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.  

Israel

A few weeks ago I went to Israel.  I had wanted to go for a long time, and I finally got up the gumption to get up and go during our Polar Vortex we had in late January.  This was a trip of how God took care of me.

I was worried about so many things.  I feared a snowstorm on the way there, and since I had a layover in Canada, I feared a snowstorm there as well.  There were no storms.  I worried about being on the plane, I always do.  The most nerve wracking parts for me are the takeoff and landing.  But all was smooth.  I worried about the flight (12 hours!), but even though I didn't sleep, I kept myself busy watching movies with closed captioning (yay!) and reading my book.  A special bonus: in Canada: while I  was enjoying my Starbucks, I met 2 couples who were also going to Israel, and they were from the Moorhead area, where I went to college!  Small world.

I worried about the first day, since there was nothing planned on the tour.  But I met some nice, friendly people on the tour and had lunch with them at the hotel.  I worried about my sleeping pills, if they would actually help.  But they did.  I worried about the wrist brace I bought for my sore wrist to use when I was in bed.  But it helped too.  It helped so much I kept using it since I've been home.  

The first day we went to the Dead Sea.  It was the weirdest experience I ever had.  I felt like a cork, I literally could not sink.  But it was not relaxing.  I can't float normally, so it was scary.  But I met some more nice, friendly people on my tour.  And God took care of me.  

We also went to Masada, which was the last place the Jews were overtaken by the Roman Empire at 70 A.D.  We took a cable car to the top of the mountain, where Herod had built a fortress 2,000 years ago.  Here the Jews committed mass suicide instead of being enslaved by the Romans.  We had a great tour guide who taught us so much I wish I could remember.  Nevertheless, it was a lot of climbing up and down and all around the fortress.  But God still took care of me.