Day 09 - Saint Anne's, Pool of Bethesda, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Israel Museum, Garden of Gethsemane

Our final day of touring the land… we started at the East Gate, the Lions' Gate (also known as the Sheep Gate) to the city of Jerusalem. This is the area where Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church was stoned to death (Acts 7). We walked up the hill of old Jerusalem to Saint Anne’s church. This church was built in the 13th century by the Crusaders. Just outside the church are the pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed a lame man (John 5). 

We continued on through the Muslim corridor and into the Christian corridor to the Via Delarosa and observed groups of believers stoping at each station of the cross. We ended at the church of the Holy Sepulcher, a very old church with 20 foot wooden doors that was built by the Crusaders. Inside this church is the stones of Golgotha and the ancient tomb.

The next site was the Museum of Israel where we saw a model of the city of Jerusalem. We continued on into the Room of the Book where photos were prohibited but we were able to view artifacts dishes, writing materials, etc from the civilization at Qumran and models and originals of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

We drove up to the Mount of Olives and gathered on the balcony for a teaching and photo opportunity. Within 5 minutes the heavens opened up with a torrential wind and rain driving us back to the “promised land,” our bus.

We drove on to a Catholic site named the Church of Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane which was our final site of the tour. Inside this church is an ancient exposed stone that could have been the place in the garden where Jesus agonized and prayed. In the garden we saw giant olive trees that likely have root systems over 2000 years old.

Our final hours of today were spent having beautiful fellowship over a fantastic farewell dinner. We will be forever grateful to God for the blessing of this trip and so very thankful to GTI, Ronen and Meir!! God bless you all!!