Post-Pilgrimage Retreat

Well, folks... this is it. Our follow up retreat is likely to be the last time we are all together as a pilgrim group. Hopefully, you have all enjoyed following us on this journey - we certainly have enjoyed the journey.

Fellow pilgrims - I still invite and encourage you to post your pictures to the picasa album. (See post below.) I know several of you took pictures that I would love to see and others would also, no doubt. It was wonderful to have been blessed by each of you on this journey! All God's best to of you, your congregations and your families! In Christ, Rachel

Photo Sharing Reminder

Photos taken by Tammy

Just a reminder - Tammy and Loren have posted pictures to our Picasa Photo Sharing album and hopefully other pilgrims will also. Click on the picture to see what pictures pilgrims from our trip have uploaded or to sign in and upload some if you are one of our fellow pilgrims!

4 weeks & $40 later

My husband was able to recover the "lost" photos for us (thank you, Paul!) For those who didn't know, my camera went wacky the day we went to Masada, the Dead Sea, Qumran and Jericho. Because Bart did such a great job, there didn't seem to be anything missing from the posted pictures - only sunrise over Jerusalem and us at the Dead Sea. So here are a few of the recovered photos... just for fun!

Last official day

We had a very full and very hot (107 at the Dead Sea) day of visiting Masada (a fortress and palace of Herod), the Dead Sea, Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered) and Jericho. The next day was a free day - also a long day - as many of us were eager to leave Israel and come home to our families.

O Come let us adore him!

Our day in Bethlehem began with our tour guide not being allowed to enter the West Bank with us and having to enter through another gate and meet us later. We went first to visit with a friend of Tom Jones who is the priest of a Catholic church in Bethlehem. We visited the Church of the Nativity and the Catholic Church there as well. Then we went to visit Bethlehem Bible College and hear about the good work they are doing there, as well as meet Brother Andrew in person. We had lunch at a local restaurant across from which we had an up close and personal view of the wall Israel is building around the West Bank and the profound graffiti that tells what the Palestinians there think of it.

Bringing in the Sabbath

June 12 was a "no camera" day. In the morning we went to a church that was located where Caiphas' palace was; where Jesus was questioned and where Peter denied him. Then we prayed and walked the Stations of the Cross.

However, in the evening, several of us went to the Wailing Wall on Tom's recommendation to watch as the Jewish celebration of bringing in the Sabbath got underway. We waited for a few hours and once the real celebrations began cameras were off limits (just ask Greg...), but here are some from Bart before he put the camera away.

First Full Day in Jerusalem

We did many things and walked over 20,000 steps (yes, I had a pedometer) the first day in Jerusalem. We started at the top of the Mount of Olives and walked down to the Church at Gethsemane, entered a private garden for some time of prayer and meditation, walked down into the Old City, sang at St Anne's (the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus) and walked the Via Dolorosa in preparation for the next day when we would follow the stations of the cross along the Via Dolorosa. We wound up at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the tomb of Christ is actually thought to be.