 HOLY LAND JOURNAL
- JOURNAL LETTERS
We had a wonderful time in Israel. Jerusalem was fantastic. We visited a number of the traditional tourist sites.
Flying over the Atlantic Ocean we reach the shores of God’s land. Upon our arrival to
the Ben Gurion airport (Tel Aviv) we were met by our guide and transferred to our hotel on the coast of the
Mediterranean, for a wonderful buffet dinner and a good night’s rest.
We visited Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and the Church of Nativity.
We toured the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Also the pastoral Shepherds' Fields, where David raised his sheep and where the Good News about Jesus’ birth was received (Luke
2).
We toured the ancient city of Caesarea. Took a boat ride along the Sea of Galilee
and ate at St Peter's Fish Restaurant. Visit Jericho, one of the oldest cities in the world. Enjoy a panoramic view of the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives.
We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Garden Tomb.
Read more below
Israel
Trip in 1998 - Oct. 28
We left the Atlanta airport at 2:30 P M. It was a beautiful
day for plane takes off. We could see the cities, lakes and
streams until we got to Charlotte, N. C. This was my second
plane ride, so I was quite excited. Our seats were almost in
the back, right behind the wings of the plane. I know the
angels of God were encamping round about us. It is not too bad
flying when you are trusting in God for His Divine protection.
From
the church of beatitudes we could see the plain of Gennesaret
and the Mt. Arbel.
This mountain, which lies close to St Catherine's Monastery,
is said to be the mountain, which Moses ascended to receive
the Ten Commandments.
Tuesday Evening
We are once again in a hotel on the Nile. Spent most of our
time walking around the motel ground taking pictures and
exploring.
There is much farming here. Since the Nile use to flood this
land regularly, the land is very fertile. Most of the men here
were the traditional dress of the long, white or gray garb.
They are very light and less hot to wear (or so I am told!).
Women are usually veiled although there is much variety in the
kind of veils. Today our guide talked about traditional
marriages in Egypt (still the majority);
Tomorrow we will be heading back to Israel.
October
28 GOLDEN GATE
From
the Mt. of Olives the left arrow points to the Golden Gate.
The Turks blocked it with hewn stones. There was a gate of a
previous wall found in a pit that opened up below the Golden
Gate a couple of years ago (c. 2000) but the pit had to be
covered as it was in a Moslem graveyard and they did not want
to permit archaeologists into the area. The right arrow points
to the Church of All Nations at the side of the traditional
Garden of Gethsemane. Christ walked from Jerusalem to the Mt.
of Olives after eating the last supper. Some days later, yet
before the Pentecost, he ascended from the Mt. of Olives to
It has been an eventful trip so far.
We
visited the Monastery of St. Catherine, which is at the foot
of Mt. Sinai. This monastery that we saw was built in the 6th
century although there has been a continual monastic presence
since the 3rd century. At one point in our history, most icons
and images of Christian figures were destroyed. St.
Catherine’s escaped this purge since they were so far out
into the Sinai desert, so it has many, many icons dating to
1500 years ago!
We saw the burning bush, which the Bible speaks
about when God spoke to Moses. We picked up rocks, which were
memories of our trip. The only trouble was, "How can we
get all the treasures home." The view from around the church was simply
magnificent!
November
1998 - Tuesday
Tomorrow we head to Sinai and Egypt. When we return from this
trip on November 2nd, we only have four days left before we
fly home.
It rains one season a year, sometime in
the last fall. But once it starts, it will rain almost every
day. Jerusalem receives lots of rain to
In Sinai, we will see more desert. One thing has impressed me
about the desert and that would be the mountain. I was
thinking flat, but in most cases, there are mountains also.
Traveling in this terrain would have been very challenging (as
with most of Israel).
Trip
to Egypt in 1998 - The first day.
This will be our tour day in Egypt. We drove by the Dead Sea.
I have enjoyed these 11 days in Egypt. Although the smog in
Cairo is horrible, the beauty outside the city has easily
compensated for this. Southern Egypt was magnificent with the
Nile River flowing through mile after mile of farmland. The
Egyptian people there were friendly and always willing to
help. The religiosity of the people! I was very impressed with
the presence of faithful Moslems who will take off the shoes
and pray several times a day. You could also see people on the
street with their small prayer books, praying the prayers of
the day. Our bus driver was on a fast and they do not eat
or drink (even water) from sunrise to sunset. People are very
faithful to it.
The
view was simply magnificent!
Egypt on November 2, 1998
we just finished visiting the tombs of the pharaohs and the
queens. Apparently, early pharaohs built pyramids, but they
soon realized that the pyramids attracted the grave robbers
(the graves were filled with gold and many valuables for the
next life). So, the following pharaohs decided to be buried
near Luxor (400 miles from Cairo where the pyramids are) and
the hide their burial places. Therefore, the west bank of the
Nile, across from Luxor is filled with many tombs (more than
60 pharaohs, and thousands of nobility).
We visited the Pyramids Egypt, and the Sphinx. The
pyramids are located right outside of Cairo. One can see them
as one drives through the city. So amazing. The largest covers
3 acres of land and is 143 meters high! As you know, they are
all burial places for the pharaoh and other important figures.
Some of us also rode camels again!!
Most of the tombs found have only been found in the last 100
years, and some of these are just magnificent. There are
numerous rooms in each tomb, with colorful drawings and
hieroglyphics on all the walls.
. The Egyptians had a strong belief in the afterlife so much
time is spent describing the journey to the afterlife and
making connects with the gods.
We are back in Israel, after a final two days in Egypt that
included a visit to ----
A
Crusader castle, Mt. Nebo where Moses saw the Promised Land,
Mount Nebo is where Moses completed his life. God had told him
that he would not enter the Promised Land but that he would
see it. Mt. Nebo is across the Jordan valley just north of the
Dead Sea. The smog was pretty bad that day so we could not
really see much. You can read about Moses in Deuteronomy,
chapter 34.
This was after we re-crossed the border back into Israel. The
Jordan side was easy, but the Israeli side took forever. Our
passports were checked four times; all luggages were X-rayed;
we went through the metal detector; some luggage was searched.
I know they are trying to protect their country, but I do feel
like it could be handled better. It took forever.
We then went to another site, Arad that is close to the Dead
Sea. There are actually two sites: one that is 3,000 to 2,000
BC and one that is 8th century BC and forward. One of the
interesting facts about the latter site is the presence of a
Jewish temple. While at some point in Jewish history,
sacrifice was limited to only the Temple in Jerusalem, there
did exist other temples around Palestine where Jewish
sacrifice did occur. Of course, this was animal sacrifice.
It is nice to be traveling again. The group is getting along
well and we have learned how to adjust to the many site
visits. Some of us are saying that we have seen enough
“rocks”, but we are taking it all in good human.
Tomorrow will be a busy day
We had
a choice to go to the Holocaust Museum today, leaving from our
motel.
It is strange each week to have three days that are honored as
holydays: Friday for the Moslems, Saturday for the Jews, and
Sunday for the Christians! I’m never real sure just what day
we are celebrating. The food was very good. The evening
meal always has a soup, and salad followed by pasta or
meat dish Very good.
Tomorrow we go...
It has been a good week and very interesting to see some
of the sights we have read about, -. How Jerusalem is viewed
in the Old Testament writings -- covering ground that I have
never covered before!
The
talks are interesting, Today is the day, that we
went to the Dead Sea, where we visited Masada, Ein Gedi and
Qumran. Now for a little news about the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is called “dead” because absolutely nothing
can live in the water. Because there is no outlet to the
water, the mineral level has continued to grow year by year as
the water evaporates in the hot, dry climate (the water is 33%
minerals!). I was expecting the sea to somehow be uninviting,
perhaps dark and dirty. It was just the opposite with very
blue water and very clear. The water is 10 times saltier than
the ocean and it is impossible to sink! All you can do is
float on top! We had the chance to get in the waters
today at Ein Gedi. It was fun as some of our trip swam and
others just waded and walked the beach and enjoyed the scenery
The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. The lowest in the
United States is Death Valley, which is about 300 feet below
sea level. The Dead Sea is 1,200 feet below sea level! The
water flows in from the Jordan River and simply evaporates.
Because most of the water of the Jordan River is being used
for irrigation, the Dead Sea is slowly drying up. In 30 years
they are predicting that it will be dry if something is not
done.
Masada is a large plateau with 1,000-foot cliffs on all sides,
located on the southwestern coast of the Dead Sea. In the
First Century BC, Herod the Great built a palace for himself
on top of this mountain. In 70 AD, at the end of the Jewish
Revolt from the Romans, the remaining rebels fled to Masada,
because it was virtually impossible to conquer. 1,000 people,
men, women and children, lived on the mountain for three years
while the Romans built a ramp up the side of the mountain!
Because of huge cisterns on the mountain and food that had
been stored, the people survived all those years. But finally,
the Romans broke through the city walls. It was hot, very hot
as we walked up the hill and finally rode the air buckets.
As Masada is on the southern coast of the Dead Sea, so Qumran
is on the northern coast. Qumran is where many, many scrolls
were found in 1947, which dated back to first century AD. The
scrolls were found in pottery jars in caves. They included
many scrolls of the Old Testament, and other writings of that
date. Three complete scrolls of the Book of Isaiah were found.
These scrolls have had a tremendous impact on our
understanding of the first century AD, when the Qumran
community was destroyed by the Romans (during the same
revolt).
This was a good day, and we were very tired when we got back
to our motel
Tomorrow is another big day!
Today we visited Megiddo, Yardenit and Hamat Tiberias. Mediggo
is a large reconstruction site in the Jezreel Valley, which
was very significant in the history of the area. Many battles
were fought in this valley, and whoever controlled the city,
controlled the trade route that went from Egypt to Assyria.
They have excavated 24 different levels of civilization in
this city, from 4,000 BC to 400 BC!! Mediggo is mentioned in
the Book of Revelations, 16:16, as the place of the final
battle of Good verses evil. Many significant battles had been
fought at this location and perhaps this is why the author of
Revelation offers this place for the final battle.
Yardenit is the place, just south of the Sea of Galilee where
some Christians come to be baptized, and it was here that I
was baptized. After singing the song "River of
Jordan" so many times, I now got to so. In the past this
was closer to the Dead Sea, until that section was closed to
tourist. We received certificates of our baptism
A night ride across the sea, in the boat was a little
disappointing, as I wanted it to be at day time as our former
trip was in 1992We were served a fish dinner with ice cream
and St. Peter's Fish. Good memories as we pack for ---- tonight.
Galilee. Is it ever a beautiful place?
Another busy day, although we did arrive home early, around 3
PM. This has allowed for a rest and review of our day before
dinnertime
Today we saw the ancient city of Golan Heights, east of the
Sea of Galilee area. The Golan Heights runs the northeastern
edge of Israel in a section that was once controlled by the
Syrians until the 1967 war. Gamla was the most interesting and
most exerting! It is a mountain city that was destroyed by the
Romans in 67 AD when they put down the rebellion by the Jews.
This was the same rebellion that leads to the destruction of
Jerusalem and the battle at Masada.
We
just got back from ----- I thought I would write a
little, and relax before dinner.
Today we saw Nazareth, and had a wonderful lunch there in one
of their restaurants.
Mount
Tabor. Nazareth is a city o Arabs today, with Jews living
close by in Upper Nazareth. But in the time of Jesus this
would have been a very small village of only 200-500 people.
Caves are very common in this area and the hillside of
Nazareth is filled with caves.
I think of Jesus growing up here with Joseph, who was known as
a carpenter. The actually word used in the scriptures is the
word for “skilled worker”, and traditionally this has been
translated as “carpenter”. However, it could have been
another form of skilled labor. Jesus also, might very well
have been a skilled worker (carpenters, stone cutters, etc.)
in the re-building of Sepphoris.
In Nazareth we visited the Church of the Annunciation and the
Church of St. Joseph. At the Annunciation Church a cave is
honored as the place the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary,
announcing the birth of Jesus. The Church is very large,
recently built in the 1960s, over a much earlier church.
Mount Tabor is where Roman Catholics celebrate the
Transfiguration of Jesus. Scripture does not identify the
mountain, only saying that it was a very high mountain. Mount
Tabor is southwest of the Sea of Galilee, about 20 miles from
Capernaum. Protestant communities honor Mount Hermon, which is
in the northern part of Israel where we were on Saturday.
Today we spent around the Sea of Galilee, visiting Capernaum,
Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, Church of
the Primacy of Peter and Tiberias. The day also included a
boat ride on the Sea, and an evening meal with the St. Peter
fish being served!
Some of our places that we visit are historically known (the
city of Capernaum, for example) and other sites are suggested
sites, or perhaps a place chosen to honor a certain moment in
the ministry of Jesus. So at the Church of the Primacy of
Peter, we read the Gospel in St. John (chapter 21) where,
after the resurrection, Jesus appears to some of the disciples
along the shore of the Sea, performs a miracle, has breakfast
with them and ask Peter three times, “Peter, do you love me?
Capernaum was especially good today. We saw a large synagogue
that probably sits over the place where the synagogue of
Jesus’ day stood and in which he taught. Close to the
synagogue is a room that has come to be honored as the house
of St. Peter, where Jesus healed his mother-in-law (ask the
parish secretaries for whom is Peter’s mother-in-law a
patron saint??). The present church is built over a 5th
century church, which is built over a room that was obviously
venerated by early Christians. It had been enlarged and
whitewashed. Graffiti in the room makes reference to Peter’s
house. Amazing!
It was Sabbath here in Israel, so we started our day later so
that we would get to our new hotel later. Because of Sabbath
rules, Jews are allowed to not check out of a hotel until late
on Sabbath, 5:30 or so. Thus, they cannot clean the rooms
until later
The land around the Sea of Galilee is very mountainous and
rocky. This area is known for quality wheat, but it is not
easy to grow because of the rocky soil. It brings new meaning
to Jesus’ parable (Luke 8:1ff) about the sewer and the seed
(more rocky soil, than good soil!). We are staying on the
north edge of the sea, close to the historic cities of
Capernaum and Bethesda. Bethesda, which we visited today, was
the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip.
The trips have changed how I saw the life of Jesus. We
visited Caesarea Philippi, which is the place where Jesus
asked the disciples, “Who do you say I am?” (Mark 8:25 or
any of the other gospels). Peter ended up speaking for the
disciples and it was following his profession of faith (“You
are the Messiah”) he is given the keys of the kingdom. Given
the rock cliff that stands above the town, it is not
surprising that Jesus used the image of Rock when he described
Peter’s role in the new community.
Caesarea Philippi - filled with flowing water, with tropical
trees and cool air. Caesarea Philippi (also called Bananas and
Paneas) is about 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus
came here for rest it is said. The waters were flowing from
the snow on Mountain Hermon surface at this point, to form a
fast flowing, crystal clear river.
Dinner was very good, but the fish tonight
included the full head at the least the eyes were not staring
at me!).
We visited Mt. Carmel where the Carmelite priests; this
overlooks the modern city of Haifa, which is Israel’s major
industrial port. Mount Carmel is where Elijah the prophet,
confronted the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18).
We are now in upper Galilee. It was a beautiful land, rugged
and mountainous. We are staying at another beautiful motel
Tomorrow we will visit Caesarea Philippi (with two other
sites) where St. Peter made his profession of faith when Jesus
asked, “Who do people say I am?”
TRIP
TO EGYPT NOTES
St
Catherine Monastery is the oldest monastery in the world and
the most popular tourist attraction on the peninsula.
This
motel was built in 1879 out of Marble, brass, and fancy
accessories. The Imperior had a rich shall for his palace.
We
called home to our son at 11:00 Sat night US time and 6:30
Egypt time. We can see the Pyramids from our motel. Here we
have a beautiful morning. It rained slightly over night. We
went out into the Courtyard and made some pictures. After a
good buffet breakfast we refreshed and got on a bus to tour.
We had ham and sausage here, unlike Israel, where they eat no
pork. I took a picture from the bus window of the Nile River.
It is hazy here, but the flags will be pretty in a photo. We
went on to the museum. It cost 20 pounds or $4.00 to get
camera sown in Museum where King Tut was. We really enjoyed
going through the historical museum. We took pictures of the
Nile River here in Egypt first called Forst 641AD. It
means tent city.
We are
now going to Egypt's oldest Castles. King House Citadel
(Muslim) Lines of children were there and they were very
friendly. We laughed and enjoyed watching their friendly
attitude while here I bought an Egyptian Necklace. We rode
through Cairo. It was exciting and we learned so much about
the land and people there. They traditionally wear long robes.
They can't show their body. Their hair is their beauty. We saw
the King Tut treasures, in the Museum there and his treasures
and tomb. Many more interesting historical things of interest
we saw while in the museum.
It is
warm here today and we had to pay one pound to use the
bathrooms here. The population is Cairo Egypt is about sixteen
million (Nov. 1998) More than New York City. We had lunch
on the bus. They told us this morning to fill a bag of lunch
from the buffet at breakfast. The ride was long and we did not
have any time to lose.
We
stopped and shopped at Merit Center Elbazaar. I bought four
pyramids and a Spent for souvenirs. We had a group photo taken
at the pyramids and also with a camel. I got a beautiful head
shawl there too.
On we
go to the Papyrus Plant where paper is made. There it was very
interesting to see how paper was made from the reeds. We
purchased a picture with our name in Egyptian language.
Tonight
we had a fancy dinner at the Minor House that we really
enjoyed. We had soup and Bread, the entree and vegetables and
then dessert that were pineapple pudding. (Delicious)
We
enjoyed staying at the Cairo Motel here and found out a famous
person stayed here whose name was Roosevelt Montgonan
from the British Army in 1897of the British Emperor who stayed
here at our motel
Day
Fourteen: Monday November 9, 1998
We
were privileged to go to Israel in 1993 and again in 1998.
We
also visited Egypt and the Pyramids. Soon there will be
peace for ever more in Jerusalem
Some
of the Memories on Slideshow Below
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September 18, 2009
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