Tabernacle Newsletter July-December 2018
I am sending this newsletter earlier than December because I won’t be here. In mid December I will be traveling to see my family and celebrate with them; The King’s Birthday (most likely not His actual date of physical entry into our level of existence), the Gregorian New Year, and Dad’s 93rd birthday in January. There are a stack of other family events as well, all crowding into the beginning of 2019. The ticket is a gift from my family as they want me home for a visit.
The news regarding my work status is that I have been retired with an invalid pension. The Industrial Doctor and the doctors’ review board of National Insurance have all said my heart has not recovered enough to be able to sustain work in desert conditions and under such stress as I had been working. It is quite an adjustment as I loved giving the tours and sharing God’s word. I must admit, I don’t miss any of the other jobs I was doing out there. When I think of what I was coping with every day, I can’t understand how I survived on my own as long as I did. I can remember always asking the Holy Spirit to give me the energy and strength to carry on, and He did. It seems once I got help it was already too late for my heart.
I have learnt many things and am still learning. I had changed my diet and lost about 17kgs before the heart attack. Now I’m learning to adjust or fine tune my lifestyle, including letting go of ‘needing’ to be available for everyone.
I still need to earn money to live on, as pension is never enough to cover everything. So, as I can’t be an employee of the company that runs the Tabernacle (due to the doctors decision), I am now contracted to do their office work each month, from home, through my small business account. I can do office work but no heavy lifting and no extended periods outside in the heat. I am updating the Tabernacle website (as well as the berean site) so it will have more information and links and it will be reactive, which means it can be read from any size of electronic devise. Got to keep up with technology! These days with all the templates available it is really like playing with Lego. ‘Websites for dummies’ is just my style, but I do have great help from a friend of mine who is Eilat’s ‘Go to’ gal when it comes to computer programs, etc.
I am also printing hard copies of my Tabernacle book. I have a heat binding machine and folders with which I can make the books at home. Hopefully I can sell them at the Tabernacle and other places. The book is still available on line as a PDF for purchase for those who read on electronic devises, or you can download and print your own copy.
After my visit to family, I will start preparing a more detailed course on the Tabernacle, as I believe my time sharing God’s word is not over and I am free from always having to be watching out the window for visitors. I don’t know exactly how this will work but I will get everything prepared and see what doors God will open.
On the 12th of October I had a stress test and ultrasound of my heart so my cardiologist could make a decision if I can fly on such a long journey. He has given me permission, Praise the Lord.
The next Friday on 19th of October, I had to make a test flight! I had blood in my right eye suddenly a couple of times during Sukkot and had gone to the emergency doctor in Eilat. I didn’t trust his diagnosis so went and requested an appointment with the specialist from Tel Aviv when he next came to Eilat. This made the checkup about a month after the incident. As he checked my eye, the ophthalmologist’s first question to me was to ask if I had family in Tel Aviv! Long and the short; I had a tear in my retina and if it detached, I would loose my eyesight permanently.
Suddenly another emergency trip on a Friday when everything is closing down for the weekend. I flew by Arkia Airlines to TA, taxi to Ichilov Hospital; 5 hours waiting in emergency for lazer surgery. So, eye exam at 9.30am in Eilat and left the hospital in TA at 9.30pm, after lazer surgery.
I stayed with friends over night, and to top it off, my flight home on Sat at 5pm was delayed 1 hour and when we reached Eilat we had to turn around and fly back to Ben Gurion aiport because the Eilat runway was flooded from a flash storm! We finally came back and landed in Eilat at 00.20 on Sunday morning.
A very unexpected weekend and another miracle from the Lord that my eye stayed stable for a month until I got the treatment it needed.
I am so encouraged to experience God’s loving care in these 2 major health issues. Again, as with my heart attack, I experienced such peace that truly passes all understanding.
The same sudden storm that interrupted my travel, flooded the courtyard of the Tabernacle. Not as bad as 3 years ago as you can see in the video Ben took the next day (also in the video library on the website). 25th Oct 2015 was the big flood; now 20 Oct 2018 a smaller flood. We anchored the bases with rebar steel after the last flood, so this time they didn’t move.
We had a group of Danish young people already booked months ago to be here at this time. Once again God provided help at the exact time we needed it. At the moment there is a storm warning out for extreme flooding for 25-26th October. We are praying for protection for the Tabernacle. By the time I finish the newsletter, I can tell you what happened.
We had no more flooding but up North in Israel and in Jordan they had lots of water.
Jordan, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018. (AP/Raad Adayleh)
Flash floods unleashed by heavy rains swept away a group of middle school students and teachers visiting hot springs near the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea on Thursday, killing 18 and injuring 35 as the torrent carried some for several kilometers, Jordan said Thursday.
A child was killed by flooding in Israel northern Negev desert earlier in the day, Israeli rescue officials said.
In Jordan, a dramatic rescue operation involving helicopters and divers continued into the night. Israel’s military said it dispatched a search and rescue team at the request of Jordan’s government.
Eventually Ben will have to get help to replace the soil and order more sand to replace what was washed away.
In August I made some new shewbread using the salt dough recipe of 2:1.
So 2kgs of flour to 1kg of salt and add water to make a malleable dough. This made 4 breads; so altogether 6kgs of flour and 3kgs of salt, to make 12 breads.
About 6 years ago when Marco and I made the last batch of shewbread, it only took 2 weeks drying out in the desert. This time it took 3 weeks on a table in full sun with turning the breads every day before they dried enough to be baked.
Then Darya and I baked them and they are now waiting to be varnished and put on the table to replace the sorry-looking damaged bread that is there now.
Although I started early, they didn’t make it to the table before Rosh Hashanna as I hoped. So much is happening out there.
As for other work done at the Tabernacle. You can see in the photos that Ben finished the inside of the shack, including gluing on flooring panels and adding sturdy stairs to the door instead of rocky concrete blocks.
A group of Israeli young people came and helped paint the shack and clean around the Tabernacle and replace the ties for the courtyard curtain.
Also Ben took away the posts and rope so the Holy Place looks a lot nicer now.
The bottom pictures are a representation of what was in the pocket behind the Breastplate. The Urim and Thurmim. (No idea what they actually looked like! We just have a white stone for the Urim (lights) and a black for the Thurmim (judgements))
I have had the privilege of having friends, that I have gotten to know over the years of working out at the Tabernacle, come to visit. We have met up in town or at their hotel as I can’t give them a tour out there anymore.
Yet, because I was doing some driving of the guides out to work, I had the added surprise of meeting a wonderful group of Maori intercessors from my home country of New Zealand.
A few weeks ago I spent time with a group, also from New Zealand, led by a couple that I was in youth group with, many long years ago. It is such a blessing to still have contact from time to time with these leaders and groups.
In October I met a small group waiting for the rest of their tour group who climbed Mt.Timna, so I dropped them off at Solomon’s Pillars so they could do a mini tour of their own.
At the end of October, Darya, who came to help Ben, will be leaving after 5 months. She will be returning to the middle of the country to her family and a new direction as God opens the doors for her. She has been such a wonderful asset to the Tabernacle and a great help for Ben. We will miss her tremendously and pray she will continue to be a blessing wherever God leads her.
Olga, who was at the Tabernacle for a time during 2015-2016 (she was the one who wrote the Russian translation for the website) before she returned to the Ukraine, is coming to help Ben from the beginning of Nov until mid December. Her family has released her to come over here for that time. She is coming to stay with me so I am greatly looking forward to that. She is a strong prayer warrior and I have missed her. We of course keep in touch all the time via Whatsapp!!
Please pray with us for new workers to be trained and with a true heart for the message, to work with Ben. It really is way too busy for one person to be left alone out there ever again.
Blessings to you all and thanks for all your prayers on our behalf.
Alimae and the Tabernacle team.
