Easter octave

So we're into the Easter octave. I'm absolutely exhausted. We've spent many midnights at the Holy Sepulchre praying, followed by early morning Mass. Every moment when I tried to rest, someone comes knocking at the door. They come to ask if they can help me - which of course is the opposite of what they're doing by knocking at my door and waking me up. If they really wanted to help, they would let me rest as I was to the point of fainting from exhaustion. Well I don't doubt their good intentions, but believe me it was a week of horrors: I literally jump up with fear as the telephone rings or the door suddenly knocks (nobody does things quietly nowadays).

Yesterday I brought the sisters of Mother Theresa to the Negev desert. We saw the huge krater called Maktesh Ramon which is close to the border with Egypt. The strange rock formations and colours were quite a sight. Then we went to see the ruins of the Nabatean city of Avdat and its ancient Byzantine churches. We also visited the ancient ruins of the Canaanite city Arad and its sanctuary to Yahweh and Asherah. Then we had a picnic lunch at the Ben Gurion University in the desert that faces Ein Avdat - an awesome valley among the desert mountains. All in all it was a great day outdoors, lots of sun and breeze.

On the way home, we stopped at the gas station of Bet Guvrin (ancient Eleutheropolis) with it's magnificent Roman ruins. In the field nearby was a stunning carpet of red anemones. Crowds had stopped to take photos. It was an amazing sight.

But I'm so exhausted and I need to sleep really bad. Will give you a run down of Holy Week services once I recover from this exhaustion.