Day 5

May 3, 2010

Crown Plaza Hotel

Givat Ram

Jerusalem, Israel 91130

 I woke up early this morning in the Casear Hotel so I could take a picture of the sunrise.


We started out the day by going to the Mount of Beatitudes. It was a beautiful drizzly morning. We sat in the rose garden while Pastor preached on Matthew Five. It was beautiful.


Next we went to the ruins of Capernaum and saw Peter’s house and the synagogue. We got caught in a rain storm and stood under a big leafy tree while Hezzie taught us.


We then drove. We went from Galilee to Jordan to Jerusalem. Jordan is mostly a baren dessert, and in the center we stopped at an oasis. The Arabs man that I bought my water and Magnum ice-cream bar from tried to give me my change back in shekels, when I had paid him in dollars. Hezzie stepped in and saved the day. I got my change back in dollars.


We drove into Jerusalem in the early afternoon. Hezzie had to leave us before we went into Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a Palestinian territory and it is not safe for Israelis. Our bus driver is Jordanian so he was able to go with us. We had a Palestinian Catholic name Ibrahim guide us through the Church of Bethlehem. The Church is divided between Greek and Armenian Orthodoxs. It was a dark cathedral that had ornamental lamps hanging from the ceilings. There was a faint haze from the incents burning. We waited an hour to file into the room underneath the church that supposedly where Christ was born. Once I finally made it into the small underground room I had not even 30 seconds to kneel down at the silver star that was in this little fireplace-looking structure. The silver star was placed there by the Crusaders and says in Latin, “This is where Christ was born.” People where kissing the star and praying.


Bethlehem was so completely different that what I expected. It is hardly the quiet hamlet that Christ was born in 2,000 years ago. It is now ripped apart by war. Going into the town we went through two checkpoints. Palestinian guards with machine guns were everywhere, some getting on to the tourist buses. We passed the tomb of Rachel, which is a special place for Jews, but it was closed by the Palestinians for whatever reason and has caused a lot of anger. The tall cement walls hiding Rachel’s tomb are completely covered in graffiti.


The food is so fantastic here. A lot of cold salads and vegetables, fresh fruit and amazing breads and desserts. They have this dairy free ice cream that is amazing!


The Crown Plaza is a very nice hotel, and the view from our room is amazing. I took a picture when we first got to the hotel this afternoon and then right before bed. I love Jerusalem.

L.s.R

Day 4

May 2, 2010

...Going through the countryside of Israel...

We are in the bus, so that is why my handwriting is really bad.

Yesterday, we started out in Nazareth. It is mostly a Muslim town now, but in the ‘90s a group of Christian Jews started a museum and preservation site of what the village of Nazareth would have looked like at the time of Jesus. At the start of the tour, the man that led us was very scholarly and mentioned a few facts that I had never thought/heard about. The term of Jesus being ‘hung’ on the cross is incorrect, because for a person to have been hung on the cross with ropes was for lesser criminals. Jesus was nailed on the cross, which meant that he was considered a chief enemy of the government, and thus deserved the cruelest treatment.

After the Nazareth village we went to the synagogue in current day Nazareth that was built on top of the original synagogue where Jesus would have preached to his countrymen and was rejected.

…Later in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem…

After leaving Nazareth we went to the Sea of Galilee and took a boat to the middle part of the lake. Pastor read the passage of when Peter walked on the water to Jesus. Today was beautiful, slightly on the cool side. The water was still.

We then went to Caesarea Philippi were Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was, and Peter said, “the Christ, the Son of God.” Philippi was known for how they predominantly displayed the god and goddesses of their culture all over the city. Pan (which is where the English word Panic comes from) was the main god of Philippi. It was in this town, which was more pagan and worldlier than other cities, that Christ challenged His disciples with what they thought of Him.

We then saw the River Dan, which supplies 50% of Israel’s water. The river is in a nature reserve and is a popular place for camping with the locals.

After the Dan Reserve, our tour guide Hezzie (short for Hezekial) took us to an Israeli memorial in the Golan Height Mountains. During the ‘60s the Israelis won a huge battle in gaining more territory/protection from the Syrians. The victory was a miracle, which shows that even in our present age Israel still holds the blessing of God because they are God’s chosen.

Hezzie fought in the Six Day War, and has a strong passion for the peace of Israel. I am so thankful that he is our guide. He was a Jew who was born in Baghdad and came to Israel after it became a nation. He is not an orthodox Jew and he is not a Christian. He believes that Jesus is the Christians Messiah, but the Jewish Messiah is still yet to come.

On the way back to the Tiberius Hotel we stopped at a ridge that overlooks the Syrian border. We all seemed to fall asleep on the bus going back to the hotel. Hezzie bought us cherries on the side of the road, they were really tart. After we ate dinner at the hotel, four of us girls were taken by Hezzie to the Caprice Diamond Factory. Israel is the world’s diamond market. The show room was amazing. Afterwards we went shopping in open market next to the hotel.

L.s.R