Amy's Update

This is my latest art project.  I finished it about a month ago.  Starting next week, I am going to work 3 instead of 2 nights a week.  It may go back down to 2 nights a week in the fall.  Finally, I am getting acupuncture for the pain in my wrist.  I don't know if it is helping yet.  It's only been 2 weeks.  

I would like to remember Memorial Day and all our veterans, past and present. I would also like to remember their families.  They have all made the greatest sacrifice, and I thank God that I live in a country where we have freedoms and rights, so fought for by our veterans.  God bless the troops, and God bless America!

Final Israel

Acre-crusader city

Acre-courtyard

These are the last days of my journey throughout Israel.  It was an eventful trip.  Now as I read the Bible, I can remember the places I've been and envision the sites as they were during Biblical times.

Not only was I transformed in  

Acre-hall

Haifa-Bahai Shrine

 this way, I also was transformed relationally.  There were some great people on the tour.  Everyone was so nice and friendly, and so welcoming to me a person travelling alone.   A man even was so nice and friendly to me.  He paid me a lot of attention, spent time with me, 

Caesarea amphitheater

Caesarea

and we talked about many things.  It was nice, and it awakened that feeling that had died in me for so long. I had realized that I was so angry with men, and that I had a negative attitude towards them.  I came to realize that there were some  

Tel Aviv

Rabin Square

good men out there, and that they have feelings too.  It may seem simple and obvious, but it had not been for a long time for me.  So I am joining singles groups again, and on an online dating site, with better results this time.  I don't know what may happen in that respect, but I do know that this trip transformed me in more ways than one, and I am so thankful I got to go.  

Capernaum and Sea of Galilee

Peter's house

synagogues

 These 5 pictures are from Capernaum, an archaeological site. There is a modern church built over where was found Peter's home.  Jesus did much of his ministry in this area, including the Sea of Galilee, of which are the top 3 pictures. 

synagogue

Peter

We went in a reproduction fishing and boat and were welcomed with a fishing demonstration of Biblical times.  We also learned a couple of Jewish dances and sang some Christian songs.  That was the most memorable to me, to know I was on the same lake 

as Jesus. It even brought tears to my eyes, and made me fall in love with Jesus again..  

Nazareth and Galilee

 In these first 4 photos is the Basilica of the Annunciation.  Here is where Mary is told by the angel Gabriel that she is going to give birth to the Son of God. On the right is the Grotto where it happened.

In the next four photos is the place where Joseph's workshop is.  The statue is of Joseph.  

 This is the Church of the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount.  

It was in Galilee that I started to notice all the stray cats in Israel.  Everywhere I went there was a cat.  And like a magnet I was drawn to them.  I had to pet them.  Most wanted my attention, even one jumped on my lap and rubbed his face on my face, even though I was just squatting.  They called me the cat whisperer.  I don't know why there are so many cats. I was told the people don't mind it, they keep control of the rodent population.  But dogs are regulated, they have to be leashed.  I didn't see too many dogs, just a lot of cats.  

New Jerusalem

On the top left is the memorial garden for those Gentiles who helped the Jews during WWII.  On the top right is the Dead Sea scrolls museum.  The scrolls are under this structure, which is supposed to look like the end of a scroll.  The rest of the pictures are a large-scale model of Jerusalem before it was destroyed by the Romans.  I also went to the Holocaust museum there but pictures were not allowed.  It is a solemn, quiet place, full of pictures and objects about the horrors that the Jew suffered during WWII.  I never cease to learn something new of the terrors that happened then.  It never seems to end.  I don't get the whole anti-Semite thinking.  Even now, they continue to be targeted, like that synagogue shooting last week in CA.  It's like there are people that think the Jews have no right to live.  That is crazy thinking.

I took lots of pictures of the model, even though I didn't know what I was looking at, except for the last one, that is a picture of the Temple.  Now only the Western wall remains.  Again, it is anti-Semite thinking, it seems, to cause the Romans to destroy this town.  When will it ever end for them?  

Bethlehem

The top pictures are of the Shepherd's Fields and the church that was built there.  Again, I don't know if these are the actual fields that the shepherds heard the angels proclaim the birth of Jesus.  The church had wonderful acoustics as we sang a song, I think Amazing Grace.  

This church in Bethlehem is the supposed spot of Jesus' birth.  You can touch the stone upon which he laid, which is surrounded by a star, as in the picture on the top left.  Constantine's mother, Helena, found this spot, along with the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.  I was reminded of this when I watched last week's episode of Destination Unknown, on the Travel Channel.  I was also reminded that Bethlehem is in the West Bank, which is Palestinian territory, so we had to go through a check point.  It was unremarkable, we just cruised on through.  There are so many young Jewish soldiers carrying big guns in Israel that you get used to it.  All Jews have to join the military for a few years, except the extreme orthodox ones, they have an exemption.  

A friend told me that all people who visit Israel are blessed there.  I did feel blessed there.  I was happy all the time.  Granted, I was worried throughout the trip as well about various things, but I survived them all and felt a part of something bigger, as I was on a tour.  But I was also among the many who visited Israel.  I have yet to meet anyone who hated their trip there.  And I have met people who hated their trips to various places.  So many Israel is a blessed place.  

Old Jerusalem

Church of All Nations

We spent a half day in Old Jerusalem, but it was quite a trek.  Up and down hills and stairs, all around winding streets like a maze.  This top picture is supposedly where Jesus agonized over his impending death in the Garden of Gethsemane.  This church was put over that spot.  I am not sure who determined that was the spot.  But it various churches throughout the centuries have decided what happened where and have built a church throughout the landscape of Israel, especially in Old Jerusalem.  Which is whee the Via Dolorosa is located as well.  The Via Dolorosa is the way of the cross, where Jesus was condemned to his tomb.  There are 14 stations of the cross, and I have only a few pictures here as it was so busy and crowded that it was difficult to stop and take a good picture.  

#2-Chapel of the Flagellation

#4-Jesus Meets His Mother

#5-Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

#7-Jesus Falls for the Second Time

#10-14-Church of the Holy Sepulcher

I had taken pictures inside the Holy Sepulcher, but they were blurry.  Before we got there I stopped and bought a delicious and nutritious pomegranate juice, and even though I had finished it by the time we got to this last stop, there were no garbage cans around.  So I dutifully carried it inside and attempted to take pictures with one hand.  Thus,. there are no good pictures of inside due to want of a rubbish bin.  I later realized that there were no garbage cans anywhere, yet it was relatively clean.  They must clean the areas often, for I saw people leave their rubbish here and there.  Even so, you can go into this church and touch the rock where Jesus was crucified and the rock where He was buried.   

Western Wall

This is what is left of the Great Temple.  Jews come here to pray and stick little bits of paper inside with their prayers on them.  I did that too.  It looks bigger than the picture, it is also behind that structure.  Men and women are separated here, I don't know why.  This was the most meaningful part of my day.  I'm not sure why, I guess the other sites I don't know what archaeological evidence there is that that is the spot.  I do believe the Bible, but I don't know enough about the evidence. I guess the point is not that that matters, but whether it is meaningful to people, and to know that Jesus was here, and we are walking where Jesus walked.  I liked the Western Wall because I can see and feel the evidence that the Temple was there 2000 years ago.