I am in the process of migrating over information from my somewhat broken and awkward to manage Microsoft Office Live web site to this blog.  Here is some of the background why I am in Jerusalem.

I have grown to love Israel from my two visits as a tourist in 2004 and 2006. To be honest its never been somewhere I have wanted to visit when I was younger, I didn’t understand why it was on the news all the time nor if there was any relevance to the place of the same name in the bible.

As a child I learnt French at school, it bored me as the text books were old and dull, when much later I visited France in person the sights and experiences showed me it was far more interesting than some dog eared 1980s books with black and white photos. At the same time, the land of the bible becomes real when you get to see it in the flesh.

This web site is not intended to give a history of Israel or the middle east conflicts. Its just a brief overview on my plans to live and work out there and why its still relevant in the bible today.

The media often paints a unfair picture, and both the news and documentaries rarely show the good qualities of the state of Israel, the vast beauty of the land, the scene of biblical events in history and those yet to come, a country having the only democracy in the middle east, a wide array of people gathered from different corners of the world, but most of all it being the land where Jesus was born, grew up, did his ministry and died.

Me

My name is Jonathan Hayward, I was born and have lived in Portsmouth UK. I am a computer technician, I didn’t got to university, I did plenty of jobs that weren’t ideal and struggled to get a direction with my career and plan with God. In the last 5 years I have worked in various IT roles.

I have been to Kings Church in Southsea, Portsmouth, UK for the last ten years. In my church you sometimes might find me manning the front welcoming people and giving out the programmes. For those going to church for the first time or if you have not been in a long time, (including myself) lets face it – church can be terrifying! I never had a big plan or aimed to be pushy, just to give a sense of welcome to those visiting the church once or regular. In several of the places I have worked I have had the chance to meet and pray with other believers there.

I work as a computer technician, I support users on the telephone, by email and face to face. I like finding solutions to problems, I also like to help people overcome technical challenges.

I didn’t go to university, I messed up my education so I learned and taught myself a lot of things. Repairing discarded equipment that business ditched as they didn’t have the time to fix themselves. Getting to something that resembled a career meant I made a few wrong choices along the way

I got in the right direction working for Novatech, one of the country’s top mail order PC retailers, well known as they offer after sales technical support without any premium rate numbers. I was able to maintain their reputation by answering calls and providing fixes or arranging return of defective equipment.

After then I moved into the corporate environment and supported users with in big companies and got familiar with the popular range of applications from Microsoft which are the tools in most businesses today, like Windows XP, Office and Active Directory.

I enjoy speaking to my users on the phone, email and in person. I get to deliver and install new or repair equipment directly to people. I get to speak and know everyone in the whole organisation. I have served and assisted computer problems for Senior Directors, HR managers, Software Developers, Accountants, Car bodywork repair assessors, Salesmen, Nurses, Therapists, Medical Secretaries, Consultants and Doctors. This being on the phone, by email or in person, including people from different countries, some blind, deaf and disabled people and users with little to no computer experience or with very limited English.

I spent a year working a NICE Systems who are one of the market leaders in voice recording solutions for telecoms, they are based in Ra’nana in Israel.

In many of the places I have worked I have found other Christians and we have met up and chatted and prayed in our lunch breaks, as its good to build up and encourage each other when things may get difficult or stressful.

Outside of work Jonathan likes to assist with setting up church and being part of a welcome team. I have always tried to strive to make church friendly and make sure everyone who comes through the door, its easy to forget that church can be a scary or daunting prospect for a new person. Jonathan also likes the countryside (especially the New Forest where I spent part of the time working in hospitals there) travelling, cooking, photography and spending time with my friends.