Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Well,we finally made it to the Holy city of Jerusalem. After a good night sleep at the King Solomon, we loaded the bus and headed off to the first site of day 5. Yes, we were blessed with yet another beautiful day here in Israel; blue skies and just the right temperature. Our first stop of the day was the Mt. of Olives...wow, what a view. As you stand on the top of this mountain, you can look right down into the "Old City" of Jerusalem. The most dominate object of this view is the "Dome of the Rock". This 24 carrat dome is a modern day Muslim mosque. In the Hebrew Scriptures, this is the place were Abraham almost sacrificed Issac (in the Muslim tradition it is almost the same but they say it was not Issac but rather Ishmael). After taking in everything we could see and learning more about Jerusalem, we started down the mountain but not before taking in some fun activities..ie riding camels. Pictured above is Tracy Lombardozzi on one of these camel rides ( other riders included: Joan Sachs, Bill Beyrer and Ginny Regi, and Justin Hanks).

As we walked down the mountain, we pasted old Jewish cemeteries, the Church of Mary Madeline, and many other beautiful sites. Once we reached the bottom of the mountain, we rounded the corner and entered into the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the garden where Jesus was betrayed and then arrested. The olive trees in the garden are said to be thousands of years old; dating to the time of Jesus. Olive trees are "generational" trees meaning that there is a grand-parent tree that produces many generations from its roots. These generations wrap around the grand-parent tree, making it thicker and thicker and causing it to last for thousands of years. Pictured above is just one of these wonderful olive trees; can you find the camel head hidden in the tree? We visited the Church of All Nations at this site and the boarded the bus to move onto our next site.

Next, we headed towards Mt. Zion. The route to Mt. Zion meandered along the walls of the "Old City" and eventually to a gate through which travels could enter into the city. The "Old City" is a large, busy city of more than 35,000 residents. We unloaded from the bus, stayed close together, and raced off, following our guide to the building that housed the room of the Last Supper. Here Rev. Harter read from the scriptures and led us in singing a beautiful hymn. From the Last Supper room, we headed right down stairs to the tomb of King David. After paying our respects and a moment of prayer, we headed off to lunch at a kibbutz just on the out-skirts of Jerusalem.

After lunch, we moved towards Bethlehem. Before entering Bethlehem, we had to change buses because our guide and bus driver could not enter Bethlehem being that they are Israeli. Yes, we went into the Palestinian Authority (but not to worry, we would never do anything that was not safe). Once we changed buses and got a new guide, we made our way to the Church of the Nativity. This is the tradition site of Jesus' birth. Again, scripture was read and the group joined together to sing "Silent Night". After this amazing experience, we headed off to do some well earned shopping. After going through a security check point, we re-joined our guide and bus driver and drove back to the King Solomon for an early dinner.

After dinner we loaded onto the bus again and headed back over to the "Old City" for an evening tour of the inside of the "Western Wall". Within the wall we got to walk on streets that are over 2000 years-old and to see building blocks weighing over 400 tons (two of these building blocks are the biggest in the world). This was yet another day of amazing experiences, breathe-taking views, and life changing events. Who needs a picture Bible when you can see it all in person (which I personally suggest to all).

We are all enjoying you comments...keep them coming! Hope you are enjoying this virtual tour, but think and pray about coming to Israel yourself. We'll pray for you, You pray for us!

From Israel (Jerusalem),

IAN