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Israel Study Tour with Calvary Church Los Gatos
January 6-17, 2020
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The city of Jerusalem
And our trip is coming to a close. We all can’t believe we just ended our last day. Our feet are tired, our eyes are heavy, and we are all ready to wake up tomorrow morning at 4am!
Today was an adventure throughout the city of Jerusalem. By foot we walked the entire city and saw the most incredible sites! our first stop was the Mount of Olives. Here we overlooked all of Jerusalem and our tour guide Dan showed every part of the seven days leading up to the crucifixion. He pointed out where the garden was, where he entered Jerusalem, where they ate the Passover meal, had the trial, and where he was killed. It was incredible that from that Mount, you can see all of that. We then walked the the path from the mount of olives to the city entrance. Dan the showed us where Jesus began carrying his cross. It was extremely emotional to picture that moment when he would pick up his own cross and walk it to where he would be killed.
Mount of Olives
Separated from the Eastern Hill (the Temple Mount and the City of David) by the Kidron Valley, the Mt. of Olives has always been an important feature in Jerusalem’s landscape. From the 3rd millennium B.C. until the present, this 2900-foot hill has served as one of the main burial grounds for the city. The two-mile long ridge has three summits each of which has a tower built on it.
We got to walk all throughout the shops, see all of the different hand made pieces and colors all through out the city. It feels like a movie scene as your walk through this stone city. There isn’t anything that I’ve experienced that it like it at all. We loved every second of that!
We also tried a new chicken wrap for lunch and it was incredible. We have eaten a lot of incredible meals during this trip!
On the last leg of our day we went to the place that Jesus was crucified. Dan spent time explaining to us why they believe that is the place where he was crucified and we saw the very rock that his cross would have been stuck into. Now there is a church surrounding this entire area, so it is a little tricky picturing what it must have been like at the time. However it was so powerful knowing that It happened there, what once was a stone quarry was the place that Jesus chose us and died on our behalf.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Originally built by the mother of Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D., the Church of the Holy Sepulcher commemorates the hill of crucifixion and the tomb of Christ’s burial.
On grounds of tradition alone, this church is the best candidate for the location of these events. The Garden Tomb was not identified as the tomb of Jesus until the 19th century.
This trip has been unreal. We spent a little tome debriefing with one another and shed some tears because of how grateful we are for each other, this trip, and Dan. There is still so much to share and talk about and we can’t want to share it all with you! Thanks for following along!
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