Interesting Pictures from Israel

The Ibex (goat with very long horns) was climbing everywhere including on top of the cars.

The priest is a greek orthodox priest from the Church of the Holy Sepulcre

Petra is a beautiful place

Down in the desert of Jordan (other side of the Dead Sea) is the stronghold of what used to be Edom. It is an amazing valley carved out of beautiful red sandstone. Here are a few shots of it.

Intense Listening and learning

We had a great trip and God blessed in so many way. A few people got sick for a day, and then were back on it the next day. Sharon Beamer had to miss our jaunt into Petra because of a sprained ankle, but everyone else was able to go. We got very close and shared our hearts as well as a bus/plane/walk adventure.

God has opened our hearts to himself in a new way and to each other. This was a very successful trip...Praise the Lord. Here are a few pictures of us.

A Wonder

We spent the day at Petra, Jordan. It is an archeological wonder! You will have to wait for the photographs because it is beyond description. Like I said in an earlier post, it has been on my bucket list, and I was not disappointed. It dates back to second century BC and there is nothing in this world like it. Everyone who took the walk, made at least a five mile hike, so I'm too tired to add any more than to tell you that it was a wonderful day! Tomorrow, on to Mt. Nebo and Amman. Then after a short rest in a hotel, home!

And, Tanya, this is Joy Garrelts. I don't know if you realize that or not. Terry and I took good care of your mom today. She had a donkey ride and a horse ride today. What a trooper! She had a good day.

Some Pictures of the empty tomb!

Farewell to Jerusalem

We had an emotional farewell from Harrison our guide in Jerusalem. He was fantastic....full of information and fun too. We met his wife at the farewell dinner the night before. He is not a religious Jew and he is married to a "Christian" from England who is from the Church of England. We have prayed from him and wish our influence would extend to his interest in Christ.

A couple of the guys got to share with a young muslim who has Christian friends in the states and a christian guy who owns a shop in Jerusalem. They were excited about his willingness to listen and they will be emailing him when we get home. God is using this trip in our lives at many levels and perhaps we are able to touch some lives too.

We are in Jordan!

We have arrived in Jordan and are waiting to enter into Petra. We are excited about the day tommorrow, but there is also a tiredness. I think we will be ready to head home and then we will catch up on sleep! There are a couple of ladies that are not sure they can walk all the way in, and so we are trying to come up with a "half-way plan" for them to experience the wonder of the place without being exhausted.
Joy has done a good job giving all of you some of this information about our trip. We have been learning so much and reading the Scripture with new eyes and new questions! God is blessing the trip and the camaraderie is growing as we share all this together. I am going to upload a few pictures to try to catch you up with some of the things we have seen.