Monday, February 21, 2011
Friday, Feb. 18th. Our last day on Tour
Our last day of touring. I'm thinking that these final pictures are much more complete than the uploads from the first days simply because I had more time at home to review before uploading. Click here for Friday's pictures.
Thursday, Feb. 17th: Masada and the Dead Sea
Pictures from Thursday's trip include our tour of Masada, the Dead Sea, and the area where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. There are some pretty good pictures of some of the tour group riding a camel as well! Check it out here:
Wednesday's Tour Pictures
Wednesday was a beautiful day. We visited the Temple Mount and learned much more about the history of that "holy" area, the axis-mundi for 3 Religions. The Muslims are in control now with the Dome of the Rock. We moved over the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives and marched down the path that Jesus took on His triumphal entry, stopping at the Church of the Nations, the site of the Garden of Gethsemane. This is one of the most beautiful churches and spots in Jerusalem. Click here to see pictures.
Walking the Stations of the Cross: Jesus Passion
Today, Tuesday, Feb. 15th was was quite an emotional tour day as we completed all the Stations of The Cross of Christ's Passion, in Jerusalem where it all actually happened. Click here for pictures of this and other places we visited.
Sunday Touring
Pictures from our travels on Sunday. This was a big day with several of our group being baptized, or having a remembrance of their baptism, in the Jordan River. Click here to see the pictures at this site
Pictures from the touring on Saturday, Feb. 11th
Here are pictures from our tour on Saturday. We have very busy days and very slow internet connections in the hotels so the postings are brief. However, we have lots of pictures! We'll be sharing more when we get home. For now check out the Saturday Picasa pictures at my Picasa Picture Album
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday Pictures
Here are pictures from the travels on Saturday. Enjoy! We have very poor internet access so there is little yet that we have time to report.
Click here to see the pictures
Click here to see the pictures
Friday, February 11, 2011
SoBo Pilgrims had safe flight and are in Jehrico
All 31 of the travelers to the Holy Land have arrived. We are spending the first night in Jericho, in the West Bank of Israel. We are at the InterContinental Hotel. Find pictures of the first day at the Picaso Sight:
Click here to see the pictures! More to come.
Click here to see the pictures! More to come.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Today is the day
Feb. 10th is finally here. We are off to the Holy Land. There is a little snow on the ground but I don't think it will cause any delay. It will be so good to see everyone together at the Newark Airport before boarding the jet plane to TelAviv. Look for pictures!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Final itinerary for our trip.
I have recently communicated with Betty Ann Buckley, our ACTS Leader. She is in Israel and has been conducting tours with other groups since the first of the year. She says all is well there. She has given us our final itinerary for the trip, day by day:
Day Tour Site
Thursday/ Friday Travel / Arrive Friday afternoon
first night stay in Jehrico.
Saturday: Day 1 (overnight in Tiberius) Jericho
Beit Shean
Nazareth and Cana
Mt. of Temptation
Sunday: Day 2 (overnight in Tiberius) Sea of Galilee on Boat
Mount of Beattitudes
Tabgha (great miracle feeding w/Loaves and Fish
Jordan River (Baptism)
Monday: Day 3 (all overnights now in Jerusalem) Mt. Carmel
Megiddo (Valley of Armageddon)
Caesarea Phillipi
Tueaday: Day 4 Old City Jerusalem (Via Dolorosa)
Tuesday: Day 4
Wednesday: Day 5 Mount of Olives
Bethlehem
Garden of Gethsemane
Thursday: Day 6 Dead Sea
Masada (also an option for free day in Jerusalem)
Friday: Day 7 Bethany. After closing devotion we leave for the airport.
Saturday: Day 8 Arrive back to USA
This is a very exciting schedule. See if you can mark it out on a map before we go. Russell has listed several other places that he remembers as very interesting from his trip 20 years ago. We may be on the lookout for some of them as well.
Countdown to our flight is now just two days!
Day Tour Site
Thursday/ Friday Travel / Arrive Friday afternoon
first night stay in Jehrico.
Saturday: Day 1 (overnight in Tiberius) Jericho
Beit Shean
Nazareth and Cana
Mt. of Temptation
Sunday: Day 2 (overnight in Tiberius) Sea of Galilee on Boat
Mount of Beattitudes
Tabgha (great miracle feeding w/Loaves and Fish
Jordan River (Baptism)
Monday: Day 3 (all overnights now in Jerusalem) Mt. Carmel
Megiddo (Valley of Armageddon)
Caesarea Phillipi
Tueaday: Day 4 Old City Jerusalem (Via Dolorosa)
Tuesday: Day 4
Wednesday: Day 5 Mount of Olives
Bethlehem
Garden of Gethsemane
Thursday: Day 6 Dead Sea
Masada (also an option for free day in Jerusalem)
Friday: Day 7 Bethany. After closing devotion we leave for the airport.
Saturday: Day 8 Arrive back to USA
This is a very exciting schedule. See if you can mark it out on a map before we go. Russell has listed several other places that he remembers as very interesting from his trip 20 years ago. We may be on the lookout for some of them as well.
Countdown to our flight is now just two days!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Questions of Unrest in Egypt
I am sure that all of you are watching with great interest the developments in Egypt. I sent a message to Betty Ann Buckley, our contact and guide at ACTS who is currently in Israel with a tour group, what the sense of danger is there. More specifically I asked about potential impact on our trip. This is the message that she sent back to me today.
Paul
I can certainly understand the question and hope I can put minds at ease. We would never bring a group into harm's way - that would not be conducive to a spiritual pilgrimage and we wouldn't want that responsibility. Cairo - Egypt is a country away and we have not experienced or felt anything which would put us on edge. If the situation changes we would follow the advice of the US State Department. We do monitor the climate and situation of Israel/Palestine closely. We don't anticipate any difficulties with your upcoming trip and hope the situation in Cairo will be resolved in a peaceful way.
Betty Ann Buckley
So it sounds as if they are continuously monitoring the situation, are in touch with agencies both at the US State Dept and in the Israeli Government, have our safety as their top priority, and feel confident at this time that our trip will proceed as planned without problems. I will continue to be in touch with her and will let you know if there are any changes.
Rejoice Always!
Paul
Paul
I can certainly understand the question and hope I can put minds at ease. We would never bring a group into harm's way - that would not be conducive to a spiritual pilgrimage and we wouldn't want that responsibility. Cairo - Egypt is a country away and we have not experienced or felt anything which would put us on edge. If the situation changes we would follow the advice of the US State Department. We do monitor the climate and situation of Israel/Palestine closely. We don't anticipate any difficulties with your upcoming trip and hope the situation in Cairo will be resolved in a peaceful way.
Betty Ann Buckley
So it sounds as if they are continuously monitoring the situation, are in touch with agencies both at the US State Dept and in the Israeli Government, have our safety as their top priority, and feel confident at this time that our trip will proceed as planned without problems. I will continue to be in touch with her and will let you know if there are any changes.
Rejoice Always!
Paul
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Communicating while in Israel
Shalom Friends,
Do you have friends and family that want to keep up with your travels in the Holy Land? Here are a few tips we have discovered and opportunities we have set up.
- Verizon Wireless works just as easy in Israel as it does in the United States so if your cell phone works on Verizon then you will be able to send and receive calls while there. HOWEVER... incoming and outgoing calls are almost $1.00 per minute regardless of your plan. This is NOT an inexpensive way to communicate. Best not to take your phone or keep it off except for an emergency. To my knowledge no one with ATT or other companies have checked. You may want to do this to be sure what your risks are.
- SKYPE works very well and is free when communicating with anyone else that has SKYPE software loaded on their computer or iPad. Each of the hotels we are staying at list wireless Internet access as a feature. I am sure that Google chat/audio/video also works for free. I've communicated with folks overseas with both services and it is amazing how good the video/audio quality can be.
- We have set up two Internet sites that will be used to upload pictures, stories, and even short video if desired. One site is the Blog space that has been in place for almost a year to share our monthly gathering news. I have not put much on it for a while during the holidays but it will be used extensively on the trip. The URL is http://sobopilgrim.blogspot.com/. It should be pretty easy for anyone with Internet access to follow. The other is a Facebook Group. Anyone on Facebook can put SoBo Pilgrim in the Search Engine on Facebook and see this site. It is open to all so they can join up, send questions, and add comments. Share this information with your friends and family so they can share the fun of the trip while we are taking it.
- We are going to try to use Google Earth to keep up with our daily excursions, our pictures, and our stories. If we do this well it will help us keep a great diary of the whole journey and give us an excellent storyline for a video archive. I know Matthew Lee is good with Google Earth. Pray that he can help me understand it well enough to make this happen! Perhaps he can teach an old dog new tricks. If so, we'll have a great video DVD at the end of the trip to give to everyone.
I hope this helps with your planning. New technologies are great for opportunities like this. I have heard from many of you and there is no doubt that everyone is getting excited about the trip. Let me know if you have any last minute questions or are concerned about last minute issues.
--
Rejoice Always!
Do you have friends and family that want to keep up with your travels in the Holy Land? Here are a few tips we have discovered and opportunities we have set up.
- Verizon Wireless works just as easy in Israel as it does in the United States so if your cell phone works on Verizon then you will be able to send and receive calls while there. HOWEVER... incoming and outgoing calls are almost $1.00 per minute regardless of your plan. This is NOT an inexpensive way to communicate. Best not to take your phone or keep it off except for an emergency. To my knowledge no one with ATT or other companies have checked. You may want to do this to be sure what your risks are.
- SKYPE works very well and is free when communicating with anyone else that has SKYPE software loaded on their computer or iPad. Each of the hotels we are staying at list wireless Internet access as a feature. I am sure that Google chat/audio/video also works for free. I've communicated with folks overseas with both services and it is amazing how good the video/audio quality can be.
- We have set up two Internet sites that will be used to upload pictures, stories, and even short video if desired. One site is the Blog space that has been in place for almost a year to share our monthly gathering news. I have not put much on it for a while during the holidays but it will be used extensively on the trip. The URL is http://sobopilgrim.blogspot.com/. It should be pretty easy for anyone with Internet access to follow. The other is a Facebook Group. Anyone on Facebook can put SoBo Pilgrim in the Search Engine on Facebook and see this site. It is open to all so they can join up, send questions, and add comments. Share this information with your friends and family so they can share the fun of the trip while we are taking it.
- We are going to try to use Google Earth to keep up with our daily excursions, our pictures, and our stories. If we do this well it will help us keep a great diary of the whole journey and give us an excellent storyline for a video archive. I know Matthew Lee is good with Google Earth. Pray that he can help me understand it well enough to make this happen! Perhaps he can teach an old dog new tricks. If so, we'll have a great video DVD at the end of the trip to give to everyone.
I hope this helps with your planning. New technologies are great for opportunities like this. I have heard from many of you and there is no doubt that everyone is getting excited about the trip. Let me know if you have any last minute questions or are concerned about last minute issues.
--
Rejoice Always!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Everybody is now getting excited
The trip is set! We are thirty one strong. Most of us are traveling from South Boston/Halifax but we have some great friends from other areas as well. I have not been posting any blogs since our October meeting because things have just been too busy. But now we are ready to embark on the trip and it's time to crank the Blog up so we can share with friends and family while we are there.
I have also set up a Facebook Group for folks to follow us. If you are interested just go onto Facebook and type in SoBo Pilgrim Holy Land Tour.
I have also set up a Facebook Group for folks to follow us. If you are interested just go onto Facebook and type in SoBo Pilgrim Holy Land Tour.
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