Olive Harvest Time

We have maybe 10 or so olive trees in our “compound” that belong to our landlords. Each year the team picks a day or two to help in the harvesting of those olives. This year we recruited a YWAM team from Kona Hawaii doing their DTS outreach here in Jerusalem to help out. As much as one can, you use sticks or a broom to knock the olives to the ground and then gather them up from there. Or just pick them right from the tree and into the buckets. I got the YWAMers to play two truths and a lie so we could get to know them a little better and to make the time fly by as we were working. You find out the most interesting things about people. My lie was that I played professional football for a year. I don’t know why everybody guessed that was the lie…The olives are transferred from the buckets to burlap bags, then most are taken to be pressed into olive oil. Emnae, one of our landlords, kindly shares some of the olive oil with us once it is processed. While we have been busy picking olives, Emnae and her niece have been busy cooking! Two big pots filled with chicken, vegetables, and rice. The pot is turned upside down onto a giant platter and is ready to be served to a bunch of hungry YWAM kids.