Staff
Things at the house in Jerusalem have been tumultuous to say the least. Of the 10 full time workers who were here when I started only 1 remains. Apart from the founder himself there is only one person still working who has been on staff longer than me. In my time here firings, quitting, and leaving for other reasons have been nothing short of commonplace. Recently 2 board members left, a woman that co-founded this ministry quit, and the Jerusalem Coordinator announced their resignation which was effective last week. Surviving this transition has been tremendously stressful in its own right, but it has also forced us to take up a lot of extra slack, and rely heavily on short-term and new, potentially long-term volunteers. The work hasn’t slowed down a bit and this has required that on more than one occasion that I lead the Jerusalem staff in some capacity. My long coveted job description, which I finally received a couple months ago, is essentially null as we are forced to concentrate on only essential tasks.
Maddison
For those of you not in the know, Maddison, my girlfriend of a year and a half came out to volunteer with Shevet and support me in mid-July. Given that Maddison is one year away from a degree in Social Work, and intends to focus in the hospital setting, there could be no better match for her talents and the needs of this ministry. Indeed she has assimilated herself to the work with ease, and developed a report with the patients and hospital staff that has frankly made me envious. It has also been incredibly beneficial for me to have someone that is so concerned with my well being, and she has gone to great lengths to encourage me and take care of me when I have reached my end. Her friendship has also been a relief in this ministry which is now dominated by grey hair. Maddison expects to leave at the beginning of September to finish her degree, and begin her internship at a hospital in Southern California.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Finances
It was something like two months ago now that I first saw a doctor to figure out “what’s wrong with me,” some symptoms chronic, others new. Along with daily indigestion, food intolerances, hunger crashes and other problems I have encountered before, I began experiencing memory loss, lack of focus and concentration, and persistent exhaustion from doing even the simplest tasks. Long story short, after seeing a family care physician, a neurologist, having lots of blood work and other tests done, their best guess is that I have developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. If this is the case it is no doubt due in part to my responsibilities here. I say, ‘if this is the case’ because as of yet, I have not heard back from my insurance company who I need to reimburse the several hundred dollars I had to take out for the initial tests, so that I can move forward with further tests to reach a diagnosis and receive treatment.
After returning from my week off, I have done my best to daily leverage myself into a work load that is on the lighter side, as I haven’t yet had a return of the new symptoms. I doubt it will be possible for very long but I hope to find a manageable balance somehow.
Another financial burden has popped up as well in the form of student loans. Before I left for Israel I double and triple checked that I had all of my school loans accounted for and set them up to be automatically paid (and then had my resources at APU confirm my triple check, at least three times). Well, it turns out that all this effort was a catastrophic failure. In a packet of mail I received from my old home address in America a couple months ago were two bills from two different loan companies informing me that I was approximately 6 months past due on their loans. They had been sending the bills to my old home address and this was the first of them mailed to me here. All told I paid about $800 to get current on them, and I now have more than $100 in monthly expenses that I did not plan for when I raised support.
Vacation
When I could barely do anything without becoming exhausted, had my financial resources drained, and found myself perched precariously amid staff politics, I took a vacation for a week. It seems very counter intuitive in some ways and but I hope it makes complete sense in others. It wasn’t easy, I had been trying to get some time away for months, and I finally had an opportunity, and seized it. The trip was exhausting physically, but allowed me to recharge in the more important ways, emotionally and spiritually. It also allowed me time apart from the business to spend some quality time with Maddison.
Here is her update which recounts our ambitious journey, I'll try to upload photos soon:
8-20-09
WOW! What and AMAZING week I had! As I mentioned Justin and I were allowed a week off to travel. After a couple of weeks of trying to find travel buddies, we were getting discouraged when no one was able to come on this amazing trip we had planned. So finally after much prayer an consideration, our leaders at Shevet gave us the go ahead as long as we stayed in separate rooms.
So early Tuesday morning we were dropped off at Jerusalem Central Bus station, with our very detailed and ambitious week long itinerary, and only a backpack each! We took a bus to Eilat (the southern most point of Israel) and crossed into Egypt at the Taba border (we had already gotten our visas ahead of time) from their we went to the bus stop to take a bus to Cairo, and met up with 7 other young travelers waiting, who were already being haggled by taxi drivers, after getting a very good price and having a few laughs, we all decided to share a ride to Cairo.
We finally arrived exhausted in Cairo at 9pm, and luckily found our way on a metro to downtown where our hostel was. After making our way slowly through a crowded downtown Cairo we arrived at our hostel at 11pm, and crashed. The next morning we woke up bright and early determined to see Cairo in a day. We took a cab to the pyramids at Giza arriving at 8am, and they were breathtaking! We explored and took pictures, and finally rode on a camel to get a better view!
After the pyramids, we headed to the Museum and saw all of the amazing things in there, including the treasure of King Tut. We finished the night by getting some take out, and riding a felucca or sail boat on the Nile at sunset. After walking through the busy shops and streets, we headed back to our hostile to rest for more travel in the morning.
The next day, we headed to the bus station, and took a bus to Dahab, a beach city on the coast of the Red Sea on the Sinai. The travel took all day, and we arrived to our next hostel right on the beach! The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at our hostel’s restaurant, and laid on the pillows in the hut starring at the ocean waves. After a while we went snorkeling, and Justin (never having snorkeled before) was so surprised at the tropical fish and coral 5 feet into the water! That evening we went to a fancy open air restaurant on the ocean called Ali Baba, I got steak, and Justin was able to pick out the fish he wanted caught fresh that day!
You would think after that we would want to sleep, but we had bigger plans. At 11pm we went on an expedition through the hostile, and a group of 10 traveled 2 hours to the base of Mt. Sinai arriving at 1am. At this point we began the 3 hour hike up the mountain with hundreds of others! We stayed with our group and our guide, and made it up to the top. It was freezing cold until the sunrise, which lit up the entire area around the mountain. It was beautiful! After traveling back down in the heat, we visited St. Catherine’s monetary, and touched the burning bush!
After a 2 hour ride home, we arrived at our hostel at noon and slept almost completely through the next night! The next morning we woke up to travel again, we took a series of buses and taxis to get the Taba border, and then crossed back into Israel, only to continue to the Aqaba border and enter into Jordan! Finally we arrived in Aqaba Jordan and rested for the night, we even had McDonalds and never had we loved it so much! The next morning we took a short bus ride to the Wadi Rum visitor’s center, where we had prearranged an overnight tour of Wadi Rum and the Bedouin camps. We met up with a German couple, and convinced them to join us, lowering the price for all. We went on a bumpy jeep ride all through the Wadi, seeing the house of Lawrence of Arabia, and got our and climbed/hike everything we could, we climbed the great sand dune, and jumped over a bush, playing in the sand on the way down. That night, we all climbed to watch the sun set over the desert, and had a Bedouin dinner. We slept on mattresses under the millions of stars, and other than the mosquitoes it was phenomenal. The next morning, we headed on a bus for the ancient city of Petra!
Arriving in Petra, it is a mile long walk through a canyon to the city. Once through we were greeted with the massive Treasury carved into the mountain (as seen in Indiana Jones) it was breath taking (but that also could have been all the hiking we were doing) We spent the day exploring the old ruins of the city, stopping in the shade and talking for an hour with a teenaged Bedouin boy about his life, and trying not to die in the hot sun. A little girl no bigger than 6 was trying to sell me a rock necklace, and after talking with her for a little while, she mentioned that she liked my earrings and we made a trade! After riding on some donkeys and a horse or two we headed back to Aqaba for the night, and to Jerusalem the next day.
The morning we were heading back I got very sick, my insides were all messed up, I had bad back pain, and shortness of breath, and once we got to the house we realized I had a fever. As soon as we got back, I realized I would have little time or place to rest, the house was full or new people. A new family staying to volunteer, and Jonathon the head of the organization was replacing Alex at the house, as Alex would be moving on to other things, and new families were also staying at the house. Another Christian couple from Iraq was also staying at the house, literally every bed and room was taken by someone. There was no where to go to be alone, and we were also having a goodbye party for Alex. I tried to stay conscious through it, and then crashed for the night.
I slept most of today, and I am feeling a lot better now medicated. 3 of our most cherished children will be leaving us to Iraq tomorrow. Akram who has been hear nearly 7 months, Mohammed whose surgery I watched, and Hindereen. (all stories can be found in detail at Shevet.org) Tonight we nostalgically say goodbye, and there was a huge feast with desert and all. Sidra is home from the hospital and no brain damage was done, praise God.
This week will be a crazy one, please continue to pray for health for everyone hear, and safe travel and reunions for the kids leaving us. Pray for Justin, as Akram was one of his closest friends over his months here, and it will be had for him to say goodbye. A GREAT praise for my sister Emily. She had her second MRI, and was able to meet with the doctor immediately following, he said he was extremely encouraged that there has been zero growth in her tumor, and that means she will have another MRI in 2 months, and then again a few months after that. So continue to pray, but this is great news to give us all a little relief for the time being. Thank you for all of your prayers and support, and as always feel free to pass this on to whomever you would like!
In Him,
Maddie
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