Nazareth Hillside

Valley of Megiddo

Caesarea Maritima

More Egypt

Egypt Street Vendor

Cairo Marriott Palace Ceiling

More Jerusalem

Statue of Peter Denying Christ

The Garden Tomb

Golgotha

Jerash

Bethlehem

Jerusalem

On the Nile

Egypt is the most exotic place I have ever been, and I've been to some interesting places. Cairo is a filthy city. The smog is so bad. It makes Mexico City look like a clean air city. As we landed we could see brown dust just hanging in the air. From the air, everything is monochromatic brown. They only get 2 inches of rain a year. It needs to rain just to clean off the buildings. Luxor is about 300 miles away and they get any rain at all. None. Isn't that wild. They are both right on the Nile river, so they irrigate and are able to grow crops like cotton and rice. They have the biggest vegetables you have ever seen.
I can't wait to upload the picture of the Diane and I on the camel! It's great!!! That was the most fun $6.00 can buy. I haven't laughed that hard in forever! They have camels, burrow drawn carts, and horse drawn wagons all over the place. They are just a part of the normal flow of traffic. The only place I've seen worse drivers is China.
The ruins are amazing. They are more interesting than I imagined. It makes the Tower of Babel seem so much more realistic. The pillars in these temples are enormous. What impressive engineering.
Tonight we are staying in Luxor. We flew in this morning (after our 3:00am wake-up call). Tomorrow's wake up call is 5:30am. We get to sleep in. Tomorrow we spend the day in Cairo again and go to the Cairo Museum and the Perfume Shop and the Papyrus Shop.
Pray for the Christians here. The city of Cairo has 30% Christian population according to our guide (who is a Christian), but the government is controlled by 100% Muslims. With our new administration it has emboldened them and they are beginning to persecute the Christians more. You can never outwardly criticize the the Muslim religion. The Muslims are converting many of the young people in the country to the Muslim faith. The church here needs our prayers as they become more and more persecuted.
Uploading pictures is a problem because I have messed up my computer. But, internet availability is scarce as hen's teeth and very expensive so it is fine. You'll just have to wait until I get home to see the pictures.

A Window at Masada

This photo was taken from a window in the ruins at Masada. The best photos at Masada would be from the air. Masada rises nearly 1000 feet high. Herod the Great built a palace and refuge here in 37-31bc. Later Masada became a refuge for 960 Jewish rebels who were surrounded by Roman troops. The Romans spent three years building a ramp up the side of Masada to capture the Jews. Rather than be taken captive, the Jews commited mass suicide. Only two women and two children survived to tell the story.

The Dead Sea

Here we are at the Dead Sea. It seems so odd to look at the beautiful clear water that looks so inviting and yet it isn't a refreshing body of water. However, they say the salt and mud are great spa treatments. It's shores are 1,378 feet below sea level; the lowest point of dry land on earth. It is 1,247' deep and continues to sink about 13 inches a year. The Dead Sea also played an important role in the defeat of the Jews by the Romans in 73ad at Masada (right next door). Arrows soaked in the chemicals found in the water from the Dead Sea were lit on fire and shot into the wooden barricades.

Ptolemais or Akko

Akko is located in western Galilee of northern Israel. It is near the modern-day city of Haifa. In Judges 1:31, this was listed as belonging to the tribe of Asher. Josephus calls it Akre. The na;me was changed to Antiochia Ptolemais shortly after Alexander the Great's conquest, and then to Ptolemais.
THE BUS IS LEAVING, I'VE GOT TO RUN!! MORE TO COME.

Mary's Home Town - Zippori

Saturday - This morning began with a short trip to Zippori which is Mary's home town. There are ruins here dating back to around 200bc. The Romans built incredible public buildings, baths, residential areas, a 4,500 seat Roman amphitheater, market, etc. The sidewalks where mosaic and many of the floors of the buildings were done in beautiful mosaic. The mosaic shown is from a larger mosaic. This is considered the "Mona Lisa of Galilee". Most of the tiles in the mosaics are about 1/4". Amazing!

Bethshan

Our itinerary really changed today. Today we crossed out of Jordan into Israel. You would not believe all the military checkpoints we had to go through. First you go through two or three Jordanian checkpoints. Then you go through Israeli checkpoints and then go through Israeli border security. It's pretty secure. There are still Palestinian settlements scattered in places, but apparently there was an agreement that Israel would be managing the boarder security.
We also went to Bethshan. It was a city of the Canaanites. It was the city where the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were attached to the wall of a Temple after their deaths in battle to the Phillistines. The temple remains are now being excavated and you can see pieces of it being revealed. The Romans came in later and made an amazing city with columns and bath houses and an amphitheatre, fountains, under-street sewage ducts, a music hall, gladiator arena. So much is still standing. It must have been beautiful when it was first built.
We also went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Pretty cool.
Jet lag has finally caught up with me and I'm in serious need of bedtime.
Blessings to you,
Cheryl

Day 4 - Jerico, Bethshan, and the Sea of Galilee

This is Diane and I in Jerico. It is amazing that they are now excavating the original Jerico. They have excavated down to a section where you can see the black ash line from where it was burned. They have also excavated a portion of the wall and you can see the rooms within the walls, similar to where Rahab lived.

Finally In Jordan

I have a picture (hopefully will upload in the morning) of some local church family that came to our hotel to share dinner with us. They face many challenges and dangers. We should keep them in our prayers.

We had a great flight from NY to Amman. We're to the point that any flight that takes off and lands where it's suppose to is a great flight. You never know why you get delayed, but I'm sure there was a reason and maybe Sarah was our reason. On our crazy on and off flights on Monday there was a Muslim lady from Jerusalem that was trying to get on the same Jordanian flight we were in Chicago. She didn't speak English and when she heard us saying Jordan and Amman, she got very excited. We called her son who lives in Kansas City and had dropped her off at the airport and used him as translator. We were able to watch over her all afternoon and change her flight arrangements for her so she could be with us. We assured her we would help her get to the gate. Unfortunately all flights got cancelled and she decided to stay in Kansas City until Saturday. Her son, Sam, has cancer and Pastor Steve asked if he could pray with them and they said yes, so he prayed for Sam and for safety for his mother, Sarah. Sarah was kissing on us and hugging on us. She was so appreciative of the help. Sam called us in NY last night to make sure our flights were going as planned and to wish us well on the final portion of our trip. Steve is going to follow up with him when we return.

Security is very tight here. We even had our bags scanned as we were leaving the airport. And again as we were entering the hotel. It does make you feel secure good knowing they watch things this closely. Tomorrow we leave Jordan and head into Israel. We will go through security again at the Israeli border. Dr. Anderson has reassured us that everything is fine and has been calm in the cities we plan to visit.

Today when we landed I knew we weren't in Manhattan any longer. It is very barren and brown. Amman is the capital city of Jordan and has a population of about 3.5 million. The airport is on the outskirts of the city and as we drew closer to the city the flat, dry land turned into rolling hills of sand beige apartments and traffic. Tomorrow is Kumran - where they found the dead sea scrolls, Nazareth, Beth Shan, the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. Baptisms will be done in the Jordan River for anyone who wants that experience.

It's kind of cold here, in the 50's. I know that doesn't compare to what you have there. But we did pass through airspace that was -79 degrees F. Brrr. Of course we were at about 35,000 feet.

Hope to post tomorrow!

Middle East Trip, Day 1

After quite an eventful day at the airport here is a picture of our little group having dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn at KCI. Yep! We're still in Kansas City. We sat on one plane for a couple of hours before they cancelled our flight. We waved at the rest of the group as they boarded their plane and took off. Then we got on our second plane. We were all so excited when it was finally off the ground and we were really headed for Chicago to make our connection to Amman, Jordan. But, about 15 minutes into the flight the pilot came on the loudspeaker and announced that we were circling back to Kansas City due to a mechanical problem with the plane. After many hours on the phone with ticketing agents, we are now headed out to Chicago at 6:30 in the morning, connecting to a flight to JFK in New York where we will hopefully, finally, board a jet bound for Amman. We're all praying for a better day of travel tomorrow.

Biker Chick in South Dakota

Biker Chick - September '08

Getting up and running

This is my grandpup, Winston, having a little bubble bath. Doesn't he look happy!



This is Winston and Murphy posing in their new matching fall sweaters.