Hello, everybody! My brother has sent me some pictures about a very exciting time they had last Thursday!
They said goodbye to the Pilgerhaus on the Sea of Galilee and started down to Jericho. On the way, they stopped at this very nice park with a spring that came right out of a cave!
Everyone got to sit and put their feet in the cool water while their guide, Ran, told them the story of the place.
They climbed up the hill above the cave and learned about a man named Yehoshua Rankin, who bought a whole lot of land so that the people of Israel could have a new country. That was nice of him!
There was a stone with a quote from him, and my brother and our buddy Jim thought that you could almost hear Jesus saying something very similar:
“My divine mission in life was revealed to me more than sixty years ago: to redeem the land our people yearned for. I was unwaveringly devoted to this goal of mine. I gave my heart and soul for the redemption of extensive barren areas. I did it all on a grand scale and did not settle for less.”
The little stream runs down to a kiddie pool and, as you can see, there were lots of kids playing in it!
The next stop was Jericho, and it sure looked a lot different!
You probably know about Jericho. It’s where Joshua and his army marched around the city for seven days, then blew their trumpets, and the walls came tumbling down. By the look of things, I’d say they did a good job! I think my friends and I could have done the job in four days by barking, but I guess the Lord had other plans.
Their next stop was Jerusalem, where they get to stay for six days. How exciting! Here is their first view of the city. Their guide, Ran, played a very nice song as they made their entrance into town.
My brother thought that Reba McEntire was singing the song, and I agree that it does kind of sound like her, but I think it is some lady from Israel.
Here’s the old City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.
After dinner, my brother and some of the group went to the Western Wall. He said it was quite an experience! You’ve probably heard about it, too. It’s where the people come to pray. A lot of the Jewish people there were dressed in their good clothes. My brother even took some little pieces of paper with prayers that our friends had asked him to stick in the wall.
All the men had to cover their heads to go to the Wall. Luckily, my brother usually has his camouflage baseball hat, but the Western Wall folks even had little hats that people could wear if they needed them. I thought that was very thoughtful!
My brother said it was quite a time, almost like if a prayer meeting and a dance party got together!
Now, when the group started heading back to the hotel was when it got really interesting! There were some Israeli and Arab boys being silly and mean to one another. They ran around a corner and, the next thing my brother knew, there were police running after them. Then, before you know it, everyone in my brother’s group was coughing really badly. I guess the Israeli police take these things very seriously and had opened up a can of tear gas or something. My brother said it was quite an adventure, and they didn’t even have to pay extra for it!
Love, Winston