May 22 2008

Tour to Israel

Participated in a tour organized by Richard Holzapfel, professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU. Flew into Tel Aviv (only 10 hours from New York — not so fun, but survived), and stayed at the Sheraton on the shore of the Med

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Next day we began our tour, which included Mt. Carmel and Capernaum.

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From there we got to see the Jordan River (north end prior to it’s entering into the Sea of Galilee),

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and the Sea of Galilee,

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including a short boat ride.

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Next, it was on to Nazereth, where Jesus grew up

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Finally, we arrived at Jerusalem,

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where we visited the Garden of Gethsemane

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the temple mount, including the courtyard and several other parts of the temple grounds,

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and the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

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While staying in Jerusalem, we also visted the dead sea,

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and Masada, where I hiked up to it.

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We saw many other things and visited many other places. In sum, it was an incredible experience.