Heading home

The day has come that my trvels are finished. I am sitting in Rome taking in the last few moment of my excursions before I get on that last train headed towards home. I will be on a train headed towards switzerland airport tonight at 8pm here and flying out by noon tomorrow. It is a sad and pleasant day. It is sad because I am no there are so many things that I got so close to seeing to only watch the moment slip through my fingers. But it is pleasent as I am ready to be back and in familiar sorroundings and with friends and family. It has been a unique experience being so far from the people I love during the two biggest holidays of the year (Thanksgiving and Christmas). But the moments that I have had bring to light what really is important in lifeand not just what my culture tries to tell me are important. It is the people in our lives that we share each moment with that make life worth living and not the things that are in our lives, or the time that we spend making 'a living'. I am so glad that I have gotten to see and experience all that I have, but wish even more that I would have had friends to share more of it with along the way. Traveling is so much more when you have someone to share it with and experience the events together in a group. I pray that as I begin my long journey home again that each of you had plenty of shared experiences and community during this most important seasons of celebration and that the joyous memories you have made with friends and family will remain with you as long as that which sustains us. May God be watchful over you and bring you every blessing and gift that He has to give and keep you safe and secure in His shadow as this world continues to spin. My prayers and thoughts are with each of you as my time abroad ends. I pray that I will be seeing you all again very soon.

Rome

Well I have spent the last 2 days in Rome and I must say it is not anywhere near enough time. There is so much to see that even treading over the entire city twice I have only seen a glimpse of it. I haven,t got any way to upload any pictures right now but can,t wait to show you the amazing things I have seen here. It was also a great adventure that I got to share with my cousin Jenifer. She came over to Rome for Christmas with her boydriend and hs family and I got to spend two night catching up on her life and meeting some amazing people (Dan, Larry, and Karen). We had kind of lost touch about three years ago as she was moving around and God was gracious enough to give us this chance to reconnect. Well I pray that each of you had ana amazing Christmas and will have an even more amazing New Year full of Family, Friends and wonder. Stay warm in Heart and Soul and may God bless you every step you take.

OK Picture Time

so it has taken me a while to get the pictures uploaded in so that I can share then. I have been thinking that when I get back to the states of putting together a best of photo album and was just wondering if any of you would be interested in one. email me on what you think. but never the less here are the pictures I got uploaded. Hope they come out alright.

Island of Kos
More of Kos
Island of Rhodes
More of Rhodes
Island of Patmos
Athens Archaeological Museum

Ok back on dry solid round

Ok other than long delays and canceled ferries I am back in Athens and God was gracious and room was found for me in the only inn on Patmos that was open (sort of). So I went from having four days on the Island of John the Divine (as he is referred to on Patmos) to possibly not having any to having two whole days. What can I say travel in the off season is . . . well interesting. I arrived on Patmos at 1 am on Saturday with the plan of being back on a ferry at 3 and having to find somewhere relatively warm to spend until the sun came up around 6:30. Well, as I thought I had checked every possible hotel and room for rent on the Island of Patmos with the constant answer of closed before I left, I went into the only thing on the port with lights on at 1:30 am. Low and behold the man behind the bar tells me that there is a hotel up the hill a ways that is always open (funny they aren't listed on any brochure, website, or travel agency site anywhere) but after roaming for about 30 minutes in a town the size of a large thumb (ok a little exageration) I found the place and they had plenty of rooms, but only two that had heat working in them, I will take one with heat please, not that it is really all that cold here compared to back home but 50's with a wet ocean breeze is not something I like to sleep in. So I crashed until the sun came up and headed out for the two sites on Patmos the Cave of the Apocalypse (where the Apostle John is supposed to have written the book of Revelations), and the Monastery of St John the Theologian, a school/monastery built in honor of John. I started out hiking up the wrong hill. I figured it out as I reached the top and could see the monastery on an adjacent hill. Yeah for directions. Well lets just say that the tourist office is only open in the summer and not many people here in the off season speak English well. So I stopped and had breakfast looking out over the port of Skala which had an excellent view of the entire island and I am not exaggerating it is not very big. So I climb back down the hill and head for the right hill and find the cave. It is not much of a cave anymore as there is an entire complex of rooms and sanctuaries built around it. There is a small church that now occupies the cave with 'the holy spots' fenced or chained off to keep people from . . . I don't know rub the holiness off of them i guess. I got to catch the end of a Greek orthodox church service when I arrived at the cave and they insisted on me joining them for coffee at the priests house at the top of the complex. So even though they didn't speak much English and I do not understand any modern Greek, and I must confess I now know very little Greek at all since I haven't worked with it in almost a year, but we had basic pleasantries and I got some strong coffee and home baked cookies before I got to enter the cave. I spent a few hours in the cave and above it on a little overlook area reading the book the John wrote before I headed up to the monastery. Not looking much like a monastery, but a castle built on a hill, which it was, I was disappointed to find that the majority of the monastery was closed for renovations so I only got into the main courtyard but it had some spectacular frescoes painted on the wall depicting events and saint of the past. Well as my clock showed it getting on to a little after 1 pm and my ferry was to leave at 2:20 pm I thought it best to head on back down to town only to find out at 2:45 that the ferry had been canceled because of bad weather at some port I couldn't understand and there wouldn't be another boat back to Kos until tomorrow (23 sun) morning. Well I didn't see any point in going back to Kos just to come back through Patmos a few hour (hopefully) later as the ferry stops at Patmos on it's way to Athens so I made sure the ferry for tomorrow night was still going as best the knew and headed back to the only inn for another night. Needless to say I found ways to kill the time until the 1 am ferry to Athens on Sunday, I just wish it could have been on the beautiful beaches of the island sunning and swimming but it could have been much worse hey I was stranded on a Mediterainin Greek Island for an extra day with beautiful views and deep history

Ok so I guess I lied to you all and didn't know it till this morning

I am glad that I checked my email before I left tonight for Patmos. As it turns out the entire Island is closed. Well sort of. There are no rooms, or even beds available during this time of season. The place I thought I had booked confirmed that they are in fact closed until March, so much for online booking. So it took some more juggling schedules on ferries and other such expensive things to find out I can still go to Patmos for a single day and then I will spend a day on Rhodes and get another day and then some here on Kos. So although I do not get to spend the four days wandering the island of Patmos I still get to see it and add the Island of Rhodes to my travels and a lot more time on ferries moving back and forth through the Aegean Sea. So as my time dwindles down out in the world it seems my transport troubles continue to plague me during the off season in this part of the world. Well here is looking to all that lays ahead of me and all the pictures I can't wait to share with anyone who even looks like they may be interested when i get home (hehehe) Ta Ta 4 Now

Back in Greece (Sort of)

Ok while technically I am in Greece there is a lot of water between me and Athens. I didn't get to visit everywhere I had planned to in Turkey because little did I know there is a huge (Christmas travel size) holiday in Islam that started today. The buses and trains have been busting at the seems and people are crawling all over one another for any available seat to get out and celebrate. Amazingly enough you will never guess what the holiday is for. Talking to a Muslim in a train station as I waited three hours for the next available bus I found out that there is a four day celebration of when (now get this) Allah stopped the hand of Abraham from sacrificing his son Ishmeal on the alter at Mt. Moriah. you read that correctly. In Islam it is believed that it was Ishmeal and not Issac that Abraham took to the alter at the command of God to sacrifice. It was Ishmeal that God stop Abraham from killing as that was his beloved son and not Issac. This was a but surprising to me when I heard it, but there are a lot of other stories that are a little twisited in the telling between Old Testament and the Koran. The gentlemen that was nice enough to share this with me was a very nice guy. He helped translate for me as I was trying to get a ticket on any bus heading out of Istanbul toward Ephesus, which ended up being a midnoght one to Izmir. But like I said everyone is out trying to catch any seat available for this holiday. I had wanted to hit a few more sites out east in Turkey but thought it best to get out of the country while I still could. I do have a flight to catch in Athens on the 26 and it has been taking about two days to get anywhere arounf here so I figured leave now or not at all. So I got to Izmir early about 10 am and caught an afternoon bus to Selcuk and walked the couple miles out to Ephesus and around the ancient city. I caught another late night bus for Bodrum and spent the night there. Bodrum has a old Crusader fortress built in the HArbour that I got a chance to visit in the morning before I caught the ferry out to Kos (where I am presantly). It was used by the Hospitaler Knights during their campaigns against the Muslims after the crusaders had been completely removed from the Holy Land. The Templars and Hospitaler Knights held several Greek Islands and they took Bodrum during a raid on the mainlands and fortified the city. The Sister castle on Kos was also a nice place to visit and have a short walk through history. Well as for me all things are well and I must say I am excited because of the travel situation I will be imprisoned on the Island of Patmos for four days what a tragedy. I hope you can read the sarcas in that. I get to spend four whole days walking over the Island where John wrote Revelation and sit in the cave where he worte it with the plans on reading it through. Thank you all for your prayers and interest. I hope to see you all when I return back to the states the end of Dec. God Bless each and everyone one of you.

oops almost forgo the links to the pictures

Istanbul 1
Istanbul 2
Ephesus 1
Ephesus 2
Castles of Bodrum and Kos

Istanbul

Well I am here in Istanbul and I have pictures to prove it

Istanbul
Istanbul 2

Trains

Well I am not sure about this whole trains plan. I have yet to take a train that arrived or even left on time since I left Israel. I heard so much about the train systems of Europe but I think I have to question those assumptions. y train was to leave Thessaloníki's last night at 8 it finally left at 12:30 and it was supposed to be a 12 hour trip it took14 hours and we finally got in at close to 3 pm just in time to watch stuff closing up. Well I guess I am here and am going to go at least walk the city for a while. The view from my balcony is overlooking the water front and I can watch the boats/ship traveling the channel up too the black sea. Well just thought I would drop a line and let you know where I was I am off to see what we can see.

Thessaloniki

Ok so another city down on the list. I just spent 5 hours walking around Thessaloníki in the snow. You got that right in the snow. It was a bit chilly, but walking several miles will help keep you warm. There are some amazing spots here in Thess, but they are all right in the middle of the city and it kind of breaks that whole lost in ancient times exploration mentality. I visited a couple museums here on is the Byzantine Cultural Museum which was amazing. It is basically an entire museum filled with Byzantine Christian art, sculpture, architecture everything. that is a big shift from where I have been in the middle east. The other was the Thessaloníki Archeology Museum which was also cool. Lots of sculpture and other amazing artifacts all the way back to prehistory. The links for the pictures are below someday I might actually get around to labeling them better but the stuff from the museum I tried to get the description in with the pic. Well the snow is still coming down here and I have a couple more hours to kill before my train to Istanbul so time to pull out a good book and curl up on a not so comfortable chair. Anyone got some hot Coco.

Thess 1
Thess 2

Athens-Corinth

Ok so I made it out of Athens and thought I would give you the links to look at the amazing time I had although it was raining throughout my walk around the old city. I am also including the link for my time in Corinth which was shorter than I would have liked because the have unposted winter hours which took about two hours off of my time there but it was amazing. I didn't get the chance to climb up the Acocorinth to see the temple and fortress which I photographed a couple times on that high peak. I am in Thessaloníki now for the day and headed out for Istanbul this evening at 8pm here which in noon for all of you back in Nebraska. Well it is snowing here which was kind of nice to watch, although a little cold, but I got to see snow capped mountains on my way out to Drama yesterday before it started snowing which was a real treat coming from the great flat mid of the country. Well hope you are all doing well and now I am off.

Athens 3
Athens 4
Corinth 1

Out of there

Well the strike ended I got to see many of the sites around Athens and headed out for Thessaloníki. So I sit here as the sun rises with a chilly wind blowing around. Who would have thought that the Paradise of Greece would have ever gotten this cold, well I didn't so it is a good thing I am from Nebraska and like cold weather although it would have been nice for some nice sunny days to walk around in. Well after they allow me to check in to my room here at Hotel Rex, I am back on the train towards Philippi for the afternoon. I was informed this morning that during the strike out in front of Parliament in Athens that they had riots and that the police quick reaction teams were called in to quell the violence. Well let me just say this if there was riots I didn't see any of them and I was watching the protest march out in front of Parliament for 40 mins or so the walked through the National Gardens right next to Parliament for about another hour the watched the Guards in front of the Presidential Home, just down the street a little ways from Parliament for another 30 mins or so while the changed over and never saw or heard anything remotely like a riot or clashing of the Titans just a bunch of people walking the streets with picket signs protesting the Government reducing their retirement benefits, raising the retirement age and refusing to increase their pay as the cost of living increases. Hey that sounds really familiar I wonder why that is :> Well I pray that all of you are having a much less exciting time than I am watching riots and sleeping on rock hard train platforms, but Hey I got to see the Acropolis of Athens so I guess it works out in my favor. God Bless each one of you.

On again

Well it seems that again sometime while I was sleeping the strike ended without anyone getting what they wanted as I am told is how these things always end here in Greece. The people strike and then give up because the government never gives in to them no matter how long they strike, so basically it was just a day off of work for them. So I am hoping that at 8 am this morning I can get back on with my travels and get to see the sites up close and not through fences. But on a less favorable note it is raining here in Athens and bit chillier that it was yesterday so good and bad news same day I guess that evens it out. Well if the strike is off so am I and Corinth is next on the list. I won't be on for a couple days so hope everything is going well with all of you and God Bless.

Strike

Well sometime between when I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning the strike expanded to include several national agencies. I left the hostel this morning at around 7 to get a head start on the walks to the sites I wanted to see as the transit system was on strike. When I got to the Agora I was told that the archeology sites were on strike as well, but that the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus, because they are handled by the national system exclusively may still be open. So I circled the fences of the Agora taking the best pictures I could, and headed off to the Acropolis. As I stood from the top of the Aereopogos looking out over the city and watched the sun rising behind the Acropolis you could see that all the gates and shutters around the Acropolis where still shut an hour after they were supposed to open, and sure enough the Acropolis was closed for the strike as well. So I walked the perimeter of the Acropolis and took some more pictures. I came back to the hostel with news that the strike had spread and may be extended more than the original 24 hours it was planned for. So keep this in your prayers that they will resolve this dispute and I can at the least leave Athens to see the rest of Greece and hopefully Turkey as well. God Bless each on of you.

Athens
Athens 2

Athens

I am in Athens. Yeah. I arrived this afternoon and just got checked into my hostel in the Old City of Athens area. I also wanted to ask for prayers because as I was checking in I found out the the city is scheduled for a strike starting tomorrow so there will be no public transport of any kind. It is a good thing that everything I am wanting to see is with in walking distance for the most part, but it will be interesting to see what all is going to be affected by the strike as to if I can get out of Athens Thursday or not. But I am alive and doing well and looking forward to a full day of exploring tomorrow. The Agora and acropolis are top on the list and then we will see after that. There is supposed to be an amazing public bus tour that hits 20 of the most popular spots in Athens, but of course the strike makes that a non possibility. Well just thought I would check in and let you all know what is going on. hopefully tomorrow night I can upload some pictures for you all to see Greece. So long for now.

Egypt

I don't have a lot of time tonight since we just got back but I wanted to upload some pictures for you to see what I have been up too for the last 8 days.

Egypt 1
Egypt 2
Egypt 3
Egypt 4
Egypt 5

More on thanksgiving

just found out so I thought I would let you know that someone was loose with a camera in the kitchen and afterwards and here is the link to the pictures taken.

Thanksgiving Pics

Thankgiving Report

I have had some people ask about Thanksgiving so I thought I would just let everyone know. It was a great experience. I missed family traditions back home but I really enjoyed ours here. I got to spend almost the entire day in the kitchen with the staff of 2 cooks who normally do all the cooking for the campus, which is alot. Three of us ended up showing up to help out of the 8 that had signed up to help so it was a busy time to get everything up and ready for the big meal. Wednesday had been a day of making desserts, but Thursday was time for the real meal. I got the opportunity to introduce our Arab cooks to green bean casserole, and they got to introduce me to making my own cream of mushroom soup as that is not something readily used or available here in Israel. So that was a new experience for me and it turned out really well, if I do say so my self. As some of you know I am not the best at taking compliments and it has been rough because I seem to often be more critical of the things I prepare than other people are so I find it hard to accept praise for them, but that has been what others have seen necessary to do since Thursday. All in all I thought it was a success but not praise worthy but such is life I guess. We planned for 112 and there were those and then a few more that ended up at the tables but we had enough. I got to make the green bean casserole with scratch mushroom soup, sweet potato casserole, gravy, and a few of the side salads, and helped out with th Mashed taters. I also made a white chocolate cheesecake and some pumpkin bars. The most pleasant thing about spending all day cooking, which I have been missing for the last three months, was getting to know and connect with the cooks over a hot stove. By being willing to come in and help out where they needed me and actually showing some skill in the kitchen they opened up and I really got a chance to connect with them better than I had just trying to chat with them as I moved through the lunch lines. It was really good to get to joke around with them and hear about their lives. I have really enjoyed the continued chance to relate and talk with them now as they seem more willing to be more than just cordial after our little bonding time, and I am really thankful for it. They are both spectacular people and very hard workers. There are only two of them that cook all of our meals for 70 students three meals a day. and they are both only here during lunch. Breakfast and dinner are done by only one of them. The evening cook really love Elvis and has taken opportunity during dinner as I am going through line to sing some of his favorite songs with his best Elvis voice which has been really fun. Well, I should really get back to studying as I have three finals coming up this week and am leaving for Egypt at 5:30 am on Saturday for 8 days. I hope that all of you had amazing Thanksgivings and got to spend it with those you love. I probably won't have much chance to update any until the 9th of Dec when we return from Egypt so may God bless you all and keep you safe.

Wednesday Nov 21

Hey everyone just thought I would stop in and wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. It is starting to change seasons here a little. Well as much as it changes seasons here. It has been raining for two straight days and not just a little storm each day, but almost two solid days of rain. Other than that we have been getting ready for Thanksgiving here and I spent most of the afternoon baking pies and cakes. There was 6 of us in the kitchen and we ended up with three pumpkin pies, an apple pie, an apple crisp, a Cheesecake, some pumpkin bars, and something called a shoe fly pie or something like that. tomorrow 8 of us get locked in the kitchen at 10 to start cooking thanksgiving diner for 112 people. That should be interesting. We are doing as close to a traditional meal as we can here in Israel.

It is interesting getting used to stuff here because in most cases it is really close to what we are used to but just not quite there. Most of us have picked up a suffix to almost every item we try to describe and that is -ish. like for breakfast we had pancakish type food, they were sort of like pancakes, they looked like pancakes were called pancakes, but just weren't quite pancakes as any of us would recall. Most things here are like that. I also took two of my five finals today for school so I have three more to go. As the time starts to roll up to the end here at JUC people have begun to say goodbye at ministries and churches we have been volunteering at and to other students. There are several students that are here for more than just a semester abroad and they are starting to deal with the fact that they are losing alot of new friends. The Spring semester is pretty small around here as most people seem to come for the fall term. It is only a very small percentage of the students that attend for a full two years for a degree here at JUC. Of those here, near 100 students, only 15 or so are staying for the second semester and of those only about 8 are planning on being here for the two years.

Well, I better get back to studying for finals and preparing a presentation I have to give in Egypt about the history of language and writing as part of a class project. Hope you are all well and that I get to see you when I return to the states the end of Dec. God Bless.

Jordan Pictures

Ok as I promised here are the links to the photo albums I have online from my travels in Jordan.

Jordan 1
Jordan 2
Jordan 3
Jordan 4
Jordan 5

Back from Jordan

Well, I am back and am sorry that I did not have more time to spend in Jordan. It was a fantastic place to visit. Petra has been the most spectacular site I have seen in our travels. The grandeur and massive size of the monuments and structure was fantastic. There was a virtual rainbow of colors in the rocks in everything from yellows and blues to red and black. There were also a massive amount of stairs to get to most of the tombs and I must say if you ever think about needing a stair climber just go visit Petra.


(Monestary)


(Royal Tomb)


(Royal Tomb)

It was also interesting staying for several days in a country where we were told not to drink the water. So trying to shower with out ingesting water was an experiences along with brushing my teeth with bottled water. The people in Jordan were very nice from what we got to experience and most of them even seemed to brighten a bit when they found out we were Americans. That was an unexpected bonus. Even here in Israel there almost seems to be slightly negative reaction to Americans by both Palestinians and Jews alike. The Palestinians because they believe that it is because of America that Israel exists at all, and I am not really sure why the Jews feel the way they do. But in Jordan were tourism is really only beginning to make an impact on their country and people are begin a migration from agricultural type jobs into tourism industry jobs or catering to tourist as a desired portion of their business they seem to have really taken a liking to Americans. At Petra and Jerash, both really touristy spots, the first question almost anyone, well those that didn't look middle eastern, got was if they were Americans. Those that responded in a language other than English or said no you could see the expression in the face of the local change to a little less friendly as they began to engage them in the native tongue of the visitor. I was very surprised to see how many languages most of the merchants spoke. Most are not able to read in any languages, but spoke many well enough to communicate. The tour guide stopped a small boy of about 12 who was selling postcards. He asked him several different times to give us his sales pitch in a different language each time. After Russian, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, and English he gave the kid a couple coins and sent him away. It was an impressive display of need based learning. I got a donkey ride from a nice fellow who claimed to be able to speak fluently in 7 different languages, the ones spoken by the majority of tourist, but he could not even read in Arabic, the local language. He said that he learned all of these languages just from talking to tourists. He rattled of a few comments in several languages that caught the attention of other tourists walking by so I assume it wasn't just gibberish. When I think of how many languages the normal American speaks it is impressive to see so many uneducated people with such a diverse linguistic knowledge.


(Oval Plaza)

Jerash, one of the Roman Decapolis cities, was an amazing example of Roman might and influence. The site is called the city of a thousand columns, but our guide assured us that they had just stopped counting at a thousand and from seeing the site I can believe that. It was an
enormous site covering several acres of land and just jammed full of columns. The Roman Cardo and the main cross road, called the Decumanus, were lined with two rows of columns. And there were several temple structures with many columns still standing with capitols intact.


(Temple of Artemis)

The temple of Artemis had columns that they estimated were several hundred tons. Constructed of smaller round sections stacked on top of each other the segments are said to weigh between 25-30 tons each and there are between 15-20 segments per column. It was an impressive structure to see, but more impressive when we learned more about their engineering. The columns were engineered to resist earthquakes and strong winds. Each segment of the column is designed to move and shift slightly without transferring the motion to connected segments. To demonstate this the guide took one of the girls in our group and told her to push on the column. He then wedges a knife blade between two segments in the column and had her push. As she was trying to rock the column over the knife began to move up and down with the rocking of the segment. Now remember these are 25-30 ton segments of solid rock that is moving with the force of one person. He explained that this is why so many of the columns here at Jerash are still standing through the earthquakes that knocked down the majority of the other Roman cities in the Middle East.



(The Nymphaeum)

There was another amazing structure just down the Cardo called the Nymphaeum. This was a bath and pool complex right on the main street. The guide said that this was one of the many ways that the corruption of the Romans reached the rest of the world. His description of this place was that it was a complex built for young maidens to come bath in open view as a pleasing site for returning Roman soldiers to enjoy. The official description given is this:
"This ornamental fountain was constructed in 191 AD, and dedicated to the Nymphs. Such fountains were common in Roman cities, and provided a refreshing focal point for the city.This fine example was originally embellished with marble facings on the lower level and painted plaster on the upper level, topped with a half-dome roof Water cascaded through 7 carved lions' heads into small basins on the sidewalk and overflowed from there through drains into the underground sewer system."

It was an amazing trip in all and when I get my pictures uploaded I will post the links for them and include more of what we did. God Bless

Wednesday Nov 7

Nothing really special to report, but I thought I would let you all know that our group is going to be traveling into Jordan for the next four days. We leave Thursday morning at 6 am to try and make it through the border before the morning traffic gets heavy at the checkpoints. We are spending most of the day around Ammon and north, but eventually we will make it down south to Petra and the Dead Sea from the other side. I am excited about getting to see Petra. If any of you have ever watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade you to have seen Petra. The big stone building at the end where they go into to find the Grail is at Petra. It is a very impressive piece of history and construction and I can't wait to explore it. Who knows maybe even find the Grail.

Other than that there really hasn't been to terribly much going on. Just in case any of you were wondering I received a question about my post of fireworks inquiring if I was sure they were just fireworks and not bombs or other violent explosions. The were definitely only fireworks. I was watching them from the front gate of the school with about 40 other students, although they were by far the most powerful fireworks I have ever felts. As the semester begins to wind down here there is a frantic scramble on campus to finish papers and study for tests. Finals week is the last week in Nov and then about 30 of us take off for Egypt for 9 days. If you are wondering I arrive back in good ole Nebraska around 10pm on December 30th if all of my flights are on time and they don't want to check through my souvenirs to much.

I pray that you are all well, and the God has been kind with you all. See you all when I get home, hopefully.

Fireworks

Hey everyone, didn't have much new to report but thought I would tell you all that I just saw the most mazing display of fireworks I have ever seen. I wish I had my camera with me to take pictures and share but they started in the middle of a class and we had to have an intermission because they were so loud we could not hear the teacher. I don't know why they were having fireworks because there is no holiday for Thursday. The were so close that as the explosions went you could feel the sound waves hitting you. Windows were rattling and every car alarm around was going off. The explosions were so massive that large pieces of red hot ash made it all the way to the ground from the massive artillery shells. It was an amazing 3-4 minutes. I have been to displays on military bases and even DC for the fourth of July, and even though they last much longer and are more varied I have to say I believe these were the most powerful I have ever experienced, either that or this is by far the closest I have been able to get to them. Either way I could feel the explosions deep in my chest with each blast.

Well, I hope you all are well and having a pleasant fall season. I am still waiting for the seasons to changes here. We keep hearing stories of this rainy season that was supposed to start a couple weeks ago and have seen little evidence of it. We have had one short 5 minute rain and then more of upper 80's and 90's heat and dry desert winds.

Back to the Galilee

Well, I must say I was not satisfied with the amount of time we got to spend in the Galilee so 3 of us rented a car and headed back north for the weekend, and I am so glad that we did. We went back to Caesarea again to explore the fortifications of the city some more.

(looking at the sea through the breached walls)

(Fortification wall at Caesarea)

(more of the wall. During high tide this would have become a moat. The block at the end to hold the water has been torn down)

We then headed north again up to Haifa, Acre, the Ladder of Tyre at the Lebanon border. We then drove along the border road to the Jordan River. Acre and the Ladder of Tyre were spectacular. Seeing the fortress at Acre that was left from the Crusades and walking through the great halls and fortifications that were built almost a 1000 years ago. This city was the last foothold that the crusaders held in the Holy Land. This is were the Templars and other Military Orders held the hope of reclaiming the land for Christians. Walking the walls that are built right down into the sea and watching the water break against foundation built long before the Crusaders ever set foot in the Holy Land and they are still there holding back the water with little sign of wear.

(walls of Acre)

It made me reflect on what the Bible talks about building our faith on a solid foundation that can not be shaken. These fortification that have stood the test of time, weather and sea for thousands of years and still stand strong against the waves of destruction pounding them daily is the type of foundation I see that as being.

The Ladder of Tyre was not exactly what I had pictured, but it was a very beautiful place.

(Ladder of Tyre)

The stone of the cliffs was really white and spectacular in the fading light of evening. As the sun began to set out over the sea you could see the small patrol ships of the Israeli Navy moving back and forth across the border watching diligently the northern boundary. We stood at the gates of the upper military guard station holding the road leading into Lebanon and you could feel the tension of an active watchfulness with tight attention watching the enemy beyond. Israel and Lebanon are still officially at war and you could see and feel the signs of that as the soldiers in towers watched the moves of every one who lingered close to the border gates on either side.

(standing at the entrance to the Israeli Base Guarding the Border)

We got a closer look at the border as we headed east along the fences of the border. The road came close enough to the border that we could see that the two fences came within 30ft of each other. Feeling rebellious the three of us felt the need to show our support of those defending the border and cast stone into enemy territory.

(casting stones northward)

As we moved of the border near the Jordan River we headed back south to the Sea of Galilee where we stayed the night in a hostel on the cliff looking out over the sea. We got up early and headed out for the Syrian border. It was amazing to us as we drove because last week when we came up as a class we looked down on this valley from a mountain to the west and saw a road and an abandoned village just east of it. The road was Israel, the village was Syria. Now we were able to drive along the road we had seen and take pictures of the buildings in the village that was abandoned.

After tempting fate and the Syrian border we arrived at the Castle of Nimrod, which was a Muslim stronghold built during the times of the crusades. It was held and construction was done by both crusaders and Muslims, and this is evident in the architecture and styling of the different building eras. Even though the place is named now after the biblical character of Nimrod the great hunter that is a recent naming.

(The keep of Nimrod)

We spent almost 5 hours climbing all over Nimrod before we made the decent out of the northern mountains down to Baniass near Caesarea-Philippi. We decided to head down to the falls that are part of the head waters of the Jordan river that we missed during our class excursion. It is amazing to see the headwaters and think of how dry the rest of the country is in comparison. These falls and rushing rapid that they flow into are such a contrast that it is easy to forget less than 20 miles from here there is open dry desert. The idea of an Oasis is very prevalent throughout the whole country and the importance of them. It is hard to picture an Oasis when you are standing in the green fields of Nebraska, but here it is clear.

(The Baniass fall close to Caesarea-Philippi)


(just thought I would throw this one in for effect of where we were)

More picture albums for you too look at:
Galilee 1
Galilee 2
Galilee 3

FaceBook Picture Albums

Generally I upload all of my pictures to a thing called facebook where people can look at them because it is a lot faster than uploading them to my blog, and they allot me more memory for my pictures than Blogger does. So I think I have finally figured out a way to let you all see the pictures I have uploaded to facebook. Click on the links below and it should take you to the corresponding album and you should be able to look through all the pictures I have taken an album at a time. it will show up as a bunch of pictures on the screen, but if you click on the pictures they will enlarge and you can file through them one at a time. The most recent ones are on the top and go in order of my adventures. Hope this works and enjoy.

Galilee 5
Galilee 4
Galilee 3
Galilee 2
Galilee 1
Southern Israel 4
Southern Israel 3
Southern Israel 2
Southern Israel 1
Samaria
Sabbath
Benjamin Plateau
Jerusalem Approaches
Out and About 2
Out and About 1
Out to Olives 2
Out to Olives 1
Welcome BBQ 2
Welcome BBQ 1
Jerusalem 3
Jerusalem 2
Jerusalem 1

Galilee - Dan

you can see the water running out of the stone

here there is a little bigger flow

another place with just a small flow

here you can see all the small slows gathering into a proper stream

and the rapids begin

Ok so I lied the last post is not going to be the last post about the Galilee trip. Dan was an amazing place and I just could not not talk about it. It is where the headwaters of the Jordan begins. There is a spring that pumps out over a thousand gallons a minute that bubbles right out of the rocks. It is an amazing site to watch the waters rise and come together and turn into rapids as it flows down towards the Sea of Galilee. I really wish we had time to join the rafters heading down the Jordan. There is supposed to be class 6 rapids on the way to the sea of Galilee.


The Tell at Dan was pretty cool also. there is a huge, or assumed to be, alter that was there; as well as a synagogue and a small housing area that has been reconstructed that really let us see what it was like to live in that time. It was impressive to see how small the houses really were and how many people it is assumed that lived in them. We were told that three generations was the normal in a single home. The parents, the children, the male children's wives, and their kids would share the house.


Caves carved into the wall for idols

our own idol

We also headed up to Caesarea-Phillipi and saw the place where it is believe Jesus spoke with the Disciples and called Peter the rock and spoke of the gates of Hell. There is a pagan alter up there that some believe was called the gates of Hell and they believe this is the rock upon which Christ was going to build His church. Take that as you may, but it was an interesting site

Galilee - Borders

the little white truck driving across the middle of the picture is in Lebanon

The green is the end of Israel and the brown is Lebanon

The white building in the middle is the no mans land on the Israeli side and the village, that is abandoned, in the trees marks the Syrian side.

better picture of the village


The last place I will talk about were the border incursions we made on Lebanon and Syria. Ok not really, but we were close enough to the borders that we could see people clearly standing on the other side. I was hoping to get close enough to through a rock into one of them, but I couldn't throw quite that far. But we did get to play in the trenches dug by the Israel Defense Forces during the war when they took the Golan Heights and defended them.

Galilee - Zippori

Another of the places we stopped on this 4 day trip was Zippori. It had the most spectacular mosaics we have yet seen. It says they used over forty different colored stones to make the mosaic floor. They call it the Mona Lisa of the Galilee and with the pictures it is not hard to imagine why. for those who don't know, which maybe one or two, a mosaic is an image created by using small pieces of cut stone. The stone is not painted it is solid all the way through and they take a long time for small ones. This one is the floor of a dining room in a private residence and would have cost a fortune to create but is absolutely phenomenal. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This was also the site were the Crusaders gathered to head out to the Horns of Hittim where they were defeated by Salahadin and lost most of the Latin Kingdom. The Templars held Acco and several other sites for a few more years after that, but that was the beginning of the end for the Crusaders rule over the holy land. After standing on the top of Mount Arbel looking down on the field before the Horns of Hattim, and for those of you who have seen the Kingdom of Heaven movie, it is easy to understand why the crusaders lost. The Moslems held the only springs in the area and the Crusaders had marched more than a day through the heat of the desert with little or no water to meet a refreshed and ready army that outnumbered them more than 4 to one.

Galilee - Caesarea

I am back!! I have just returned from a four day trip through the Galilee. We started out in Caesarea, traveled up through Hazor to Dan and saw the Lebanese border, it was a little far to throw a rock into Lebanon but not by much. We then moved out onto the desert plateau moving towards Damascus to the closest volcanic dome to the Syrian border to the east and then down along the border to Beth She'an over to the Jezreel Valley and several other sites in between. Caesarea was my favorite site that we visited. It was an amazing feat of engineering, drive, and insanity all wrapped up in this little island of stone out in the sea. Acco is the only real natural port on the Med that Israel has, but Herod the Great was not satisfied with that. He decided to build a harbor so that he could have more control over trade and routes through Israel. So out of a flat shallow coast line Herod built a port harbor big enough for major trade vessels from Rome to come. They did it by filling barges with large rock taking them out from the coast and sinking them to the bottom of the sea. Then, with the newest invention of the ancient age, underwater wet cemented them into a harbor wall under the sea. It took several years to complete, but when they were done Herod had a magnificent palace stretching out into the sea and a deep sea port to harness the trade routes to and from Rome. It was an amazing place.

Ordinary

Ok, so for those who have been checking I am sorry for not updating sooner, but there is really nothing out of the ordinary to report until now. Out of the ordinary seems an odd phrase to use, because I am studying in Jerusalem so everything should be out of the ordinary. It is amazing how even the extraordinary things in life can become normal or seem ordinary when you are in them for an extended period of time. This past week or so since I have updated has been me going to and from class, going to the Domitian Abbey for coffee, gone out a few times into Jerusalem for lunch or a little shopping. Normal everyday activities until I sit and realize that I am in Jerusalem and think how can I see these as ordinary activities? Even thought these are normal activities shouldn't the place that I am doing them in make them more than just ordinary? Well, I must admit that when I am out running errand it hasn't seemed to matter much except when I struggle trying to find my way or figure out how much something cost. I am disappointed a little in myself that I could become so comfortable with the surroundings that God has blessed me with and am not in awe every moment of every day.

Desert Wandering

Well, this is the first chance I have had to update you all on what has been going one. We took a three day trek through the wilderness and desert of southern Israel. It was a three day Field Study for my Physical Settings class and I must admit that I am exhausted. We left at 7 am Friday morning and just got back in late Monday night. We traveled from Jerusalem down to the Mediterranean Sea at Ashkelon, through the wilderness desert to Arad, then south down Mapiq Ramon (a giant depression on the top of a mountain in the south) through many canyons and over several mountains; then down to the Dead Sea at Masada and hiked to the top by way of the Roman siege ramp swam in the Dead Sea at En Gedi, and then hiked up the mountains around Qumran to visit the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls where found. Ok so that is a quick over view of what we did in the last three days. I will give more specific updates and more pictures as I get to sort through them and can recover a little from the trip. I just wanted to let you all know that I didn't disappear. I pray things are well with all of you and if you get the chance I could use your prayers for strength and to be open to what God is trying to teach me here. Thanks

(Standing in front of the Mediterranean Sea)

(Laying on the alter found at Beer Sheva)

(Standing in the Holy of Holies at the remains of a temple at Arad)

(An overlook from the gravesight of Ben Gurion (an Israeli Hero and first Prime Minister))

(Floating in the Dead Sea)

Wednesday Oct 3

Today I got my first taste of what segregation really feels like. I started volunteering at a place last week the deals in the reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian Christians. It is a little over two miles from the JUC campus so last week I rode the Israeli bus back after I got finished. This week I decided to try and ride the Arab bus that runs right past the lower level of the school, it is also cheaper at 3 1/2 shekels instead of 5 1/2 for the Israeli bus. To shorten the story a little I ended up walking the entire way because none of the Arab buses would stop to pick me up. For those that don't know about it, because of all the bus bombings and things that happened in the past the Israeli bus service refused to carry Palestinians on the buses. Because of that and a few other things I guess, an Arab bus service started around Jerusalem to cater to those who don't look like Jews. Well, I guess I look enough like a Jew because none of the Arab buses would stop for me. It was not a pleasant feeling knowing that I was refused a service based on the color of my skin, and it got me thinking more about the conflict that has been raging throughout history on people judging the abilities and status of other simply by the way they look, and in other cases what family they may have been born into. Since this is really my first time of receiving this type of judgment I really didn't know what to think about it other than to know that it felt unpleasant.

To add to it a little while I was at Musalaha, the ministry I volunteer at, I got the opportunity to watch a video they produced about one of their connection retreats. this is where they bring younger, mostly upper teen, Israeli and Palestinian Christians together in another country to talk about and build connection and friendships together. It was an amazing story of two young girls who became friends during this retreat and how they were working to try and keep that friendship going once they both returned to Israel. But what got me thinking is when the Palestinian girl tried to go visit her Israeli friend and the guards at the Checkpoint at the wall would not let her pass. If any of you don't already know Israel is building a 25 foot wall all around the west bank area. Looking at it really reminds me of the Berlin wall. Is is very high thick and gray. It stick out lick a sore thumb against the brown desert geography of this land. The first time I saw it I was amazed because I had never heard anything about them building this wall; and if any of you are familiar with the border that was drawn for the west bank Israel separation it is a very long wall. Well, for Israelis it is very easy to pass through these checkpoints that are along the wall. Most of the cars with Israeli registration have a yellow license plate on them and are basically waved through. Cars with Palestinian registration are often held and backed up for quite a distance at every checkpoint we have been waved through so far. But back to the video I was watching. When the girl was turned back at the checkpoint she called her friend and told her she couldn't come and visit because they would not let her pass so her friend decided to come to Bethlehem and visit her. She had never been through a check point herself and didn't know now if they would let her through, but she walked right through the checkpoint and not one of the guards even really looked at her. Well I can say that I have been in that place, all the times we have been through checkpoints going into or out of the west bank area we are not even stopped for an id verification. There are a few students on campus that travel down to Bethlehem Bible College twice a week for Arabic classes and the bus that takes them there has to stop at the border and drop them off because it is not allowed to cross over because it is an Arab licensed bus. But now for the first time I have gotten a hint of what it is like to be looked at and restricted because of how I look. I felt a little better as I was returning home because I caught an Arab bus pulled over to pick up someone else and jumped on board. I paid my 3 1/2 shekels and sat down, but I could feel every pair of eyes on the bus looking at me. I was the only one on the bus that was not of Arab complexion and I felt that they were all wondering why I was on their bus. As I pushed the button to stop the bus the driver looked into the rear view mirror with a quizzical look on his face, because I was getting off in a very Arab part of town, but it is the closest stop to walk back to school. I also felt all the eyes on the bus again watch me as I got off and began to walk through the streets toward the hill leading back up to Mt. Zion and the protective walls of JUC. I must admit that it was a little unnerving at first as I stepped onto and off of that bus, but I am determined to continue taking the bus as long as they let me on them it is a lot fast than the 40 minutes it took me to walk there this morning.

Samaria

Today we took a tour around Samaria in upper Israel. The land of the Israel after the nation separated into Judah and Israel; where Assyria conquered and deported the majority of the population and those who remained behind intermarried with other peoples and became rejected by the Jewish people when they returned from Persian captivity. We got the chance to meet with a priest of the Samaritan people. There are only about 600 left according to hill scattered between two cities here in Israel. One on the side of Mount Gerizim, and the other is in Tel Aviv. They still continue to practice animal sacrifice at Passover and believe that they are the true people of promise and God’s chosen.

(The Samaritan alter and sacrifice area)

I learned that during the rule of Alexander the Great over Palestine that he built the Samaritans a temple of their own on top of Mt. Gerizim to rival that of the Jews down in Jerusalem.

(ruins of the temple and Byzantine Church)

They also believe that Mt. Gerizim is the most holy place. It is were Abraham first heard the promises of God, where the Garden of Eden was, the mountain where Joshua brought the nation of Israel and read the blessings of God from, Mt. Moriah where Abraham came to sacrifice his son. Gerizim is the location of all these events according to their beliefs and so it is there and not Jerusalem that is the Holy City of God and is the Mt. Zion talked about in the Bible. They also only hold to the first 5 books of the Bible, the torah, as being the word of God.

We also got to spend time in a Israeli settlement in the west bank area that over looks the valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, which is the place where Joshua brought the nation and divided them into two groups and sent one up to the top of Ebal, and the other up to the tops of Gerizim.

(Gerizim over left shoulder Ebal over right)

From the tops of the mountains facing each other they called out the blessings and curses of God upon the people and the land God had brought them too (Deut. 11:29; Jos. 8:33-34). In the valley between these two mountains is where Joshua read the torah to the people and they consented to obey the law of God and affirmed their oaths to Him. It was an amazing view and it was interesting to hear from one of the residents about his views on the West Bank area, the wall Israel is building around the west bank to separate the Palestinians from the Israelis.

Our final stop for the day was at the ancient site of Shiloh. Where the tabernacle was taken and set up once the land was conquered (Jos. 18); where the Arc of the Covenant was at before it was taken by the Philistines after Israel went out to battle them and lost. It is also where Eli, the High Priest and teacher of Samuel, died when he heard that the Arc had been taken and both of his sons had been killed in the battle. It is where the kings came up to and where the sacrifices were made for the nation before the temple was built down in Jerusalem. They have a small replica of what they envisioned the tabernacle to have looked like, as well as all the alters and implements for use in the tabernacle. They have a small replica of the Arc as well.

Near the site where they believe the tabernacle stood they are in the process of excavating two churches with amazing mosaic floors.

There are also remains of a massive oil press and wine press that are believed to have been used to produce the oil and wine for the service inside the tabernacle. We also got to reenact the story of the battle between The Sons of Israel and the Sons of Benjamin for the wicked deed they committed (Judges 20-21).

It was a very long and intriguing day and the country, although still very dry and brown, was spectacular. I wish I was able to stay around till spring when the heavy winter rains have come and replenished the land and everything turns green and brilliant colors from all the wild flowers.