FINAL CAPTION CONTEST

This is a story told by Heidi and Melissa outside the Mall in Jerusalem. Please narrate.

Day 12: Last Day in Israel

Today was a not-so-free, Free Day. Meaning that if we wanted to get anywhere for free, we needed to take the bus, and therefore we needed to travel as a group. But that was just fine with us because we really like our group.

We started off the day at Yad Vashem, the Holocost Museum, which included a special memorial to the children who died as well. The Childrens Memorial was one of the most moving visual things I have ever seen. In the center of a dark round room were 5 candles. Surrounding them were strategically placed mirrors so that you could see millions of lights in the tall room. The 1.5 million names of children were being read in Hebrew, Yiddish and English. It was breathtaking.

The museum itself was amazing. We spent 2 hours there but could easily have spent twice that. Especially moving were the videos of survivors telling their different stories.

For lunch, we stopped at a local mall. Well, it's the end of Purim and so all the kids were out of school and where do you think all the families went? The Mall. And the kids were all dressed up. It was a mad house!
So...can you guess where we ate lunch?













We then headed to the Shrine of the Book and saw actual pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Incredible.

This is one of the bus drivers for another bus. His name is Amnon. We took quite a liking to him. He started calling Bodie "Gingi!" which is what they call all readheads. He is round and jolly. Challenge: Do you know where Amnon is mentioned in the Bible?


We have very few pictures today because we couldn't take them in the Museums.

We are not going to sleep tonight because we have to leave for the airport at 1:30 am. Then we will post again either from Frankfurt or DC. We will be staying a night in DC to break up the trip and see Bodie's friend Elizabeth. We'll talk to you then!

Caption Contest Afterthoughts and Musings for the People

It has come to our attention that our choice of winner for Caption Contest #2, Kevin Equitz has caused some rumbling in the corps. This is a shame.

We stand behind our position 100% because lines like "Kiss me you fool of a flightless bird replica!" cannot easily be denied. (Tip hat again to Kevin as well as to Mr Minegar who embodies comedy in all areas of human life).


We have brought this to your attention for two reasons:

1) We have recieved a late entry that was comedically noteworthy of blog attention for Caption Contest #3.
2) We failed to give the decoded message upon conferring the winner of Caption #3.

Therefore...

Kenton's post, " "It's a good thing we brought along that New Kids on the Block tape; otherwise our coreography would be all screwy" brought us quite a good laugh, even though it was late.

And for the "tougher than the Da Vinci Code" hidden message decipherization....(the answer is)

Dead Sea Scrolls. (Isn't life frustratingly simple sometimes? Actually this pic was taken at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and so Hannah on the left is hanging herself, though she looks like Rocky Balboa, Heidi is a "C", Bodie is unrolling the scroll and Melissa is pointing to the location. New Kids was not far off either. Nor the YMCA. I always knew there could be a connection of the Village People to ancient codexes!)

Caption Contest #3 Winner- DYLAN PROSSER!

Ok guys, we gave you a prime picture for a contest and were sad at the lack of response... until Dylan rode in on his triumphant horse of comedy and blew us away!

Dylan, you rock. Thanks for cracking us up!

Dylan's response:
bodie (in his stylish hat) is portraying how God is bigger than the boogie man, and is failing miserably. Also heidi is cooling bodie down because he has a self-heating meal in his pocket and its stuck!

Day 11: Temple Mount and The Garden Tomb- UPDATED WITH PICTURES!!

We had an interesting start to our day today. We went through heavy security to get on to the Temple Mount to see the courtyard containing the Dome of the Rock and El Aksa Mosque. It was an eerie feeling, and yet I almost had no feeling at all. The Dome of the Rock is a memorial to Mohammed as it is said that here he received revelation from God. Yet it is interesting that Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran, only Mecca and Medina are mentioned. Also interesting is that when the Muslims pray in the El Aksa mosque, they pray facing east toward Mecca which is away from the Dome of the Rock. It is as if they don’t really care about being there, except to keep it from the Jews who are wailing just outside the walls to be able to worship there.
On the Temple Mount in front of the Dome of the Rock












The "Back of the Bus Crew" on the Temple Mount. A Brit, two Floridians and two Californians.











Bodie, Heidi and Ronnie, our guide. He has been awesome. Please pray for him, he is searching and open.











Next we went and saw the ruins of the pools of Bethesda. This is where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath (John 5). These were really interesting. There were remains of Roman cisterns - man those were deep!There was also a small cathedral with amazing acoustics right near the pools. We sang worship along with other believers and it was amazing!

Remains of the Pools of Bethesda! Don't jump in right now, though. I don't think you would be healed.










Come on, would you pass up a shot like this? Chow-Yun Fat has nothing on us!












We then walked along the Via Dolorosa which is the traditional (Catholic) path of Jesus when on His way to be crucified. However, we learned that it cannot be the actual street He went down because it was built upon 4 centuries later. What really matters is not the actual street but remembering what Jesus sacrificed for us.

We walked through and had lunch (falafel!) in the Arab Quarter which was an interesting experience. It was crowded we were regarded with a kind of apathetic amusement. We had one funny experience: It seems everyone in all of Israel wants to sell things to the Americans for "One dollah!" Well, one man selling fresh pita shouted out "Do you like Jesus?" Of course we said yes. He said "Then buy his bread! I sold this bread to Jesus and he liked it very much." Of course we bought it, but wondered why more people wouldn't want to buy Jesus' bread? Hmmm.
This is a shot down a street in the Arab District.


















We then made our way to Golgotha which is the high ground of Mr. Moriah. This is where many believe Jesus was crucified. You can actually see a skull shape in the rock. Within steps is the garden tomb they believe Jesus was buried and then resurrected. We learned so much that supports this, but we can't share it all here. Suffice it to say it was a wonderful thing to see. After all in our group had seen both sites, we gathered for communion.
Golgotha. Can you see the eyes and nose of the face of a skull? Wow.












The entrance to the tomb.


















Bodie and I in the Garden of the Tomb













Tonight we have the second part of the Temple Conference in which the guest speaker Tuvia Sagiv will present his research supporting the "southern conjecture" of the location of the actual temple mount. It should be interesting.Tomorrow is our last day, and we will most likely be going to the Yad Vashem (Holocost museum) and the Shrine of the Book and the Israel museum. It promises to be just as full a day as the rest.

We have been so blessed to be here. Thank you for all your continued prayers and support!

Day 10: Masada and Dead Sea Swim

We are using the hotel computer so some things are a little different. Therefore, you will see pictures first this time, and then the text. We love you guys!

Bodie on one of the walls of the palace in Masada

Heidi with a side view of Herods personal palace carved out of the side of the mountain
Heidi in the center of the synagogue where the Jewish group took their last stand.
Floating in the Dead Sea!Unbelievable!
A beautiful view of the Dead Sea from the bus.
So, this is sea level. And there are mountains below it! Crazy! This is on the road down to the Dead Sea.
This is a shot of the tunnels we went through two nights ago.

Before we begin to tell you about today, we must tell you about last evening. We were able to go through the excavated tunnels around the temple and get to the closest place to the Holy of Holies that a Jew or Gentile can get. It was neat doing it at night, it felt all the more like secret mission. We learned much about the construction of the two temples and were amazed by some of the stone work.

This morning we headed to the mountain of Masada. The only way up is by gondola or a steep switchback hike. What a fascinating place. Herod carved two palaces out of stone on this hill top, as well as establised and elaborate water system to bring water to it. It is unbelievable that he could do this kind of thing back then.

Many years later, a group of Jews that had started a revolt against the Roman attempts to enslave them took refuge on this very hill top. They had plenty of food and water (thanks to Herod's design) but the Romans eventually built a huge ramp and broke their defenses after many months. Instead of being enslaved, the group took their last stand by taking their own lives in the synagoge they had constructed. Quite an amazing story.

We next headed to the Dead Sea to take a swim. Wow. You sit back and your legs fly up to the surface because there is so much salt in the water. You can float flay almost completely on top of the water! Your skin feels so soft and oily when you come out. Quite and experience.

We headed back to the hotel and barely had time for dinner before the Temple Conference. This conference is set up by Koinania House and brings different scholars to talk about issues surrounding the temple. It was fascinating. Chuck spoke on the history of the Temple and then a member of the Kineset (Israel's Parliment) spoke about the importance of a united approach supporting the rights of Jews and Christians to be able to pray on the temple mount. This was followed by a presentation by Ashur Kaufman on his theory of the temple mount actually being about 100 meters south of where the Dome of the Rock now sits. We will have another conference tonight.

Sorry we were late in posting this time...our days are quite full! We wake up at 6:00 and usually don't get back unil 6:00pm. Then it is dinner and sometimes another tour after dinner! We are having such a blessed time. Thank you for all your comments and support, we love sharing this experience with you.

We Love Your Comments!

Thank you to those of you who have posted comments after visiting the blog.

If you come, please leave us a comment! They are like water to the soul....


We sure miss our co-workers! Where are you? Adele? Tom? Rhonda? We would sure love to hear from you!

Gotta go, internet going to run out.

B

Day 9: Old City of Jerusalem

We walked more today than any other, I think. And we still aren't finished!

We thought you might want to see some of our new friends. This is Bodie and Jay. He is from Florida.











This is Heidi with Melissa (from Maine) next to her and Hannah (from England) in front.

















Today we actually went in to the Jewish, Armenian and Christian Quarters of the old city. We visited the Temple Institute which is dedicated to educating people about the temple and also to rebuilding it. Of course they cannot build walls and such yet, but they are recreating many of the ceremonial vessels used in the temple and we learned much about these.

Next went to the West Wall or Wailing Wall of the temple. It was an amazing thing to behold. As we said before, it is such an interesting experience to actually be at these places that we have heard so much about and have pictured in our minds. The Western Wall of the original temple is as close as the Jewish people can get to the Holy of Holies, and therefore they pray and petition God there to restore the Temple.
Bodie and I in front of the Western Wall.


















We had lunch overlooking the old city, it is just a breathtaking sight. It is a juxtaposition of old and new, different faiths, and different people. We understand so much more of the real issues going on here now that we have seen it for ourselves.

The view of the old city that we had at lunch.












We then went to the Herodian Street and Southern Steps. These are stones of the temple during the time that Jesus was alive and went to the Temple. What an sobering thought. We saw representations of what the 1st and 2nd temples looked like. They were so much bigger than we ever imagined! The stones were massives and the walls extremely tall.

A view of the Herodian Street next to the temple wall. Jesus may have walked this very street!

















These are the southern steps of the temple.

















Tonight we will be going through the tunnels of Solomon under and around the temple mount. Tomorrow we will be going to Masada and floating in the Dead Sea.

Caption Contest #2 Winners are: KEVIN EQUITZ and honorable mention goes to MATTHEW MINEGAR

Kevin definitely got the biggest laugh not only from us but from our tour guide and other friends. Way to go!

This is what he posted:

Heidi: "Kiss me you sassy, stoic abstract penguin statue! I've just eaten fried fish heads and now I truly know that we have a cosmic connection that extends far beyond any of my previous notions. It's the fish that binds us! Search your heart, you strappingly gorgeous penguin, you know it to be true. Smell the fish breath! Kiss me you fool of a flightless bird replica! Kiss me!

The penguin: (sadly, the penguin in this case, however fortunate it is to have such an admirer, is unable to comment. He's actually unable to do anything. He's a statue. We shouldn't even refer to it as "he." How truly ironic — that's why this is in parentheses)

And honorable mention goes to Matthew Minegar for his quite funny one liner.

Excellent job guys.

Caption Contest # 3

Ok. This is not only a caption contest, but if you decipher the message, you get extra points. Good Luck! We're looking forward to this one!

Day 8: Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem

Day 8: Shabbat Shalom From Jerusalem

Today we packed up from our hotel in Tiberias and started our trek to Jerusalem. First we stopped at Bet She’an which is located at the foot of Mount Gilboa. There are incredible ruins of many civilizations that built on top of each other in this place. Egyptian, Roman, Scythinan, you name it! Most impressive were the ruins of a Roman bath house that included a sauna, pool, and yes, lavatories which we were able to sample.
Bodie taking on a marble pillar

Triumph! In Bet She'an.

Oh yes. That is a toilet.

We had lunch at a restaurant on the Dead Sea which was amazing. We will be returning here later this week for a swim.

Next we went to Qumran which is the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves. The Dead Sea Scrolls were papayrus scrolls and fragments of the Old Testament which dated back many years earlier than any other copy in existence at the time.

Our fist sight of Jerusalem was breathtaking. It is an amazing city. We went to the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock and Chuck led a teaching about Palm Sunday. We then walked the very path that Jesus rode on a donkey into the city and we stopped at the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s an interesting experience to see things you have pictured in your mind for so long. The Garden was overwhelming. We had a chance for solitude and prayer which was a blessing. It was very peaceful.

Jerusalem! That is the Dome of the Rock just to the left of Bodie's head.

The path that Jesus rode the donkey down. Amazing! Of course it's paved now :)

The Garden of Gethsemane. Beautiful.

This is overlooking Bethlehem. Ronnie, our guide asked someone to read in Matthew 2 describing Bethlehem. It was a great moment.

We ended the day by driving to an overlook of Bethlehem (it is not safe to enter Bethlehem right now). Everything is so much closer to each other than we had imagined in our minds when reading the Bible.

Overall this was a very full day and we are looking forward to really going down into the old city tomorrow.

We miss you all and LOVE hearing from you when you post. Keep it up!

Until next time!

Day 7: The IDF and Bethsaida

Today was much different from what we have done and what we will do on this trip. We were actually allowed to not only enter, but serve at a military base of the Israeli Defense Forces. We went to one of the many bases in the Golan Heights which specializes in engineering.

A picture from the bus as we drove into the base. Not glamorous, but suitable.













These are what the paramedics drive to take care of the wounded on the battlefield. The red star of David has just been accepted as a sign similar to the Red Cross.









Because this is the beginning of the Sabbath, most of the soldiers had gone home, but a few remained. We weeded, cleaned, planted trees and put out pottery that was donated by part of our trip expenses. It was an amazing experience. The soldiers where shocked and warmed by our presence in a way that is hard to quantify. They are so used to the world hating them, it is quite unheard of to have a group not only visit, but work along side with them. Our guides and bus drivers, all Jewish and therefore all having served in the army, kept thanking us and telling us how unsual and wonderful it was.
Who is driving that military vehicle?













It's us! Everyone keeps asking if we are newlyweds. Of course we tell them that we are!












Bodie triumphing over some collosal weeds. They were no match for his strength!












Funny. Israeli weeds look just like American weeds.












Our group had been working on the Hatikvah, or national anthem, of Israel since we came together. After we ate lunch with the soldiers, we rose and sang the song to/with them. It was a wonderful experience.

After that wonderful activity, we drove to Bethsaida which was quite interesting. Although Peter, Andrew and Philip were born here and Jesus performed the miracles of feeding 4,000 and healing the blind man here, it is one of the three cities also cursed by Jesus because of their unbelief. It was interesting to see that it is still barren today. We saw the remains of a village with walls of homes and shops still in place.
Here are the remains of the walls of a home from 2000 years ago in Bethsaida.












Heidi getting some wine from the "wine cellar" in a home in Bethsaida. Its was a good year.












We can't believe that tomorrow we are going to Jerusalem! Everyone says it is all different from here on out. We can't wait! Thank you for all your prayers and comments. We love hearing from you and sharing this experience with you!

Caption Contest #2

Let's see what ya got.

Day 6: Galilee or Bust!

Well, your prayers worked! It was overcast today but only rained while we were in the bus and in the restaraunt having lunch. The sun even came out when we reached the Jordan river.

Today we started out by getting on a boat on the Sea of Galilee just outside our hotel. What an amazing experience to be on the Sea (well, actually it's more like a lake) where Jesus calmed the storm. And it was a bit stormy today! We stopped out in the middle and Chuck gave a
teaching and then we docked at the museum of a 2000 year old wooden boat they found in the Sea of Galilee. They call it the Jesus Boat. I wonder what Jesus would think about that?





This boat is 2000 years old! Amazing!













Anyways, our tour next took us up to the Mount of Beatitudes. Of course no one knows the exact point where Jesus delivered His message written in Matthew, but we do know the general vicinity. It was amazing just to be in the area where you know Jesus spent much of His ministry. And it was so lush and beautiful. Mustard seed grows everywhere and it is clear to see why Jesus would use this example in His teaching.

Us on top of the Mount of Beatitudes. You can kind of make out the Sea of Galilee inthe background. Beautiful!











Mustard Seed! No, not us. All that yellow stuff!













Next we went to Capernaum which is where Jesus performed many miracles. Oh to have lived in Capernaum when Jesus was alive! We saw the remains of a Jewish Synagogue, an oil press, and what they think is the house of Peter. For some reason, someone thought it would be a great idea to suspend a church right on top of this site.




















Peter's house? And a church built on top of it. Cool to see a house this old.
















We ate whole fried fish (heads, tails and all!) for lunch (named St. Peter's lunch) and then we headed to the Jordan River. Yes, we were baptized in the same water that John the Baptist baptized Jesus. It was definitely a cool experience. We were truly blessed.















We have come to really enjoy the group we are with and are starting to see things with our hearts and not just our minds. We would love it if you continue to pray for us to see Christ in a new way and be changed because of it.

We love you guys!