On the Road to Jerusalem

Wednesday we began the trek to Jerusalem with a few stops along the way. The first was Mesada. This is an ancient fortress on the top of a mountain in the middle of the desert. This was one of King Harod's hideaway palaces. You have to take an aerial tram up the mountain to get there. After seeing the terrain (Israel is 60% desert)I can really appreciate what it involved going anywhere. The ruins of Mesada are very coool to walk through. It is huge (approx 15 acres. Entire rooms of the palace have ben uncovered. I especially liked the bedrooms and bath houses (my two favorite rooms in any house). Bathing was a social time and the bath houses were very elaborate (marble, stone, etc).

Next we went to Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. One day in 1947 a young shepherd boy was throwing rocks to entertain himself while watching his flock. One of his stones landed in a cavern and he heard something break. Upon investigating he found a clay pot with a scroll in it, thus, the first scroll was discovered. To date, approximately 500 scrolls or partial scrolls have been deciphered including the entire book of Isaiah, about 100 of the psalms, part of Exodus and other documents, some of which are quite controversial. We visited the Israeli Museum where the scrolls are displayed.

After this we visited "Abraham's test" which took us back to the land of Genesis. We were dressed in robes (over our clothes) and taken to a test where we had a fabulous meal which was hosted by "Abraham" who told us his story while we ate. This was one of my favorite things that we have done, but the best was that Phil and I got to ride a camel!!!! Our camel was very nice and did not spit, bite or kick as some of the other camels were doing. It was very fun and both Phil and I really enjoyed it.

The weather has been beautiful. Each day it has been warmer than the day before. Today it was sunny and in the low 80's (although it was very windy). Yesterday it was sunny and in the high 70's.

The food here is very good. Salad is served with each meal, including breakfast. The Israeli's eat lots of vegetables and fresh fruit. We have had chicken and shish kebabs along with lots of hummus. They eat a lot of bread (yay!!!) and there are 5-6different kinds of bread at each meal. Every breafast has consisted of eggs, breads, several differnet kinds of cereal, several differen kinds of salads, fresh fruit and 3-4 different kinds of juices as well as coffee (double yay!!!) and tea. Lunch and dinner offer all of this in addition to 5-6 different entrees. They also eat a lot of fish and salmon has been offered almost every night (which Phil has enjoyed). Meals are set up buffet style in stations, i.e. one station has all different breads, one has salads, one has fruit, one has desserts, one has entrees, etc. They use some different spices and seasonings than what I am used to. But everything has been very good. They use quite a bit of hyssup in addition to other herbs. It is good that we have been doing a lot of walking because we have been doing a lot of eating.

There are 43 people from our church on this trip and Phil and I are really enjoying the new friendships we have made. We try to dine with and sit near different people on the tour bus so that we can get to know everyone. Everyone on our tour is so excited about being here that no one gets upset if plans are rearranged, delays, etc.

We have arrived in Jerusalem!!! It is like being taken back about 2,000 years. I feel like I am in a whole different world!!! This is much different than the countryside where we have spent the last few days. It truly feels like I am in the middle east (I mean that in a good way). This is the heart of what this trip is about. From now on just about everywhere we go will be a place where Jesus was while he was here on earth. It is interesting to see all the different cultures. You have the christian churches, the jewish synagogues and the muslim mosques, many times within very close proximity to one another. I am intriged by the different life styles and practices between the different cultures.

I will write more when I get a chance. I am about a day behind (it is Thursday and I am writing about what we did on Wednesday) but our days are long and very busy and I am tired (I haven't quite gotten used to the time change).

Shalom,

Diane