Holy Land Recap

Our Holy Land Pilgrimage was immersive and full. 14 of us traveled to Israel to spend 9 full days touring Holy sites and experiencing the Bible come to life. We returned home safely around 4:30am on Saturday, March 25 and are grateful to Ed LaFountaine for driving to the Charlotte airport, picking us up, and driving us back to the church in the wee hours of the morning.

We began our time in Bethlehem by renewing our baptisms in the Jordan River while witnessing several full immersion baptisms, floated in the Dead Sea, watched the sunset in wilderness, visiting the Church of the Nativity - the believed location of the cave Jesus was born in, Shepherd’s field where the good news of Jesus’ birth was proclaimed by the angels, and spent time at the Walled off Hotel and Museum where we learned more of the story of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

We traveled to the Sea of Galilee and dipped our toes in the Mediterranean Sea while seeing a partially reconstructed Roman amphitheater and a possible location of Paul’s imprisonment, went to the top of Mt Carmel to look down into the Jezreel valley, visited Mt Precipice where Jesus was almost driven off the cliff when he attempted to preach in his hometown of Nazareth, Magdala - the place where Mary Magdalene was from and toured the chapels that are dedicated to uplifting the stories of the women who supported Jesus’ ministry and spread the Gospel, worshipped on the Sea of Galilee in a wooden boat, visited the location of the Sermon on the Mount and the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, the Dan River and Ceaserea Philippi.

Finally, we travelled to Jerusalem where we visited Samaria, saw Jacob’s well, Cana - the site of Jesus’ first miracle, Caiaphas’ house, the dungeon and pit where Jesus was imprisoned while being questioned in his trial, the garden of Gethsemane, walked the Via Delarosa, visited the Holy Sepulcher church which is believed to be the location of the crucifixion and place of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the garden tomb. We experienced far more locations, but this is just a snapshot of the encounters we had along the way. We were met with tremendous hospitality from our Palestinian Christian guides, and experienced the full Mediterranean diet. Each of us have many stories to tell, so if you would like to know more about our trip, please get in touch with Keith and Chan Turman, Venus Arellano, Marion Lane, Becky and Andy Brown, Judy LaFountaine, Sandy and Charles Frederick, Mary Haggard, Sandy and Ron Knight, Don Turman, or Jamie Armstrong. We would love to share more!

- Rev. Becky Brown