Saturday, February 19, 2011

Pilgrimage to Israel


Hello!
We have returned from 10 days in the beautiful land of Israel. I tried to post on the blog while gone, but with the unreliable Internet service at the hotels and the high cost of minutes to use the Internet, it was prohibitive. So instead of daily posts, I will write a series of entries re-capping the different places we went. This was a life changing experience and I encourage you to go if you have any interest at all.

So on Feb. 7 we left with 19 other folks, some from our church and family and friends from other churches. The youngest member of our tour was 23 and the oldest was 86! It took 15 hours to get there and while we were tired, we excitedly boarded a huge purple bus hosted by an amazingly skilled bus driver named Udeo and a tour guide name Ido. This tour was not your regular in a "bubble" bus tour. Over the next 10 days we hiked, participated in a real archaeological dig, worked in a soup kitchen, were baptized in the Jordan River, had Communion at the Garden Tomb, as well as visited numerous ancient sites. Our guide, Ido, was an underwater archaeologist who takes tours through his country when he is not otherwise working. He has been doing tours for over 20 years and is a Messianic Jew. His perspective on life and the Jewish culture was enlightening to say the least. Locals were constantly saying hello to him no matter where we went. Despite the uproar in Egypt, we always felt safe thanks to Ido.

More posts will follow as I review my notes and pictures and try to process all that we saw.
Shalom

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