Here we are at the airport. We left the motel at about 3:10am for the trip to Tel Aviv and the airport. The taxi driver thought he was a pilot, rocketing down the highway at warp speed. Getting through security and customs was a long process. Given the strife near the Gaza strip it is no wonder. We had to have bags x-rayed and then unloaded and checked for anything undesirable, then we had to pass through many security checks, I actually lost count! But here w...

Today is our last day in Israel, so we have taken the fast rail back to the old city of Jerusalem to visit the Garden tomb. We spent about 2 hours alone in the garden communing with our Lord. What a special place this is, we felt the Lord very close to us. I read from the scriptures: psalm 16; LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. ...

It was a slow day today, but a good day. We started it badly by having to complain about our Internet service as it kept dropping out and then we were unable to login at all. After more than an hour it finally started to work. So we were able to talk to Phill and Roxanne and Aeysha. After breakfast we headed out for the Holocaust Museum, which was good to see but left us incredibly sad and melancholy. The attempted genocide by the Hitler regime was an atrocity ...

Today is our final day with our tour guide; ami has been marvelous and taken us to many sites, not on our tour but that have been of great interest to us. We have valued his knowledge and understanding of the Christian story, and his wide network of people and places right throughout Israel. Today has been no exception! We visited the site of the house of Caiaphas the high priest of Jesus day, the site where Jesus was bought and housed as a prisoner before stan...

Today was another great day, but not as emotionally charged as yesterday. We started our day by visiting Ein Karem, the birthplace of John the Baptist. It is a beautiful drive west of Jerusalem. We arrived and took a leisurely walk up to the Church of the Visitation where Mary went to see her cousin Elizabeth, who greeted her with the words, "blessed art thou amongst women". It is a very beautiful church looked after lovingly by Franciscan Monks, we chatted to ...