Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Monday, May 19, 2014

I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked


Monday, May 19
We left the Dan Jerusalem Hotel at 7:30am to the Southern Steps which was the main entrance to the Temple during the Second Temple Period. While there we had a time of personal prayer. The steps are varied to slow you down as you enter Jerusalem. These steps had been refurbished. We walked through the Western Wall Tunnel that runs along the hidden continuation of the Western Wall. Inside the tunnel is the closet spot accessible to Jews to where the Second Temple “Holy of Holies” once stood. The tunnels ave become a site of prayer and spirituality because of that. We overlooked the Cardo which is an exceptionally wide colonnaded street running through the heart (or cardo) of Jerusalem. We began the Via Delarosa beginning at Pilate's Hall where Jesus' journey to the cross began. We walked along the Stations of the Cross ending at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the church that was built over the sites some believe to be where Jesus was crucified, his body prepared, and buried. There are five different denominations that disagree over the ownership of this very old church. We then walked through the Armenian quarter into the Jewish quarter. The Jewish quarter was much newer because it had been destroyed. There was a beautiful new Synagogue therei. We left through Zion's Gate (Mount Zion), which is still riddled with bullet holes from the 6-day War.

We had lunch in a park, making our own pita bread sandwiches. We spent a little time in the Israel Museum which is ranked among the world's leading art and archaeology museums. Among the highlights is the Shrine of the Book, which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period. Our very last stop was the Garden Tomb (where others (and us) believe is where Jesus was crucified and buried. We had communion and sang “Jesus Paid It All” together as a team. A very special time. We and headed back to our hotel listening to the song “I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked”. We packed up, had our final meal together, and thanked our guide Boaz, driver, Doron, hosts Ken & Barb Lason and leaders Roy & Lynette Fruits. What an incredible team. We were blessed.


We made it through all the security checks at the airport and are ready to board the plane. We fly through the night to Philadelphia. Then to Minneapolis. This truly was the “trip of a lifetime” and we all feel that we will be forever changed by our time here. Shalom. 

Our last day in Israel

Judy and Dave Wicklund praying together.

John and Audrey Hoffsummer, walking the Southern Steps together.

Praying at the Southern Steps.

The Garden Tomb.


He is risen indeed!!!!








Communion, taken together at the Garden Tomb.
What a fitting thing to share together on our last day. 
We sang together "Jesus Paid It All." What more can we say, but, thanks be to God, for His unspeakable gift to each one of us.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

More Sun pics and group pic






Sunday





Sunday pictures from lunch and our artifact dig

We had a busy day with the tunnel and lunch in the park - just a few of our pics here










We had a GREAT dig experience today!   This was a rare nail from a sandal from the 2nd century.
click here for video explanation

Temple mount sifting & dig



What an incredible Sunday!

Sunday,May 18
Our first stop was the Temple Mound Sifting Project. After a very interesting lecture by the archaeologist, we were able to sift through the ruins that were truck loaded out of the Temple Mound by the Muslims and dumped. They were reclaimed by the Israelis and are being sifted through every day. Our work was checked before we dumped the rock. Our best finds were a nail from a Roman sandal by Mike Olson and a pig bone found by :Paul Carlson. We all found pottery, glass, metal, a pig tooth, mosaic, etc.

Those who were not claustrophobic went through Hezekiah's tunnel. It was a long wait to do down and start and took about 30-40 minutes after we began. It was thigh deep at one point in the beginning and calf deep the rest of the way. The floor of the tunnel was very smooth, the water clear and cool. Most of the tunnel was a little more than shoulder wide and mostly abut 6 ft. tall. A few areas were lower and we needed to duck. The end of the tunnel was very high...maybe 20 ft. We sang Amazing Grace as we walked through.

City of David. They are excavations here and think they have found King David's Palace...watch the new for more info on this...if they find something that will identify it for sure. They are also excavating across the street and will very soon announce what is there. This is a new dig of maybe 3-4 years.

Population of the Old City is 30,000. The New City which was started 160 years ago has a population of 800,000.

Lunch was at a beautiful park in King David city. It is a very expensive are with multimillion dollar homes. We had extra, extra, extra large pretzels for lunch with goat cheese, hummus,olive oil and hyssop. An authentic Israeli lunch..yummy!

We stopped at a beautiful overlook on the south side of the wall. You could see the Israeli side and the Arab side of Jerusalem, which used to be divided by a wall than came down after the war in 1967. Off in the distance the wall that separates the area under Palestinian rule.

We were blessed to hear a lecture by Dr. Scott Carroll. A highlight that words or pictures won't explain!!

After dinner we have a final sharing time together. Our team has become like family. What a great group!

pictures from saturday Herodian


Couple of camel ride videos... see if you recognize any of the faces !
CLICK HERE FOR OUR CAMEL RIDE

MORE CAMEL RIDES

3RD CAMEL VIDEO

Saturday, May 17, 2014

More photos!













Jerusalem, Bethlehem & Herodium

We started out the day with a photo overlooking Old Jerusalem. We then went to the Mount of Olives where Roy did a teaching. We took some time to pray individually. We walked the Palm Sunday route down to the Garden of Gethsemane. At the bottom of the Mount of Olives, close to the bed of the Kidron Valley, are a number of extremely impressive burial structures carved in the rock, including the tomb of Absalom, the son of David. After a pretty long uphill hike, we then entered Old Jerusalem through the Lion's Gate, also known as Stephen's Gate. We went to the Pool of Bethsaida. We sang in a church with fabulous acoustics. The video is on another post. We walked out the gate...with cars, trucks, and motorcycles all on the same road..and path outside the wall to the Eastern Gate. This is the Gate that the Lord will enter when he comes again. We took a group photo there. (The gate is sealed shut.)

We left to go to Herodium and Bethlehem. We dropped off our Israeli guide, Boaz, as he is not allowed to go there as it is under Palestinian rule. We met up with another guide who took us up to Herodium. He built this artificial mountain that could be seen for miles around to ensure he would never be forgotten. It covered 62.5 acres with palace, fortress, and lower Herodium with a pool, and a tunnel system that we went throughout. Herod was buried there—his tomb discovered just 7 years ago. Another good hike!

We ate lunch at a cafe in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is quite a large city now...not what you probably picture in your mind. Bethlehem is 25% Christian and 75% Muslim. Our guide was a Christian and we shopped at Johnny's Souvenir Shop to support the Christians there. We then went to the Church of Nativity, the oldest church in the Christian world. This is built over the place where some believe Jesus was born.

After a busy day site seeing, some headed to the outdoor pool for a refreshing swim and others to the spa and indoor pool. We had dinner at the beautiful buffet and then headed out to the Antiquities Shop. We have had many opportunities to purchase gifts and souvenirs and this was another opportunity to see many interesting items...even if one didn't purchase. Pots, jewelry, olive wood items, coins, rugs...etc.!


Another memorable day in Israel!

(Disclaimer! It is so hard to remember what we did by the end of the day as we do a lot! If missed something or this is out of order, hopefully some of the team will catch it so we can correct it.)
Mount of Olives Devotional
Team in front of the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem