Israel/Jordan 2019

After this we took time to do what we haven't head much time to do so far, SHOP!  We went to the shop of Edward Lama who is a friend of our guide.  He is a Palestinian Christian and everything is his shop is guaranteed genuine by Collette our tour company.  We started by having Edward present me with a bible encased in beautiful olive wood.  A gift for bringing our group to his shop.  I then prayed for Edward and his family, he is working through the after effects of a stroke. Then next door to the shop is a restaurant run by Edward and his family.  We ate "Upside Down" there...see if you can figure out from the video clip why it's called that!

From the Garden of Gethsemane, we traveled back to Bethlehem where we had been the day before.  We didn't go to the place of Jesus' birth the day before because we knew it would be crazy crowded.  So we headed out early, hoping to beat the crowds...but beat the crowds we did not...it was crazy!  It took us over 3 hours of waiting in line to get to go through the cave where they are 99.9 percent sure this is where he was born...it is a must see on a tour like this, but it was really taxing, however, everyone in the group had a good attitude, have I said it before: Great Group!

We started the day early by going to the Garden of Gethsemane.  We intended to go the day before, but time got away from us.  The Garden is located at the base of the Mount of Olives an overlooks the Kidron Valley, from there the temple can be seen. Jesus regularly went there to pray.  It was the night before the crucifixion that he went there with the disciples to pray and ask his Father, "If it is possible, take this cup from me, but not my will but thy will be done."  Gethsemane is a word that means "press" and it was here that Jesus was "pressed and stressed" to the point that he sweat drops of blood.  It was here that his Father prepared him for the cross and it was for us that he did this!  Probably one of the most significant places.  Of course, there is a church built to commemorate and honor this event.

We noticed a local church near by that had a rooster on the steeple, so we decided to visit this "church of the chicken" which is called the Dormition Abbey or  The church itself is called  Basilica of the  Assumption  (or  Dormition ). In the Catholic dogma of the Assumption of Mary, Christ's mother was taken, body and soul, to heaven .  It's not my tradition, but it was interesting to see a place to honor Mary and her role in the life of Jesus. We then visited the Church of Pater Noster, or the Lord's Prayer church where they have displayed the Lord's Prayer in 140 languages and that number increases all the time.  Of course it is in English, however I asked if it is in Klingon, answer...sadly no...but if I donated enough money...maybe! We then went back to the bus where we found some street vendors offering a ride on their camel for $5.  Several in our group took advantage of it as you will see below.  Shirley Binn, who is a lover o

We arrive in Jerusalem, our first stop was at the Zion Gate, where the bullet holes in the walls still remain from the 1967 war.  We then came to the Upper Room which is not the actual upper room where Jesus met with the disciples, but a place erected in honor of what took place there.  It is over what is also known as King David's tomb.  The orthodox Jews pay homage to King David in this place and it is a special place for them to remember and honor their ancient king.  We had to don yarmulkas in order to visit this place.  I think it's a good look for me, what do you think?

We visited the Shepherd’s Field in Bethlehem after lunch where the angels appeared and told the shepherds good news of Jesus birth. This is the area where they were and there is a church on the site that has amazing acoustics, so we all sang Angels We Have Heard on High!

We then traveled almost 2 hours to Bethlehem in the South whet ewe had a wonderful lunch of authentic Mediterranean food with kabob meat! Really good!

We left the Sea of Galilee and traveled to Tel Miggido, a city that was destroyed and rebuilt 25 times. It was where King Ahab set up his kingdom of the north. It also is the place that over like the Jezreel Valley, where the battle Armageddon is to take place.  I have never been to this location before. Like Jerusalem, the water source was outside the city and so it made the city vulnerable when under attack. Like King Hezekiah did in Jerusalem, they dug a tunnel to connect the city inside of the walls to the water source. We got to walk through this passage way!