One Week of Volunteering Done!

June 21

Shalom everyone! I am officially finished a full week of volunteering at the hospital. The Jewish week is Sunday to Thursday and then the weekend is Friday and Saturday. Friday is their Shabbot which lasts until Saturday evening.

Today was a lot of fun cleaning the air conditioner filters. We got a whole bunch of work done before lunch. Actually, the funny thing that happened is the patients kept asking us to fix their temperature and if they were too cold we would ask them if they wanted it off. We later found out that the word “off” in Hebrew means chicken! After lunch Chris had to take Rachael to the ER because she was having an allergic reaction to her mosquito bites. (Don’t worry, she’s ok!) So, Matt, Kaytra and I went to the office to ask what we should do next. Eurim said he would go get the man who would tell us but they didn’t come back for a very long time! So by the time they got back they told us to just leave because we wouldn’t have enough time to get enough done! But it ended up ok because we got to know each other very well through questions and talking about all kinds of different topics. We also named the fish in the fish tank. We became good friends. There’s Steve, who always bullies Kevin. Methusala (I think…), Greg and Billy Bob. 

And while we were waiting, a worker at the hospital recorded me on his phone... I didn't realize it for a few minutes... I guess he thought my laugh was funny enough to record? Who knows! 

I love being able to talk to these people, even if it isn’t much. And smile. They are always so surprised when they see a smile. Even when I use the shower (which isn’t always the cleanest…) to wash, I love to sing and just spread joy to this place.

After the hospital, we went to the Kubbitz to for Gal’s birthday. He’s a friend from Kehila. We also celebrated Danielle and Rachael’s birthdays that are this weekend. We played volleyball (or tried to play…) and ate ice cream. We had lots of fun! We also got to hear Gal’s testimony which was absolutely amazing. It just reminds me how powerful and merciful our God is. He can change a person and the ways of his heart. A man who had a really hard past is now full of peace and love. It’s a wonderful thing.

We went back to the house after his testimony and all the men went to the men’s Bible study at Kehila (AKA sports night…) so the girls got to hang out. We went to the mall and I drank my first entire cup of coffee! With espresso! It was a Mocha Coffee so it had chocolate and milk and it was actually really good! I was so proud of myself. We also bought Gal a volleyball for all of us to sign that we’re going to give Gal tomorrow for his birthday.

We walked back to the house from the mall, it’s only about a 15 minute walk but it was a lot of fun! Rachael then video taped us all pretending to be a van and doing a U-Turn. (We do lots of U-Turns when we drive.) I was the driver, or Chris. With a really weird accent. And a coffee cup of course. We then continued to scream and “do a U-Turn” and there was a police officer standing at the corner who was staring at us like we were crazy! It was hilarious! Hopefully she’ll be posting the video!

Well, tonight’s going to be a shorter blog post because we’re watching Finding Nemo and I would like to get to bed before 1am to play softball tomorrow! (Or try anyway… hehe)

So goodnight! Lalatov! (Or something like that…)