Daniel Geppert

I named my blog after this German guy who is married to this wonderful Canadian woman who vaguely reminds me of my sister, Thérèse.  He's the youth director and his wife is the children's director of King of Kings.  He is also managing the applications, so he went over the guidelines with us for being volunteers here.  He has been very nice and friendly to the both of us, and his wife, Jalene, is so awesome and energetic and crafty and knows how to sew...  I don’t know too much about him except that he found my blog somehow and read it, and was upset that I didn't mention him anywhere.  So I decided to write an entire post about him.

Tonight he night he made…  Schpetzle (I am probably majorly misspelling that word)… for Matt and Daniela and Dustin and me.  It's a German noodle.  It's funny because I asked him earlier this morning in staff meeting what he likes to cook the best, and he said, "Schpetzle" and it took me forever to learn how to pronounce it somewhat decently and the next thing I know Dustin is calling me this afternoon to tell me that we're invited to the Daniel's house for dinner, and when we get there, he's making schpetzle.  Marj sent me with a huge dish of brownies to contribute to the meal.  She just handed me the entire thing that she made yesterday so that I wouldn't have to go get something at the store.  What a sweet person!  Her generosity reminds me of my mother.  It is comforting.

He made the dough and pressed it through a noodle… press?... And boiled it and then mixed it with spices and cheese and mushrooms and then baked it.  It was quite delicious and unique.  Ironic that I was able to experience a distinctly German food in Israel.  Daniela helped with the salad.  Jalene was sewing when we got there, which made me excited because I've been learning to sew and was happy to find a fellow enthusiast.  She was able to entertain guests while finishing a sewing project for Vaikko and preparing a craft project for her group of kids tomorrow.  She is so nice and so beautiful.  She really brightens any place with her mere presence.

I should mention that I went grocery shopping today for the first time with Daniela.  I think Jewish store owners are some of the funniest people.  This guy at the Asian grocery store was just as witty and endearing as the jeweler down the street.  Then we went to an underground grocery store.  It was fun, but it made me realize how nice things are in the US; the store just wasn't clean and bright like the ones I'm used to, though it wasn't so bad.  And I am no expert at Hebrew, so I wasn't always sure what I was buying… and then the conversion rate from dollars to shekels is not exact in my head--only ballpark estimates--so, I was hesitant to get some things.  Meat here is expensive, as is honey.  Dates are cheap, so I bought this "date honey" as Daniela called it.  100% dates mashed up.  We'll see if it's any good.  I mean, I like dates, so I can't imagine it would taste bad in any way.  I'm going to use it in place of honey.

I should also mention that I had my first staff meeting today with Dustin.  We worshiped together and gave news updates and then prayed for prayer requests.  All in all it was quite an uplifting meeting, unlike most.  I think there were perhaps only three or four native Israelis on a team of twenty or so people (two I am not sure what nationality they are yet).

So back to Daniel…  Dustin seems to really get along with him, and it probably helps that Matt knows them both, so he's the thing they all have in common.  I could tell Matt was excited and Dustin was really happy when the three of them were together.  Seeing the three of them joking together made me very happy. 

After the meal tonight we played "Settlers of Catan".  Daniela won, though I seriously thought Daniel would win because he seemed to have a pretty good strategy.  I am not the best strategist, so I obviously did the worst the whole time.  But he was explaining rules to me a lot of the time.  And once Dustin got the hang of it, he gave me some advice.  Dustin is really great at strategy, so he learned quickly. 

Their apartment is right above a street full of pubs and restaurants that are open super late, so the noise in insane.  Especially since everything is stone, the noise just echoes.  Actually, that's how all the streets are here.  There's nothing really soft anywhere, except trees and merchandise.  Except there is a grassy park.  But most everything is stone, especially the old city: the stones on the ground there are so worn that they are shiny, and very slippery...

Again, I digress…  Daniel Geppert.  There.  I mentioned his name.