation short, photographers will be offering their services free of charge to those in need.  We will be creating portraits as keepsakes for families who might not be able to afford professional pictures at all.

How am I getting involved???? I have decided to put together Help-Portrait Tel Aviv for the Sudanese/Eritrean Refugees who I work with.  Most of them have NO pictures what-so-ever of themselves and their families… and this is an excellent opportunity to give them this gift for the holidays.  I have been recruiting like crazy: volunteers to help out on Friday to come and give of their time and services.  We will also be providing gifts for the children, cookies, coffee, tea etc. A time to let them know that we love them and value them.

How can you help???? I need your prayers on Friday!!! I have literally put this thing together in less than a week, and its starting to crunch down on me.  The weather is calling for rain, and that will just complicate it even more.  I want this to be a blessing to them, but also not a burden to us.

Take a look... Here is the promo video from Help-Portrait, giving a background on how this all started:

A few other links you might want to check out:

The official Help-Portrait Tel Aviv group website

The facebook event I created

Can’t wait to see some smiling faces!