Jan 9 – On the Road to Jerusalem

Today we end in Jerusalem but there are many important sites to explore before we lay our heads to rest.
The first of sites is the historic fortress of Masada. This mountain top settlement was fortified by Herod the Great to protect himself from his enemies either being the jews or the many threats he was so very paranoid of. Herod himself actually never utilized the fortress but it was sed by his family when he was forced to go to Rome and seek help as the Parthian army was attacking. Masada is most famous for it's role in the Jewish revolts leading tot he the taking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. The Zealots had fled the city of Jerusalem and made their camp in the mountain of Masada. Here they stayed for close to three years while the Roman army practically built a mountain to get finally capture the close to 1000 jews taking refuge there. In what the jews consider an act of honor and nobility the leader of the zealots led his followers to a mass suicide. When the romans finished building their giant ramp (mountain) and took the city they found what was left of the Zealots.
This was a remarkable site to visit seeing the technology of what it took to live completely secluded on a mountain top on the coast of the dead sea in the middle of the desert. It's just crazy to think about the construction to begin with but to also consider the part of Jewish history this site carries adds so much weight. I couldn't imagine what would be going through my head as tens of thousands of Roman troops would be camped at the foot of the mountain building a mountain size ramp to come and finally finish us off. This site is equivalent to a Gettysburg or a Valley Forge for the Jews and I can most certainly understand why.

After Masada we just drove down the street a few minutes to Qumran. This site is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. This town was a meeting place for the Essenes. This was a very conservative group of Jews who thought the religious authorities in Jerusalem were leading Judaism in a secular direction as Hellenism (the greek culture) was “sneaking” into their religious life. As a result they secluded themselves in the desert, scrupulously followed the Law and waited for the Day of Judgement, for the Messiah. They were eventually forced to leave Qumran as the Romans were taking Jerusalem but they hid what was most important to them; the Law, the Scriptures. These manuscripts were hidden up until 1947 when a shepherd was in the area and a sheep strayed into a nearby cave. The shepherd tossed a rock into the cave to startle the sheep put and in doing so broke some pottery in the back of the cave. This pottery contained the first of over 4,000 pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The manuscripts found contain every book of the Bible except the book of Esther. These are so important because these are first century writings of the Bible, further confirming the integrity of the Bibles we are reading today.

We finished at Qumran and drove a stones throw away to the shore of the Dead Sea. Here we swam, or floated if you will. It was an amazing experience. Everything anyone has told you about the experience is true. I reclined and read the latest edition of Relevant Magazine. My friends with cuts were in a great deal of pain. It's a bit slimy. You can simply stand up in the middle of the sea and you will just sit there not having to put forth any effort to keep your head above water. We pretty much just drifted around for a half an hour. I got some water in my mouth and it tasted absolutely dreadful. After a few minutes my lips started to burn. The Dead Sea is 27% salt. It was so cool!
One thing we fond was that the Dead Sea has been receding drastically over the past 30 years. Because of the evaporation pools and the salt mines for salt and the cosmetic mud, it is estimated the dead sea may be no more in as little as 50-70 years. This just blows my mind and can't imagine this is an acceptable outcome for either the Israeli or Jordanian nations.

Next we made our way to Jericho. We not only experienced what is claimed to be the oldest city in the world but also our first experience with the contrast between Palestinians and Israelis. This was not a conflict of individuals ot anything of the sort but of governments. Jericho was by far the worst archeological site we had been to. It was obvious they did not have the funds the other sites had to preserve and continue to dig. The site was amazing because it was the oldest we have seen and the oldest we will see. The ruins date back to the Bronze Age (3300-1300 BC). We were also able to see ruins from Jericho in the time of Herod the Great.

Tomorrow we move around the city of Jerusalem. I'm so very excited!

Tomorrow we see:
-Mt. of Olives
-Gethsemane
-The Upper Room (The Room the the Last Supper)
-David's Tomb
-Bethlehem
-Church of the Nativity
-Field of the Shepherds
-Sanctuary of Bethfarge
-Chapel of the Ascension

grace and peace,
_joel

Jan 7 and 8 – Petra

Today we began at 8 am and headed down to the Red Rock city! This site is remarkable! Petra was amazing and I don't have words to describe the beauty. The city spans for more than 52 square miles and every bit of it takes your breath away. You may be familiar with Petra from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or more recently in Transformers 2. Labeled number two of the Seven Wonders of the World I feel very privileged to visit this site.

Petra became so popular as it ran along a trade route from the northern part of Trans-jordan to Egypt. This city is built into the side of many mountains giving it a great advantage as different nations and empires tried to take over. Our tour guide kept pointing out the many aqueducts lining the city to collect water in the large cisterns. Petra had all the makings of the other ancient cities except it was all carved into the side of Mountains. The first to inhabit these mountains were the Nabateans who came from the Arabian desert in the 4^th century BC. They began the great feat that we so fondly admire today.

Throughout the day we made our way up and down the mountains visiting many tombs and residencies. The greatest climb of Thursday (the 7^th) was to the “monastery” which really isn't a monastery at all it's just a really big tomb. This tomb rests on one of the many mountain tops of Petra. As we visited temples, churches, and more tombs we found ourselves climbing two more mountains in the two days we had to explore the great Rock City.

The view from our hotel the past two nights was breathtaking! We overlooked Petra to the west so we were blessed to see the sun set behind Petra. We brought chairs out onto the roof and just hung out as the sun set! After a full 8 hours of climbing mountains this was the perfect end to a full day at the biggest playground I've ever been to.

Tonight (Friday the 8^th) We drove from Petra and crossed over into Israel. We are staying on the coast of the Red Sea in southern Israel tonight and will make our way to Jerusalem tomorrow night after a full day of scaling the countryside tomorrow.

Tomorrow we see:

-Masada

-Dead Sea

-Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls)

-Jericho

grace and peace,

_joel

Jan 6: Amman, Jordan River, Madaba

Today was an amazing day!
Early this morning we set out for a tour of Amman. We visited the acropolis where the Temple of Zeus is as well as the Amman Archaeological Museum. The view of from the acropolis was amazing. The thing about Amman is that it is a rapidly growing city. It was only around 30,000 in population 50 years ago and now it is a booming 2.5 million. Standing on the Acropolis your are surrounded by mountains with city homes and buildings climbing up them as far as the eye can see. One thing i found interesting about the city of Amman is there are seldom buildings higher than 7 or so stories. It is different than an American city or other cities in the world because you don't feel isolated from the rest of the world. You can actually see the mountains around you in the middle of the city! It's so cool! I also really enjoy the fact that there is a shop for everything. I go to wal-mart or meijer back home to get everything. Here there is a shop for your coats, a shop for your meat, shoes, chairs, cabinets, or pots and pans. It's so neat to see the people actually making their products and then taking a break to sell you something.

The next part of the day was my favorite of the trip so far. The Jordan Valley. You really don't understand the geographical significance of everything until you actually walk the ground it happened on. In a matter of an afternoon we visited where Elijah was taken to heaven, where Jesus was Baptized, and where Moses saw the promised land and died. You could literally stand on one spot and see the following starting from west to east: The Mount of Olives, Bethany, Jericho, Jesus' Baptism site, Where Elijah was taken up, and Mt. Nebo where Moses saw the promised land. Holy Cow! So much history! So much happened. We were in the ares where the Israelites made it to the promised land, turned back into the desert, came back, and crossed the Jordan! We haven't even crossed the Jordan yet. I just can't put into words the feeling of the realness of the history of our faith right now. It's only the third day!

Our thirst site of the day was Madaba. To get to this site we drove up Mt Nebo and were able to see the view Moses saw as he gazed upon what was promised to him! WOW! just 20 min past Mt. Nebo Madabas houses the oldest map of the Holy Land in the world. This town is know for their craft in mosaics. The church with the map has popular Greek Orthodox paintings created as mosaics. The map is also a large mosaic. When it was fully intact it is thought to have spanned 80 feet!

Tonight we rest in Petra. It is dark but i believe our room overlooks the ancient city of Petra. I will find out in the morning. Tomorrow we start at 8 am and get a survey of Petra from our guide Naim. Then Friday we will be able to explore on our own! Woot Woot! Petra is said to be in the ball park of 50 square miles so this may take a while. So . . .

tomorrow we see:
Petra



grace and peace,
_joel

Jan 5: Pella, Um Qais, and Jeresh

Today started at 5:30 with an abrupt wake up call and a full hearty breakfast. We departed from the hotel promptly at 7 and made our 2000 ft descent from Amman to Pella.

Pella was amazing. I was officially the first to fall as we walked down the mountain to the site. But Ben was the first one to punch through a wall. Pella was the smallest site we visited of the day but was full of many cool things. Pella as well as the other sites we visited today were part of the decopolis, which is a list of ten Roman cities throughout Palestine.

Um Qais or Gedara was pretty cool. This site was more completely excavated and has roads and full buildings up. Here we were able to climb into old tombs and down the canals the water came up into the baths. There were columns lining the streets and a great deal of baths.

Jeresh or Gerasa was the most grandiose of them all! The most excavated of the three sites, it is only 11% excavated. The modern city sits on a large p art of the ancient city. At this site were many greek temples to Zeus and his daughter as well as many 5th century ADchurches. One of the greatest sites for me was the Agora which was the common place for commerce, political discussion, and gathering. Along with the Agora was the streets they had rebuilt. It is hard for me to fathom how these cities functioned and lived. I would just like to see what a week in the shoes of a citizen of Geresa was like.

We got back to the hotel and ate. We are all pretty beat. I think i'm going to go to bed and it's only 7 pm.

Tomorrow we see:

-Jordan Archeological Museum

-The Temple of Herculese

-Wadi Kharra Baptism Site ( Where Jesus was baptised)

-Madaba

and then we spend the night at a hotel overlooking Petra!

that's all for tonight! we shall see when the next time is!

grace and peace,

_joel

Jan 3-4: Travel

Today we traveled. Everyone made it everywhere with all their things! Woot! Woot! after a 10 hour flight to Istambul, Turkey then we flew 2 hours to Amman, Jordan. On the long flight over many people had troupble sleeping where i had the privilege to sleep 5 full hours! The other time was spent playing games and reading.

We are staying in the Jerusalem International Hotel. I will go to bed after writing this at Midnight Jordan time 5 pm EST (I will post this later because there is not free internet at this hotel).

Tomorrow we see:

-Um Qais (ancient Gadara – Mk 5:1-20, Mt 8:28-34)

- Where Jesus Cast the demons into the pigs

-Jerash (ancient Gerasa) - ancient Greco-Roman city

-Pella - ancient Greco-Roman city

one trip ends. . . a new one begins (at least thats how it always seems to work)

Greetings and Salutations My Friends!

My time in Ann Arbor has ended. It ended a while ago. I finished on Dec. 6^th. AS those of you who have followed me throughout my experience things could not have gone better (except the hiccup of my shoulder, but that's no biggie). I learned so much about myself, ministry and most of all God! Again I would like to thank you for all of your prayers and support. It all meant so much to me. Thank You!

Jumping ahead a month, I am currently in Amman, Jordan on a J-term trip with Huntington University to the Holy Land. If you would like to follow my travels over the next two weeks, I will be trying to keep you posted here. If I am not updating it then I have no free internet.

Thank you again for everything you have done! You all mean so much to me!

grace and peace,

_joel

Surgery

Greetings and Salutations!

I'm really bad at keeping you guys up to date, i really apologize.

I just wanted to let you guys know that i am going into surgery this morning at 8:30 to fix my shoulder ONCE AND FOR ALL (or so i hope). so if you read this this morning between 8:30 and 10 please pray for that. if you read this after 10 then please pray for a comfortable ride back to bluffton and a speedy recovery. I will be in bluffton for a few days to recuperate. Sorry for the late notice and i greatly thank you for sticking with me through the past 5 months.

more info to come once the drugs wear off!

grace and peace,

_joel