Tuesday we drove from Tiberius to the church at Cana commemorating Jesus’ first miracle changing water to wine.  We then went to Nazareth, which is only about 4 miles away.  At Nazareth we visited the largest Roman Catholic church in the Middle East.  The drive from Nazareth to Bethlehem took several hours.  For the first time we saw the “wall” separating the Jewish and West Bank sections.  We went through a checkpoint to enter Bethlehem.  Rachel’s tomb is walled in, so we could not see it (it is a Jewish site within a Palestinian area).  At the church we saw the spot commemorating the birth of Jesus and a manger scene.  Besides a Roman Catholic altar, there were Greek Orthodox and Armenian altars.  In the shepherds field, we had a prayer service and sang Christian hymns.  On to Jerusalem for our first of 3 days in the City.

Each day was full of activities.  On Wednesday, we started with a scale model of the City for an overall view and orientation.  The museum containing the Dead Sea scrolls was adjacent to the City model.  The next stop was Mount of Olives, where the Church of All Nations contains a rock commemorating where Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Ancient olive trees are alongside the Church in a garden setting.  Jesus ascended to heaven from Mount of Olives.  We visited an “upper room” on Mount Zion which would have been like one used in Jesus’ time for the Passover meal and when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost.  The first day in Jerusalem ended at the “wailing wall.”  We had an opportunity to pray at the wall.

The second day, Thursday, we went to the Temple Mount area.  We could not go in the Dome of the Rock, but marveled at its beauty.  We followed the Via Dolorosa and had a Bible reading at each of the 14 stations.  The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is about half way on the Via Dolorosa.  We stopped in to sing and pray.  We ended the day at the Garden Tomb.  Here we had Holy Communion for our group.  Many went to a Jewish folk dancing show in the evening.

Friday we went to Jericho, the oldest known town in the world (10,000 years).  From here we had our first view of the Dead Sea and Mount Nebo (where Moses first saw the Promised Land).  Qumran was the next stop.  We saw the caves in the hillside where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.  The highlight of the day was floating in the Dead Sea.  Many of us took the opportunity to do so.  We went on to Bethany, where Lazarus was raised from the dead.  Tomorrow we will be stopping at Masada on our way to Cairo.

Friday, April 11

Saturday we drove from Jerusalem to Cairo.  It was a long day and we could appreciate Moses spending 40 years to travel the distance.  We did stop at Masada in the morning and rode a cable car to the top.  It overlooks the Dead Sea and originally was one of Herod’s palaces.  It only took us 3 minutes to go from the Asian continent to the African continent passing under the Suez Canal.  The traffic in Cairo is crazy.  No one stays in lanes, no stop lights, no one directing traffic.

Sunday we started the day at the Cairo Museum where many of King Tutankhamen’s artifacts are displayed.  In the afternoon, we visited the pyramids and Sphinx at Giza.  There was a sand storm so the view was not the greatest but the size of them was amazing.  Tonight we took a train from Cairo to Luxor.  It had sleeping cars and the meals were served in the rooms.

Monday we had a full day of visiting temples in the Luxor area.  The temples are on the east side of the Nile and pyramids on the west side.  The temple at Karnak was a surprise with 134 columns.  The temple at Luxor did not have as many columns but still a wonder to see especially at night with the lights on it.  The Colossi of Memnon, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Valley of Kings and Tomb of Ramses were seen today.  We started the cruise of the Nile River at night.

Tuesday was a day of rest.  It took all day to wait our turn for the ship to go through the locks on the Nile.

Wednesday we started with a short visit at the Edfu Temple and then sailed on to Kom Ombo.  There we saw the Temple dedicated to the crocodile god and then set sail for Aswan.

Thursday there was a lot to see in Aswan (3rd largest city in Egypt).  The day started going to a rock quarry where we saw rose granite (used for many statues).  We drove to the low and high dams; then visited the Philae Temple, which was dedicated to the god Isis.  In the afternoon we took a boat ride and passed by Elephantine Island, mausoleum of Agha Khan and Kitchener’s Island (botanical garden).

Friday was an early morning plane back to Cairo.  It gave us an opportunity to visit Memphis (ancient capital) with a huge statue of one of the Ramses, burial site of King Teti , Imhotep’s pyramid (architect of some pyramids) at Saqqara (step pyramid of King Djoser). 

Saturday, we had to get up at 1:30 a.m. to make our plane back home.  It was the longest day, arriving in Phoenix at 9:30 p.m. with a 10 hour difference in time.

The group was so thankful to our Pastors Garman and Wallace for making this trip a true pilgrimage.  The reaffirmation of our baptism, healing service, and Holy Communion (several times) while we were in Israel put us all on a spiritual high.  We are also thankful to all those at home who were praying for our safety and well being - we felt the prayers. 

Sue Fay