Our last day

Last day in Israel! On one hand it's gone by so fast and, on the other hand, we feel like we've been here forever. The old adage "we're glad to go home but we hate to leave" seems appropriate." It's truly been an incredible trip; one that we'll be processing for a long time.

Our highlights from today ~ a very long day. We walked 6 miles, up and down hills, and climbed many steps! Jerusalem is a hilly city for sure!

We started our day at the Israel Museum ~ the premier museum of this country. It's filled with treasures from an ancient land.

We then drove up the Mount of Olives and turned our attention to Jesus. Yehuda, our very excellent guide who has completely wowed us with his knowledge, talked about the timeline of Jesus' last week. He pointed to where each event happened! Wow, just wow!

Then we walked to the Garden of Gethsemane and had Communion. We were able go off by ourselves and spend some sacred time with God. What an emotional and wonderful experience....to sit and pray where Jesus prayed. Powerful moments like this completely dotted our trip!

We next walked to St Anne's Church where the Pool of Bethesda once was. According to John 5:1-15, when the water in the pool was stirred, the first person in was healed. Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years and could never get in the pool in time. We gazed upon the original steps where the sick and lame gathered, waiting to be healed. Another great moment!!

Another completely powerful and serendipitous moment came when we stepped inside St. Anne's church. We sang "Amazing Grace" as a group and the superb acoustics made us sound like a well trained choir. These moments are what this trip was made of!!

We then followed the Via Dolorosa - the route Jesus took as he carried his cross to Calvary. The route ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is where Jesus died on the cross, was buried and resurrected. It's the most holy place for Christians and, due to archeological findings, is most certainly the spot where it happened. Interestingly enough this church has been owned by Muslims for 800 years. Real time clashing of religions! The church was hot and extremely crowded with pilgrims from all over the world, but it didn't matter. We were at the place where, for Christians, the most important event in history happened.

Before we came to Israel we heard such things as "the Bible will come to life....it will go from black and white to color....it will go from 2 to 3 dimensional." All of those things are true and more! This was a once in a lifetime trip for most of us and we feel extremely blessed that we got to take this journey!

Tomorrow is our long trip home! We would appreciate prayers for safe travel.

Baruch Hashem ~ Blessed be His Name