Nichols’ Family Blog
Upon sorting through some video files I encountered this clip that was shot in the beach town of Essaouria, Morocco back on June 13, 2007. Justin had tried to teach the little kids to slap beat while Dad played “This Train”. Fun!
Short and sweet.“The ants go marching one by one, Hurrah! Hurrah! The ants go marching one by one, Hurrah! Hurrah!” Mom sings as she empties and bleaches the cupboard for the hundredth and first time. Ants are everywhere! Little piles of them in the corners of the room show battles fought in the past. Their crowded into the bathroom and all over anything left out on the counter. One night when I was really hungry, I crept into the kitchen, found a pot of beans on the stove, and shoved some on my plate. After eating about half of the beans, I realized what I thought was spice was really, well… ANTS!
Mom and I went to the wailing wall or the Western Wall or the Kotel (however you like to call it). I walked up to the wall and saw many people weeping, wailing, praying, kissing it, writing prayers down on paper and folding them up carefully to put them in the deep crevices of the ancient wall which probably dates to about 30 B.C.. The Wall was filled (literally!) with prayers. Wow… Jesus probably walked right past this old city wall. Maybe he touched it! Other people were taking pictures as tourists, and some were reading from the Torah (our Old Testament). Some were praying some laughing and playing in a Jewish celebration. Jewish women were standing on chairs to peek over to the men’s side to try and join in on their party. I wonder what God thinks about that sacred wall.
One of several services that blessed 1000 plus people each time. This video composite merges a sample of the worship we heard. We couldn’t see the band this time, or even the empty tomb, and the video is simply from our perspective. What was amazing was to look around and see people from all over the world sharing in joyful confidence of the risen Jesus Christ.
Darth Vader mysteriously walks down Ben Yehuda Street. Jewish hippies with huge afros laugh at each others wigs and tie-dyed mohawks. It is Purim, a holiday that celebrates when the Jewish people where rescued from a guy named Haman who wanted to destroy the Jews. Go read Esther if you don’t know the story. Keep reading and you’ll find a video near the end of this post…
Playing soccer with Jews is much different then playing with Spaniards. The Jews actually tried to help each other, were careful not to foul each other, and well, (I hope I don’t seem rude) were much nicer than the young Spaniards I’ve played with over two years before moving to Israel. Also if they fell down, or got hurt, they wouldn’t roll around on the ground pretending to be so badly hurt that they could hardly play any more, they would just hop back up and take a foul shot.
On March 6, 2008, dozens of teenagers were studying in their school library in Jerusalem. Some were planning a celebration of Purim, the festival initiated in the book of Esther. Suddenly, a 25 year old Arab burst in spraying bullets from an AK-47 machine gun. Continue reading ‘Did we play soccer with those kids that were murdered?’