Week in Review

Wow, over a week has gone by since I've posted. It doesn't seem like much has happened, but now looking back, it feels overwhelming to try and mention everything. I'll just mention a few things.

We did finally get our car running again! The day we got it back, the battery died, so it sat in our driveway until we could get a new one. We got that the next day and it wasn't a minute too soon because the car was due for an inspection 2 days later. Somehow it passed, so we're all set to drive now. We are having trouble with our transmission though and we are really praying that it doesn't go out on us. There's no telling how much that would cost! We did discover a blessing about gasoline. We've been here for close to 7 months, and this week was the first time we've had to pay for our own gas. The people working at the consulate here buy prepaid gas cards, and use those at the pump. When we first got here, a man that was leaving gave us a card that he couldn't use up, and the people we bought our car from gave us a few that they had also. We've been using those cards this whole time! The card is worth 1,000 shekels ($250), so from that we figured up that we were paying about $7 a gallon for gas. When we purchased a card on our own this week, we were pleased to discover that the diplomatic discount made the card only 500 shekels! So it turns out that we're only paying $3.50 a gallon.....much more "reasonable". The Lord always knows how to give a blessing!

I know that a couple of months ago we vowed not to go into the Old City again for a long time, but now we are eating those words. Of course, you can see from my last post that we made a recent visit, and then again today we were lured back inside. Today we only had to go to pick up a gift that I had being custom made. Our mission was to head straight there, and straight back out. This time of year is crazy with tourists, so we were really hoping that the crowds would make us easy to overlook by the vendors. Our hopes were dashed before we even stepped inside the walls. A man approached us with a map in his hands and stopped my husband to ask him something. The map made it look like he needed directions, so our kindhearted nature made us want to help. Bad idea. The man turned out to be a vendor who wanted to show us his shop. He lured us in by mentioning his handmade silk rugs (which we've been interesting in purchasing). They wanted way too much for the rug, but we did come out of there with some Armenian pottery and crystal; which my husband wanted for a change; not me. On our way home my husband said, "Have I mentioned lately how much I hate going there?" Too bad that I've already been promised a private tour for my birthday next month! Maybe our tour guide will be able to keep the vendors away.

Earlier this week we had a lovely time of fellowship with our church family. They wanted to surprise us with a very special meal. They said that it was something they very rarely make because it was so special. It turned out to be a lamb that they stuffed and slow cooked in a special oven for 2 days.


It was very good, and we had a wonderful time!

We're having another fellowship with our church family on New Year's Eve, so I'll post again soon with those details. It sounds like it will be a fun night!