Scenic Sunday

Fog, mountain and trees along the Coquihalla Hwy. For more scenery around the world, see here

On My Way & Frugal Questions

Ahhhhh, I finally did something nice for myself in the last 24 hours. I had a deep conditioning hair treatment and trim last night. It felt good to see my hair swing luxuriously after a nice cut and it was sooooo soft. I haven't had a salon hair conditioning treatment for so long. I try very hard to live economically and frugally so I can send funds to Kenya. See here for the Missions of Hope a worthy mission in need of your support.

And today I broke down and got some spa treatments. I travel tomorrow and where I am going it is very dry. I decided to have a hydrating facial and paraffin treatments for the hands and feet. I haven't had a facial in about a year and half. That is really too long a period and my skin was quite clogged even though I wash religiously, exfoliate and don't wear facial make up.

I've never had a parrafin treatment for the feet before. Just once for my hands. It was a little tricky lying on a masseuse table with my face and eyes covered in gauze and a facial mask while the aesthetician is saying "stick your foot deep into the oil. put it in, put it in" and I couldn't see the darn thing!! The wax was also too hot but all in all when it was done it felt good to feel the smoothness of the skin after winter's dryness. I didn't get a pedicure this time although this is something I usually do get. All the treatments were part of a well priced spa package which also included a half hour massage. I got the lady to concentrate on my lower back and upper neck for the massage. Wow! I did not realize how tight my upper neck was. After the work was done, I felt a bit groggy and tired but in a nice way. I will sleep well tonight and travel tomorrow in a relaxed manner.

It feels nice to treat myself after a long period of self imposed austerity. If any of you are of the frugal mindset, I'd love to know whether you ever treat yourself to mani/pedis, body massage, facials and the like? If so, do you feel guilty doing it or do you consider it as something you do for your well being and health? Are there things you do in between to prolong the benefits of your facials, mani/pedis or hair treatments so that you don't have to go to the salon every month? I'd be interested in your tips and what you've learned for saving the precious hard earned dollars while at the same time looking well.

I will be traveling over the next week or so. If I have time before I leave, I will schedule a post or two to publish in my absence. Failing that I will post from my destination.

Here is a picture of where I'm going.


Stay well.

Moon Light

FULL MOON

One night as Dick lay fast asleep,
Into his drowsy eyes
A great still light began to creep
From out the silent skies.
It was the lovely moon's, for when
He raised his dreamy head,
Her surge of silver filled the pane
And streamed across his bed.
So, for a while, each gazed at each-
Dick and the solemn moon-
Till, climbing slowly on her way,
She vanished, and was gone.

By Walter de la Mare

Winner of the Giveaway

The names of the entrants to My First Giveaway were entered into a bowl.

The winner selected at random is

*Drum roll* please........

the Happy Sparrow in Australia.

I will be contacting her for the shipping address and I hope that the little one enjoys Sumi :-)
Thank you everyone for entering the giveaway. I had fun hosting it.

I hope you will take a few moments to read my posts on Haiti and Kenya.
Please don't be shy to leave comments too!

Note: I hope no one minds but I changed the cut off date by one day to have time to send the parcel before I go on my trip.

These are Kenya's Children

Some of you know that I have a friend in Kericho, Kenya who is a youth pastor. I am always trying to let others know of his work in the hopes that others would come along side him and help him with his ministry to the orphans and widows in his village and further abroad.

Since the January 2008 elections in Kenya there have been many more refugees added to the countryside. My friend and many of his colleagues go out and minister to these internally displaces people as they are enabled. You can read about his last visit to a refugee camp in the post below the photo. If you can help in this work, please let me know and I will give you the information you need. Otherwise you can pray for the people and their needs as well as the ministers and agencies who try to help. I know that many of you are focused on Haiti right now and that is a good thing. But at the same time, let us not forget about the many others who are also homeless and without food.

Hello friends,

I am sitting here and my mind is far away. I have been praying for those in Haiti and thinking about the sights and voices there that I see on the news.

Here in Kenya, I am thinking of those who are in the internally displaced people camps (IDPs). Their tents are torn and leaking. It is sad that we have a cruel world.

I am saddened more with the sight of the children, crying for help, and not knowing the dangers of over exposure to cold and bad weather. The worst thing is that they don't have enough clothes to cover them.

I also met Rachael who gave birth at the camp. We asked her how she got to her child without the services of a matron, and she said, the Lord was on her side. She appealed for help in terms of clothes and warm items to keep the baby warm as they live in the tent.

We need to stand out and pray for the hurting world. It is such a sad time for those in the IDP camps.

God Bless
Pastor Jonah

Gazing in Gastown

In my first giveaway which you can read about and enter here, several of you said you would like to see and know more about the city where I live. Lynne from Canberra said she would like to know what sights I would take her to if she came to visit. So here is my first post on the "touristy sights" of Vancouver. My home by the ocean.

If you were to fly in to Vancouver, stop into port on a cruise ship or stay at one of the downtown hotels, one of the key places you would likely visit is Gastown. I had to go there today as I was looking for a particular kind of Valentine's Day cards for my niece and I haven't been able to find them. Yesterday, I had one more recommendation as to where I might find these cards so off I went to Salmagundi's in Gastown. Unfortunately the shop didn't have the cards I was looking for but it made perfect sense to stop there as it was enroute to the St. Paul's Hospital where my cousin's daughter is having major heart surgery tomorrow morning. I wanted to stop in at the hospital and sit with my relatives for awhile before the big surgery event later this morning.

Here is the entrance into Gastown from the western side of this tourist area. You can see the pavers on the sidewalk, the Gaslight style street lamps and the cobblestone streets. This is one of the oldest parts of our city. It is a beautiful area with character buildings, tourist shops, interesting shopping experiences with both a local and a global flavour and some excellent restaurants. You will also find a wonderful collection of northwest coast art and other native handcrafts, as well as a lot of other uniquely Canadian creations. For example, you will find smoked salmon pate and lox as well as the world famous maple syrup and maple sugar candies.

Gastown was established in 1867, which is also the year of Canada's birth as a nation. This part of town is on the south side of what is called Burrard Inlet (see on the map below). In those days, this area was a wilderness with only a sawmill in the area and the mill owner did not permit any alcohol on the grounds.

One day a man named Jack Deighton came to town. His nickname was "Gassy Jack" because he loved to talk and could spin a lot of tales. He arrived with a barrel of whiskey and he promised the mill workers that he would serve them drinks if they would build him a saloon. It wasn't long before a saloon was built in the area. Thus Gastown was born.

[Click map to enlarge]

Just down the street from where the first photos are taken is a steam clock. It was first built and erected here in 1977 after the area underwent a revitalization. The clock was designed and built by Canadian Raymond Saunders. His clocks are also displayed in several other Canadian cities as well as Otaru, Japan and Indianapolis, Minnesota in the USA. The clock is a great tourist attraction in this part of the city. Visitors come from all around to watch the steam emitting from the clock; much like they flock to Prague's Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square.

Gastown has had a rough and tumble reputation and has gone through many incarnations. In 1886 Gastown was incorporated as the City of Vancouver, named after Captain George Vancouver, a British Explorer. Sadly, just a few months later a brush fire burned out of control and brought the city to ruins leaving all but 2 of it's buildings in ashes. In the 1920s and onward,Gastown prospered but when the Great Depression hit, the area fell on very hard times and the area became a skid row. In the 1960s a group of people saved the area from demolition and obliteration and it was reborn and recognized as a dedicated Heritage Site in the early 1970s.

In the photos below, you will see a small sample of the many tourist shops that sell memorabilia to remind visitors of Canada and their stop in Vancouver.

[A stuffed bear stands guard in the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

I hope you enjoyed your short tour of Gastown and that you will visit again soon.

Wings of Eagles

And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 11:12

Did you know that there are Jews in Ethiopia? I did not know that until the first time Israel flew black Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia to Israel many years ago in approximately 1984 . In that year, Operation Moses airlifted 15,000 Jews who had fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation and took them to Israel. Then in 1991, Operation Solomon, flew 20,000 Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia to Israel. There are still a few thousand Jews left in Ethiopia and they all want to return to their biblical homeland.

Today I watched a television fund-raising program with Rabbi Eckstein on this very issue. In the process of watching I learned more of these dear people and their desperate situation in Ethiopia.

As I watched I could not stop sobbing with a deep groaning for these people who for so long have been "lost" in Ethiopia. I literally could not stop even if I wanted to. The tears simply flowed.

The Ethiopian Jews have fled to the northern reaches of Ethiopia to escape persecution and death. In the north they live desperate lives of poverty and disease but they continue to practice their Jewish faith. These people are said to be the descendants of the lost tribe of Dan and though many have been returned to their biblical homeland, many others remain behind in Ethiopia.

I was deeply moved by the scenes of these Jews practicing their faith after generations of exile and their deeply held hope of getting home to Israel. Scenes of rescued Jews, dropping to the tarmac and kissing the ground once they landed was also very moving. The sadness and grief I shared over the heart wrenching goodbye scenes between friends and family members was very real. Not everyone gets to go to Israel from one family at the same time due to the lack of funds.

Many have waited a decade to be able to go to Israel. In that time, untold numbers of people have died due to sickness and disease aided by poverty. Once they say goodbye to their loved ones, they do not know when or if, they will ever see one another again. This kind of knowledge is simply overwhelming. Not just to me but more so to the people who must experience it.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) is working hard to raise funds for the repatriation of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. If you can help another Ethiopian Jew to return to Israel, to their biblical homeland, please do so. You can do so here and when you do, I am sure that God our Father sees you and is well pleased.

I leave you now with a story of one young man's return to his biblical homeland and his experiences in Israel. This excerpt comes from the IFCJ's website.

Naga: Returning from Exile

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Naga, 23, came to Israel with his parents from Gondar, Ethiopia. Despite the fact that there were few Jews in Gondar, his parents always stressed the importance of their faith. “My grandfather used to tell us stories about how our people were exiled from the land of our ancestors and that one day we would return,” he says.

In Ethiopia, Naga and his family faced much anti-Semitism. “People called us ‘strangers’ and ‘exiles’, and looked down upon us,” he says. “My father remembers during his childhood that people refused to drink from the same cup as him because he was Jewish.”

Because of this persecution, Naga says that Ethiopia never felt like home. He always dreamed of living in Israel – and, thanks to your support of On Wings of Eagles, that dream came true.

On Wings of Eagles not only funded aliyah (immigration to Israel) for Naga and his parents, it provided them with klitah (resettlement) assistance that helped them become full, productive citizens in their new home. Upon arrival, Naga and his parents were brought to live in an absorption center with other Ethiopian families. There are social activities as well as counselors who teach them how to use modern technology and integrate into Israeli society.

Naga is deeply grateful to The Fellowship’s On Wings of Eagles partners. “Coming back to Israel is something people have worked for their entire lives, and have even died for,“ he says. “I know that your donors are working hard so that every Jewish person can come home, and I am so grateful.”

There are still many Jews in Ethiopia and around the world like Naga who dream of one day coming to their biblical homeland, where they are free to worship as Jews. Please give to On Wings of Eagles today – and help that dream come true!