Walking in the light...

Today is our last day in Israel-Palestine. It's hard to believe the three weeks have passed. We have learned so much. Today was mostly a free day in Jerusalem. Some of us attended churches this morning, some visited the Israel Museum, some walked on the walls of Jerusalem (the Rampart walk) and we all took in the sights and smells of the markets one last time. 

In our debriefing time we reflected on our Yella experience and what we've learned. We have seen and heard  so much. We've learned how the stories we grow up with shape us and make us who we are. We've learned about some of the narratives that shape people here and how they add to the complexity of conflict here. We've been able to put human faces to all sides of the conflict and that changes everything.

How will this experience affect our lives going forward? Many of us expressed a desire to be active in educating people about the conflict here, and also to work at being more active in our home communities. We want to live as faithful followers of Christ wherever we are.

Ruby led us in our final devotional tonight and talked about letting our light shine as we go from here. We each said a prayer as we lit a candle. In the darkness of the night there was a glow that brightened our faces and we felt inspired to sing, and sing and keep singing. 

"Christ be our light, shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness.."

It is my prayer that we will continue to walk in the light as faithful followers and that we will boldly address the brokenness of this world. May we courageously join in God's work of piecing together a world where there is peace and justice for all. 

Stephanie Dueck

What more can we say?

Our group of travelling disciples has had three weeks of meaningful conversations, intense experiences, and awe-inspiring moments, and we’ve also shared a lot of laughter!  While many people are upstairs, trying to fit their newly-acquired tangible memories into suitcases that somehow seem much smaller than 21 days ago, I will share with you some of the quotable quotes that I collected throughout our journey.  Many of them may only make a certain group of 16 people laugh, and leave the rest of you faithful readers puzzled.  But, if the quotes themselves leave you confused, please understand that we have become a group of trusted companions and friends, and these moments remind us of that!
~Alissa Bender

“I’m going to go practice the shofar.” – Ryan
“The Dead Sea is like Hell.  You’ve gotta go there.” – Carol
“I don’t think it’s a super modest day.” – Allan
“Supper/Breakfast/Leaving Time… bow wow wow wow… you can’t touch this.” – Derek
“I don’t want to just be an amoeba.” – Michaela
“So, how is that different from toddler?” – Michaela
“That’s a great game, Simon Says.” – Michaela
“There’s an awkward gap and my bum is weird.” – Allan
“Even more happens under the Israeli moon.” – Derek
“Andrew, he’s the hero.  He had feet.” – Carol
“I like you as a cat.” – Michaela to Caleb
“What’s that old thing carved out of stone?” – Carol
“I need a drink!” – Kailey
“I’m having issues with the ‘p’.” – Vanessa
“I just like being the centre of attention!” – Derek
“Churches go crazy sometimes.  It’s like rabies.” – anonymous
“I’m a Gentile.  I can do this.” – Caleb
“It was a Jewish synagogue crossed with a hippie drum circle.” – Caleb
“It’s a jungle eat jungle world.” – Carol
“Derek, for one thing, I’m already toilet trained.” – Seth
“ ‘No, no, girlfriend!’ That’s what God said to Moses.” – Derek
“Herod was gangsta boss.” – Seth

Total groaner puns (note the predominance of faith partners):
“You could wear a sarong.” – Caleb “That’s sa-wrong thing to wear!” – Carol
“Get out of Jael free…” – Derek
“Cistern!” – Annika “And brethren?” – Alissa
“I don’t think you have a high enough hai-q.” – Derek to Allan

Other friends along the way:
“Don’t forget your modesty kit.” – Linford
“FERTILE!” – Linford
“You cut down one tree, I plant ten.” – Daher (www.tentofnations.org)
When asked whether she is religious: “Well… I pray, but my shorts are very short.” – Yonah
“You guys are very excited about things.” – Jared (Jerusalem guide)
“So, where are the Eskimos on Mt. Zion?” – random woman on tour that Derek snuck onto (it was later discerned that she was looking for Bedouins)

Just Keep Swimming.

Yesterday we did a variety of things. We began our day at Massada by taking a cable car up to the top of the cliff. All of us looked around at all of the beautiful buildings that have slowly been disappearing. The ruins of King Herod's castle was especially interesting. We thought that it was quite funny that he insisted on having his building built pretty much on the side of the cliff. That would have made the slaves walk up and down it everday while building that. Clearly Herod didn't put others needs before his :) But i think that highlight of everyones day was going to the Dead Sea after that. While driving there we all sang hymns to pass the time. Before even hopping into the water, we could feel ourselves being pulled up since the water is so incrediibly salty. All you have to do is relax and the water just makes you float. But in order to get into the water, we had to climb over these huge "rocks" that were salt.  It was really a weird and awesome experience. Eventually we had to head to Qumran where we saw the places where pieces of the scroll was discovered. At this point everybody was getting extremely tired from the sun. The temperature was 43 degress yesterday! Our last stop was Jericho. We walked around and saw a 10 000 year old guard tower. Which was pretty sweet. So today was definitly memorable.

The Western Wall

Prayer before the Shabbat service at the Western Wall

Shabbat

Today was a roller-coaster of emotion. Our first stop was at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, a beautiful building which houses a horrible history. I can't pretend that this was an easy experience. The reality that millions of Jewish people were marched to extermination camps by a racist regime is difficult to digest. Though the act of remembering is essential, being confronted by stories of families torn apart and people stripped of their dignity is deeply disturbing.

The rest of the afternoon was free and so many of us took the opportunity to peruse the colourful markets of the Old City or to stop in at various holy places. Later we convened for a debriefing and devotional before heading out to the synagogue for a Shabbat (or Sabbath) service.

The place we ended up was not the place we intended to get to, unbeknownst to us, but we still had an amazing experience. We ended up at some sort of hippie-like, Jewish congregational meeting. Most of the service was spent singing beautiful, repetitious melodies that were accompanied by a flute, a cello, hand drums, guitars and clapping. It was so exciting to absorb the sights and sounds of their worship.

After the service we split into two groups and and joined families for Shabbat dinner. It's a beautiful tradition that involves lighting candles, breaking bread and singing blessings over the family and the food. It was an honour to be included in such a sacred family tradition that is thousands of years old.

All in all, it was a good day. Though we began the day by interacting with the dead, we ended the day by connecting with the living. To me it was a sign of hope.

Michaela Pries-Klassen

Walking through Time

Thursday morning we stepped back in time into the Jerusalem of King David, which stood on a hill beneath Mount Moriah.  Slowly, we wound our way back to through tunnels, water, alleyways and time, passing beneath cities and pushing up against the foundations of the Temple Mount until we reached the Jerusalem we know.

We began at the excavations of David's City, which are the remains of a Jebusite city supposedly conquered by King David and used as his capital, Jerusalem.  At the base of the only water source of the city, a fortified spring, there is a tunnel that was carved out of the rock by King Hezekiah to divert the water from the spring to another pool in preparation for a siege by the Assyrians.  This tunnel can still be traversed today.  With a deep breath, we walked into the ground and about 2,500 years back in time.  The water in the tunnel was ice cold, but luckily rarely rose higher than our ankles.  The rock walls were narrow, requiring us to walk single file with flashlights spread out between every few people.  At times, the ceiling was meters above our heads, but other times it was so low that I, at a height of 5"1 had to bend almost in half to avoid hitting my head.  We sang as we walked, and even though you could only see the person in front of you, you could hear everyone's voices echoing in harmony off the stone walls.

Hezekiah's tunnel comes out at the Pool of Siloam, the lowest point in the City of David. From there, we jumped forward a couple hundred years to the 1st century A.D., and into a Roman Drainage tunnel that ran beneath the street that lead up to the Temple Mount.  It was in this small tunnel that the last surviving rebels of the revolt against Rome hid while legions of Roman soldier's marched over their heads.  We walked up this tunnel, squeezing between tight walls and crunching bits of pottery, all the way up to the Western Wall.

While there is a small portion of the Western Wall visible above ground, the majority is hidden beneath the city, with many modern-day houses built against it.  Though most of the the Wall is hidden from the outside world, it can be explored, touched and prayed at by walking through tunnels beneath the city.  We went down and saw layer upon layer of Herodian stone, stretching up and down for meters.  We could tell where the Wall had been broken, where it had been repaired, and where it met Mount Moriah.

As we left the tunnels behind us, we emerged onto the sunny streets of modern-day Jerusalem.  We passed through all four quarters of the city: the colourful, congested Muslim quarter, where spices fill the air and people jostle you on either side; the quiet streets next to the walled Armenian quarter, which is locked to all but its 2,000 inhabitants; the European-inspired Christian quarter, that almost reminds you as much of Austria as of Jerusalem; and the pristine Jewish quarter, a little piece of Europe in the Middle East.  Each quarter is home to a vibrant, proud community, all of which face different challenges in their daily lives.

The streets of Jerusalem are more than just stones and buildings, they are layers of history, each revealing just a hint of the people who have lived in this holy city.  Who knows, in 500 years, someone else maybe be descending into a tunnel, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 21st century.

Vanessa Snyder-Penner

An Intro to Jerusalem

I apologize for posting this a little late; the last few days have been packed full of learning and exploration, and I never really got around to posting online (I was being lazy).  Instead of giving an event-by-event description of our first day in Jerusalem, I'd like to give a more sensory/first-impression account of the city.  How to begin describing the old city?  For starters, it is surrounded by a wall built by the Ottoman empire.  We entered through a gate, a large gate, called Damascus gate, and after passing through its arches, we were immediately confronted with the incredible energy of this bustling, crowded, ancient city.  After plunging into the market streets, which twist through the city like arteries, we experienced the colours, smells, and sounds of a deeply entrenched, and what seems ancient, way of life. The stones that make up the roads/paths are slick and polished from countless years of activity; the walls are stained by countless years of work.  It is difficult to retain the abundance of experience as we wander these intricate pathways and enter the stone walled buildings.  It is even more difficult to try to convey in writing the plurality of feelings and ideas that formed as a result of relating to the city for the first time.

A theme that was striking to me on our first day was how Jerusalem is a poetic city.  It has such beautiful people and architecture, and yet there is an undeniable history of animosity.  The streets are electric with activity, and two steps to the side one is immersed in the most serene of sanctuaries.  Underneath all these occupied buildings are vacant, lost remains of old Jerusalem, much like varying colours of sedimentation in an archaeological dig, except each layer is an ancient civilization.  In Jerusalem, there is so much opposition, and that is what makes it beautiful; that is why it is poetic. 

-Seth

The Temple Mount

Mahera Aljamal, of Bethlehem, in front of the Dome of the Rock.

Haiku reflections

Today we made a big transition from the West Bank/Palestine, crossing the military checkpoint into Jerusalem.  The van dropped us off at the Damascus Gate, and loaded with our packs we wended our way through the narrow streets to our hostel in the Old City.  Here we have had time to eat, and talk, and think about what we've done on this trip, and what we still want to do.

One of the ways we have done some debriefing is by writing some "Haiku" poems about what we've seen.  A haiku poem is a Japanese form of poetry that consists of three lines, with the first line having 5 syllables, the second line having 7 syllables, and the last line having 5 syllables.  It's a tiny little poem, but you can pack a lot into a few small words.  Here are some haiku poems that reflect some of our thoughts.  There were lots of good poems, but not everyone wanted to share them with the world!

In this dusty soil
where hope of peace has dried up
An olive tree grows.                                     Michaela

Walls, cactus, fences
Who do you say that I am?
God is not tribal.                                          Stephanie

All windows are closed
Just like hearts are closed with hate
Peace does not exist                                     Kailey

The Crusaders Came
A Powerful Enemy
An Empire Crumbled                                   Julieanne

My haikus stink bad
Why don't any of my haikus sound good
Seth wrote this haiku.                                       Caleb

Sitting in darkness
We've seen a great light.  So now...
Will it shine through us?                                    Alissa

Crossroads of the world,
a holy land, precious, dear.
Each people cries "MINE!"                              Carol

In a fertile land
Under the Israeli sun
Water is precious.                                           Ryan

The Kingdom of God
Is like the tear on my cheek
That feeds change within.                              Allan

Will there always be?
Vibrant hope, violent fear
My prayers are deep.                                       Emily

In the wilderness
land is our worst enemy
and most loyal friend.                                        Seth

As you can see, we have lots of things percolating in our minds as we begin our time in Jerusalem.  We will be staying here in this hostel for the rest of our time here.  Many are loaded down with gifts for people at home (we did visit an MCC olive wood factory today!), and are glad we don't have to slog our packs around very much longer from place to place. 

Today as we sat on the roof of our hostel, we ended our time with prayer, just as the Muslim call to prayer came ringing out from the minarets.  The dark Jerusalem sky, the call to prayer, our group gathered in a circle in this place that is holy for so many people.  What will tomorrow bring?      Carol Penner

Bethlehem and Beit Sahour

Art exhibition at Lajee Centre, an MCC partner in Bethlehem.

The Wall.

A settlement overlooking Beit Sahour

Olive wood carving and her creator (at a 10,000 Villages supplier)

Policies and People: Life in the West Bank

In our conversations with Jewish Israelis at Oranim College, everyone with whom we spoke was adamant that what they want most of all is peace.  "We don't understand" said one woman "why they, [the Palestinians] don't want peace."  At the end of our third day in Bethlehem, it is this statement on which I find my thoughts dwelling. Because after everything we have seen and heard today, it seems that the Israeli military is doing everything in its power to create an unjust, violent situation that the Palestinians can never accept. This is not a foundation for a peaceful society.

We began our day at the Applied Research Center of Jerusalem, where we had a presentation about the current political situation of the West Bank and Gaza in relation to Israel, the long-term goals of the settlements, the construction of the Wall and an overview of the various peace talks between Palestinian and Israeli officials.  We also discussed the roles western governments have played in the negotiations.  After lunch we got a hands-on look at the settlements and their effect on Palestinian life by travelling to a small Palestinian village near an Israeli settlement that is refusing to leave its land, despite efforts of the Israeli government to make living conditions unbearable.  Such efforts include refusing to grant building permits so that the Palestinians can't build houses for their children or fix their public buildings (such as the local school and mosque), and making farming difficult by disallowing the use of pesticides, for fear that the chemicals may be used to build bombs. The Palestinians also suffer from physical intimidation from the nearby settlement.  Despite all this, the people of this village chose to remain on their land, even though they could make better life for themselves elsewhere.

However, the most harrowing experience of the day was our visit to the YMCA to learn about the counseling and rehabilitation services they provide to traumatized and disabled Palestinians. The YMCA started offering counselling services  in 1989 to people who had been injured in the first Intifada, providing them with both physical  and psychological rehabilitation, followed by vocational training if it was required. Since then, the YMCA has opened its programs to all disabled and/or traumatized persons in the West Bank. Often times the YMCA will work with children and adults who have witnessed traumatic events as a result of the occupation, or who have been imprisoned and tortured.  We also heard a personal story from a former YMCA patient. He told us that he was shot in the leg, denied medical treatment and thrown into jail.  While, in prison he was beaten, harassed and spit on by the Israeli soldiers. When he was finally released after two years in prison, his leg had been permanently damaged due to lack of treatment. His only crime was that he drove too close to an Israeli settlement, where Israeli soldiers began shooting at his car. He was 14 years old.

Fortunately, the day was not all dark.  At lunch we celebrated two birthdays within our Yella group:  Stephanie turned 26 today, and Michaela will turn 21 tomorrow.  It was a nice reminder that even in difficult situations, life still moves on, and there is always a reason to celebrate.

Vanessa Snyder-Penner

Bethlehem: A Palestinian Perspective

Hello All! First of all let me say I had the unrealistic expectation that I would lose weight. At the very least I didn't think I would gain any. Let me tell you, the food here is great, and we are pretty much fed banquets wherever we go! But I guess I'm not complaining. Ruby and I (Julieanne) are staying with a super nice host family. I would try to spell their names, but I don't really know how. We went to church this morning with our host mom and her youngest daughter. It was a Greek Orthodox church, and completely in Arabic and Greek. The only thing Ruby and I could decipher was when they would say Kyrie Eleison. The service was about 2 hours long, and much louder than my church. At one point of the service they pass out Holy bread. Our host mom had bought some on the way to church and I'm pretty sure the priest blessed it. Basically you get hunks of Holy bread from anyone who is sitting close to you plus a guy comes around with a bowl. Our host mom hav us these bags to put the bread in so that we didn't have to eat it all. It was quite an experience. After the service we went back to the house and had breakfast. It was your typical breakfast of pita, hummus, boiled egg, and some sort of yoghurt spread. I also had this sweet pastry thing that our host mom made yesterday. It was this layered pastry with olive oil, cinnamon, sugar, crushed peanuts and coconut. It tasted so good! We met up with the group at Manger Square which is right beside the Church of Nativity. An MCC worker who is living in Bethlehem met us and took us to Aida camp, which is one of the 3 refugee camps in Bethlehem. There are about 5000 Palestinians livig there, but the size of the. mp is fairly small. MCC partners with Lajee Center, which was where we listened to a presentation and had lunch. The presentation was put on by a few of the refugees there who were young adults as well as the director of the camp. We also watched a few short films that were made to tell the true Palestinian story. This is one of the ways they hope to bring peace, becaus it gets out the message and informs people living here. Lunch. Insisted of a huge plate of rice and a piece of chicken. We had a short tour of the camp, where Emilt gave a bracelet to some children following her. The wall is very close to this camp and 5 watchtowers surround it. In 2009 the Israeli Army even shot into the school there, and we even saw the bullet holes that were in the doors. They also shot a few of the water tanks that everyone has because wAter does not always get delivered, and the percentages of the water they do get is not very high. My host family even said that they won have water because water won't be delivered for another two weeks. We had a one hour presentation back at the ATG (alternative tourism group) by MCC about their partner organizations here and a bit of Q and A. We also did a short debrief and the. Our host families picked us up. We had dinner almost as soon as we got back. Ruby and I had helped make dinner yesterday, and it was this cool stuff that looked kind of like tortellini. It is called Shish barek or something that sounds like it anyway. I think it tasted better just because we helped make it. It was our host mom and dad's 28th anniversary today, so her parents came over and her oldest (married) daughter. The men Played backgammon while the women talked. They also served us this other pastry with a kind of custard in the inside. To end off the night they also took us out for ice cream. I will definitely have to hit the gym when I get back home! God Bless! - Julieanne Enns

Bethlehem pics

Daoud, centre, Director of the Tent of Nations.

Ayman, our guide for the day, by the wall in Bethlehem.

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem.

From Galilee to Bethlehem

This morning we left the kibbutz in Galilee and drove south about two hours to pass Jerusalem and cross the checkpoint into the region of Bethlehem. The crossing to the West Bank was uneventful, without a stop or even a second glance.

On our first stop we met Daoud, the founder of the "Tent of Nations," an inspiring agency based on a farm on a dry hill surrounded by Jewish settlements. He shared the story of his family farm that his grandfather bought in 1916, and where his family has lived ever since. Since 1991 when Israel declared it "state land" he has been in court struggles to keep from being pushed off the land. It was inspiring to hear from a person whose family has been Christian for virtually 2000 years, and who is committed to being a force for peace in this conflicted land. He explained that people cannot sit and wait for politicians to create peace, but must take actions themselves to build bridges and understanding. It was also amazing to see how they farm rocky land despite having no access to electricity, water, and building permits blocked.

From there we went to Bethlehem. We walked down Star Street, where they think the wise men came to visit baby Jesus, to the church built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth. We entered the 4th century church and marveled at the spectacular columns, recently discovered mosaic floor, and the grotto in which they believe Jesus was born. The contrast between this place of worship and the 11m (33 ft.) wall (part of the Israeli "security fence") blocking the road from Jerusalem we had walked beside earlier in the day could hardly be more stark. For me this called to mind the claim that Jesus "is our peace" who breaks down walls of hostility (Ephesians 2). How might this be done here?  

I am very thankful for the opportunity to both be in this place and to meet many remarkable people. This evening we are being hosted by Palestinian families, and I have already been able to experience wonderful hospitality and meaningful conversation. I have also enjoyed interacting with a remarkable group of young adults (and yes, the leaders are pretty good too...!).

This said, I am also very much looking forward to seeing my daughters Zoe, Eden and Shegofa and wife Rebecca in just over a week. Hi from daddy!

Good night from Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace.
Derek Suderman (Waterloo)

Host, waiter, bus boy, and musician at the Druze restaurant.

Israeli perspectives

The last couple days have been a completely different type of learning. After four days of hiking an average of about 20 km a day, and going cold turkey to lectures in a hot classroom was a fast change! Yesterday, May 17th we spent the day at a college. We had a day filled with listening to very motivating speakers. There were three main people we heard. The first woman told us about her life and how it had changed from growing up in the states and how she moved to Israel and the life changes she had here. The second was a translated (Hebrew to English)  dialogue  from an Israeli Arab who is working with his family and many other people to set up organizations to make changes towards peace and towards two peoples living in one area. In the afternoon we had a wonderful opportunity to have mifgash ( face to face dialogue) with Israeli students. We had many questions for each other concerning day to day life and opinions on things such as patriotism, army, and immigration. I think i can speak on behalf of the group that both groups ( us on the yella tour, and those students) came away from these conversations enriched and intrigued.
Now that yesterday is mostly covered we can move on to today's events. Today, Friday may 18, was a full day. It was full of events, locations, and most definitely full of emotions. Our day started off with of course, another wonderful breakfast, we are always very well fed. The bus picked us up and we drove from our kibbutz where we are staying to another one called, Ghetto Fighters Kibbutz. We all sat around in a circle in the centre of the memorial of the kibbutz, with many names from Holocaust survivors are written on stone. A man named Moshe, who is a professor, told us about how his family immigrated to israel, and the trials that his family had gone through in Poland. There are so many scars in history. He gave us insights in to how the Jewish identity is evolving since the war and how life in Israel is the way for their people. It was very interesting. We were able to ask questions on his perspectives on the past, present, and future. We asked about life on a kibbutz, about life changes for his family from Holocaust stories, and how their families are moving forward. I think we all left with more questions than answers.
We had a small interlude to spend a bit of time in Akko to grab some lunch ( which usually means a shawarma or felafal and some other tasty Arabic treats). This also gave our brains a small time to digest only a portion of what we had heard in the morning.
In the afternoon we were fortunate to listen to an Israeli couple and their trials of the conflict. They lost a daughter due to a suicide bomber who had attacked in Tel Aviv, 15 years ago. After their daughter's death they found many of her poems, journals and diary entries which all craved peace in the region. These entries have later been published into a book and their work has now turned to educate people in ways of peace for this region. They have also become very close with a Palestinian man who lost his brother to war. The couple and this man work together to create peace dialogues between Arabs and Jews in hopes of one day finding peace together.
Needless to say this brief description of what we did today does not even come close to all the feelings and questions that are multiplying in our thoughts. The more we learn, the more we realize we don't know and really don't understand. In an area of such complicated subjects we are now overwhelmed with this new knowledge and new questions we now have.
On a lighter note, this evening we had a wonderful time to go to a Druze restaurant for dinner. ( Druze, another religion in the area). It is funny, one of the reasons we went here for dinner is because today is Shabbat, so there are definitely no Jewish restaurants open. We had amazing food ( too much as per usual) but it included: hummos, lebneh, tahina, zatar and oil, druze bread, lamb, other meats, salad, stuff vine leaves, and then of course baklavah and arabic coffee for dessert. Then the owner of the restaurant played some traditional instruments, which were memorizing in the beautiful melodies.
Tomorrow we are going to have another quick switch to another perspective of the area, we will go to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. There we will stay with Arab host families and learn many more new things.
God Bless, Thank-you for your thoughts and prayers, and please continue in the prayer for peace for this ever conflicted region.

-Annika

Arbel to Capernaum

Jesus Trail Day 4-Mt. Arbel to Capernaum

Today was the final leg of the Jesus Trail for our group.  We began later than usual after rising at around 7:30 am for breakfast and were on the road by 8:30; this seems early, but we had been rising earlier than that during this trek to try and cover as much ground as we could under the Israeli sun. 

As we left Arbel, we started onward up to the crest of the cliff slowly with what seemed like what had become a march, a steady physical test for many of those who had been battling the sore legs and blisters from the day before.  The group reached the top of Mt. Arbel and we witnessed a spectacular view of the Galilean landscape below us as we looked off of the top of this massive cliff face to see the beauty of the land below (from this site we could see the cities of Tiberias, to Capernaum, with the Golan Heights breaking through the mist on the eastern shore of the sea of Galilee).  After stopping for a quick water break, and taking some scenic pictures from to lookout area, we started down a trail that leads onward down the side of this massive mountain.  The pace slowed as we made our way down the edge of this incredibly steep rock face in single file, (definitely not for the faint-hearted).  I being one that is not good with heights to begin with, had a hard time on the edge of the mountain and found myself freezing up very early on while others passed me by.  Thankfully I had some faith partners that were willing to pray with me and guide me down the edge of this steep mountain which is far higher and more steep than anything I have ever attempted to climb in my life.  The shear exhaustion of my personal fear of heights was overcome as we made our way step-by-step down this rocky trail. 

Many caves were carved into the sides of these cliffs and that is where the group stopped for our second rest on our way down the mountain where we learned some of their historical significance  (which seems to be a part of everywhere we go on this journey).  We continued on and made it to the bottom of the cliff to a spring of water, and a time to rest our feet on solid ground as we gazed up at the massive cliff; some of us wondering how we made it down safely.

We pressed on another to our lunch area, stopped for a break, and then pressed on to the shore of the sea of Galilee to a site that we had visited a few days earlier.  Here, on the shores of the sea of Galilee, the group had the privilege of witnessing the baptism of one of our own; Emily Enns.  This made the journey so worthwhile for us just to be a part of such a special occasion.

After all this, we continued on to Capernaum where we met our bus back to Nazareth where we will be staying the night back at the Fauzi Azar before continuing on.  So far this trip has been so rich in every experience, and we are learning so very much.  Truly this day will be one that we all will remember for many years to come, a simple letter cannot contain all that we have experienced.

God bless,
Ryan Carney

The Horns of Hittin

And on the third day He gave us mountains (and blisters)

Today was the third day of our hike on the Jesus Trail. And let me tell you, it was no picnic. We began by immediately taking a detour because construction was in our way. We walked for a while and eventually made it to the first mountain, Horns of Hattin. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too hard to get up. Well, for those of us who didn’t have five blisters on each foot. We had a break on the top of the mountain and then started trekking down. We realized that going up was actually a piece of cake compared to going down. It took a lot of physical strength to stop yourself from falling down. When we got to the bottom, we had to keep going down to make it to the road. After about a half hour we made it to lunch at a Druze Shrine. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go into it. Why? We still aren’t quite sure. But we were able to have lunch underneath a tree and tend to our feet.

At this point, a couple of us decided we weren’t able to hike the last 10 km with the numerous blisters on our feet. So Allan took them through a shortcut while the rest of us did the last 10 km. The majority of it was a pathway through an olive tree farm, but as we kept walking we noticed that the mountain around us kept getting taller and taller. And what is that old saying? What goes up must come down? Soooo.. we were already down so we had to go up somehow to get the our guest house. After making our way through a herd of cows ( Seth and Caleb went bravely ahead of us in case they decided to charge), and across numerous streams, we got to the beginning of the mountain. There was no way we could have avoided that, so we just started going up. We stopped halfway up to take a few pictures of the gorgeous view, and then we did that last half. After swallowing our last drops of water, we finally made it to the top in our sweat drenched clothes. 10 minutes later, we got to our guest house. It was a wonderful surprise to walk into an air conditioned living room and a pool out back.

Once supper was done ( which was delicious by the way), we had our daily devotional and just chilled in the living room. Everyone is too tired to do anything else. Tomorrow is the last day of the Jesus Trail. Tune in tomorrow for how we ended this part of our journey with God J  ~Kailey

Jesus Trail- day 2

We left Cana at 8 this morning. We walked and walked until lunch and stopped at a little place for lunch. We walked another hour and made it to the goat farm where we stayed for the night. Today was a shorter day, as you can see. The farmers said that if we got there an hour earlier, we would have seen one of their goats have two baby goats. They were so cute! We relaxed for the afternoon, and some walked to a cave near the farm. For supper we walked to a fancy restaurant and had pretty much an eight course meal. So good! We went to bed after we got home and woke up to the sound of sheep calling for breakfast and roosters telling us that it was time to get up…maybe a bit before we wanted to. ~Kailey

Jesus Trail - Day One

The Jesus Trail. Day one, the beginning...

Today we start our journey on the Jesus Trail. I am nervous. I am filled with anticipation. I am nervous!! What will this day bring?

It it hot outside, but the cool breeze is pleasant. As we gather in the foyer of Fauzi Azar and leave together for the giant stairway that marks the start of our journey I can not help but feel God in our midst.

I tend to be a little bit of a slow walker, and I like to think that it is because it takes me a while to process my surroundings. Nature and I have always "clicked" and it is where I experiance God's voice the clearest. The breeze along the grass, whispered encouragement to the whole group as we walked up and down the rocky and hilly terrain. We saw all sorts of wildlife including camels, tortises, storks, and butterflies and bugs. It was beautiful!

Today we walk from the guest house Fauzi Azar to Cana. Today we walked 20 km. We walked to an amazing site at Sepphoris where there were many mosaics. These ancient mosaics were largely intact and are some of the best kept mosaics of their time. The ruins of the city of Sephoris were amazing. This was a highlight for me because I had seen some of the mosaics in textbooks and being able to see the original made the images come alive for me!

The site at sepphoris is exceptional because it has had a diverse and historical influence by many peoples including Assyrian, Hellenistic, Judean, Babylonian, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, Arabic and Ottoman. It is said that the Virgin Marys parents (Anna and Joachim) lived in this city. Some notable building are two early Christian churches, a crusader fortress  and upwards of forty different mosaics. I was stunning.

After viewing the site at Sepphoris we had lunch and walked the second half of our journey towards Cana. As we neared Cana we sat down and looked at the cityscape as we discussed our devotional for the day. The topic was on healing. Mosaics are made up of many broken stones in many different colours and all those stones create a beautiful image even though they are just broken rocks! People are the similar because even though sometimes we are broken or something breaks us, God helps rebuild us into marvelous mosaics with his healing power.

I will leave this blog with a quick prayer for the group and for our audience...

Dear God,
Give us strength today for the brokeness we feel.
Use your healing power to free us from the bondage of evil.
Rebuild our spirits and renew our souls.
Make us into marvelous mosaics of your love and grace.
Amen. 

Emily Enns

Golan Heights to the Galilee

We followed the familiar route on foot out of the narrow streets of the old city of Nazareth this morning to be greeted in the newer part of the city by a smaller bus than we had travelled in for the past couple of days.  Our new bus (with the same faithful driver) made conversations even easier as we moved from site to site on another full day.

We headed north where our first stop was the ancient city of Dan, where we sat at the city gates like the rulers of old and heard the stories from Genesis and 1 Kings about that ancient city (parts of it from ~2,000 BCE) in a lush and fertile land.

Visiting Caesarea Philippi was a striking experience, as we wandered through places of worship for Pan and other Greek gods, and remembered that it was near this city that Jesus asked his disciples: "Who do you say that I am?"  What are the tempting options before us today, the ones that offer power and abundance, as we hear that voice that calls us to speak words of faith?

The theme of declaring who we follow continued later in the day when we visited a spot on the Jordan River where busloads of people from around the world come to get baptized.  Before arriving there, we had a group devotional on the theme of baptism at the spot where it is remembered that Jesus healed a man of a legion of demons and sent a herd of pigs into the sea.  And after seeing the huge scene with long lines of people in white robes being baptized in various ways, we spent part of our drive back talking about the theme even more.  What did this all mean?

There were other fascinating parts of the day, like eating lunch in a Druze village, and just starting to dip our toes into some current political context as we visited the Golan Heights, sat in spots where we looked down into Lebanon and Syria, and crawled through an old bunker.

The days are full, but we come to the end of them with much to talk about, much to write in our journals, and far too much to even be able to fully articulate.  Tomorrow we start hiking the Jesus Trail, and I look forward to a spacious place in which we can continue to reflect on what we have already seen and heard in such a short time.

~Alissa (Faith Partner)

Hello everyone,

Today is our 5th day here in Israel but it feels like we've been here much longer, well for me anyways. The trip has been awesome so far and just keeps getting better. I will be sharing with you all what we did today.

First we started out by going down to Ginosar by the Sea of Galilee. There we watched a short video in Jesus Boat Museum, then we walked down to the docks and went for a boat ride in the Sea of Galilee. We stopped in the middle of the sea and Linford started sharing scriptures about the places around the Galilee with us and the significance of these locations. He also shared an interesting topic about why Jesus chose fishermen to follow him. After the boat ride, we got back on the bus and drove up to Mount of Beatitudes where we visited a church. We spent some time there and took some pictures. When we were done, we visited another church close by. Here we walked down to the beach of the Galilee and Linford began to share more scriptures with us about the disciples and Peter. After when we were finished there, Linford led us up a little hill in the Mount of Beatitudes where we eventually came to a place where they think is the place Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. We had devotion there and talked about the kingdom/empire of God vs. kingdom/empire of the world. It was a very interesting topic and good to hear what everyone had to say. (FYI as I'm writing this we just felt a little earthquake...nothing major....we are all fine.) Anyways, our last location we visited was Capernaum. This is where Jesus did most of his ministry and also where Peter's mother-in-law lived. We got to see the ruins there and had Linford give us biblical history of this place. This was are last stop of the day, we returned back to the Fauzi Azar Inn after our visit.

So far our trip has been very educational and I believe many of us are learning so much. The bible feels like it's becoming more alive!

- Andrew Vang

Caesarea and Mount Carmel

It started out foggy this morning, but within an hour or so, it was clear and hot.  A perfect day for heading by bus to the ancient city site of Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea.  Picture a huge Roman amphitheatre, facing out to the blue Mediterranean...that's where we sat while Lindford Stutzman explained about Paul's journey to Caesarea.  It was here that Paul was imprisoned, waiting for an appeal to Rome.  We saw the stone outline of the prison where he was kept, and how close it was to the hippodrome where they had chariot races.  He would probably have been listening to the crowds while he sat for months and months waiting.  Then we saw the port, when he left on the boat to Rome, this would have been the last thing he saw of Israel. We went down the coast a bit and saw the remains of a huge aqueduct; bringing fresh water from the hills to the city.  This whole city was built by King Herod.  Pretty splashy place!

And that was just the first half of the morning.  We all could have spent the whole day there, but we tore ourselves away and headed by bus to Mount Carmel, the place where Elijah battled against the prophets of Baal.  It was dramatic seeing the Jezreel Valley spread out below us.  And it came complete with a giant airstrip and Israeli fighter jets taking off and landing.  When we get home, you will see lots of pictures from this day!

The afternoon was fun and relaxing, swimming at some hot springs in a national park.  Everyone is doing great, we are getting to know each other as a group, and we are enjoying each other's company.  Lindford comments on how engaged our participants are, and all the good questions they come up with.  It's not unusual on a bus ride or as we walk from place to place to hear conversations about the bible going on with great intensity!

We love staying in the Fauzi Azar Inn, you can google it, a fabulous little oasis in Nazareth, and the food here is spectacular!  This is Carol Penner writing, I am one of the faith partners.

Left:  The disciples at the top of Mt. Carmel

Bottom: The Aqua-ducts. 

Hey everyone!

We are now on our second day in and thoroughly enjoying our time! Today we started the day with a delicious breakfast of fresh vegetables and fruits, pita, hummus, cheese, eggs and Arabic coffee! The food has been one of the great highlights so far!

After our awesome breakfast we had the privilege of having Linford lead us around Nazareth village. Nazareth village was founded by Christians about 10 years ago to provide a reconstruction of what type of life Jesus likely lived. The area is built on a hill and it includes a reconstruction of a typical 1st century house, synagogue, wine press, olive press and several farm animals. We were told that in the process of excavating the area they found a 1st century wine press... and who knows, maybe Jesus used it! Jesus would have spent a large amount of his upbringing in Nazareth and likely knew it well.

As we begin to have a better understanding of what life events and people Jesus was affected by, Kailey led us in a devotional looking at his most basic but profound teachings that made him so revolutionary at the time: "...love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." (Matthew 5:44). She asked us, what does it mean to love one another? How does this manifest into our everyday lives? How do we love people who perpetually abuse us or take advantage of us? It's a passage that seems so basic, yet so complex. So I encourage you to ask yourself: what does it mean to love our enemies? It may be more complex than you think!

Blessings,
Ruby

Here is a picture of the group safe and sound at the guest house.

We got here

It has been a long day, well it has really been 2 days if one really thinks about it. We left on Monday with no real problems. But as soon as we got on the plane one could really tell we were in a different culture with many Orthodox Jews having to do their morning and evening prayers on the plane. We traveled through the night with some sleep getting off the plane 12:30 pm local time. Allen quickly meet us at the airport and it turned out to be much easier getting through customs then expected so we met him in good time.We took a bus for hour and a half to Nazareth. It was a very interesting ride as we passed beside the West Bank Wall and land forms that battles were fought at in the Old Testament. We were all excited to come to the town Jesus grew up in. We had time to explore Nazareth on our own and grab some food and just take in the Holy Land. We are staying at Fauzi Azar hostel a really unique place where Muslim, Jewish and Christians all work together. I theme more prevalent in Nazareth then I expected. In the main center of the town a Mosaic and Church sit right next to each other and live in what seems to look like harmony. We also met up with Linford Stutzmen a Prof. from EMU who will lead us through about the first week of our trip as we explore the steps that Jesus walked. We are also looking forward to go to Nazareth Village tomorrow which truly will be a enriching experience.Our group is also quickly getting to know each other better and turning into good friends. I am sorry for my spelling and grammar it has been a long day and I am very tired plus I should let other people use the one computer they have here.

Peace be with you
Caleb