Author: Jeff Milner

Today, the first thing we visited was the Western Wall (known more commonly as the Wailing Wall). Next we visited the Temple mount and saw the Dome of the Rock (the Islamic shrine at the centre of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound). We also stopped in at the church of the holy sepulcher. I didn’t really like that place with all its gold and jewelry ornaments everywhere.

On our way through the old city where walked into a wide area, that seemed a lot to resemble a parkade, but instead of parking spaces it had very large rocks for the flooring, and there was a Russian immigrant playing her violin. It was probably the most beautiful sounding violin that I have ever heard. I asked her to play “Jerusalem of Gold” and she did. The sound of her violin echoed of the old rocks of the area, while a bright stream of sunlight flooded in. I really enjoyed it.

The city of Bethlehem has been closed for the last week due to civil unrest, but it was opened to tourists this morning so hopefully we will be able to go there this afternoon.

We stopped at the mall for lunch. After I finished eating, I took a look at some of the computer stores. The prices seemed either the same, or slightly higher.

The next place we visited was the city of Bethlehem. We visited the Church of the Nativity, (where Jesus was born).

We went to a wood carving shop in Bethlehem and saw how they make some of the olive wood carvings. I wanted to take a piece of olive wood for my dad, so I asked how much it would cost. When he told me $25 dollars, I told him that for a piece of wood that was too much. He said, “well, I could make a $100 item out of that wood, but I will give it to you.”

Next, we went to some shepherds fields and saw the very place where the construction of new Jewish homes had caused so much protesting by Arabs. There were military check-points, but no one was there protesting.

Ruth Tollestrup read from the book of Ruth in the bible, and I enjoyed the time I spent there. Someone found a turtle and I thought that it was cool.

Later that night, we stopped in David and Goliath country. We stopped at the same river where David picked up his five smooth stones. Ami set a rock up on a tree and asked us to see who could throw another rock and knock it down. I was the first person to knock it down (and with my first throw).Some U.N. observers stopped and came over and talked with us.

On our way back we passed the place called Bet Shamesh, the place where Delilah had men cut off Samson’s hair.

We went back to the hotel and after supper some people went to Ben Yahuda street for shopping. I was sick of shopping so I just went to sleep early.

We are driving on the East side of the Sea of Galilee and the city of Tiberius can be seen in the distance looking down over the large body of water.

We are getting out of the bus to see the Jordan River.

We are now travelling in one of the most notoriously dangerous places in Israel, the west bank. Despite the image that the media puts on this place, it does not seem very dangerous at all. To our left is Jordan and on our right are some refugee camps, but almost half the people on the bus are sleeping. (Apparently they are not worried about the “danger”).

There are several anit-terrorist protections that Israel has. They have a mine field, a touch sensitive fence (if anyone touches the fence soldiers will come to investigate), a dirt road that is smoothed so that if anyone crosses it, their footprints will be left behind, and bunkers located all along the border with soldiers that keep watch 24 hours a day.

Jerrico, a city over 9000 years old is just over these mountains (hills). The children of Israel circled around Jerrico 13 times. Six times in the first six days and seven times on the Seventh Day.

We stopped at Jerrico for lunch, some people rode camels here, and then we headed back to the Concord Hotel for some sleep. It felt good to get some sleep after a long day of touring. Later that night we went to the Old City and Ben Yahuda street for some shopping and some well appreciated McDonalds’ fries.

When we got back some of the girls in our group wanted to do laundry but none of them had a bath tub in their room, so I told them they could use ours.

Today we visited the Mt. of Beatitudes where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount (St. Matthew 5,6, and 7).  Together we read through Matthew 5 and compared it to the things Jesus taught in 3 Nephi chapter 12.  After we read and talked we sat for a moment in silene, to reflect upon the things we had seen and felt.  I didn’t really want to leave that place but we had other places to see.

We are now looking at the Jordan River.  It is not very wide but looks very pretty.

Now we are driving through a mine field.  When Syria had control of the Golam Heights they planted mines and did not map them.  It is against International law not to map mine fields.

I just discovered that the film in my camera was not advancing so I lost a full role of pictures.

We stopped in Qazrin for a quick break and then off for some of St. Peter’s fish.

When I first saw the fish, I was quite surprised.  We were told that it was some of the best fish in the world, but some of the people insisted that it didn’t matter how good the fish was, they just didn’t like fish.  Dave told the people that didn’t like it, he would buy them something else.  Well, I don’t think that anyone who got the fish was disappointed.  It looked like fish, including fins, gills, and its head.  Despite the strange fully formed appearance of the fish, it sure tasted great!

After supper, we took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. The Galilee area is beautiful and the cool breeze made the ride an even more wonderful experience.  We stopped and read some scriptures in St. Matthew 14. I really enjoyed the peaceful feeling.  Looking out over the Sea of Galilee, you knew without a doubt that Jesus really was there and that he did walk on the water, and that this was the place that it happened. I imagined Peter stepping out onto the water, and Jesus stretching out his hand and catching him. I will always remember that day.

The next place we visited was a kibbutz to see what the life was like there. A kibbutz is a small colony of people that live without income, but have everything they need provided for them.  It seemed a lot like the Hutterites there, but they had some major differences which might make life there more enjoyable.

The most amazing thing happened there.  I was feeling kind-of down and out, and we walked into the kibbutz gymnasium.  When it came down to a game of 5-5 I was sure to get on the old guys team (Phill Tollestrup, Jack Hicken, Dave Clark, and Bruce) because I’ve learned that the young team will hardly ever win, especially when it’s half court. I had a really good time playing with those guys. The rest of our group cheered us on from the stands. It really cheered me up. Even Phill Tollestrup told me he was pretty impressed. He said I could have easily played for his team in Magrath.

Later that night, some of the kids went swimming in the Sea of Galilee. Jesse slipped on the rocks and got his shirt a little wet and slimy, but he was ok and we all laughed, but felt bad for him. The water was pretty cold at first, but we all got used to it very quickly.

I love it here in the Galilee area.  We had a little bit of rain here, but it was so soft and didn’t last very long. It’s too bad we are leaving so soon, but that’s the way it has to be.