Israel Pastors Trip Blogs

Today (Saturday) we traveled the longest distance in our tour.  We started out in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee (690 feet below sea level) – traveled south for 130 miles, parallel to the Jordan River, to the Dead Sea (1385 feet below sea level).  Took a cable car to the top of Masada (30 feet above sea level).  Back down to the Dead Sea, then we drove northwest – up to Jerusalem (2577 feet above sea level)… a difference of almost 4000 feet in 20 minutes.

During the course of the day we visited Bet Shean.  The city was once part of the Decapolis and was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD.  The city is Israel’s largest excavation and is totally amazing.

Then we drove to Qumran – the ancient home of the Essenes and the place where the Dead Sea scrolls where discovered.

From there we were treated to lunch the the Crown Plaza Hotel on the Dead Sea and many of us floated in the Dead Sea.

Next stop Masada – the ancient Herodian fortress overlooking the Dead Sea. This is the location of the final stand of the Jewish zealots in the rebellion of 70 AD (when the Temple was destroyed).  This site is an archetectural marvel and a site of great significance and patriotism to the Israeli people.

Then on to kibbutz En Gedi.  A kibbutz is typically a farming community where people share all things in common. En Gedi is the biblical oasis where David hid from Saul.  Today, they have a botanical garden that is amazing,  Everything grows faster, bigger, and sweeter than almost anywhere else in the world.

After En Gedi we made our way to Jerusalem as night was falling.   We checked into the David Citadel Hotel and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and good night’s rest.

Ruins of Beth Shan

Our first stop was Beth Shan. An ancient city used by many people groups. It was one of the key district cities under Solomon. Herod the Great built an incredible fortress here.

Ruins of Beth Shan 2

The ruins are simply amazing and work is still being done to reconstruct this site.
We then drove through the Jordan Valley toward the Dead Sea. What a trip! Climate changed often, but still very dry. We stopped at Qumran, the escene community that existed before the time of Christ and where the Dead Sea

scrolls were discovered in the mid 20th Century. Amazing location with a fabulous history!

Floating on Dead Sea

We then drove down to the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Southern part of the Dead Sea. It is a resort area with great beaches and many hotels. We also noted a McDonalds near by.

McDonalds at Dead Sea

The Crowne Plaza hosted us for lunch and let us use their private beach to float on the Dead Sea. I tried it. Lesli did not bring a swimming suit, so she didn’t. I could never accurately describe the feeling of this experience. It was like floating on an inner tube, but without the inner tube.

ST Floating on Dead Sea

The salt in the Sea reacted to my deodorant and my arm pits burned like fire until I got out and showered off (I know, TMI!).  It was still a very cool experience!

We then traveled back to the North along the Jordan River to Masada. It is a high fortress built by Herod the Great with an unbelievable palace. Jews who escaped the Roman invasion of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. fled here and took Masada. Three years later the Romans conquered this fortress after 7 months of attempting to take it and they finally took it after working for months to build a ramp to it.

Cable Car Wires Masada

When the Romans arrived, they found the 1,000 Jews had killed themselves the night before. The Jews determined it would be better to die in honor than go into slavery in dishonor. Fabulous archaeological location.

Shawn at Masada

The cable car was fun (although Lesli hates heights and didn’t enjoy the ride

Lesli on Masada

). We found out later that Alex Trebec had been up on Masada earlier in the day filming something for Jeopardy. He is in Israel filming “Daily Doubles,” etc.

Ramp to Masada

We then made our way toward Jerusalem. We stopped at the En Gedi Kibbutz. The woman who shares the story of this communal

Us overlooking Caves of En Gedi

setting was informative and since she left California in 1967 to come to this place, she was passionate about the Kibbutz.

Flowers in Lobby at David’s Citadel

We then drove up to Jerusalem. Beautiful nighttime arrival! Our hotel is great! Another full day!

Hebrew Coca Cola

After an amazing day of discovery yesterday examining Herod’s mountain-top fortress palace at Masada, the caves and community at Qumran and floating on the Dead Sea (an unbelievable experience), we arrived around sunset in the Holy City. Some of the things that have me thinking: 1) the great sense of humor that our guide Tsion Ben David (and really all of the Jewish people) bring to our experiences here. It’s easy to picture Jesus smiling and laughing as He travels about teaching the disciples; 2) how important hospitality would have been. Our feet are dirty and dusty beyond measure after a day of walking up and down the rocky hills of Holy Land and that’s while wearing modern walking shoes and with bus rides from here to there mixed in. Imagine Jesus, the disciples and the crowds doing all of this on foot. At the end of our days, we’re enjoying hot showers, dinners already prepared for us with the aid of electricity and refrigeration, air conditioned accomodations and then finally collapsing into temperpedic beds! (And we’re still just about worn out.) Turns out Martha’s services were greatly needed and very important. No wonder she was frustrated when Mary wan’t helping! This city of Jerusalem is a sight to see. Beautiful white buildings everywhere and a city wall encompassing it all. So, that’s another taste for now. I am so excited to bring pictures and stories home and enjoy great conversation with all of you about the land and her people that the Father loves, and that I’ve come to love in a much greater way. Pray for the peace of Israel- political peace, yes, but more importantly, spiritual peace!

Dear ones,

Everytime I log on my first words to say are “oh my”. It’s difficult to begin to share my thoughts as all we have seen and experienced today is a reflection of how very very big our God is. Despite all of the madness in the world, God is always always in the details. May I also remind you that today was Sabat–or, the sabbath. All Jewish sites and shops were closed beginning Friday night until 8:00 tonight. As our guide commented, “you can FEEL the sabbath”.

Today we traveled the entire West Bank of the Jordan River. Donn has already given you the main sites that we visited. As guests of the Israeli Department of Tourism, our schedule is packed with every bit of Israel that can be fit into 7 days. We are so blessed to be here. Among the areas of ruins the excavations continue to find more and evidence of cities that existed long ago. The ruins include “theaters” where the arts were enjoyed. Also, “amphitheaters”, which originally housed the gladitor fights. When the Bizantine’s took over the amphitheaters, they used them for the arts, and NOT fights. Then there were the “hypodroms” where the chariot races occured. The ruins were massive and detailed with huge stones and pillars. Imagine the actual back work that went into these places. More and more archeology is being uncovered as the seas decrease, and this allows so much to be found. Every year more and more is found–huge areas of stone, pillars, and buildings showing us how these people lived.

Along the way, as we traveled today, the terrain became increasingly rough, stoney and dry, with hugh mountains, making the Colorado mountains seem tiny. Also, along the Jorden border, there are electric fences the entire way. Twice a day the Israeli’s check for terrorists. Over and over our guide states that the Jordanians are not the problem, but the terrorists.

Always in the evening our guide reviews the major sites of the day. Sometimes he reviews using just the water bodies. Did I say that yesterday?? All ot the cities and villages revolve around the water source. We take that so for granted!!! But up north the desert is blooming in unbelievable ways as the Jewish people work to transport water south from Galilee. You would not believe the contrast between the desert and then the places the Israli’s have worked. The flowers, shrubs, and trees are unbelievably exquisite. And there is so much meaning in it all. It was fun to see a prickly round cactus that was called the “Mother-in law”. Ouch!! (I love you James and Erin!!)

As darkness approached, we began out ascend to Jerusalem. This felt very emotional to me. Tears come now thinking about it. I have a sense that this place is more special, and that we are going to learn so much about God and his people here. OUr hotel is very beautiful, and our windows face “the wall”, which is the old wall around the city.

I have many more thoughts. . .but enough for now. Thanks to all of you for touching base with us this way, and for your continued prayers. We love you all so much.

Barb

This is the day we moved from Galilee to the south. Three thing jumped out at me today. We went to Qumran, home of the Essenes and the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. This was very meaningful to me because I have studied a lot about them. The Essenes were Jew who believed that they should separate from the world and build their own community to await the Messiah. They were great students of God’s Word. When the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D. their community was also destroyed. Knowing the Romans were coming they hid their scrolls in caves where they stayed until 1948. The fact that the text which hadn’t been seen for centuaries was the same as what we have today refuted the higher critics of the authority of Scripture. It was great to see the cave where the first find was made.

Just driving down the road is such a trip. Joshua crossed the Jordan there, Moses is buried some where up there. Jesus baptized in this area, and on it goes all day.

We also visited Masada, one of the most azazing places I have ever been. We rode up a cable car to the to top of this flat mountain about 450 feet in the air.It was first a Palace for Herod the Great, sort of his safe get away. It has all of the amenities of a Roman City. Bath house, etc., and large water cisterns where it caught and stored enough water in a very dry place.
The Jews took it over during an uprising and they held off the Roman army for months and finally took their own lives rather than be captured by the Romans. Tsion, our guide had trained under the man who led the dig and his insights were amazing.
We also floated in the Dead Sea at a beautiful hotel, it was very interesting.

This evening we arrived in Jerusalem. We are staying in a great hotel. Tomorrow many stops including the Garden of Gethsemane. It should be quite a day.

Thanks for your interest and prayers

Pastor Donn

were sitting here on the deck of our hotel in Jerusalem overlooking the walls of the old city…..its hard to imagine being in a town that is over 3000 years old…we thot finding sites in america in the 1800s was fun…..

speaking of dead seas: i floated like a bobber today in the warm dead sea…35% of dead sea is rich in minerals…this area has more oxygen and bromine and you can lay out for 8 hours in the sun at the dead sea cuz its the lowest point on earth…the uv layer doesnt get down to you….its amazing….

its been another crazy fast pace day.  yesterday just to catch up with my brain….i got to baptize my wife in the Jordan river as well as get baptized….it was a spot up the river quite aways from where john baptized Jesus but it was a great moment….

i was amazed in Nazareth to learn how much of a stone worker Jesus ’been…its amazing what people have done with stone in israel…..the building would put ours to shame…the ingenuity with what they had and how long they build something was incredible…

there are 3 types of sights in Israel

1 authentic, the real thing

2 traditional-the place where things are believed to have happen but not quite sure

3 speculative

most sights fall into the first 2 categories

when we were standing on the hill of Armageddon where the final battle will take place and jesus will come and wipe out the enemy once and for all, it struck me that living in Nazareth Jesus would’ve regularly looked from his home over the valley to armageddon and thot thats where i will have final victory…..

the history of the 6 day war is incredible…our guide tsion ben david is funnier than can be and was a tank commander in that war of 67….his one tank brigade and i infantry brigade knocked out 9 brigades, 270 canons, and 170 anti aircraft in 2 days…..God. is still doing miracles then, now , and 3000 years ago to show his love for his people.

today we saw the biggest excavation site in israel called bet shean….it literally goes for miles…its a city thats probably almost 1800 years old…its mindboggling…an earthquake shattered it…we saw the area where david hid from saul in the caves..its also amazing how things are blooming in a barren desert…wow….

speaking of caves, we saw the qumran caves where our bible was really validated by the discovery of the dead sea scrolls…..a shepherd chasing one of his goats stumbled upon this….isnt it like God to use the most unlikely circumstances to let the world know literally that his word has existed for centuries….

were in jerusalem for next 3 days….our guide said the best is yet to come…thats hard to believe it can get better….

im telling you my friends, God wants our hearts in israel….you gotta come, it will change your life….start planning….

thanks for your prayers….encourage you to read others blogs….