Two Things

One of the difficulties of living in any country and having your money come from another country is exchange rates.  The value of one countries currency as related to another country is constantly in flux.  Now, for the Israeli currency this is a good thing.  The Shekel (NIS) has been getting stronger in the time I've been here.  Not long after I first came to Israel a shekel would cost about $0.25.  At the moment I am writing this post a shekel costs $0.28886.  Ok, not that much of a change you might think with the numbers I've posted, so let's bring things to a bit more of a practical level.  In December of 2012 if I pulled $100 out of my bank account I would get roughly 400 NIS for it.  Now, I would get about 346 NIS for that same amount of money.  Of course, the cost of living does not go down as the shekel gets stronger, so that just means that income amounts whether for me, or for the other individuals volunteering in Israel and the ministries themselves essentially decreases...

On a brighter note, spring has arrived in Israel!  Actually we've been having spring weather for the past several weeks (if you looked through my pictures from Bet Shemesh you might have noticed we were wearing t-shirts).  It is beautiful out and today it was just the most perfect weather for riding my bike into work which was so nice.  It is a great time to be enjoying the weather because it will soon be getting to hot to be truly enjoyable.