We know that it's impossible to live without drinking water. But have you ever stopped to think about all the things you do on a daily basis that require water? Or even hot water?? Showers, brushing teeth, commodes, washing dishes, washing laundry, cooking, coffee/tea, and on and on. - And that's just things in the home.
Well, we have good news to share!!! Just yesterday, after 2 1/2 weeks in the Land, we finally have figured out how to get hot water in our apartment!!! Let's all stop and rejoice right now, yes?? When we first arrived we had hot water for 2 days, then it mysteriously went away....and we didn't know how to make it come back!
Well, we were able to get it hot again - the challenge now is that we don't know exactly what we did to make it hot again...We finally talked to the land lady on the phone - she lives in Haifa (a very nice person) and she remembered that it had something to do with the washing machine. Odd? Yes, we know :) There is a diverter on the sink that also connects to the washing machine (which is on the back porch - outside, yet inside, kind of like a lanai?) Anyway, in order for the hot water to come into the apartment, it has to be turned off to the washing machine. Then you need to turn on the solar heater on the roof to heat the water in the water tank, also on the roof :) 
So here's our challenge: there are 2 settings for the solar heater on and timer. We know this sounds simple. But there is a diagram on the wall showing which is which, and then in the instructions that came with the apartment, it says the opposite of what the diagram says...not only that, it says if you leave it on too long you'll burn up the heater!! So we don't know how to find out which is the timer so we can leave it on and actually use it to heat at the same time every day. We have tried both, but aren't sure which is making it hot...
We plan to talk to our "vaad lady" upstairs. When we met her recently she said if we have any questions to come ask her...What's a vaad lady? Well, she is the person in the building to collect the vaad, of course! (The vaad is the monthly maintenance fee each tenant pays, although we're not sure what it includes...) She is also the one in charge of determining when to turn the heat on and off each day (usually between 5-10 pm). Trust us, you want to befriend the vaad lady... :) She was very kind to us, and we hope to get to know her better as our relationship continues.
BUT - We are sooo happy to finally have hot water possible. Until now we boiled hot water in our "hot water pot" for dishes and to put in the bathroom sink to clean with. And took "cold" showers (slightly colder than lukewarm). We also filter all water before drinking it - an extra precaution. Unless it is being boiled in our handy dandy "hot water pot" which we very much like. It's electric and heats water to boiling in about 1-2 minutes.
Another bit of good news is that we had the gas turned on yesterday as well!! Yes, it was a good day at our house on Sunday! Since Sunday is a workday in Israel and we are home, we scheduled for the man from the gas company to come and replace the meter and get the gas running to our stove. We were told by locals that it would be a miracle if he came in the morning as planned - if at all...But we told them we have favor!
Well, what do you think happened? He was supposed to come between 8-10 am. We received a call at 8:30 am saying he would be there at 10:30 am - perfect! We were "lounging" anyway :) We then received another call at 10:15 am saying he would be arriving in 10 minutes :) We then received yet another call at 10:25 am saying he was downstairs, and would we please open the door. Amazing!
He was so kind & friendly. And very thorough. What was really funny was listening to Jim and him talking. Jim would speak English and he would answer in Hebrew. Then Jim would speak in Hebrew and he would answer in English! Ha! Ha! Ha! Between the two of them they got the job done, and before he left, he apologized for getting a little bit of mud on the floor.
Each time this man would enter our apartment, he would touch the mezuzah on our doorpost. This is a small metal "scroll" containing a portion of scripture with the inscription "Shaddai" in Hebrew written on it, standing for the name of God. There is one placed on the front doorpost, and on every doorpost throughout the apartment (excluding bathrooms). By touching the mezuzah and then his lips, he was showing his respect and love for God's Word.
One more report of Good News - the best of all!!!
It began lightly raining on Thursday, then continued more heavily on Friday into early Saturday morning. This is much, much needed rain. We took this picture Friday afternoon on our walk home from the bus stop. It's like "liquid answered prayer". We must say, you sure don't hear anyone grumble about the rain here...We're just singing in the rain... :) Please continue to pray for much more rain in Israel.
As much as we all require so much water for our daily lives, what we all really need most is Mayim Chayim - Living Water. May we rely on Him for our daily water allowance so that we may thirst no more...
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