Jan 6, 2020 | Nancy’s Holy Land Trip 2019-20
Today was quite the day. It was our last day with our tour guide, Mike. On day 8 we switched to the “hike” and got a different guide, but retained the same sababa (awesome) driver, Hasim. Hasim has been a driver for 15 years and it shows. Dude is amazing at driving with other maniacs on the road.
We started the day today at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Whoa. It’s up there on my list. It’s impossible to choose a favorite, but wow, this place is powerful. We also walked the streets of Jerusalem along the Via de la Rosa, the way of the Rose. This is the path of Jesus from the Antonia Fortress where He was sentenced to death, all the way to the tomb. We stopped at the pools of Bethesda, went into the basement of the Antonia Fortress which is again, up there on my list. We also made a stop for lunch at the Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, and finished up at the Garden Tomb. Even though we finished relatively early, it was still a full day with like 12.000 steps.
Evan went at 4:00am with pastor and some of the other guys to see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher when no one was there. He got some really cool pictures. I was not feeling great and I knew pastor would be walking really fast up a bunch of steps and hills, which I can do when I’m well but not great, and I found out I cannot do at all really when I have a chest cold. So I opted for the extra sleep and rested.
Evan and I also did some laundry this evening…an adventure. This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our clothes…
We brought some Tide in individual packets that was specially formulated for sinks. Two packets in a tub, swish, rinse (very important), and wring and hang for drying. Labor intensive, but part of the experience. I washed and rinsed, Evan was the wringer, and we hung the wet clothes wherever we could find a spot. We gained a new appreciation for washers and dryers.
The money here is NIS, new Israeli shekels. Here’s a picture.
The rooms we have been staying in are very nice. Think nice Holiday Inn. We are all starting to get a little hungry for food from home, though. Someone said bacon cheeseburger and I about had to put a bib on Evan from drooling.
As we walked the Via de la Rosa, Mike stopped and got us some goodies. First he stopped at a bakery and got us a crispy piece of sesame bread, similar to a biscotti kind of. Would have been amazing with a cup of coffee. He also got us each a piece of candy from a candy store along the way. Some got coconut candy, others got sesame seed candy like this.
It was OK, but I prefer candy from the US if I’m going to have some. I’m not much of a candy girl, but it was a very sweet gesture.
OK, on to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher!
Jan 6, 2020 | Nancy’s Holy Land Trip 2019-20, Uncategorized
I decided this was as good a place as any to let everyone who cares to know such things, that I visited a shop in the Old City of Jerusalem, just inside the Jaffa Gate, that has been there since the year 1300AD. This business has been handed down from father to son for 26 generations! That is just impressive. I feel like I have to include this story too, because of the culture involved…so interesting!
So the business is called Razzouk’s. Here’s a picture of their sign.
Yep. I got a tattoo. Who is surprised, and who isn’t? I have actually been thinking about this particular tattoo for about 10 years. I found a photo in my phone of a tattoo artist’s ideas that dated 7 years ago and I had thought about it for a long time before that already. When this opportunity presented itself, with so much special-ness and meaning surrounding the location and timing, it took nothing for me to say yes. In fact, 7 other people got tats, too! Mine took less than 2 minutes by the dad, a master tattoo artist. 
They have a book in the shop of designs to choose from. There are stamps that they use as templates, and the stamps they have, have been in use for well over 500 years. Imagine, Christians from all over the world wearing tattoos to show their faith, through generations and across multiple cultures, while on pilgrimage in the Holy Land. It really fits the theme of this trip for me…you are not alone.
Here are some of the stamps. Several in our crew got Jerusalem crosses. A large cross with 4 smaller crosses in each quadrant. I had a custom idea in mind…like I said…I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I did not want anything that was dark or showy, but still visible and for me. I chose white ink, which, as it ages, looks more and more like a scar. OK…the picture you’ve been waiting for…”Nancy, what did you get?” Here you go!
So, keeping in mind that it needs to heal some yet, it’s still a little red from the excruciating less than 2 minutes of pain involved.
There’s my big reveal, the surprise, the first. As i type this, it’s a little more red yet, but doesn’t hurt. Healing nicely. A really cool way to finish up Day 6!
Jan 5, 2020 | Nancy’s Holy Land Trip 2019-20, Uncategorized
So there is a building on the top of Mt Zion that was built well after the destruction of Jerusalem in 90AD that is a memoriam for the Last Supper. Truth be told, the place where it would have been has been destroyed. What we do know is that the disciples were supposed to go into the city to find a man carrying a jug of water. This would have been an unusual sight because this was woman’s work. There is a group of Jews living on Mt Zion called the Assines, remember them from Qumran? They were a very strict sect (one of the 4 main ones with 2 of the others being Pharisees and Saducees, I can’t remember the other). They called themselves the Sons of Light and the Romans the Sons of Darkness. Anyway, they took vows of celibacy so they would have been men carrying jugs of water. So the area where they lived is believed to be the area where the Last Supper would have been prepared, and the area where they lived is known. So here is the building where this is memorialized.
And this is a particular pillar that Mike pointed out to us. It’s the only one with pelicans.
What makes this significant is that pelicans, when they are old or sick and know they are going to die, they offer their own bodies as food for the younger, stronger pelicans. Interesting anyway.
Right near here was a place that is a traditional place of burial for King David. Mike says he doesn’t buy it because David would have been buried in his city…Bethlehem. Mike said he may have been buried in Bethlehem, but Herod may have moved his bones to Jerusalem. It really wasn’t all that compelling, honestly. And this was all we were allowed to see anyway.
With the other side of the room with this window.
So all in all, the pelican column was cool, the rest was OK. I find that I am more in awe of the old stuff than the newer stuff, and the for-sure-this-happened-here stuff than the maybe and memorial stuff.
OK…the one you’ve been waiting for…the big first is next!!!
Jan 5, 2020 | Nancy’s Holy Land Trip 2019-20
Jericho is the oldest city in the world still inhabited. We’re talking over 10.000 years here. Our tour guide, Mike, is a Jericho boy, and he had no shortage of good things to say about his home town. He says the weather is the best in the world, year round. We really did have awesome weather there, and have since we arrived in the country. The shops were selling fruits and vegetables fresh from the gardens, and we even saw a Dominoes Pizza. I already showed you the sycamore tree, the peacocks, and Sam the camel. Our stop in Jericho was at a resort with shops and a restaurant. We did a little shopping first, and then ate. After lunch and camel rides, we went across the parking lot to see this.
We walked up the hill to find an archeological excavation of mud brick walls that date back to the time of Joshua. There is one part of the wall intact…in my mind, that is where Rahab’s family lived, as they were spared from the destruction of Jericho by Joshua and the Israelites because she helped the Israelite spies. So we saw where that was. Pretty cool, right?
Across the way from Jericho is the Judean wilderness. This is where Jesus would have wandered for 40 days and nights without eating, and the mountain was the Mount of Temptation. 
There is a church up on the mountain that is accessible by cable cars, but we did not go up there. We could see it from where we were standing though.
In this area was also Elisha’s spring. Near here was were Elijah was taken to heaven.
The Moabite mountains are within site.
Mt Nebo where Moses died is within site.
Herod the Great died in Jericho, and to make sure the people mourned, even though he knew they wouldn’t be mourning a cruel murderer such as him, he ordered that upon his death the elderly and leaders of the Jews were also murdered. And so the people mourned. His body was then taken and buried in Herodian. Near Jericho, Herod the Great’s son, Herod Antipas, also arrested and beheaded John the Baptist. So much stuff happened here near Jericho.
OK, next we went back to Jerusalem and visited the non-Upper Room, I’ll explain that, and David’s tomb sort of. I’ll explain that too!
Jan 5, 2020 | Nancy’s Holy Land Trip 2019-20
I learned some stuff today. Well, to be honest, I’ve learned a lot of stuff every day I’ve been here, but this one is special. I didnt know, for example, that the place where Joshua brought the Israelites into the Promised Land was the same place where later Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Yep, and we got to go there and have a baptismal remembrance, and one of the members of our group gave her statement of faith and was baptized right there in the Jordan River. Whoa powerful. Yes, of course I cried. I cry in church for baptisms of people I don’t even know personally. What can I say, my emotions move regularly!
It was actually rather remarkable that we could do this. The last time pastor brought a crew to Israel, they could not do it. The Jordan River is the boundary line between Israel and Jordan. About 25 years ago, there was a war going on in this area, you may have heard of the West Bank. This is the area we were in, just north of the Dead Sea. They used to mark the land mines that are all along the coast for one day a year and allow civilians safe passage through the mine field to this spot so they could see this important place in history. Now, there is a full road with a visitor center where pilgrims can purchase a gown and towel to remember their baptism with full immersion.
The fence is a deadline, showing where the minefields start, so you don’t want to wander past the fence. Ya, good tip.
There area some neat buildings and churches out in this area too. I like this mosaic on the one right by the water.
Several of our group chose this option, with the rest choosing to be sprinkled…to receive a blessing from pastor as he stood in the Jordan and asked us how we are named, and gave us the sign of the cross on our forehead and on our heart.
Here’s the area of the Jordan where it all happened. The water was murky and COLD. A man there wanted to take our group picture to sell it to us. The ones dressed in white he called angels. When he lined us up he said “Angels in the front, Gentiles in the back.” That got a pretty good chuckle from the group!
Pastor blessing Evan.
I put my feet in the water. The white scarf that the Bedouin man wrapped on my head was like a white garment for this baptism remembrance. I like it.
There was also a definite reminder that while this is for the moment a peaceful place, it is still a border between countries that are, shall we say, leery of each other still? There were soldiers with big ole machine guns walking around the property, and their mirrors on the other bank, like 15 feet away.
That’s the Jordan side in the background. There were soldiers over there too, and not far away, and they were watching.
All in all, a very emotional and spiritually powerful place. A tremendous experience. I don’t have the right superlatives to convey it properly.
Jan 5, 2020 | Nancy’s Holy Land Trip 2019-20
Definitely a highlight, although it is impossible to choose a favorite. I talk with my clients often about how the path out of the thinking that is stealing their peace is like the Valley of the Shadow of Death. It reminds me of the scene in “The Empire Strikes Back”, the Star Wars movie, where Luke goes into the cave and fights Darth Vader, slays him, looks under his mask and realizes that under the mask is his own face….a metaphor for recovery. Facing your own dark side and admitting and owning you have it instead of fearing it is a big chunk of finding your peace. I love the fact that no matter how dark the valley gets, God is with me, and that perfect love drives out fear. This is one of the cornerstones of my own inner peace.
We veered off the main road to Jericho from Jerusalem to see the valley. This was also the area of of the story of the Good Samaritan.
We saw Bedouins that were shepherding their flocks along the way, and even a fox that ran straight up the side of a mountain in no time flat. It was amazing! We were greeted at our stop by a Bedouin merchant selling scarfs, and a small boy selling bracelets. It is obvious that these folks have very little in terms of material possessions. The man walked right up to me and wrapped a white scarf around my head, Bedouin style. I’m glad I went ahead and bought it from him, because I was glad to have it at our next stop at the Jordan River. OK, so the first thing you see at our stop is a short uphill walk to this cross.
I love this picture. Then you look down into the valley.
This is a monastery built into the side of the valley. So cool. I would love to go down there, or even stay there for awhile and meditate and pray. Makes perfect sense to me why they built this here. 
A little left from the monastery is this view. Sorry the picture is sideways. If you see the line that is coming in from the left/bottom to the tree…that is a trench/trough like channel that carries water to this place, and then at the tree the water is allowed to drop down waterfall-style to the bottom of the valley. This is why there are trees growing on the side of this desert mountain. If it’s quiet, you can hear it like a waterfall. The wind blows and the water falls, it is a tranquil place from the top, and a scary dark place in the bottom.
I caught this picture right before we left. The sun on the hills in the distance…the peace after traversing the valley. Wow. I love this picture.
Next up, the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and Joshua lead the Israelites into the promised land. Ya.
