Walking the Sand in the Holy Land

Monday July 14th, 2008

I had class and a test in Missionary Anthropology before we left for Israel at 6 p.m. It was a pretty stressful time, but I was just glad to get everything done and get on our way. Captain couldn't come to Israel with us because Katy Bills was sick, and I was pretty upset about that. I felt really bad for her. She even had to leave Greece to go home to continue to get better. She wrote us a really nice goodbye letter. I was hoping they could meet us in Jerusalem, but I figured it probably wouldn't happen. Anyway, when we got to the airport we stood in line for a while and then they interrogated all of us for a while asking all of us questions. It wasn't really that bad though. We got on the plane, and headed for Israel, and we got to Tel Aviv around 11:30, so I was pretty worn out, and slept all the way to the hotel, and got ready for a long week. My roommates for this trip were Chad Graham and Ross Riggs. Paul and Chad are roomates on campus, and he warned me that Chad talks in his sleep, but the first night was just crazy. He did it pretty much every night, but this night and the last night were by far the funniest. This night, he started screaming, "Come on!! Send the best one up here!! What?!? Come on!! Bring 'em up here!!" It was so funny..Then, that same night later, he just screamed four times and went back to sleep. It was the craziest thing. The last night was by far the best. He just busted out in "My Girl" out of nowhere in the middle of the night. I was asleep and all of a sudden, I hear, "I GUESS YOU"D SAY, WHAT CAN MAKE ME FEEL THIS WAY, MY GIRL, MY GIRL, MY GIRL, TALKIN BOUT MY GIRL. MY GIRL." Then he started laughing and fell back asleep. It was too perfect. I almost got my camera out and filmed it, but I was too tired. Our tour guide was Yosi. He was really cool. Pretty hardcore too. Hahah. Plays his flute well for an army man.

Tuesday July 15th, 2008

Yosi told us in the morning that Israel meant "struggling with God." I thought that was really interesting. We spent the morning in Caesarea. It was built by Herod the Great. It was SOOO HOTT every day. Yosi even said "Going through Israel in the summer is like shopping with your wife." I thought that was really funny..Hahaha. We saw the theater first. It's been reconstructed and people watched comedies here. Yosi played his flute here while Paul held his microphone. Next, we saw Herod the Great's Pool. It's the place where they would come and recite poetry. We saw the Pontius Pilate inscription which I thought was really neat. Caesarea is from Acts 10, and Paul in Caesarea is in Acts 25. I really like when they tell you where it is in the Bible, so it'll make it all more meaningful every time you read it. Next, we went to Megido and saw the Valley of Jezreal, which is also called the Valley of Armagedon. It has a really good view of Nazareth. It is also the best fortified city of King Ahab. It was abandoned in the 4th century B.C. and has never been resettled. There story of Armagedon is in Revelation 16:16. I was kind of hoping that we would look up and see millions of angels come out of the sky, and then millions of demons come from the ground and watch a huge fight there. Hahaha. Pretty crazy, I know, but it would have been AWESOME. Next, we went into Nazareth. It is the biggest Muslim city in Israel. We went to the Synagogue church. It is a really important place. It is where Jesus spoke to the people on the Sabbath in Nazareth in Luke 4:14. It was really special because Yosi said it IS where Jesus was and it just makes it so much more spiritual to know that Jesus was actually where we are standing. It's an amazing feeling, and it's so hard to describe. I just love it.

Wednesday July 16th, 2008

We started the day in Tiberius at the Sea of Galilee. This was probably one of my favorite things we did all week. They hung up the US flag on our boat, and we all sang the Star Spangled Banner which I thought was pretty funny. The Sea of Galilee represents the geographical heart of Jesus which made it very meaningful and spiritual to be floating on it. I didn't really feel very good so I was kind of bummed about that. It's in Matthew 14 where it talks about the feeding of the 5000, and in John 14 with the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus. We sang some songs on the boat, and it was really moving. Next, we went into the Ancient Boat Museum which was really neat. We saw a 2000 year old boat. It was made of cedar that came from Lebanon. After the Ancient Boat Museum, we headed off towards Mount Beattitudes. It is probably the view the people had when Jesus spoke. We're not for sure whether it is the same spot, but it's in the general vicinity of where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. We read the Sermon on the Mount here and it was very spiritual and emotional. We got to swim in the Sea of Galilee, but I didn't do it because I felt really bad. My stomach was just bothering me. It was sad because I really wanted to. Next, we all headed to Capernaum. It's 8 times larger than Nazareth. We saw a Basilica where Jesus was and then went to St. Peter's House from Luke 4:38. Next, we climbed up part of Mt. Tiberius ad saw Bernice's Palace over Tiberius. Titus fell in love with Bernice, but when he became emperor, people didn't want a Jewish lady to be Empress, so they mad him choose, and he chose to get rid of her, so he built her this palace. I thought it was a pretty interesting story. This is just simplified a little.

Thursday July 17th, 2008

We started the day in Bethsaida. It is the hometown of Peter, and it is the 3rd most mentioned town in the Bible. It is one of the five places below Galilee that was visited by Jesus. Bethsaida also has the biggest gate system. After we visited Bethsaida, we went kayaking on the Jordan River. It was sooo much fun. Leah was my partner. We weren't supposed to get in the water, but we "accidentally" fell in. Hey, Yosi told us to. hahah..It is definitely the most disgusting water I've ever been in, but at least it felt good. Haha. I'm pretty sure I was swimming next to a plastic bag and a dead rat half the time. We were behind these kids and it is against their religion to have girls and guys swim together, so we had to stay back while they went ahead, and they were taking forever!!! It was really annoying to have to wait all the time, but it was still tons of fun!!! After, we got cleaned up from the Jordan, we headed to Baniass. We hiked down to the waterfall which was really amazing!! We went into the Palace of Agrippa II, and Yosi played "Dance of the Seven Stars" on his flute inside the Palace. It was really pretty. I got a video of some of it.

Friday July 18th, 2008

We started the day by going to the Jordan River again and Yosi played his flute here. It was called "Love Song for the Jordan River." We also sang some songs here, and there was a guy camping out where we were, and he came out and talked to us. We called him John the Baptist. Hahaha. We drove past Jericho and we saw Mount Carantel which is where Jesus spent the 40 days, and we also saw Mount Temptal which is where Jesus was tempted by the devil. Next, we wandered through the desert for a while. It was really really really really hottt!! But it was still fun. I got a video of people walking through it. Enjoying the nice breeze..lol..After that, we took a sunset hike on the Judean Mountains which was really neat too.

Saturday July 19th, 2008

This was probably one of the hottest days of my life!!! We went to Qumeran first, which is the "hottest place in the entire world" and then we went to Masada, another one of the hottest places in the entire world. It was still a lot of fun though. Qumeran is where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. They are the most ancient Biblical text in the world. They were written about the 2nd century B.C. Before I start talking about Masada, I just want to start off by saying that I'm really glad that we watched the movie. I can't believe I just said that, but it's true. It made it a whole lot more meaningful and I understood it more, and what happened there. It just made it a lot better, and if we hadn't have watched the movie before, I would have wanted to watch it afterwards. Masada is the place where they had they had the collective suicide of 960 people. Herod created Masada. The Battle between the Jews and the Romans made this place famous. The ramp was really cool. It was made of perishable material so we saw what was left of it. Paul climbed down it. I would have too, if I knew we were allowed to. Yosi showed us the Camp of Silva which was pretty cool. We also saw the Northern Palace. It was a fortress within a fortress. We roamed around Masada for an hour, and I went into a humongous cistern. When we got to the hotel, we got ready to go for a dip in the Dead Sea. I was so excited I just ran in, and it HURT SO BAD with the cuts on my feet. And it was SOOO HOTTT. It was hotter in the water than it was outside. I thought I would feel refreshed, but I just felt even more disgusting after getting in it. It was the weirdest feeling ever!! My head and feet were out of the water at the same time!! It was awesome!!

Sunday July 20th, 2008

We spent the rest of the trip in Jerusalem. We sang some songs while we were driving on the way in: I Will Enter His Gates, As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem, As You Pass Through the Waters, and We're Marching to Zion. It was really moving singing all those songs driving into the city. We went to the Church of Dominus Flavis, and guys have to wear pants in it, and Bryan, Adam, and I only had on shorts, so they gave us skirts to put on. It was pretty funny. Especially since Bryan's skirt was the same length as his shorts. hahaha..I didn't understand why that made a difference at all, but anyway, whatever makes them happy. We went to the Garden of Gethsemane which was by far my favorite thing on this trip. We took the Lord's Supper here, and then we went on our own to look around and meditated for a while. It was soo nice. I could have stayed there all day. I took some flowers from the Garden and put 'em in my moleskine. Next, we went into the city. We saw the Jerish Quarter which is the heart of Jerusalem. We went on top of the roof of the market. We saw people wearing filacteries on their heads which looked like little transmitters. Hahaha. Supposedly, it gives them a closer connection to God. I don't know. Whatever floats their boat. Next, we walked into the Muslim Quarters which is where we ate and shopped in the market. Then, after lunch, we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It's more like amaze or labrynth than a church though. Archeologists are pretty sure this is exactly where jesus died and was buried. We saw the stone of his tomb. It was really neat in my opinion.

Monday July 21st, 2008

We went to the Temple Mount which was really cool. We weren't allowed to take our Bibles in. We saw the Wailing Wall which is known as the Western Wall. It is where they would go and pray because it's the closest point accessible to the Holy of Holies or the Golden Dome. There were many people celebrating their Bar-Mitzfahs here, so it was a lot of fun to watch that. We also had to be divided into men and women. People would put their notes and prayers in the cracks and holes. We saw the Mosque of Tumal which is the Golden dome and the Commercial signal for Jerusalem. It was really beautiful. It's the oldest roof building in Jerusalem. Next to it was the Elaksa Mosque which is the silver dome. It's the biggest mosque in Jerusalem.The capacity of the Square is 250,000 people. Only Muslims are allowed on the Mount on Fridays. Next, we went to the City of David and went through Hezekiah's Tunnel. I wasn't about to go through the wet one. I already about died in the pyramid so I knew I would freak out in the tunnel with water in it, so Jordan, Yosi, and I all went through the dry one. I still almost freaked out in that thing. I could barely even fit through most of the passages. I definitely would have died if there was water in it. Next, we saw the Huldah Gates which is the only entrance to the Temple, so when Jesus came here, he had to have been in this exact spot. It's from Matthew 21:12. It was really moving to know that Jesus had to have been in that exact spot. It was really neat. Another one of my favorite things of the trip was Gordon's Garden Tomb. It is the possible sight for the crucifixion of Jesus. There was skull cut out of the side of the road, so that's what they think "Golgotha" was. They can't say it IS the place, but it can definitely give you a visual of what it looked like. This tomb fits every description in the book of John where Jesus was buried. We went into the tomb which was very neat. The first room is the weeping chamber, and Jesus was probably put in the back right corner. The Burial Chamber is to the right of the Weeping Room, so we cna imagine what Mary did or what happened to her. We had a devo here, and it was really emotional. Anna got up and told us some things about her family that were really sad that had been bothering her for a while, and it was really sad. We also had meditation time in the Garden which was really nice.

Tuesday July 22nd, 2008

We spent the morning in Bethesda, which is the place we were supposed to go to two days ago, but at least we fit it in. We saw the Bethesda Pool which is where Jesus worked miracles. This and the Siloam Pool were pools mentioned in the Bible where Jesus did miracles. We went into the Crusader Church, and Yosi played Magnificat on his flute and Mona Lee sang a song, and we sang the Greatest Commands and We Shall Assemble. It had the best acoustics I had ever heard in my life. It was definitely one of the best memories of this trip for me. I think if I can think of singing in Heaven, then that is what it would sound like. It was beautiful! Next, we went to the Israel Museum. There was a model of Jerusalem from Jesus' time there. It was really neat, and I liked it because we got to see all the places we had been in perspective to where it was to everything else. We also saw the Great Isaiah Scroll. It was really amazing because it was a new display. It wasn't even there the semester before, sorry Ashton. It is the real thing!! The last thing we did for the whole trip was the Holocaust Museum. I was really sad that we ended the trip on sort of a depressing note, but it was still really moving to go there. We saw the Children's Memorial which was soo sad. There were candles set up in glass, and if you stood in one spot, you can supposedly see 1.5 million stars for the 1.5 million children that died. Also, if that's not sad enough, the names are being read and it takes a month to read them all. It plays continuously and tells their age and place of birth too, and also where they died. It was really depressing. Next, we saw the Memorial fo the Places of the Concentration Camps. It had a list of the places Jews were killed during the 2nd and 3rd phases of the Holocaust on the ground with a fire in the back. It was really sad. I'm really glad we got to do it though.

Well, that about sums up the Israel trip. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience in the Holy Land. I love and miss you all, and I can't wait to see you again!! Bye!! Love, Ryan