Wednesday, January 13th

Today would be Nat's Dad's 88th birthday . . . here's to you, Louis!

Sunday night, we were invited to Dr. & Mrs. Wright's home here on campus for a student reception. Paul & Diane have lived here for several years, and their apartment is very nice with a panamoric view of Jerusalem. Diane baked a delicious assortment of goodies, and Paul gave a history of JUC, and how the current location came to sit on Mt. Zion following the six day war in 1967. Here is a link that has a brief video with the story . . . http://juc.edu/about/historylocation.asp

We are having so much fun getting to know these "short term" students who are here for a month's extension course with their individiual colleges back in the US and Australia. We're going to miss them when they leave in a couple of weeks. Then the regular semester students will return to campus for the spring. I'm sure we'll love them, too! We already love "Tibby"!!!

Monday, I tried my hand at converting my favorite meatloaf recipe (thank you Leslie) from six servings to 133! I just multiplied the ingredients by 20 . . . no problem! The photo says a lot! Justin & Mandy continue to be such a blessing! We also made potato salad. By all reports, we did good!

Beginning Tuesday morning, the students began leaving in three groups for a three day field trip including swimming (floating) in the Dead Sea. We're eager to hear all about it! Since our lunch number was down to 45 people, Nat made individual pita crust pizzas with various toppings. I practiced using the industrial mixer and food processor to make a HUGE batch of chocolate chip/walnut cookies . . . success! And since we're still learning the old oven's temps, Nat was happy to eat the few burned ones :) Yehye, Ronnie & Tamar were happy to have sweet treats in the kitchen, too!

Nat continues cleaning & repairing things around the old kitchen. He is spending a lot of time taking off layers of burned on grease from the gas burners on the large stove. Ronnie said, "But Nat, it has been on there since Moses was here!" He is always amazed when he returns each evening for the dinner shift to see what Nat has done! He's sure handy! And Yehye seems to be inspired by Nat's enthusiasm. He cleaned the outside of the stainless appliances today, smiling so big with our praise and appreciation!

We have learned that Yehye grew up here at JUC as a child, working on campus. We are told (and it is apparent) that he is a bit slow mentally. Yet Ronnie tells us that he is actually quite brilliant in certain areas. Yehye can be in the same room listening to a three-way conversation and afterward "replay" it word for word. Ronnie says he has an uncanny memory. Nat says he must be somewhat of an "idiot savant". I don't care for this terminology, but it is a correct Webster definition for such amazing cases. This may explain why he constantly talks. He speaks Arabic, so I don't know what he's saying. Perhaps he's repeating conversations? I'll ask kitchen manager William more about this. It's very possible that Yehye is the smartest person here!

Campus is quiet today, with no lunch or dinner since everyone's gone. It is cold & drizzly outside, so Nat worked out and I had successful Skype dates with Natalie and my two sisters. What a blessing!!! And yesterday I got in a text chat with Taryn, which included at least a quick look at Kenzley (the connection wasn't as good at that time). Now a quiet evening reading & posting . . . The forecast for tomorrow looks very pleasant for us to make the much anticipated trek to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane! Man, oh man . . .

Shalom y'all