Day 8

The morning of day 8, Friday, December 19th was a beautiful one at the Dead Sea. Corey was able to see more of it than Donna, as he woke up to meet the sun much earlier than she. This is a picture reflecting Corey and the sunrise from the sliding door on the balcony. After breakfast we had one hour to ourselves and Donna was dedicated to cultivate some Dead Sea Mud. (It is quite good for the skin!) The night before there seemed to be no mud around at the little beach we all went to so we went on the search (Donna, Christina, and Corey). Jackpot...we found some! As Donna gathered the mud she also tested it out on her arms, legs, and a bit on her face. Nothing like a spa treatment from the ground! Christina was a pro at gathering mud. She taught Donna how to really get the good stuff! We scrambled back to the hotel to pack up and leave. Below is Donna riding on the Tram back to the hotel, having a lot of fun on the back of the Tram and feeling pretty happy about successfully gathering several pounds of mud. Christina, also happy about the successful hunt for mud! Donna carried the mud back to the room in double lined baggies, inside a back pack, supported by towels. She didn't get too many odd looks from people about the lump on her back, but she did get a few about her "football player" marks on her face. The team hit the road and our next destination was En Gedi. It was quite dry in Israel, as they have been in a draught, and are very much looking forward to rain. Ben looks out has Corey snaps a beautiful photo moment that is dedicated to Nicole (his wife at home). It was a hot day as we crawled around En Gedi just as David might have as he was fleeing from Saul (minus the carved-out paths). Donna "the slug" (as it appears from this picture) doesn't look like she's enjoying this portion of the hike! As we hiked to different points we read different Psalms through David's life from his simple shepherd beginnings (Ps 8, 23, 19) to when he was fleeing from Saul (Ps 142, 54, 57). We will never look at the Psalms the same way again. Below is looking out unto the Dead Sea. We were close to the top at this point! Here, now descending down to the starting point, we took a picture next to this stumpy little tree and two Rock Hyrax jumped out of the tree! This guy posed for us while the others hid. After the hike we hit the road to head toward Jerusalem. We read through the Songs of Ascent in Psalm 120-134 as those who were pilgrimaging there would have (though their travels would have taken close to 2-3 weeks and for us it was mere hours). Below is an image taken as we came into Jerusalem. The walls seen in the picture are walls of the "Old City". We arrived at our hotel and wanted to get right out and explore the city, so we walked the entire parameter of the Old City, along the existing walls. Here is one of the 11 gates, called the Zion Gate. You can see all of the bullet holes that are left as a reminder of the 6-day-war back in 1967. Only 7 of these gates are open. Interesting fact: One of the closed gates is the Golden gate (not to be mistaken with SF's bridge). In Ezekiel 44:1-3 it was prophesied that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem through the eastern gate. When Jesus entered Jerusalem during the "Triumphal Entry", He came into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives (east of Jerusalem) and almost certainly went through the most east gate, which was the Golden Gate. During the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent's (1520-1566) reign he sealed the Golden Gate and had a cemetery placed in the slopes of the Kidron Valley to prevent the Messiah from entering! (little did he know he was way LATE and that was already done!) A picture of Corey and Donna's feet walking along the road next to the Old City walls. Here is a night shot of Southeast Jerusalem. Wow, we are really here! Another shot of Jerusalem at night. This one you can see the ancient ruins that have been preserved. At the top, a glimmer of the gold dome that is an Islamic shrine , "Dome of the Rock", can be seen. Later on the team wanted some email time and John-Michael and Abra allowed us to use their wireless! Yay, free internet! Here we are taking the 100th photo that Corey shot that night (trying to get the timer right and all of the fancy-dancy settings on the camera). We were all ready to be done with the picture. The award goes to John Michael for the best camera face! Much more to come from Jerusalem!!!