Israel: A Trip of a Lifetime

Three weeks before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Dale and I were traveling from one end of Israel to the other. It’s unsettling to consider how close our travel dates were to such an awful event. Even now the war continues.

We are so blessed to have explored Israel with a group from our church. Not only were the sights special, but also experiencing it with friends. Pastor Mark and Pam Westerfield lead the group and Templeton Tours took care of every detail.

There is no way I can fully describe our trip. Honestly, most of it is a blur at this point, but photos and videos fill my hard drive and I won’t be at peace until I document our adventure to the best of my ability. During the first few days of the trip, I took notes, and I’m going to start with those …

Tel Aviv

It is almost 8 o’clock at night and we’re sitting on the beach of the Mediterranean ocean in Tel Aviv. We left Texas a little bit before noon yesterday and we’ve been traveling nonstop until now.

We arrived in Tel Aviv about 5:30pm and enjoyed of very fresh Mediterranean-style foods such as breads, fruit and a lot of vegetables, fish and chicken (no pork of course); it was a really delicious meal. Dale and I sat with Mark and Pam for supper and then we headed out for a walk.

It was a beautiful balmy evening and there were many people on the beach talking, swimming and walking. The water was warm and inviting. We headed back to the hotel for an 8:30 group meeting. These end-of-the-day meetings would be our routine for the trip. It was a great time to share thoughts of the day.

Caesarea by the Sea, Mount Carmel, Nazareth

It’s our second day in Israel. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Caesarea by the Sea where Herod had a palace. We looked at the remains of an amphitheater and where his seaside palace would have stood. Next we headed toward Mount Carmel. After touring Mount Carmel, we had lunch at a local restaurant, then headed toward Megiddo. We did not stop at Megiddo but headed on towards Nazareth.

In Nazareth, we went to the mountain of the precipice. This is where it is believed that the Jewish leaders wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff and stone him because he healed a man on the Sabbath. We then headed to Canaan and where we renewed our wedding vows in a Carmelite Church. After that, we checked into the Sophia Hotel in Tiberias next to the Sea of Galilee. We took a short nap and then had dinner. We sat with Brett and Helen. Afterwards we attended the group meeting, then off to bed. Tomorrow is Sunday and we’re starting the day off with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee!

Sea of Galilee

We left the hotel early the next morning for our boat ride. After going out a ways, it stopped so that we could have time for a short service. Tamar Dasse sang songs and Pastor Mark spoke. It was so good. It was also very hot and humid. Back on shore we looked the remains of a first-century boat that was recovered from the Sea of Galilee. It was interesting to see what type of boat Peter and the other fishermen may have used.

We left the Sea of Galilee region and drove an hour north, almost to the borders of Syria and Lebanon, to a place called Caesarea Philippi, located at the foot of Mt. Hermon. The Jordan River starts here. It is a very lush and beautiful area that has a history of pagan worship. You could see the ruins of a temple that was first a Greek temple, then a Roman temple. This is where Jesus asked his disciples in Matthew 16 “Who do you say that I am?” Paul was also imprisoned there.

This audio clip is our Jewish tour guide explaining the origin of the name “Jordan” which is our younger daughter’s name.

After visiting Mount Hermon, we headed to a small German hotel that has a restaurant. We had a meal called Saint peter’s fish, which is a whole tilapia deep-fried with a side of french fries, and a array of salads. It was not that great.

Capernaum

After lunch, we went to the town of Capernaum, where Jesus spent so much of his time during his ministry. We prayed over Pastor Mark on the edge of the Sea of Galilee near the remains of a synagogue that Jesus very likely taught in, and healed people. Peter’s house is also located there. Both are located next to each other, by the sea.

Mount of Beatitudes

Near Capernaum was the area where Jesus gave the “Sermon on the Mount”. It was a very peaceful location and we had plenty of time to walk and contemplate. At almost every stop Pastor Mark would share scripture that related to what we were seeing.

The last event of the second full day was the town of Magdala, where Mary Magdalene was from. There are some very recent excavations there that have uncovered the city center of that town. The ruins seem to be in very good shape. There was a synagogue that dated back to the time of Jesus‘s ministry. They have uncovered a stone called the Magdala stone. It is notable for detailed carvings depicting the Second Temple, carvings made while that Temple still stood and therefore assumed to have been made by an artist who had seen the Temple before it was destroyed by the Roman military in 70 AD.There were also mosaics on the floor that it is very possible that Jesus actually walked on during his time there.

Jordan River Baptisms

It’s now Sunday morning and we’ve left the Sea of Galilee hotel, heading to the mouth of the Jordan River where it flows out of the Sea of Galilee. This is where we will do baptisms. I did not get baptized but Dale did. I really enjoyed standing in the river, taking photos and videos. This portion of the river is not where John the Baptist baptized Jesus, but it is the best place to do baptism today due to the less than optimal water quality as you get further downstream.

As soon as everyone was dry and dressed we continued to head south, stopping at excavations of a Roman city in Beit She’an. It has played an important role in history due to its geographical location at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley. This is also known as the place where the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land. The Roman ruins are so well preserved. We really enjoyed this.

In this photo you can see a row of seats located in Beit She’an, a Roman City under excavation, that are actually a public toilet. Waste would fall into a water-filled trough beneath them, then after wiping with their hand, they washed their hands in clean water located in the smaller trough in front of their feet. Pretty ingenious I think!

Jericho

We arrived in Jericho, which was an impoverished-looking town. We had lunch at a very busy and loud restaurant before heading to a store called Hebron Handcrafts. We all shopped for a bit and I bought some handcream made with minerals from the Dead Sea.

Afterwards we headed to our hotel on the Dead Sea and after checking in, we all changed clothes and walked to the Dead Sea to experience its saltiness. We could only take about 30 minutes worth, it was so hot and salty! After showering, we went down to supper and then visited with our friends until time for our nightly group meeting at eight. It was another great day.

Masada, Qumran, Ein Gedi

And on Monday morning, we headed toward Masada, which was about 15 minutes away from our hotel. We rode a tram up to the top of Masada and toured the extraordianry ruins of the fortress where a band of Jewish zealots made a last stand against Rome. It was built as one of Herod’s palaces and there were so many remains to see. It was so interesting I almost forgot about the heat. Ha ha!

The Spring of Engedi was our next stop. This is where King David hid in a cave with his mighty men. It really was a beautiful oasis in an otherwise barren desert. I believe this is where David had the opportunity to cut off a piece of King Saul’s robe, but didn’t. We had lunch in Jerico then went to Qumran.

Qumran is best known as the settlement nearest to the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden. The Essenes lived here and are the ones responsible for copying the scriptures and hiding them in the cliffs during Roman invasion.

After this we headed to Jerusalem!

Temple Mount, Pool of Bethesda, Church of St. Anne

Tuesday morning we went straight to the Temple Mount. We arrived early because there are strict time limits for non-Muslims to visit. There are also procedures and rules to follow as not to offend them. The entrance was a little bit stressful and chaotic.

Our God gave me a beautiful scarf to keep after the Temple Mount. It belonged to our tour guide, but all things are a gift from the Lord and this one is really special to me.

We went to Saint Ann’s church, which is located next to the pool of Bethesda just inside St. Stephen’s Gate. We went inside of the church and sang this song …

Our group singing in St. Anne’s Church.

We left that area and headed toward Bethlehem where we stopped to have lunch at Casa Nova in an Italian hotel. Afterwards we went to see what a typicl shepherd’s field looked like then went inside of a cave that could’ve been very similar to a Jesus was born in. We also went inside the chapel that was there, and sang more songs. Lastly, we stopped at a shop in Bethlehem to buy souvenirs. I bought a spoon rest for Michelle and ornaments for me and Dale. I also bought a small clay reproduction lamp. We got back to the hotel had a delicious dinner. We sat with Brett and Helen again we really enjoyed hanging out with them during this trip, and then we had to our meeting at 7:30 which was also very enjoyable

On Wednesday morning we woke up and went to the Garden Gethsemane for a time of prayer and reflection. This was very special.

One of the most impressive sights for me occurred on this day. First we went to the Western Wall. We all had the opportunity to go down to the wall, touch it and pray if we wanted. Men and women are separate. The women are in a smaller section to the right of the men. We also toured the Western Wall Tunnel.

The second impressive sight was the Southern Wall excavation site. We had the opportunity to walk on the very stones where Jesus would have walked to Herod’s “second temple”.

The recreation drawing on the left shows a massive staircase and arch that entered into the temple mount during Jesus’ time. The image on the right shows the remains of where the arch was attached. It is now called Robinson’s Arch for the man who discovered it. All of this was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

We were able to walk of the staircase (shown in this photo) that Jesus would have walked. He may have also taught from these steps. It was common for rabbis to teach their students on these steps. I also saw Jack Beck who does documentaries about the Holy Land. I began watching him several years ago and stopped him to say hello. I think I interrupted filming for his current season.

Dale began feeling ill this day and stayed at hotel the following day.

Thursday morning we returned to the Mount of Olives for a group photo and to begin our walk on the via Delarosa which took us through the Muslim quarter, to the Holy Sepulcher. We had lunch on the top floor of a restaurant in the Christian quarter then continued on to the Garden Tomb.

At the Garden Tomb we had communion together. It is most likely that this is not the actual location of Lord’s tomb, but it is most likely under the Church of the Holy Seplucher, which we also got to tour.

We shopped a bit before and after lunch. After the tomb we went back to the hotel and I checked on Dale who was still sick. I packed our gear and went down to dinner. Dale and I had to leave for the airport at 11:30pm, so we slept a couple of hours and began our long journey home.

More photos.