Holy Land Tour

Welcome to Jerusalem! We had a remarkable experience. Larry was the pro on taking notes and writing about the doctrinal and spiritual significance, while I tried to take pictures and run the movie camera and keep up with the music. I was the group music mistress as Bro Ludlow called me and at any given point he'd say, "Let's sing!!"

We cut our pictures down to our favorite 240!! This is just a small sample of our views and experiences while in Israel and Germany. If you want to see all the pictures, come by and visit. We are working on a photo essay of our trip.

Looking down into the city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives:

A very common view while in and around the city. I saw more big guns than I ever had and it got to the point in the tour that whenever soldiers were headed our way, someone would whisper out, "big guns" and we knew to be alert.

The call to prayer occured throughout the day, evening and early morning from this tower. It was beautiful to listen to, almost like a song.

We didnt' want to be left behind so we went ahead and joined the group through Hezikiah's Tunnel. It was very narrow and quite a low ceiling as you can see. It was pitch dark except for the few flashlights we took and the flash from the cameras. The water got up to my thighs at points, what an incredible experience. We kept thinking, "Brian would be so proud!!"

Golgotha, where it is believed that the Savior was crucified, although they crucified on more of a street level to add to the humiliation. So instead of on top of this hill of the skull, it would have taken place more in front of it.

This Catholic star is placed in a grotto, or cave over the spot where it is believed that the Savior was born. A church has been built over the cave, as is the tradition here. Almost every sacred place is now within a church that has been built over the place.

O Little Town of Bethlehem... We enjoyed a Christmas Program as we sat on the rocks on Shepherds Field overlooking the town of Bethlehem. It was a beautiful full moon lit night and there was a very calm and sweet feeling as we discussed the birth of our Savior.

The Judean wilderness was an emotional experience for me. I'm not sure why, but when I walked up over the hill and this wide, arid expanse came into view I was overwhelmed by the sense of aloneness the Savior may have felt as he fled to this area to fast for 40 days to draw closer to his Father. The Bedouins live in makeshift tents in the area and rush up to the busses when they stop to try to sell their wares. Mr camel greeted me a little closer than I was comfortable with. Although I did think for a moment about taking a ride... free to get on, and 20 bucks to get off!!

The Wailing Wall in the Old City. This is as close to the sacred area of the temple that the Jews are allowed to get. It was amazing to watch their studing, praying, discussing, etc. There were several Bar Mitzbas' going on. The men and women are divided by a wall so the mothers had to stand on chairs to see over the wall as their sons' participated in this most important coming of age ceremony.

The Dome of the Rock, owned by the Muslems and are the only ones allowed inside at this point. It marks a sacred spot for Muslems, Jews and Christians alike. A beautiful sparkling building that easily indicates the center of the city.

Gethsemane was another one of those sacred places where the spirit was strong. These trees have grown up from the root systems of trees that would have been alive during the time of Christ. We were not allowed to open scriptures here, but across the lane was another section of the olive grove owned by a church. After slipping the Priest $40.00, he opened the gate for our group to go in and have some time to quietly pray, read and ponder the events that occured in this grove of trees.

A common market place, they are all over the city and look just like this one.

Schwarmas are good eating but falafels are fabulous!!! We had a couple of good ones in various places but this one, in a open market in the Old City, was one of the best meals of the trip! YUM!!

The Garden Tomb. There are different opinions as to where the exact location of the tomb of Jesus was, but all I know is that when we were in the other location there was no feeling at all. Two steps into the Garden Tomb area here, I was overwhelmed with a warm and comforting spirit. The spirit bore witness to me that Jesus lives. We had two visits here, with the second one being a short meeting and testimonies in a little area just to the right of the tomb seen here. It was a beautiful experience.

The village of Nazareth. It was a very small inconspicuous town. Here we are in a carpenter shop, set up to look very much what it would have looked like when Jesus was growing up here and learning the trade of carpenter, wood worker, stone mason and other skills that were necessary for their way of life.

Pizza anyone???

Unfortunately we did not coordinate the camera well and missed pictures of us floating in the Dead Sea, but here we went swimming in the Sea of Galilee, what a beautiful spot this is!! (not the swimmer, the area!)

Our boat ride out on the sea.

The coast city of Haifa, with the flower gardens terraced down to the Mediteranian Sea. So beautiful, an amazing view.

A Mediteranian sunset as we get ready to close our trip.

We say good by to Israel and head off to Munich where we spent two days in Bavaria, driving through a bit of Austria and enjoyed the greenery, beauty and majesty of the Alps. Germany is spotless and beautiful and breathtaking. Here is the castle of Neuschawstein in Fussen. We hiked up and went through part of the castle, and then the long and very steep hike down.

The church tower had beautiful bells that rang every quarter hour. Many of the shops had murals painted on the fronts of them. This was the view as we stepped out of our first hotel here.

Breathtaking views of the mountains.

Our last night was spent close to Oberammergau where we saw the Passion Play. This is our little B&B with a wonderful Frau to take care of us. We were in the Graswald, Mittenwald area, in a dream like village, nestled in the majestic alps.

It was indeed a once in a lifetime experience we will cherish always. Beautiful, sacred, fun, memorable and testimony building. The story we can't tell in pictures or words will always be in our hearts.