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.

Monday, February 14th Touring

Monday Tour pictures are now on Picasa. Click here to view

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

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

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.

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!

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!

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