The 2015 International Book Fair in Jerusalem

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By Gabriel Rymberg, Nazareth, Israel

It was wonderful! We were five persons in a small booth. Claire Thurston came from Washington, DC, Tim Hobbs from Colorado, Avi Dogim from New Jersey, and Buck Weimer from Colorado. I only had to drive a couple of hours south to reach Jerusalem.

Jerusalem’s weather in February can be inclement. During the fair, the temperature dropped to almost freezing. And southeasterly winds from the desert blew in much dust. It covered everything with a thick layer.

Inside at the book fair, however, everything, including our booth, was clean and dust free. We displayed several copies of The Urantia Book, including the English text and the French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish translations.

By Sunday evening, before the fair started on Monday, all was ready.

What I liked the most was our team. Once again I witnessed and experienced what the fruits of long-term exposure to spiritual guidance look like. It was a pleasure to feel the love from all the team members. It was as though we experienced a preview of the age of light and life. I felt the presence of the Master and was reminded that “where two or three believers are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them.” (1762.5) 159:1.3

Our interactions with the visitors at our booth were very interesting. We had a big bowl of Spiritual Vitamins, which proved to be great ice-breakers. One elderly gentleman even took a handful and was about to toss them into his mouth, when we stopped him. How hungry he was for the divine word!

When people stopped at our booth, often their first question was: “What is this.” or “What is Urantia.” Then it was incumbent upon us to respond with something engaging that would elicit more questions from the visitor.

Because the Hebrew translation is still a work-in-progress, we prepared a brochure in English and Hebrew titled “Introduction to The Urantia Book. This brochure proved to be a popular handout. In it, we had a short introduction and about a hundred quotes from the book. Everyone who visited the booth was given one of these brochures, which, after being read, frequently induced the visitors to engage in conversation concerning something that intrigued them.

Not many visitors opened the book.

We had much time to socialize and converse―mainly with ourselves. We had many conversations, some deep, some funny, and all imbued with love. For me, the main treat of attending the fair and staffing a booth was getting to know intimately new sisters and brothers and having the opportunity to love and serve them and to be loved and served by them.

We have undoubtedly helped seed The Urantia Book in Israel. And years from now, I venture to say that someone will recall having seen The Urantia Book for the first time at the 2015 Jerusalem International Book Fair.