Arrival

To all watching

We just learned our Tel Aviv flight has been cancelled. We will be arriving to Portland at LEAST 5 hours later than anticipated

More info as it becomes available


Steve Kelly
(Sent from my mobile device)

From Jerusalem to Bethlehem

Well, this is almost the last full day of our fantastic trip. We spent the morning in the old city of Jerusalem. Pastor Carl preached on the steps where the 3000 were saved just outside the temple. We then sang a song on those steps at the same time there was a Barmitzvah happening on those steps as well. Quite an interesting site.

From there we went to the "traditional" location of the Upper Room. It was interesting but still just a room. We then went to a few other "Traditional" locations in the old city.

Then we spent time shopping and eating lunch - some of us had hamburgers and fries. I guess we were craving good old American food.

We toured The Herodium. This is the highest hill in the area where Herod built his fortress and private residence. My oh my what a place - you could see 360 degrees and for several hundred miles. We could see the Dead Sea from this location.

Back on the bus with our new driver and off to Bethlehem. We have a new guide for Bethlehem as it is under Palestinian control and our Israeli guide would not enter. We went to the Church of the Nativity which has three churches trying to control the site (Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian)

I will be posting more photos this evening.

Tomorrow we are off to Temple Mount, Via Dolorosa, The church of the Holy Sepulcher (Calvary), and the Garden Tomb. We then drive to Tel Aviv and catch our flight at Midnight tomorrow night.

This is probably my last major entry into the blog until we get back to the states (unless I get interent access someplace). I will be posting here from my phone to keep people informed as to our travels home.

I pray that these writings have been as meaningful to all who have followed us as it has been for us to travel to these locations. We have so many stories to tell of our experiences. Be sure and spend some quality time with whomever you know who walked in the footsteps of Jesus in our group. They will be happy to share. This trip has been such a blessing to us all - not only all the places we have walked and seen but the relationships that have been built between us will last a lifetime. We are all so thankful to all of you who have prayed for us on our journey. It has truly been an indescribable experience.

Around the Outskirts of the Holy City

I can't begin to tell you how much information overload we are all experiencing. We were in actual places today that are not "traditional". Many places we have been so far have been "traditional" sites or places where certain activities might have taken place. We first went to the Wailing Wall to see the place where the Jews pray. We saw many of them reading and praying at the wall. We then went down underground to see the many courses of the wall that were laid by Herod. The largest one found is over 500 TONS. The tunnel went from the Wailing wall to the end of the western wall. Amazing how Herod built the wall with those MASSIVE blocks and no mortar.

From there to the baths of Bethsaida which were much larger than we all thought. We entered St Anne's church and sang Amazing Grace. The acoustics are indescribable - it was absolutely heavenly.

After this walk we were driven to an archeological site where we all turned into archeologists. We spent 2 hours sifting through dirt that was excavated from the southeast corner of the wall around the old city - we found gold pieces, mosaic pieces, pottery, nails, and other artifacts. Very fun to find different items from many years ago.

After lunch we went off to the highlight of the day. We started on the top of the City of David and could see exactly where the city was located. We then walked through Hezekiah's tunnel. This tunnel was built through SOLID rock. They started at both ends and met in the middle. It is over 500 yards long - that's right 500 YARDS. It still has running water through it today. So we dawned our sandles and shorts and head-lamps and walked through the water in a tunnel that was no wider than the average body and in may places only 5 feet high. If you had claustrophobia - you were in trouble. It was AMAZING to believe that back then, starting at both ends, that they even came close to each other. There is a place in the tunnel where there is some adjustment where they met - but still pretty amazing.

We ended up back at the hotel early today - so many groups of people walked through the streets of the old city. We walked through the Damascus Gate and shopped at many of the shops selling anything and everything you ever wanted. Much haggling went on and many deals were made.

Tomorrow off to Bethlehem and the surrounding area's. We are starting to get sad knowing that the trip is coming to a close.

There is a new Album you can view today's pictures from:
http://picasaweb.google.com/promgmt/Israel2009SHC3?feat=directlink

You can use that one in addition to the others I have mentioned in earlier posts

From the Mount of Olives

Wake up call at 6:30 this morning - YEA, we got to sleep in 1/2 hour!! After a great breakfast, Munir takes us to the Mount of Olives. On the bus we were blessed to have Sheila's two children, Ateret age 5 and Yoel age 3 join us. We step off the bus to a COLD and WINDY day. WOW was it cold!!! Look at the pics to see us all bundled up. From the Mount of Olives we could easily look over the Kidron Valley to the old city of Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.

After the teaching time there we walked down the hill to the Garden of Gethsemane. We were fortunate to be allowed into a more private garden area. We had a great teaching time from Pastor Carl and time for each of us to spend some time in prayer or reading scripture before we went on to the Church of Agony. This church is built over the rock where SUPOSEDLY Christ wept in the garden. The time in the garden was very special to each of us as we spent time to ourselves in prayer or meditation.

From there we hopped back on the bus. We were all happy to get on the WARM bus after the chilly walk down the hill. The next stop was an unscheduled stop at Schindler's burial site. Only a few of us went to the site.

From there we went up to the Israel museum for the rest of the afternoon. The museum holds the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as many other literary works found in Qumran. First (outside in the cold again) we spent time at the 1:50 model of Old Jerusalem and was taught a great amount of history of the old city. The model itself is incredible with the detail and accuracy. See the pics and I'm sure they won't do the model justice. We went inside the museum and saw many of the original scrolls. The most fascinating is the whole book of Isaiah - all 66 books. It was very moving to actually see the book of Isaiah written in Hebrew. The writing was much smaller than I imagined and we all were amazed at the scribes who, under candelight, copied the sciptures word by word, letter by letter.

WOW - what a day and we are told that tomorrow will be MORE full!!!

Be sure and look at the pictures, many pictures have been added to both the albums, so be sure to look at them all - the links to the pictures sites are in earlier entries to the blog. Scroll down to find the links.

Masada and En Gedi

Masada was phenomenal. First we met up with Amanda MacCollin and her aunt Mia as they have been traveling over here on their own and it was great to spend the day with them. Took the tram up to the top and walked the site. King Herod built a pretty nice "palace" up there. It was easy to see the Roman encampments and the siege wall below us. The ramp the Romans built is still there - about 9,000 Jewish slaves built that ramp. The view of the Dead Sea and the surrounding ranges was a sight that is indescribable.

Back down the tram and back into the coach to drive to En Gedi. It is hard to believe that water can flow right out of those barren hills - but it does; lots of water. Some of use dipped our feet in the pools below the waterfalls - Alan performed a perfect cannonball into the pool. Very refreshing after walking up over 200 steps to the pools. This is where the cave the David and Saul "met" is located. No one knows the exact cave as there are many of them here. The walk down was quite tricky with small slipery steps, but we all made it without incident.

Back to the golden coach with our fearless driver Munir and off to Jerusalem. We took a short detour to "The Wilderness" overlooking Jericho. The winds were stiff and steady (about 30+ MPH) We saw what the wilderness is really like and this is the "green" time of year. Well, us from Oregon saw VERY LITTLE green anywhere. We can't imagine what the dry time of year looks like. Some Bedouin men came to sell us their wares as well as bringing a camel for us to ride ($3 for a very short ride - but it was worth it). Many of us rode the camel - it was ALOT of fun and with the wind blowing made it a bit more authentic.

The bus roared up the hill to Jerusalem. As we crested the hill with the Mount of Olives on our left we could see Jerusalem, the old city and the Dome of the Rock - pretty breathtaking. We all got out of the bus at Jerusalem University that overlooks the city and got our "lay of the land" so to speak. Munir (our driver) knew of a place to shop here where it is owned by Christians. Of coourse mention the word "SHOP" with this group and we had to go there. Very nice merchandise there and many of us bought items. I think that many VISA cards were worn out today. Then we arrived at the hotel where the buffet style dinner was fabulous.

We are all looking forward to spending the next four days here in Jerusalem.

Sorry - no additional pictures tonight - I will post todays and tomorrows pics tomorrow night. It is just too late and as you all know I especially need my beauty sleep.

Good night from Jerusalem!!!

Sun Rise on the Dead Sea

Just had to write a quick note about how we were all a little grumbling a bit about how they just started daylight savings time here - so we lost ANOTHER hour - that means we have lost 2 hours in the last month...... BUT ...... I am so glad we did as we were up in time to see an absolutely BEAUTIFUL Sunrise right outside the window.

More after this day is over where we travel Masada, En Gedi, and Jerusalem.

From Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea

The day started at 8am with an exciting and encouraging time in the Jordan river as 25 people were baptized; four of them for the first time - PRAISE GOD! Look at the pictures to see some of them. The water was a bit chilly but bearable for this once in a lifetime experience.

After we all dried off - it's back on the luxury coach with our fantastic driver Munir and off to tel Bet'Shean to see an incredible sight of an excavated roman city with all the splendor of a large Roman city; streets, shops, and bath houses. Check out the pictures to see a lot of us on the "facilities" in the roman bathroom sitting "cheek-to-cheek" on the marble - a must see on the pictures. This city was destroyed by large earthquake in 749 AD where all the large columns colapsed and killed many people which caused the plague to infiltrate the city and therefore was abandoned.

Back to the Mercedes limousine (it really was a Mercedes bus) for the long trip to Quamran. This is the location of the Dead Sea scrolls. There are 11 caves where various literary works were found including much of the scriptures. Very different than the Galilee; dry, baron and hard to believe people actually lived there.

Back on our luxury mode of transportation and on to the hotel right on the Dead Sea. A very nice hotel. Most floated out in the Dead Sea - we had synchronized swimming and water aerobics. Then off to the spa for more hot tub and swimming in a Dead Sea water pool. Some enjoyed a sulpher bath and others relaxed with a massage. Tonight as I write in the blog there is musical entertainment in the lobby and a fire dancer will be coming next.


Links to our photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/promgmt/Israel2009SHC?feat=directlink
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/promgmt/Israel20092?feat=directlink
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/promgmt/Israel2009?feat=directlink

(sorry - there may be some duplicates on these three albums)

Thanks again for all your prayers for safety and a fulfilling trip - we have all been so blessed to be a part of this wonderful time of learning and relationship-building.