First Day Volunteering

Before I begin, I just have to say, driving in Israel is insane. I would seriously be afraid for my life if I ever drove here. Man. They make their own rules over here.

Anyway, today we got up bright and early and left around 7:45 to go to Kaplan Hospital to start our volunteer work! It was awesome. We started the day with orientation and then went to breakfast. An Israeli breakfast literally consists of bread and jam, a hard boiled egg, tomatoes and cucumbers. It was different, but it was actually kind of refreshing! Everything was fresh and really good!

After breakfast we started our jobs. There were some people in the kitchen, oncology, filing, cleaning, ummm... I forget what else! I was on the air conditioning team with Chris, Kaytra, and Matt. We teamed up with a man named Beibier and he showed us the works. Basically, I take out all the filters and hose them down! It's actually kinda enjoyable.

The work ethic here is definitely more laid back here than in America. Biebier took us to his little room and offered us refreshments and we made us sit down and watch Jimmy Kimmel while Chris and Matt finished their coffee. He kept saying, "Slowly, slowly! Take your time!" It was so different from the fast paced way of American work!

Cleaning the air conditioners was great, but I thought one of the best things was not even part of that job. As we walk from place to place, I can't help but have a giant smile on my face and tell everyone "Shalom!" And when I get a smile back, it just brightens up my day. I love it!

For lunch I had some breaded chicken and rice. It's funny because they have to use blue trays for breakfast and red trays for lunch. Like, it's hard core. It's a way to help them keep kosher and keep the dairy separate from the meats. So, we worked until about 2:30 and then headed back to the house. We had about an hour or two to freshen up and then we went to Joppa for dinner! We had pita of course with this really good stuff that I don't remember what it is called! We had chicken and beef kabobs with a side of lamb with lemonade, hot tea and a pistachio honey pastry! Yum!

Joppa is absolutely beautiful. And has so much history! (As does so many places here...) This is where Jonah fled from, and where Dorcas was raised from the dead. It's so amazing that I'm standing on these grounds. It's just so hard to believe I'm in Israel still!! Anyway, during devotions, Chris and Bruce asked us questions to really make us think. We talked about the story of Jonah in a bit more depth and asked us the questions "What are we running away from in our own lives?" and "Are we prepared to have compassion for people we don't necessarily like?"

Wow. Those are pretty tough questions to think through. I mean, sometimes we think down on Jonah as if, if we were in his shoes we for sure would have obeyed God. But think about it. Think of the worst person you can imagine. A murderer. A rapist. Sometimes, we have the attitude that those people don't deserve Jesus. But guess what. God loves them! They don't deserve Jesus just like WE don't deserve Jesus. But that's not the point. The point is that God loves us ALL. And that means we need to have compassion for them all as well. Jesus died for all of us. And that means all.

What am I running away from? Honestly, I'm running away from His control. I want to have a relationship with Him as my Friend, but I don't want Him as my Father. Sometimes it's hard to just TRUST that He has the right plan for me, even though I KNOW that He does. It takes a lot of prayer and reading God’s Word. But I know that it’s a process and I know that if I just stop running and instead embrace the plan that God has for me, that will make my life joyous. That is what will make my life complete.

In order to share God’s love, I have to be IN God’s love. I have to be engulfed with His love. Live in His love in every aspect of my life.