Page 7 - Bridges For Peace Continuing Ed Module 1

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At 8.00am on June 5 the sirens began sounding and radios said war had been
declared. By 11.00am shells were falling on Jerusalem, and the Institute’s
location on Mt. Zion was in the middle of it.

Six days later the war was over, but they were unforgettable days. Shortly after
the battles began, some 60 neighbors came to the school for refuge, and Mrs.
Young fed them all with the help of students and staff. When food ran out, Israeli
soldiers brought bread and supplies. United Nations soldiers brought an elderly
Arab woman, blind and in need of care, to the institute and Snook warmly
welcomed her.

Doug offered his van as an ambulance, and drove people between hospitals with
shells falling all around him constantly. Yet God protected, and the van was
never hit.

At the end of the war, the people of Jerusalem would never be the same in their
attitude toward the Youngs, this kindly Gentile couple who, in the hour of the
city’s crisis, had demonstrated their love by staying in Jerusalem, and sharing
both the good and the bad with the people of Israel. This would never be
forgotten. The war over, the Institute moved to Mt. Zion and its new expanded
quarters on August 4, 1967.

In those early days, the Institute on Mt. Zion had no electricity, and no city water.
Although there were several cisterns to collect rain water, they were of no use
since they had no way to pump it. Without lights and water, the Institute was
facing major difficulties.

One day Doug and the architect, Dan Ben Dor, were in the yard when a man
named Mr. Gordon arrived, wanting to sell the school a pump. Doug explained to
Mr. Gordon that the pump would be useless to them since they had no electricity.
Mr. Gordon persisted, saying “If I get you electricity, will you buy my pump?”
That seemed a bargain, so Doug agreed.

Several days later Mr. Gordon arrived loaded with electrical cable. He connected
the cable to the Institute’s switch box, ran the power cable through the trees and
continued it down the hill to a power pole in the valley below. Mr. Gordon
connected the line to the Jerusalem Power Company source – and the Institute
had power.

A short time later Mr. Gordon visited again, and asked Doug to accompany him
to the Jerusalem Power Company offices. There Mr. Gordon asked for a two-
week temporary permit to use their electricity in order to pump out and clean the
cisterns at the Institute. He also asked for an additional permit for a light line for
the same period of time since he would need a light to see what he was doing in
the dark cisterns.