A Day in Our Travel Life - New Series

The “Day in Our Life” series idea developed from a simple question asked of me by a co-worker yesterday. The question, “what were you doing on this day last year?”, led me off on a long explanation about my time in Israel and Egypt, since we were in that area on this day last year. I could not, however, remember exactly what I was doing on that specific day. So, without further adieu, this is the answer I should have given yesterday, January 14, 2009:

This morning we woke up and packed our things to leave Jerusalem. We headed straight to Bethlehem to see the place where Jesus was born. After passing through the walls surrounding the city and flashing our passports to machine-gun toting guards, we headed straight to the Church of the Nativity. This is the oldest church still in use today and sits on top of the presumed spot of Jesus’ birth.     -Jennifer

What is the world coming to when Jesus’ birthplace is surrounded by a huge concrete wall, tons of hypervigilant Muslim terrorists (or terrorist supporters) , and a few Israeli combat troops with semiautomatics? So anyway, we went to the Church of the Nativity and, sadly, there are several groups of “Christians” who fight over that site as well.        -Craig

I sang Silent Night and Away in a Manger to myself as I closed my eyes and imagined the events of that most holy night!                 -Jennifer

Then we headed north towards Galilee. This area is special because it is where Jesus did most of His ministering and lived for awhile. We finally made it to Galilee and stopped along the sea where Jesus walked on water, fed the 5,000 and 4,000, preached the Sermon on the Mount, healed people, etc. We touched the water and it was AMAZING!        -Craig

Then we walked to the shore where the people must have sat to hear Jesus preach the Sermon on the Mount. Now this is what we were missing in Jerusalem and Bethlehem! Since we were stood up by our CS host in Tiberias, we headed to Afula to stay with some young 18-19 year old guys who were nice enough to host us last minute. Turns out the guys are German and volunteering for a year at a home for people who have mental retardation.        -Craig

I wish I had the words to explain the feeling of standing in such a place, but there are none - you can feel it in your soul! You feel happy and sad, so blessed yet so unworthy all at the same time. You’re not exactly sure whether to giggle in excitement or cry in amazement…     -Jennifer

The guys we stayed with, who didn’t know each other before, signed up to work in a home for mentally retarded people in Israel, knowing they would not only have a hard job but they’d also have to learn Hebrew. They lived on their own, with such responsibility, even cooking their own healthy meals. They were very kind to us and seemed to have such a love for the residents.What kind of 18-19 year olds can manage all of this while living in a foreign country? AMAZING!      -Jennifer