Life in Israel | The Joy of This

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Turkey Day in Camel Country

Dear Friends,

Happy Turkey Day from Camel Country. We celebrated with family, guests and some new friends at the House of Peace in Jerusalem. Due to the seven hour time difference, our wine glasses probably went up around the same time as your first cup of coffee.

Thanksgiving dinner with the interns – we’re just so happy to have turkey!

Thanksgiving also marks our 2nd wedding anniversary. It feels like we’ve been married for only a moment and yet it also feels eternal because neither of us can remember what life was like before we had each other.

Can ya see how in love we are!?!

Significant news items since our last transmission…

Visas
We just confirmed that we have been approved for volunteer worker visas to be in the country–a one year visa renewable for up to five years. The Ministry of Interior recently raised the requirements for visa privileges and we have seen several requests denied to international believers doing long and short-term volunteer work here, so it is truly remarkable that we have the favor of God to be here.

Recording Studio Construction
I have been put in charge of managing the conversion of an industrial building space into a professional recording studio. We have an impressive budget for this and I am currently working out a design with an architect from the Netherlands to get the most out of the space. In addition to the specifics of building an acoustically correct studio space, I am dealing with foreign contractors regarding each aspect of construction and getting the space up to spec. We hope to be ready to open in early 2008. This is a huge undertaking. Pray for insight and endurance for me as I manage this project and help bring it to completion. While we have our initial resources for studio equipment, construction and the first year of rent, we are still fundraising and have the opportunity to purchase the space.

The outside of the studio space.

Inside view of the studio space

We’ve got our work cut out for us.

Work
Joy and I have come to Israel with a minimum of financial support ($350 a month at this point), which has been possible so far because we work for room and board at the House of Peace cleaning and doing regular upkeep, as we have many guests passing through this 6 bedroom 6 bathroom facility. We also lead worship for the House of Peace’s weekly service. Because we are not legally eligible to work here, we are praying/looking for projects that might generate income: graphics projects for Joy and when the studio is finished I will see some income from recording work. We want to be like Paul in that we intensely value marketplace ministry and are working towards becoming self sufficient. Yet even with that desire, we know that God keeps us dependent on Him for all our needs.

Two Bird Sky

We played our first show outside of a worship context this past weekend at a courtyard/club space in downtown Jerusalem for a mostly Israeli audience. The name of our band is Two Bird Sky. We played new songs Joy has written in the last year – four of which she has written since being in Israel . This is the beginning of connecting with locals through music and pray that it is used as an opportunity to form new relationships and draw these new friends to God’s love. Pray that God ignites us and our gifts to touch lives and continues to open doors in Israel’s artistic arenas.

With love and grateful hearts for you,
Peter and Joy Kusek
ps. be sure to check out more fun pictures below!

Shabbat dinner with the interns at our home.

Peter in the Arab quarter of the old city.

Delicious sweet potato quiche that Joy made – check out the link for the recipe! http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/2320/sweet+potato+caramelised+onion+quiche

Joy made Challah bread for our Shabbat dinner!

Here we are with our friends Seth and Alisha Williams visiting from the states, we took them hiking in the wilds of Ein Gedi – David hid from Saul and his 4,000 men in the cool crags of this oasis on the western shore of the Dead Sea.

One of the beautiful natural springs that we enjoyed on our hike.

Keep going!

Hanging on!

We saw conies or hyraxes on the hike – Provers 30:26 speaks of these rock dwelling animals. Aren’t they cute!? That’s the Dead Sea behind them.

Check out the view. We climbed all the way up this! WHEW!

On the way down!

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Categories Faith, Life in Israel

Desperate to Heal

26 Nov

It’s Thanksgiving afternoon and I’m sitting in the kitchen with a nice hot cup of coffee in one had and my laptop perched on my crossed legs. Mom and a close friend are peeling carrots for a very delicious carrot salad – the turkey is in the oven, smelling delicious already. In about 3 hours our house will be buzzing with over 20 guests; friends and friends of friends who need a home to come to for Thanksgiving – and ours is always open. Jesus knew the value of hospitality, and I’m learning about His continually open heart through having a continually open home. It’s not always easy, but I feel I’m slowly learning what it means to “count it all joy.”

In the middle of October I started experiencing crippling pain in my jaw. I couldn’t open my mouth to sing without feeling like a needle was twisting in the left side of my mouth. After going to the doctor and learning that I did not have TMJ (thank-God) he informed me that I was under great stress which had allowed infection to grow near my impacted wisdom tooth and in light of that needed to be removed ASAP. The insurance agency called me a week later and gave me the address of a dentist to see.

A few hours later I arrive at a small dentist office. I greet the receptionist hoping she might speak English, but I’m out of luck, no English. So she directs me to wait, I wonder if I’ll fill out forms or what I do, or how long I’ll wait, or what they might do to my tooth, or how would I tell them what was wrong. Just then a large Russian woman comes out to greet me. Apparently she’s my dentist. She directs me to a small room with seemingly dirty appliances. I cringe, but take a deep breath, and think about God’s peace like a warm coat wrapped around me. In very broken English she asks me where I hurt, I say, my jaw. She takes a quick x-ray of my jaw and then tells me, “we will pull your tooth.” “Now?” I ask with trepidation. She nods her head and starts pulling our her dental tools for the procedure. She tells me to relax and she holds the needles up in the air. Is she joking? I can barely breathe, let alone relax. But then I think about the pain I’ve been in for the last two weeks and I shut my eyes and start to breathe slowly, thinking that the momentary pain of having my tooth pulled is really small compared to what I‘ve been living with the last month. She leaves the room and says she’ll be back in ten minutes. I wait, I feel the Novocain tingling my mouth. While she’s gone my imaginations starts to run amuck. My dentist didn’t explain how she would pull my tooth, I’ve never had my tooth pulled, I’m dramatic as it is, so you can imagine the dark story that was playing out in my head. I put my hands in my pocket to keep them from noticeably shaking. Just then my dentist came in. At this point I shut my eyes, after some poking and prodding, asking me if I can feel this or that, she pulls my wisdom tooth out. I hear the most ungodly noise, it’s the tooth being ripped from the jaw bone, it’s over in about 15 seconds. My dentist informs me that I can open my eyes now. After a very brief explanation of how to treat my mouth I’m out the door.

Outside, I giggle to myself in relief and in silly embarrassment for how childish I was. And then I wonder how desperate we are as humans to avoid pain. Sometimes the fear of the pain is worse than the actuality of the pain. How long do we live with issues of often intolerable hurt in our life because the fear of dealing with the root of it is greater than the pain itself? I asked myself these questions that day, and I continue to ask them. God touch the root of pain in my heart, I don’t want to live with hurt in my life. I want to be whole and healthy. I want a heart that’s not afraid of healing.

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Categories Deeper Musings, Faith, Life in Israel, Me and Myself

Graceland to Abu Gosh

22 Oct

Dear Framily (friends fused with family),

We’ve approached the 2 month mark here in Israel. Although Joy and I both worked close to full-time when we lived in Austin, we seem to be working even more than that now. And while the opportunities to do worship/ministry in Austin were about once a month, now we have to intensely manage our time and discern what we will say no to, as we are under a continuous barrage of opportunities. Personal time is at a premium. There are moments that I feel like Joy is my coworker more than my wife and whenever we sense that, we make space to reconnect. Thankfully, we work alongside people that understand Jerusalem’s spiritual dynamic and it’s capacity to drain you and fully respect taking care of yourself in the midst of life in Israel. I could joke about it being that “beautiful place to visit, but I would never want to live there,” but it wouldn’t be true. It is a remarkable privilege to serve here. It is hands down the most stimulating, demanding, complex and rewarding place I have ever lived in for any amount of time.

Our home, The House of Peace – top two levels.

View from our balcony.

The food grows better here – check our the world’s longest green bean, ever.

Staying Connected
One of the ways we get our spiritual food is via downloaded sermons (thanks to FBC Austin for making them so accessible). It’s tremendous to be able to stay connected to the church family that sent us out and to be receiving the Word of God.

Transformation
Our worship watches have been tremendous. We do 3-4 per week and they are always two hours in length. It allows us to use music as a spiritual meditation and gives us the time to explore the depths of this experience. There is an aspect of this that is transformational: as we further dwell on the knowledge of who God is (as contained in the great hymns and choruses) these songs take on life and become a vehicle of expression and connection that allow us to touch God and allow Him to touch us in a way that is special and unique. It is in a congregational setting made up mostly of pilgrims and almost always leads into prayers for the people of this land, both Arabs and Israelis. What a privilege we have to do this here, within view of the original Mt Zion. I’m also discovering that I may be the only steel guitar player in this entire land.

Internship
Through November we have taken on the additional responsibility of co-leading an internship program comprising 10 students from USA and Europe. They are here short term to participate in and experientially gain a deeper understanding of worship and prayer as they connect with the Land of the Messiah. We do community life together, sharing meals, bible study and prayer in the midst of excursions that deepen our sense of connection with the roots of our faith. Last week we took the interns to Nazareth to meet an Arab Christian woman who is strong leader in her community and teaches on the power of prayer. We also toured Nazareth Village, a recreation of Nazareth during the time of Jesus. This village, run by local Christian Arabs is a beautiful depiction of village life in the time of the Jesus, our tour guide brought the parables of Jesus alive to us by showing how relevant they were to the culture Jesus was raised in. It is supremely cool to be able to go from a story in the bible into the physical environment that it took place in. There is obviously life and substance in the “stories” themselves, but they cease to be in the abstract once you get the missing piece(s). This place is nothing but missing pieces.

Succat Hallel interns and staff at Nazareth Village – a recreation of Nazareth during the time of Jesus.

Joy learning the art of spinning wool at Nazareth Village.

A four hundred year old olive tree saved from being chopped down, transplanted in Nazareth Village.

Green olives picked off an olive tree in Nazareth Village.

Elvis in Abu Gosh?

Going to Graceland and Sun Studios in Memphis was a sort of light preparation for here. You have the King and then you have the King of Kings. I think that maybe they knew each other. Elvis’ hymns give that impression, although he was a troubled soul. I was struck with how strange it was that I was writing this to you when I ran across The Elvis Inn Jerusalem at Abu Gosh, so I had to include a picture.

On Friday, we had our bi-annual staff day in the Arab village of Abu Gosh at The Church of Notre Dame de l’Arche d’Alliance (Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant). Abu Gosh, which sits outside of Jerusalem, was first settled over 6,000 years ago. In biblical times, it was known as Kiryat Ye’arim, and was a ceremonial center where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. Today, Abu Ghosh is held up as a model of Israeli-Arab peaceful coexistence. Joy and I met a gracious Arab couple, Abdalla and Naamati who run a guest house in Abu Gosh called “The Peace House” (sounds familiar doesn’t it?). Their vision is to forge relationships over food, so as often as they can, they open their home, invite Jews, Arabs and Christians alike in for a feast. They hope that in the “breaking of bread” relationships would be formed and stereotypes would be left behind. Please pray that God would continue to bless and provide for this family and the work of peace that they do.

Abdalla, Naamati and their daughter.

Amy, a Succat Hallel intern, and Joy enjoying the staff day together at Abu Gosh.

Recording Studio Update
Joy and I learned shortly after we arrived that the original studio plans had been delayed, (which Joy mentioned in our letter to you last month). Initially, Succat Hallel was looking at having free access to a studio located in the Judean Mountains 45 minutes outside of Jerusalem, this studio was located in the basement of a small apartment that was in use by local believers. In retrospect, we should have been more aware that a studio so far outside of Jerusalem can present multiple challenges. Also the home above the studio limited the use and hours that instruments can be played because of volume constraints. In light of these issues, and a few others, we felt we needed to reconsider using that particular studio. “So now what?” We all asked ourselves. Our planning team wasn’t sure what was next, but after some time in prayer and brainstorming we felt that we should attempt to build our own studio from the ground up right here in the center of Jerusalem. This would present a greater challenge for us, the money for this type of endeavor can make your head spin, but we felt that if this was truly something from God He would provide it for us. As of two weeks ago, the entire financial support needed for this project came in. We were all amazed and grateful for God’s quick provision and answer to prayer. I know many of you prayed with us and we want to thank you for your faithful prayers.

We are now in the process of finalizing our list of the basic equipment necessary to establish a professional studio and are actively looking for a commercial space for it. It is expensive and difficult acquiring gear that is very easy to come by in the States, but we are finding our way towards creative and prudent solutions for our studio needs. I’m working with a producer who has produced multiple albums in the worship genre and is well known for helping pioneer the 24 hour a day 7 day a week worship/prayer movement that started in Kansas City, Missouri. This last year he coordinated an international youth conference in Jerusalem called One Thing that was attended by both Arab and Jewish believers. It is very encouraging to be working alongside someone with his gifts and experience and he and his family have become our good friends.

By the time the internship is over in December, the studio is expected to be up and running. Pray that we find the right space for it, as Jerusalem is hard to get commercial space in. However, we trust God that He will guide us in finding the location for the studio, just as He so faithfully provided the funds it .

Also, please pray that Joy and I balance our spiritual output with spiritual input, and for continued health and safety. We send our love and sincerest thanks to each of you!

With much love,
Peter and Joy Kusek

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Categories Faith, Life in Israel

Brining in the Jewish New Year

15 Sep

Israeli Life

One month has passed since we arrived. Daily living seems to present greater challenges here than back home in Austin. For instance, when I first started shopping at the grocery store, before I would even get in the door, the security guard would stop me to check my purse, which is rather large, initially this took some time, but now he knows me, we greet each other and I breeze right in. The small aisles of the grocery store are packed with all sorts of local and imported food. The neighborhood we live in, G’vat Hananyah (Hill of the Gift of God) is strongly international, with a fair share of UN officials mixed in with American Expatriates. G’vat Hananyah, neighborly sits next to Abu Tor, (Father of the Bull) an Arab village, so when walking through the aisles of “Super Deal” it’s common to hear Arabic, Hebrew, English, and French floating all around you (just to mention a few). Somehow, I’ve managed to speak to just about everyone there since I’m trying my best to figure out if I’m buying yogurt, cottage cheese, or sour cream. I’m asking lots of complete strangers questions and trying my best to appear well educated in the midst of smiling and saying, “do you know if this is yogurt?” You see, after a week of using salt in my dishwasher thinking it was detergent I’ve decided it’s best not to leave room for error when I’m not certain of what I’m buying.

Succat Hallel Life
Peter and I have begun some of our responsibilities with Succat Hallel. At present we lead worship on Tuesdays from 10am-noon – which is more of a congregational set with songs that are familiar to those that are gathered – no question by the end of that set, my fingers are aching. I’m still gaining endurance for such extended times of playing. Every other Saturday night Peter and I get the chance to lead worship from 9-11pm – which is our “creative set.” This is more of a time for meditation with a wider space for creative expression and spoken prayers. We’re grateful for the liberty to delve deeper in artistic expression and have it embraced as authentic worship. After all, isn’t God the author of our creativity?

Succat Hallel also offers a three month internship for young people interested in the work here and understanding the significance of prayer for/in this region. Peter and I were asked to help lead the internship. We have 10 interns, one from Switzerland, one from Finland, another from Australia; the others are Americans. Six of the interns are talented musicians and will be available to help lead the prayer/worship vigils. As you can imagine, sustaining 24 hours of prayer and worship every day of the week requires a lot of volunteers, so were are grateful for their help.

We plan to take our Hebrew language courses after the Internship when greater space in the day will be available. Although Peter already has the alphabet down and is beginning to read Hebrew words. Yay for him, my Hebrew growth has been mainly in the area of learning new Hebrew songs, guess my brain is wired to learn through music (like a lot of us.)

Keep praying about the recording studio, since Peter and I have arrived we’ve learned of some technical difficulties, which are delaying the onset of the recording projects. Of course, this is all part of life here and not without surprise. However, Peter and I are quite eager to begin to invest ourselves in this opportunity.

House of Peace Life
My parents arrived in Israel two days ago and we are seriously glad to have them back. We had no idea what taking care of a house this size really meant. In the last three weeks Peter and I have hosted over 11 guests. Having guests in your home brings with it a lot of challenges, washing endless amounts of sheets and towels (no big American washing machines here), cleaning all six bathrooms, constantly sweeping the stone floors – lets not talk about the dust that’s in this country, cooking food, and keeping conversation flowing. However in light of that, we’ve seen God’s face shown to us through the those that we’ve met, and like Abraham entertaining strangers, we’ve received more than we’ve been given.

The Jewish New Year
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year began Wednesday night, in Jewish culture, the day begins at sundown, which is why I say Wednesday night. We were invited to dinner with some close Israeli friends who live in a suburb of Jerusalem. It was our first time taking part in a Rosh Hashanah meal, which was all in Hebrew – thanks to Abby for translating for us. It was really beautiful to share this evening with friends. I’ve included pictures, to help you get a sense of the night.

This is at Youval and Valarie’s house, all their family is gathered around taking care of last minute details.