Map Below...

Don is passing around a map with our tour marked out.  I scanned and pieced it together so we would have it located here, as well.  I tried to keep track, but got lost up north.  Most road signs are in English as well, but some are not and I got busy looking around and would forget to notice when we would turn.  Thanks, Don, for getting us straightened out!! =)

Map of Israel Tour

More photos...

Here are two more links to the last two days of photos.  When I have them all organized and labeled I will try to put a link of them in order......

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3610303779898.2174020.1342835452&type=3&l=07b261daee

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3609349956053.2174000.1342835452&type=3&l=3d68c580eb

clickable links for photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/grammy4him/Israel2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOHIpLT9nJu65wE&feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/grammy4him/22912Israel?authuser=0&feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/grammy4him/IsraelMar3?authuser=0&feat=directlink


If I had it to do over again, I would have taken my laptop along to Israel. It was much harder to upload with a tablet. These are clickable links to the photos.  Now I need to go through the task of going back and reorganizing the photos.  They are not in order of  our trips and sometimes even of the site.  I had a terrible time 'haning on to the link" when I uploaded.  Our connections would time out and I would have to start over and delete duplicate uploads etc, so this is what I got...but was thankful to have some photos to show family and friends back home.  Also, it is hard to tell from the little thumnail where we were, so now the task of going back through and labeling.  BUT...what a WONDERFUL trip we all had!  Thanks to Don, our wonderful host, and to Ruthie, our WONDERFUL guide!!  They made this trip unforgettable for all of us!!!

We are Home...

We all arrived home safely just before noon today.  We had great flights and only a little delay in Newark.  I have more photos to go through and need to get them all organized and labled...but not today!! =)

Our Final Morning Here

Yesterday we went to Bethlehem and back to Holocaust Museum. It was a very emotional day for all of us.  We are packed and will not see our checked luggage again until we are stateside. We leave the hotel at 7:20 this morning for a very full last day in Jerusalem touring the city of David, more old city and communion at the garden tomb.  We will stop for a late supper on the way to the airport and depart at 11:20pm arriving around 4am i Newark. We depart at 8 and arrive in Omaha at 10:30.  Thanks for all your prayers. We are all well and ready for another full day in this beautiful city!

Jerusalem

We started our morning up on the Mount of Olives overlooking this beautiful city. We headed to Old Jerusalem and spent time in the Jewish quarter, at lunch at a "food court". We went to a museum to see the dead sea scrolls and a great replica of the old Jerusalem....and much more!

Tomorrow we head down to Bethlehem in the morning and back up to Jerusalem for more adventure. I can't believe tomorrow is our last night in this beautiful country.

All for tonight...not many internet minutes left....all are healthy and keeping up great with all the walking ....and eating!

We've Been to the Desert.....

We headed out this morning and headed up the Masada on a cable car. It amazes me that they would want to build and live and haul food and supplies up on that mountain. We also saw the area, or possible area the Israelites took to enter into the holy land. on our way up to Jerusalem we went through Be'er Sheva. We are now in Jerusalem and will be staying here the remainder of the time, venturing out during the day and back to the same hotel at nights so our last packing will be to head home. Internet time now is very expensive so I probably will not be uploading any more photos. We all will have a lot to share when we get home. I will try to make quick posts at the end of each day to let you know where we have been. All are healthy and getting in plenty of walking and learning so much!

Friday & Saturday photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/grammy4him/IsraelMar3?authuser=0&feat=directlink

adding to a difficult post....

...the last post didn't want to finish right, so we continue with a new one...

jones, ballards and jeffers,   we're at the lowest spot on earth, the dead sea. tommarrow on to jerusalem via masada. we'll show plentey of pictures later. love to all.

Saturday

Jackie here...Today we said goodbye to the Sea of Galilee and headed south through the Jordan valley with the country of Jordan always in view on our left.  Our first stop was Beth Shem, an ancient Roman city.  A man was singing in the amphitheatre and brought tears to our eyes.  We stopped at Qumran and saw the digs  where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Then as we drove along the western shore of the Dead Sea we stopped at En Gedi and saw the caves where David hid from Saul. Words do not do justice to the range of emotions we all feel in a day, walking on this ancient soil and seeing Scripture come alive.

Hey...Sue here...this is absolutely unbelievable.  I will never read the bible in the same way...having a clearer picture of places that are being talked about...touching ancient walls where saints (and ain'ts) have touched...walking on cobblestone paths that were tread on by people we read about...it's been totally unreal.  So eye -opening.  Wonderful!

  

jones,ballards and jeffers,     we made it from the north end of israel to the south. we are at the dead sea

We Saw Snow!

After another huge breakfast, we loaded into our bus and headed north to the region of Dan and toured the Hermon Reserve.  We had a mixed bag of weather.  We covered with rain gear, with off and on showers in the morning and driving through snow up in the highest points.  We were definately making memories today.  As we drove through the Golan Heights, we visited Caesarea Philippi near the sight of the Transfiguration.  Ruthie shared her knowledge of the modern strategic and political significance of this area.  As we come back to our cozy hotel and huge supper spread, we turn on the news and realize that life is intirely different today for those who were litteraly a stones throw from where we were today.  We will have a lot of stories to share when we get back, and have enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life.  Is is really hard to describe an experience like this.  Photos just don't describe what we see with our eyes, and we are blessed to have Don and Wanda make scripture come to life as we walk on the very cobblestones our biblical forefathers walked on.    It makes a person better understand what Israel has gone through and continues with and why the USA should stand solidly behind them.
Tomorrow we pack the bus and leave the beautiful Sea of Galilee and head south down the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea and Masada.  I did not have time to upload photos tonight, but hope to have longer than one hour of internet at the remaining hotels.  This one makes it difficult, when my tablet is difficult to copy and paste as well.  We are all grateful that all have taktn in every event. Ruthie says we are real troopers! good night and more for tomorrow, Lord willing.

Wed Album

https://picasaweb.google.com/grammy4him/22912Israel?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Wednesday, Feb. 29 Album

I am having a frustrating time copying and pasting the links to albums.  I made this album public.  I am hoping you can use the previous album link and can view the other album, too, from there.  When I get a new internet link, it only lasts an hour, then it stops.  We had a wonderful day.  We took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, saw a boat the was dug up and preserved, from the time of Jesus.  We also went to Capernaum and walked down the "streets" of the hometown of Simon, James & Andrew. We stood on the Mt. of Beatitudes and Don gave a lesson as we looked out across the valley on to the Sea of Galilee...we will never look at scripture the same for the rest of our lives.  There are no words to explain how it moves you to actually walk these paths and touch the very walls that the Apostles and Jesus Himself walked and rested His hands upon....and we are not finished.  We are amazed how close these cities and mountains are to each other.  It is like going to Ashland, then Memphis then Yutan, then Mead.... All for today..time to rest and get ready for another day...

Pilgrims Post

hey jeffers and ballard and jones,

      we made it. haven't been ableto call yet. will keep trying. send love to everyone. will call when we figure out the phone system. makes us really appreciate home.  mlke and deb

  from curt and sandy

its been pretty amazing. we stood where jesus fed the 5000. where he appeared to the disciples after his resurrection and told peter to feed his sheep.  hope to take a boat ride on the sea of galilee today.  we are so glad to be here, but are missing everyone back home, too. love to all!
Sandy here again....almost time to board our bus...I'll try to post this and come back and post link to more phots...love to all back home!

        

A New Day

Hi from the tour host. We come not to see the sights which we do, we come not to show our devotion to christ which we have, we come not to vacation which we can, but we come because it is here that our sins where dealt with. It is here that God came to earth,lived as we do and died on the cross to save us from the penalty of our sins. A simple truth, the world is ignoring to their destruction. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin has left a crimson stain, he washed them white as snow-
Sandy here..due to internet problems I will post this and start a new one. I had a looong post ready to send at three this am and lost internet, but want others to have a chance to post..

Photo Link

https://picasaweb.google.com/grammy4him/Israel2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOHIpLT9nJu65wE&feat=directlink

We Have Touched Holy Ground....

After starting out in Omaha with a two hour delay, we had an uneventful flight to Newark. I know I was not the only one with a sense of awe looking out the windows of the plane and airport to the Statue of Liberty and the rebuilding of ground zero....but our hearts were yearning..much past that looong plane ride almost halfway around the world, to step out of that plane and place our feet in the holy land.

 It is definitely an emotional experience.  We quickly moved through passport check and Ruthie "Rootie" warmly greeted us and ushered us out to our bus.  We headed to south Tel Aviv to what was biblical Joppa.

 I am having trouble uploading photos from this tablet, but hope to get an album going.


We headed back north through the city and spent some time in Ceserea by the sea.  It is a very windy day, but that didn't stop us from wandering around Herrod's palace and the theater and along the sandy beach of the Mediterranian Sea and taking photos by the ancient water canals. We are now all settled in at the Ramada in Netanya. As I write the waves are beating the beach outside our window. We are grateful that we all arrived healthy and safe. After meeting downstairs for supper in an hour we will head back to our rooms for a good nights rest. We #re looking forward to another adventure filled day tomorrow. I will also keep working on trying to get some photos uploaded. Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf.

Ready, Ready, READY!

I know I should be in bed, and I am heading there right after this post. In six hours, our 'ride' will come and we head to the Omaha airport where 16 pilgrims will board the plane headed to Newark. About 4 pm we board and head to Tel Aviv. We will try to post in the evenings and update what we have been up to during the day. I see we have a chance of rain there the next three or four days, but we are troopers...a little rain will not stop our desire to walk where our Lord walked! We covet your prayers for safety and health as we travel these next days.

We will keep in touch.... =)

Hi everyone, we are now close to our departure time. We are heading for a great adventure in the Holy Land. Once there you will never see the Bible the same. Its like putting on glasses and whalla the fuzzy picture becomes clear.

But sure to invite your friends to check this site daily as we will up date it on the tour.

Happy preparation. Your fearless leader, Pilgrim Don

IMAX Movie

The video post by grammy4him is a preview of an IMAX movie that will be out later this year. It is great, be sure to watch it. It is free!

A Little Teaser..Beautiful Overview of Jerusalem...

This has ME excited...how about YOU??... =)

Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemTheMovie on Vimeo.

Good job

It will be helpful as weather is always changing. Pilgrims do not forget to get the medications for the trip. You can do this now rather than wait for the last minute.

Weather or Not...

I have now added a weather feature, so we can monitor the weather in Israel, and when we are over there, we can see what the temp is in Lincoln as well.  I plan to find a couple of clocks to add, as well, so we know what time it is there, compared to back home....  Are you guys getting excited yet?!

Come on Aboard the Blog site

Hi Pilgrims, we are now open for your thoughts on our trip to Israel. If you have friends and family that will want to see the adventure from their home here is the opportunity. Just enroll them as friends and they will be able to see our activity every day, hopefully with pictures and all.

Countdown to Israel

Anxious to get going!!!

We are 16 travelers to the Holy Land... we may have room for four more. Contact me at email address. dgoertzen4@me.com

We Are On A Journey

We are planning and praying for a journey to Israel. We are packing and preparing and praying for this adventure. Most of us have never been on this journey and we are very excited to see with our own eyes and walk the paths that Jesus and his disciples walked over 2000 years ago and before.

I am setting up this blog with the hopes that we can keep our friends and families informed of our adventures on a day to day basis while we are overseas. Unlike emails, the trip will all be in one place and you can scroll down and view the entire trip on one site instead of email to eamail. Feel free, as friends and family, to leave comments, too. I am hoping that many of the group will post their thoughts, as well as mine. I hope this will be a place that we can come back to, after the trip and view the journal and photos as a reminder of the blessing this trip was to all of us!