Capturing my thoughts
..::I left my heart in Israel::..
Israel Experience 2005
[Day 3 - 16th June 2005]
I think we did not strictly follow the itinerary given to us earlier by the church...looking at it now, I think Word of Life and the guides had rearranged the order for sites visiting.
Today is the day where we know who our bus-mates are! Pretty cool, ours is the last one-A14, but I think it’s really a privilege coz we are one of the ‘international’ bus considering that we have people from 9 different countries in the bus. We have us - Singaporeans, Malaysians, Indonesians, Indians, New Zealanders, Fijians, Israel, Sweden and Taiwan!
From our chat with newly made friends from church during dinner today, I gathered that we REALLY had a good tour guide with us, and driver and bus captains. Like what Karen mentioned, the first will be the last, and the last shall be the first. How true...
We went on to visit the holy sites today, lots of them...it’s simply amazing, I’ll try to recall as much as I can according to the pictures for the day.
This is the view from my room in the hotel. It's about 5.45am in the morning, the sun is already shining! Amazing!
First destination of the day - We arrived at the Mount of Olives, overlooking to the old city, Mount Zion.
Yeah! Here's me while waiting for everyone to arrive for Pst Ulf's opening speech for the tour! The sun is rather glaring as you can see...
Gathering together now for a group pic. so here's me taking the photographers. we saw the photo already, it�s great, and I see myself and Karen.yay!
This pic is especially taken for our beloved cgl - Mervyn! a BEETLE CAR IN ISRAEL!!!
We're on our way to Mount Zion and we passed by a big cemetery, it's called the city of the dead.
We arrived at the Davidson Center, exact spot is the Jerusalem Archaeological Park. we're just using the restrooms on the right hand side of the photo...heh!
~tada~ Our tour begins!
We finally arrived at the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock!
The Dome is now a mosque, the tour guide had explained to us on the use of the place. it had been converted to a church, then mosque quite a no of times. we couldn't get in, in fact, all can�t except the Muslims. I love this pic...looks like a postcard to me!!!!
Presenting....Gate Beautiful!!!! Especially taken for our dearest Ah-Ma Soo Soo!!!
[Special Column - Via Dolorosa: The Way of Sorrow]
This is not, actually, the place where Jesus walked. But walking through these places really bring in the sorrow and grief into our hearts, especially those of us who had seen the Passion of the Christ, the images and us walking up and down the narrow, steep places ain't easy...plus that cross. It is indeed exhausting, if you think NP or NTU slopes and stairs were a killer...think of this.
Over here, I had some pictures of the stations of the cross...Not all was taken and posted here, if you are really interested, I can show you some of the other pictures and materials/resources we bought about the place...meanwhile, enjoy!
We are entering the Via Dolorosa or "Way of Sorrow", the route winds along the narrow streets of Jerusalem's Old City, it leads from Ecce Homo Convent to the Basilicia of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the traditional route Jesus followed bearing His cross from Pilate's Judgement Hall in the Antonia, to Calvary Hill or Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion.
Along this route are the "Fourteen Stations of the Cross". Each station marks an event of sacred memory, with chapels for reflection, convents and monasteries of devotion, and the sacred basilica for commemoration.
This is the 2nd Station of the Cross. It's the Chapels of the Condemnation and Flagellation, the place where Jesus was traditionally was condemned to death.
This chapel has left in each one of us one of the most significant encounters we can have in Israel...I can still remember the song that our group sang briefly in the chapel...Amazing Grace...I have sung the song for so many times in my life and I felt for the first time the meaning of the song had never been greater than in this place. The presence of God came out on us so strong, all of us were already tearing and weeping before we finished the first sentence of the song! I wished I could have stayed there longer...
3rd Station of the Cross - shows Jesus falling under the cross for the first time.
6th Station of the Cross - where Veronica wipes the sweat from Jesus' face.
My first instance in my heart was "wow!" What a place of significance...it brings me back to all the other women in the bible of little or no significance but was made known by God through generations by the simple acts that they have done.
12th Station of the Cross - See my hand dipping into a hole? This Greek altar above me stands over the Rock of Calvary. It is over the place where the crosses of Jesus and the two thieves were erected. Want to see how it looks like in it?
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12th Station of the Cross - See my hand dipping into a hole? This Greek altar above me stands over the Rock of Calvary. It is over the place where the crosses of Jesus and the two thieves were erected. Want to see how it looks like in it?
Continuing our tour, we arrived at the Western Wall a.k.a the Wailing Wall! Here we are taking a pic after praying and slotting the prayer requests for our members!
Our final stop for the day - The Garden Tomb!
Here's what we should do at the end of the day!
10:33 PM
