February 20, 2006...
I was so excited, two guys, one that i knew already from my previous trip were supposed to wait for me at the airport. I got there and met them and took the taxi 'sheirut' with them to my future home.
When i arrived to the house, i liked it so much, it had a wonderful view, specially from the living room where we were suppose to have our prayer time together, and it was a huge living room...i also loved the kitchen, it was so nice and big. Without realizing it, one of my dreams was coming true...i always wanted to live in a place with other young people, never did...maybe in other countries that's more normal, because usually when you go to college you live in the dorms with other people, but that's not how it was in Colombia or in Dominican Republic...maybe there were a few places like that, but it is not normal; and besides, this was a place that i would share with other believers! That was definitely exciting for me. And in the plans was also to study Hebrew and that was even more exciting for me! I love Languages.
I don't really remember what was that day, i think they took me to a service at a congregation in Jerusalem...with jet lag...and there was my friend, that i met in Colombia before she came to Israel, a few months before. She came with the second group that the couple that invited me organized, i came in the first one. But after they brought the second one was when they rented the house and my friend Nancy went to live in the empty house, alone. But that's her story...all i can say is that the Lord has blessed her life in many ways, in within 3 years, she got married to a great American guy -Jaime, and is now the mother of the most beautiful baby -Joshua.
So my friend Nancy was there, in the service, and we met after it. We were going to share a room, just the two of us for a few days until other girls would join us.
We became really good friends with the time, although the first year, since i just met her a few months and never -lived- with her, i can tell you that it was difficult. Partly because we are so different, she is the funny and talkative type, you always could know when Nancy was in the house. One of the things i like to tell about my time living and sharing the same room with her is that when we had to get up, first of all, she would get up really early, sometimes i would do it to, to go downstairs and pray together with the guys, but not all the time. When i would not get up so early, after she would come back to the room because we had to get ready for school, she would get into the bathroom and just sing aloud and just make whatever noise she would feel to make, dancing all her way out. I confess i'm not a morning person, but it's not that i have a bad mood or something, it's just that it takes time for me to fully awake. Some days more that others...but she would always ask me or assumed that i was in a bad mood. Well, that would really get me in a bad mood, but i tried to fight it...i guess at the end we were beginning to accept each other the way we were. But that took a long process and many tears...at least on my side more...
So my time in the house was nice, at the beginning at least, we did many things together, like going out to Ben Yehuda St. in Jerusalem and sing worship, also performing in some places Stories from the Bible with songs and acting, having every Friday people over and cooking for them...that was actually my favorite activity. I love to have people over and give them food and see their enjoyment and just talk about life and of course everything centered in the Lord. I long for that in every relationship that i have, to talk about Him all the time! I wish it would be more like that.
I had another friend in the house, it took longer for us to meet each other since she was studying at the Hebrew University the same as Nancy was, but the thing is that she was sleeping in another room, so we didn't get to know each other so quickly as Nancy and me. Her name is Gaby, and she met Nancy in the Moshav Yad Hashmona, when both of them were volunteering, and now both of them were studying at the Hebrew U. Gaby and i became closer after...
After some time, several people passed through the house. I studied Hebrew until the third level and was getting ready to leave, since my flight ticket was going to expire, that was like august, or something like that...but a moth before, i think in June-July, Gaby's family came to visit. It was really fun, specially because since they are Mexican, her mom brought so much Mexican food, and was making tortillas almost everyday...we gain a lot of weight! But they were very nice. They were here just when the second Lebanon war started, so it was let's say, special, for them.
I got to know her mother and father, and her three younger brothers, she has another older sister but she stayed with her family.
So after they left, my time came to leave too... I was sad, but somehow didn't know what to do. I couldn't continue studying Hebrew, because the people sponsoring me were not going to do it anymore and let's say that i studied the important levels already. So a week before i just had a question in my heart. Why i studied Hebrew? What am i going to do with it? But deep inside my heart, was another longing. I wished i could live here, i wanted to live here...so i put those thoughts and questions aside, and in someway turned them to the Lord, and although i was several times thinking in the what if- i started organizing myself to leave.
A week before i was leaving, Gaby's mom called me from Mexico. She told me she thought about me, and knew that i was leaving soon and wanted to tell me that she had in her heart to give me a ticket to come back to Israel!
I don't remember my reaction, but i guess i was shocked. Obviously i was very happy. I joyfully packed my things and went to visit my family for i think a month and a half, or more, and came back to my new home.
So when i arrived, i found out that she was the one going to sponsor me in the necessary things, like the living, -food, transportation and basic things, and also in my Hebrew studies, although this time i was going to study the fourth level.
At the feast of Tabernacles, Gaby's mom came to visit her and take her to the feast, and we all went. Then she asked me if i wanted to study something else besides Hebrew. I told her that i didn't know, that maybe i would like to study to become a Chef, or perhaps try again with music. She told me, to go ahead and find out where i could study and that she wanted to sponsor me in that...i was excited, but on the other hand, i had lost the desire of studying something in my life, always thought that at my age i should have a degree already, i was already going to be 24!
After that Nancy left to Colombia to introduce Jaime to her family, and was suppose to come back. She was the one in charge of the house but now another friend was the one in charge, a guy that i also loved very much in my time there, but that eventually it turned very difficult to live with him for me. We were also studying together and living in the same house, at the beginning it was OK, i mean, not that bad when Nancy was there, because she was doing more of the logistics and managing the things of the house like paying bills, etc..But now everything was on him and that, i think, it was too much for him, plus that we were a bunch of girls...well, three of us, and him. Living together with people that have had different lives is difficult. We had MANY problems and MANY misunderstandings, but thanks to the lord that He helped us to recognize these things in front of one another and to forgive each other.
The last months were really difficult, for all of us. The house was also having some electricity problems and was terribly cold. Winter was hard enough outside, but our home was colder in every way. I remember that winter, i remember us trying to work things out between us but feeling that we were already at the border, almost falling...at least i felt like that. Then i became sick. I had the flu, a strong one and felt terrible. By that time i was friends with one guy from the moshav, that i met when i was volunteering there, and saw again this time because he was very close to Nancy. I talked to him very often and told him of my experiences in the house and how i was feeling that it was the time to find another place, i asked him if there was a possibility for me to rent a room in the moshav, and he was helping to find out.
The 31st of December was terrible, but i won't write about it, i'll just say that i knew for sure i had to tell the others about my plans of living because by then i'd found a place at the moshav and was planning to leave the next week.
I wrote a letter thanking the family that brought me in the first place to the house, for everything, the Lord used them greatly in my life and i was more that thankful with them, but saying that i knew that i had to move now, and that anyways i'd be here and could see them and visit them after.
It was hard to leave the house, i was so sad, but i knew that was what i was supposed to do.
I got to the moshav, and immediately felt that it'd be my new home.
Gaby came to be with me the first days and from there she flew back home leaving many things because she was planning to come back. I had some vacation and then started Hebrew studies again, the fourth level...i had to wait for the music thing because the tests were in march or something like that, so i started having theory classes with Arie, a very good friend, like a father to me. He was our guide when were volunteering, he took us to different places in Israel, and also taught us about the History of Israel. He is a musician, but left it to serve the Lord as a tour guide specially for young people. But he was a musician for over 30 year. He helped me to remember some of the things i studied before...not that i got much out of him, he explained to me everything in Hebrew and by that time, Hebrew was still difficult for me, specially to speak it...i don't talk that much, or let's say that i don't easily start a conversation. So it was hard for me to talk, and in this case to understand what he was trying to teach me! But it was a nice experience. He introduce me to one friend of his, that lived in the moshav next to Yad Hashmona, called Neve Ilan, a lady that taught vocal classes, and prepared people for the tests at the Academy of Music. So i started taking classes with her. I payed the first class that was like 60 dollars for 45 minutes...and she asked me why i was here and wanted to study music here, so i told her a shorter version of this story and she loved it. She's not a believer, at least not yet...and since then didn't want to take money from me, she said that i needed it more than her and that she basically wanted to help me.
So my friend from the moshav, Yochanan, was also going to apply for the Academy of Music, he is a pianist, and wanted also to study music, which when i knew about it, was really exciting for me because at least i would know someone there! So we went to the performing test and made it, i remember Nancy was back already, this was in march and he had his part first and left for work and i stayed with Nancy waiting for my turn (she wanted to support us by coming with us to the test) I went inside the room and a few ladies were seating there and then i saw my teacher, and after i sang, then i realized that she was the head of the vocal department! I had no idea...but it was just amazing for me to see how the Lord was knitting every single person in my life! That was a clear sign that He was the one guiding me.
Then , another day we had our theory test, and it was very difficult, starting for the part that reading Hebrew is still the most difficult thing for me to do, and although music is an international language, all the explanations were in Hebrew, the oral and the written ones, so you can imagine.
Before getting the results, we had the Passover celebration which is my favorite I think, in Israel. We were invited to celebrate it with Arie's family, Nancy, Gaby and me. I had the wonderful gift of going to meet my mother that was in a tour that started from Egypt and was arriving that evening. So Gaby, Nancy and i went to pick them up in front of the Mevasseret Mall, and i saw her and hugged her and then screamed when i saw that my sister had come too! I had no idea of that, so i was really surprised!
We had a wonderful time, they stayed for one month at the house where Gaby and i were living before. They stayed there with Nancy and i went to stay with them during the time that they were here. We traveled around a lot, it was nice. I wish they will come again sometime.
Then, one day, we were in the bus on our way home and i got a call from Yochanan, that he got his letter with the answer from the Academy, he was accepted but had to do the summer course. Since i was staying at Nancy's place i couldn't check my mail in the moshav, so i asked him to check if i got a letter too. He went and took it, and opened it and told me i was accepted without the requirement of taking the summer course! What??? I thought the theory test was a failure! But it seems it was not that bad... I shared the news with my mom and sister and praised the Lord for his answer.
Anyways, I took the summer course. I had too, i knew it had been a miracle also to be able to get the student's visa on time, but i knew i needed a preparation before entering to the formal studies in October.
Some days later, i said goodbye to my mom and sister, as they returned to Dominican Republic. God was definitely doing something, i was expectant...This was the beginning of my studies here...August 2007...
(To be continued)
"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! " (Philippians 4:4)
