the rest of the holy land....

So now I'll finish up our trip to Israel, yes I am still mad at myself for not blogging the whole time I was there. Its hard to play catch up when I have sooooo many new things to say but I will try to remember everything!



We got to our Hotel in Jerusalem, called Shalom, and I was very surprised at how nice it was! It was very modern and had great food...they actually had Ranch dressing there believe it or not! Maybe to you all back home this isnt a big deal but to those of us over here, its like heaven on Earth. You would be surprised at all the foods that we take for granted...Here's you a list: peanut butter (especially the crunchy kind!), maple syrup (all they have here is honey), cranberry juice (still having trouble finding it on a regular basis), brewed coffee (now let me explain....I know in an earlier blog I wrote about how amazing the coffee is here and I'm not contradicting myself but here you cannot find coffee in a pot, plain and black. They only really sell the fancy stuff like lattes and cappuccino's) and chips and salsa (my favorite and its rare here, very very rare here). So if you eat any of these foods while you read this, take an extra bite for me please!!



I am going to rewind a bit, hope you dont mind, and tell you about getting to our hotel in Jerusalem. Now earlier in the day we had been at Bethlehem seeing the church of the nativity. I didnt realize that in order to get to Bethlehem you must go in to Palestinian territory. THerefore, when you leave Bethlehem you come back in to Israel and you must pass through border control. Well we stopped at border control in our giant tour bus and we are all in the cab goofing off, listening to music, reading, whatever and then we are told to get our passports out. Next thing I know this scary looking men are walking on to our bus with dark sunglasses and AK-47's.....a tad bit freaky if you ask me. Sure they were there for our protection but they werent helping us out till we were on their side of the border and we unfortunately were not. They told our bus driver that we couldnt pass through and they made us turn around and head back in to Palestinian territory, how lovely! AAfter driving for a few minutes we found another cross point and this time made it through safe and sound, Shalom Israel!



But like I said the food was good, we were tired, and sweaty and we had another big day planned so it was off to bed for us all.



The next day was pretty great! It was packed with things to do. We started off the day going to the Shrine of the Book and seeing the copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was pretty cool but not my favorite. Next we headed to the Old City of Jerusalem. We walked in through the Damascus gate and I'll try to explain this as best as possible. We go from a very modern "New York-ish" city to a village looking town with millions of people, street vendors selling toys, clothes, and food, we are walking on cobblestone streets and I couldnt take my eyes off all the things to see. If you like to people watch, this is the place to do it. Culture shock. After working our way through the crowded gate, I felt like I had jumped in a time traveling machine and was somewhere back in the 1st century. A very weird feeling. Here I was standing on the very street that Jesus walked on while carrying the cross to Calvary. Its been a week and I still can't quite grasp that concept. It was a wonderful thing to experience, something I will never ever forget!



Next we went to the ruins of the fortress where Pilate had Jesus on trial and gave Him over to the people to be crucified. Leaving there we walked on through the old city out the gates to Bethesada. I saw the baths where Jesus healed the paralytic man and I also so the Catholic church here St. Anne's. This church was amazing! In looks? no. It was a very "plain Jane" kind of building but the acoustics inside were phenomenal. You arent allowed to talk in this building, only sing; so we did and we did and we did. If you were to ask me what is the best experience of your trip, I would say singing in St. Anne's Cathedral. Was there any significance to the site? No not really but when I was singing the songs that I have grown up singing such as Greatest Commands, It is well with my soul, and These are the days of Elijah, all I could focus on was God. There arent enough words in the English language to describe those feelings. To be sitting there in the city where Jesus died for my sins and to be singing to the Lord about how great He is, I was speechless and amazed. It was incredible. I was crying and shaking and had goosebumps. How great is our God!!