Day0: A day of negatives…negative test results and negative temperatures, which is a positive thing! Negative COVID test results at Walls Pharmacy yesterday gave us the green light to start our journey to Israel! Filling out the green form to travel in Israel was a journey in itself. A 3 mile, -17 degrees sunrise run and a snowy afternoon walk with my dear friend Becky will be a reminder of the monochromatic, snowy, and cold world we love, but are taking a break from for a few days.
Verse of the day: Isaiah 66:13&14
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.
Day 1: Up at 3:45. Our dear friend Carol Olson was our Uber this morning…she picked us up at 4:20, then Mason and Svea at 4:30 and dropped us all off at Hope church. Our bus pulled out of the parking lot at 4:50 am. We start the first leg of our journey.
Sleep is as elusive to me as Oliver’s tail is to him. As much as he wishes he could catch his tail, I wish I could catch some zzz’s.
Grabbed a quick bite to eat and flight to JFK from Mpls leaves at 12:50.
We landed in New York about 4:00 ET.
Our flight for Tel Aviv doesn’t leave until 11:45 pm.
2 sandwiches, 2 cocktails and $100 to enjoy a nice dinner and take a break from wearing our facemasks. We had a waitress named Vicki who had a lovely NY accent. She said she grew up in Manhattan and moved to the country (Queens) when she got married.
We are beat and hoping to get some sleep on our 10.5 hour flight.
On the plane to Tel Aviv, they fed us dinner at midnight-a four cheese pasta that was actually quite good follows by chocolate Haagen Dazs. Yum!
Michael slept maybe an hour or on the plane last night. He was in a middle seat. I would have switched my aisle seat with him, but I couldn’t because the man sitting to his left was Jewish and he isn’t allowed to sit next to a female. I think I probably slept about 4–5 hrs. We arrived at the airport almost an hour ahead of schedule, about 4:40 pm. Once we deplaned we had to get our piece of paper (in lieu of a stamp on our passport), get our bags, go through customs and take a COVID test one more time before we headed to our bus.
We finally made it to Israel and our first hotel. Vert Lagoon is a really nice, modern luxury hotel. Dinner was ready in our room when we opened the door! We are so in awe of sitting on our balcony, no hat , mittens or coat to eat our dinner. In the background we can hear the crash of the waves and feel the humid air of the Mediterranean Sea. We are quarantined to our hotel room until we get a negative test result-expected early tomorrow morning. Fortunately, we are so tired that all we want to do is sleep anyway. We are so looks forward to sleeping in a bed!!
The morning view from our hotel room balcony is absolutely amazing.
It’s 8:40 am and we’re still waiting on test results. We had our breakfast delivered and it was enough food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My favorites from breakfast was the chocolate croissant, cheese croissant, cucumber tomato salad and mozzarella, cucumber sandwich. So delicious!! While we wait, we are sitting on our balcony enjoying the sun and warmth, watching an active construction site and waves crashing on the shore. It’s absolutely lovely. God is good.
Verse of the day: Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Got the all clear that everyone was negative for COVID this morning at 10:20. Hallelujah!
Caesarea was a Roman city built by Herod the great in 22 BC. Herod was an amazing architect, but also a crazy man. He killed his children because they were getting too popular. We sang two worship songs while sitting in the ancient amphitheater that seats 4000 people. It was amazingly moving. The amphitheater was designed so that people in the audience could hear the people on stage without the need of microphones and speakers. The Mediterranean Sea was the backdrop. The hippodrome (race track) that Herod had built was unearthed not too long ago. We also saw the 16 mile aqueduct that brought fresh water from a spring on Mt. Carmel to Herod’s palace. It’s hard to believe we sat in an amphitheater that was more than 2000 years old.
We ate lunch at Tel Megiddo, falafel in a pita or schnitzel (fried chicken) in a pita were the choices. We both had schnitzel today.
Tel Megiddo is an archeological dog with layers of 30 different cities, all built on top of each other. Artifacts from civilizations as early as 7000 BC have been found. It overlooks Jezreel Valley. This is where the Armageddon that is described in Revelations will take place. We walked down into an 2000 year old underground water system that captured spring water in an underground shaft so they didn’t have to leave the city for water. Evidence has been found of the stable built by King Solomon for 2000 horses on the top of this hill.
A recreation of what a village would have been like during the time that Jesus lived. Nazareth was Jesus boyhood home. They had a shepherd with sheep, a tomb that would have been where people buried there dead, a wine making area ( this was found on the site, not a recreation), they had an olive oil press, a pottery shop, and a weaver and a first century Jewish temple. We spontaneously sang “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” while in the temple. The acoustics were amazing and we could feel God’s presence. On the property we saw olive trees, a fig tree and blooming almond trees.
Arrived at our hotel around 6:30 that we’ll call home for the next 3 days. The moon was full and from our room we can see it’s reflection on the Sea of Galilee. Yes, the Sea of Galilee- the same one where Jesus walked on water.
Dinner and drinks are included. It was a buffet style dinner, but was really quite good. Lots of interesting foods.
A physically and spiritually demanding day. We are whooped.
Michael read part of the sermon on the mount in the very place that Jesus delivered it.
This is the site where Jesus fed the 5000. The church of the fish and loaves was built on the site, different versions of it over time. There is Egyptian influence based on the mosaic in the floor of the Nileometer (a gage showing how high the water was in the Nile-the earliest version of a stream gage, imagine that!) and lotus flowers. The tiles in the floor are 1500 years old. We sang inside the chapel, the acoustics were amazing.
This is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus came after resurrection and told the disciples to go catch fish and Jesus made them dinner. A Catholic Church was built on the site in the early 1900’s. This site was the highlight of our day. Our group was singing “I surrender all” in the church of the Primacy and when we got done singing another group started singing the same song, but in their native language (I’m guessing an African language, maybe). We couldn’t understand what the words were, but we knew they were singing I surrender all. We sang along with them and when they were done singing we all hugged. We were complete strangers and it didn’t matter if you were black or white or spoke a different language, all that mattered is that we all love Jesus. It was a moment of heaven on earth. Words feel inadequate to describe the experience.
Site of Peter’s house. A Jewish synagogue is there, but it is not the original one that would have been there during Jesus’ ministry.
I don’t know the name of the restaurant, but we had fish from the Sea of Galilee for lunch. As you can see, they fry it whole. The vegetables and pita were amazingly delicious l. There are lots of vegetables at every meal. I love it!
This trail is in the valley of the doves. Jesus is known to have walked this trail between Capernaum to Magdala and to Nazareth. Pastor Paul talked about walking with Jesus. Anat shared a mustard plant with us. There was lots of poison ivy on the edge of the trails. There were sheep on the cliffs.
Home of Mary Magdalene. Located on shores of Sea of Galilee. A recently discovered first century synagogue is located here. Beautiful mosaics and a museum that is a tribute to the women of the Bible. Father Kelly (sounded Irish) gave us a tour. We sang “amazing Grace”on the dome area…so powerful. Father Kelly let me “touch” Jesus’ robes as we prayed for my dear friend Gitta to be healed just as the woman who touched Jesus’ robes was healed from bleeding.
Saw a 2000 year old ancient boat that may have been the kind of boat Jesus sailed in. Took a boat ride in Noah, a recreation of a first century boat and had a worship service on the water. Absolutely beautiful way to end the day.