Day 8 - Israel Anniversary Trip!

Thurs. May 16, 2019
Jerimiah dressed like Eli our tour guide today. It's uncanny how much they looked alike. We walked through King Hezikiah's tunnel, his water system diverted Gihon Springs into the Siloam Pool for water use.  This is us exiting the tunnel. Half of our group opted out of wading through the water. But those of us who went through had an amazing experience in the dark chanting monk-like tunes.

 We went into the Tower of David, the same place we were at the night before for the light and sound show, but this time in the day and saw the beautiful views. It was a very quick visit!

We ate lunch at the Quarter Cafe. (again!) While in the Jewish Quarter we went to the burnt house museum, and we saw the giant menorah that the Jewish people will use in the new temple. We walked through the first-century Roman period promenade with columns where a marketplace would've been. We saw the first temple model of Jerusalem on a circular moving stage while a movie played. (We saw many models of the temple and Jerusalem during our time in here!) We walked by the outer wall where King Hezekiah's wall was and King Herod's palace remains and the Roman Cardo all within minutes. There's so much to see and so much history all in one place. It's mind-numbing.

Then we went back to the Temple Institute. We had tried to go before and they said we missed our time slot. There we saw all the pieces that are ready to go into the new temple. Although, in my opinion, they look very poorly made. There were chips and holes in the metal, the oil containers were leaking oil, nothing was that intricately made, and I don't know how they could have kept that much gold there without tons of security. Also, they said they have never lost the Ark of the Covenant!! They know where it is?! We returned to our hotel to pack, eat dinner and say goodbye to everyone. We went around at our table and told our highs and lows of the trip and prayed for our Eli. Then we packed the rest of our stuff and slept.

Day 6 - Israel Anniversary Trip!

Tue. May 14, 2019

Seeing the Western Wall and how huge the original stones were that Herod build the temple was amazing! I loved going the underground tunnels to see what it would have looked like when Jesus was there or at least the level that it was when Jesus walked there. We watched a movie and saw a model that showed how they would've moved such ginormous stones. We also saw underground pools and tunnels.

We walked through the Christian Quarter part of the Via Dolorosa to get to

The Wailing Wall. There is a men's side and a women's side. Cara and I put our prayers in the wall together. 

We saw the stones that used to be on top of the wall that the Romans pushed off to try to destroy the temple.

These stones are so huge! The cornerstone was about 3 times the size of the one they are standing in front of.

We had a devotion in front of the steps where Jesus would have gone up to the temple. Also, this is where Pentecost happened. The Southern Wall. Eli reminded us the when the golden calf was formed 3000 lives were lost and at Pentecost 3000 lives were saved.

We walked through which some say was the Upper Room where the disciples at the Last Supper with Jesus. It is now a type of cathedral - everything is.

We went from there to Caiaphas' house where Jesus could've been flogged and put in a pit. The courtyard where Peter heard the rooster crow after he denied Him three times is right outside there.

Behind us are the steps He walked up to get from the Garden of Gethsemane to Annas Caiaphas' father-in-law's to Caiaphas house and I cried and cried sitting on them.

We ate Biblical meal in Yad Hashmona for a late lunch.

Then along with the Durrs, Wells, and Ourys we went rouge and hopped off the bus. While everyone else drove back to the hotel we walked around Jerusalem, mainly the Muslim and Christian Quarters. That's when I realized that even though they are named differently, all the shops are actually owned by Muslims. We walked some of the Via Delarosa and met the VI station man and wandered through many market shops where Erik and Jer bought drums and Niki got a nativity and I got a juice and then walked back to through the Damascus gate to our hotel where we had dinner.

Peter and I snuck into the spa, hot tub, and pool and I cried again thinking of all the unsaved people living right here in the one place that Jesus Himself came to earth. And I felt so small in relation to God's great plan, but wanting to be used by Him somehow and not knowing how.

Day 5 - Israel Anniversary Trip!

Mon. May 13, 2019  - Our Anniversary!

We ate a quick breakfast at our hotel in Jerusalem and then headed up to the temple mount. We walked around and saw where the temple would be built in the future and saw the Muslim Dome of the Rock. Men and women are not allowed to touch here, so we are not touching.

 Because it is a Palestine controlled area our guide Eli could not come to Bethlehem with us so we had a new guide come aboard our tour bus, Sana, who led us through the Church of the Nativity. It was so crowded and we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes, which she said was pretty good, just to see the cave, which now looks nothing like a cave since it is adorned in marble and jewels and all things gaudy, where they think Jesus was born.

You have to go down these stairs set in a semi-circle which leads to a one-person tunnel that your have to duck to go through and it opens up into the tiny area where the birthplace, now red-curtained, marble, metal star, and hanging lanterns and opposite supposedly the manger in which Mary laid Jesus. But a group of about 10 Russian Catholics were having a service in there and wouldn't let anyone see it.

This was about the only cave looking party of the whole thing above the service happening in the manger area.

Right outside the church building are these stairs leading down to where St. Jerome translated the Bible, they are blocked off by metal bars, but this is us next to them .

She next took us to the Boaz and Ruth fields to see some cool caves where the shepherds would have been tending their sheep. This was a very cool part because the other tour groups were just standing at the touristy part above and she led us down past the fences and through gates into this cave she had found as a schoolgirl when the nuns would take the girls on field trips and she would wander off. After everyone left the cave I found a cool tunnel that went deep into the hill that I followed for a while until Tyler made me come back to the group. The bad thing about touring with a group is that you don't just get to do what you want, or you mess up everyone else's timeline. And we had a lot packed into our trip. 

However, I could've stayed at cave land longer and skipped the next museums. We had lunch at the Shrine of the Book Museum where we saw the real Dead Sea Scrolls or at least part of them. I only got one-tenth of the way through the Holocaust Museum. But I did get a good pic with our tour guide, Eli, without knowing it at the Friends of Zion Museum, a technologically advanced center where we stood under domes which lit up and told the stories of different people who helped the Jewish people after WWII.

At dinner, we were given an anniversary cake and card signed by our tour mates. Then we found out we couldn't go in the spa anymore only pastor Jim and Jaci could because they were the organizers, but Jer and the Knacks got in somehow. The staff was notably not happy with us for asking why we couldn't use the spa and wouldn't even serve us drinks in the lobby. We talked for a while and then went to bed.

Day 4 - Israel Anniversary Trip!

Sun. May 12, 2019

We woke up at 5:00 so that we could be up with the sun floating in the Dead Sea. The Wells were the only ones that joined us for this magnificent memory. Thankfully one other couple was there also, but the wife didn't want to float and she asked if we wanted her to take our picture. So we were able to have amazing photos of our float with the sun just rising over the hills!

We come back for breakfast at our hotel and got ready for our hike up Masada to see Herod's palace. The brave hikers of the group were us, the Wells, the Ourys, the Pritchards, the Durrs, Dan, and Tyler. We explored all over and found the lower terrace with Tyler and Tony.

En Gedi, where David cut off part of Saul's robe while he was relieving himself in the cave, we hiked and saw and played in some waterfalls and drank a delicious mango drink. It was beautiful!

At the Jordan river, we heard all of the people's testimonies who were going to get baptized for the first time. Then we dunked in the murky waters while Jordanian soldiers watched from the other side of the river. So many groups were there to get baptized that we had to wait a while and some forceful preachers shoved their way into the water. Our guide, Eli, was the most patient man. Wherever we went he made sure to be polite and let other groups go first. A true Christian.

At Genesis Land we rode camels (which was quite an experience, especially the getting on and off the camel part!) down to our interactive dinner in a tent where Abraham was there to greet us! It was a memorable meal that we ate on pillows on the ground semi-dressed in our Biblical garb. We dined on honey-date chicken, rice, pitas, shepherd's bread, hummus, meat kabobs, toppings, and dried fruit, tea and coffee for dessert. It was the best meal of the trip.

After this, we went to a gift shop in Jerusalem which was owned by a Christian Arab. I didn't buy anything but got the owner to pay me for throwing away his trash.

We went to our hotel, the Dan Jerusalem which was full of teen soldiers since they have to serve at the age of 18. We went to dinner and then went to the spa with the Durrs, Wells, and Knacks. I did my nails and went in the hot tub.

Day 3 - Israel Anniversary Trip!

Sat. May 11th, 2019

We ate breakfast at the Ron Beach Hotel and then headed off to see a first-century fishing boat and watched a movie on how they restored it. We filmed our group singing my Sea of Galilee rap chorus.

Beit-shoam/Scythopolis was a first or second-century city with huge baths, columns down the promenade, a theater (which I had to dance in) and many toilets (which Peter pretended to use). Saul and his sons were hung on the wall for all to see at the entrance to this city by the Philistines. We went off the take pictures on our own.

In Nazareth, we went to a recreated Biblical times village. Rasha, our very soft-voiced guide, led us while quietly telling about each place with many dramatic pauses and hard stares. It became comical instead of thought-provoking. We saw sheep, a real wine press that they had uncovered, and an olive press and many costumed people going about doing their first-century work. The best part was the tomb that they let about 5 of us crawl around in.

Qumran is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in a cave by some boys. But we weren't allowed to go in any caves and it was HOT! We also saw some ancient baths where flash flood water would gather.

Lastly, we drove to our next hotel, the Hotel David, right on the Dead Sea. Floating in this sea was a highlight of the trip! Almost all of us floated out in the sea being careful not to get the extremely salty water in our eyes or mouth! We gathered the soft mud and salt from the bottom and scrubbed it all over each other and we performed some synchronized floating. We tried to cram into a table at dinner so we could all sit together. At the end of the night, we played games at their casino night and Peter and Jer played pool.