Here we are, already a month and a half into our trip and at one of the places we have been waiting for…Israel! It was a long journey to get here from Beijing. Our flight left at 3:40am after being delayed an hour. We flew from Beijing to Kiev, Ukraine which was an 11 hour flight. We had a 2 hour layover in Ukraine where we then boarded a plane that took 4 hours to touch down in Tel Aviv. We caught a bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (which we had to stand the whole 2 hours because the bus was so packed). By the time we arrived at our Airbnb, we had been awake for about 40 hours, not really counting the broken sleep on the plane as true rest. Needless to say, we were tired and our bodies had broken down from exhaustion. We had gotten sick in the beginning of our visit to China and traveling intensified our illness. After about two weeks of being sick we gave in and started a round of antibiotics. We started feeling better the next day! Thank goodness for medicine, because without it Israel wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable!
Our first full day in Jerusalem was a relaxation day. We only went out once to find food, which was difficult for several reasons. First, we managed to lock ourselves in the Airbnb with no access to our host, due to Passover beginning the night we arrived. Plus, Passover meant no grains in the house AND everything is closed, the city was basically dead. We were finally able to find a small 24 hour grocery store, which had little we knew how to use. After spending nearly 30 minutes in this 46 sq meter store trying to figure out what we could make without bringing anything sinful into our hosts house, we ended up buying chili beans along with some corn tortillas and cheese to try and make beans and cheese. We also purchased some eggs, apples and orange juice for the morning. After arriving back at the Airbnb we also didn’t know what utensils, dishes etc. we could use because each has a specific purpose during Passover and is prepared in a certain way in order to make it kosher. As you can tell, it was a fun first night trying to figure out what we could and couldn’t do. We managed though and learned a lot in the process. ;)
Our second day, Kaitlyn and I headed off on foot to go see the City of David, Hezekiah’s tunnels and explore some of the old city. The City of David is an archeologic park filled with ruins and artifacts. It was amazing to look at the places we’ve read about in the bible. Jerusalem is built in layers; each layer is a little older than the one above it. The farther down you go, the older the history is. One of the most interesting things we did was walk through Hezekiah’s tunnels. When the city was defending itself from the approaching Assyrian army in the 8th century BC, King Hezekiah decided to protect the water by diverting its flow deep into the city with an impressive tunnel system (Chronicles II, 32:30). The Israelis dug a 533 meter tunnel into the mountain to protect the water source. We walked through the entire tunnel and ended at the Pool of Siloam, which is where Jesus healed a blind man (John 9:1–11). It was an amazing experience.
Our third day was spent at Yad Vashem, which is the holocaust museum in Israel. We spent about four and a half hours in the museum and easily could have spent six or seven. We paid for an audio guide, which made the experience even more enjoyable. The museum focuses on facts, of course, but also individual stories of the people who suffered through the holocaust. Putting faces and names with stories was incredibly moving. After being in Cambodia, however, genocide has taken on a new meaning to us. When we speak of genocide we often only think of WW2, but it happens all over the world. Knowledge and personal responsibility are some of the only ways to combat such wickedness; otherwise it often creeps up on us under the guise of progression and growth.
Our fourth day we rented a car and spent the day hiking Masada and at the Dead Sea. Masada is an ancient fortress built in 30 BC in southern Israel’s Judean Desert on a massive plateau. The hike to the top took us approximately one hour, but that was with more than a few stops for pictures. There’s also the option of a cable car if you’re not feeling a hike, but what’s the fun in that?! There were beautiful views of the dead sea and Judean desert at the top of the plateau, accompanied by strong winds due to the height! Almost as windy as Kansas…just kidding! After our hike, we grabbed some lunch at the bottom and then drove to a spot to swim in the Dead Sea. Our AirBnB hosts suggested finding a spot to park and walking to the sea, instead of using a free beach, which they explained were often dirty. We decided to pull off where there was one other car and walked down to the “beach.” It was AMAZING. As you walk down the ground becomes layers upon layers of hardened salt; some parts are extremely sharp while others are completely smooth. Nicholas swam first and I followed; the sensation is hard to describe! You feel exactly like a fishing bobber in the water. You can try and sink yourself, but end up popping right back up. It’s also hard to stay in one position; if you’re trying to get into a sitting position, you will end up on your belly/back and have to try again! Strangely, the water also makes your skin feel oily. After about 30 minutes in the water our skin was starting to burn, so we got out and dried off. As the water evaporates all the salt is left behind, making you a powdery mess. We rinsed off with some water from our bottles, and headed back to Jerusalem for the night.
Saturday we chose to walk the footsteps of Jesus. We started at the Garden of Gethsemane at the Mount of Olives. This was our favorite stop. The garden is fenced off (some of the trees are said to be 800 years old and authorities don’t want them damaged), but it was easy to walk around the fence and see the garden. Next to the garden is the Church of All Nations, which enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before his arrest. We were able to sit in the church quietly and reflect on Christ’s sacrifice, which was emotional for both of us. We also visited the Tomb of the Virgin Mary and the Chapel of Ascension. Ironically, we were ripped off at the Chapel of Ascension. Three middle eastern men were standing at the front of the church not allowing anyone through without charging them five shekels for a “ticket.” All of the holy sights are free to visit, but they were aggressive and we wanted to see the chapel. Thankfully, it only amounted to $3, and Nicholas convinced me not to get too worked up about it. Afterwards we went to the Old City and walked the Via Dolorosa, which is the path that Jesus carried the cross. It ends at the church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus is said to have been crucified and buried. While all of these pilgrimage sights were interesting, we ended our day differently than we expected.
Ultimately, we were convicted of the fact that pilgrimage sights are just that; sights. There is no guarantee any of them actually contain the tombs or rocks they say they do. Additionally, even if they do contain those things— although they may be historically significant and special—they have no impact on our faith. They are physical objects. We witnessed many people rubbing scarves on and praying to enshrined stones/walls etc. Those stones are simply stones, those walls are just walls; they won’t save you, heal you or change your life. The grace of God will, but not the tomb in which Jesus may have been buried. This was especially evident in the behavior of people at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. People were shoving, pushing and yelling at each other to try and get into the church. Guards were physically grabbing people, pushing them towards the exit and yelling (mainly in an effort to control the mobs of people trying to touch anything and everything that may be thought to be holy). Priests were standing at exits of holy sights yelling, “Out! Out! Out!” and pushing people (literally) in the direction of the exit. The church was quite dirty and poorly maintained, with trash on the floors throughout. You can imagine how crazy it must have been for individuals to have to be so harsh in directing the people. We expected each holy sight to have a reverence about it, where people were reflecting or praying. Instead, we found people who seemed to have a lack of understanding as to what relationship with the Father means, in turn helping them to identify what is truly important. The fact is many of the Israeli people are lost and in need of a savior. This is evident by what we witnessed while attending some of the holy sites. There is so much testament to works, but no focus on the relationship. This is because they don’t really know who our God is and the work of His son Jesus. Now, I say all this with caution as it is not my intention to bunch all Israeli people into one group of non-believers. However, from some of what we did see, we were reminded that a relationship with the Lord is what we are called to; not one of works but one of faith. Kaitlyn and I too touched the “rock of calvary”; but it did not change our lives on a spiritual level. But Jesus did, and we’d love to share more on that topic with anyone interested.
Easter Sunday was the most meaningful day we spent in Jerusalem. We went to church at the Garden Tomb, which Christian circles regard as Christ’s true burial sight (the preacher made sure to note that ultimately the tomb doesn’t matter, cause whatever the correct tomb may be…we will still find it empty because Jesus has risen from the dead. Amen). There were believers from all over the world there, some who spoke english, some who didn’t, but all worshipping the Lord together. The music was beautiful and the message full of hope. It was by far the best thing we did in the Holy City! Afterwards we went to the Western Wall and explored the Old City. Monday was spent resting.
On Tuesday we went on a tour into Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank. We visited the Mara Saba Monastery, the Church of the Nativity, the Old City, saw some Banksy graffiti, the separation wall and one of the refugee camps in Bethlehem. Neither Nicholas or I consider ourselves well-educated on the relations between Israel and Palestine, but we learned a lot on the tour. Our tour guide was Palestinian, which gave us a unique perspective into the situation. The Palestinians consider themselves prisoners in their own country, and view Israel as an occupying government. Israeli’s, in turn, view Palestinians as people who have/deserve no rights. They restrict the roads they drive on, their water, land, food, education and housing, all while ignoring so-called settlement agreements. The Palestinians are an oppressed people, but are friendly, and we enjoyed interacting with our guide and many of his friends. Many want foreigners to educate themselves on the treatment the Palestine people are receiving in the West Bank, so focus on that in conversations. Of course, there are always two sides to a disagreement. For example, our Jewish AirBnB host stated that the separation wall decreased terrorist attacks by 90%. It goes to show that you should never make assumptions about people or their culture, and the most important thing we can do is educate ourselves and then advocate for basic human rights.
Being in Jerusalem at such a unique time such as Passover was interesting as well. It is amazing to both of us the amount of rules that fall in suit with Judaism…we were able to have a great conversation with our hosts about the differences in our beliefs and share with them in return what we believe. We tried sharing our faith and how important it is to us, and the difference between faith and religion (which often is interpreted as “rules”). One of the girls asked a lot of questions; we pray for the seeds planted and that God chooses to water them.
Israel was definitely our favorite country from a historical perspective, but unfortunately our least favorite culturally, which surprised us both. Let me explain, as I am sure this has aroused your curiosity. I’m not sure how to explain well, but it seemed to us that the Israeli people were rather abrasive to us and to others; not just tourists. We understand there is a lot going on politically in Israel, but are unaware of what calls for the abruptness in conversation. In this portion of the blog, I am going share honestly about what we experience, but it is not my intention to paint a negative picture. Also, I want to state not all our interactions were bad, we did meet some very nice individuals as well. Although, here I am speaking of an overall experience with the locals and it seemed to us more unpleasant than pleasant. One thing Kaitlyn and I saw repeatedly were people telling us an area was closed when the area was not closed at all. We also found dishonesty as listed prices and requests for payment did not match. We had multiple attempts from Arabs to collect a fee for entrance when entrance was free; which we fell prey to this once. We experienced what we called “Israeli customer service”…look up, recognize, look down, finish text/e-mail/conversation with employee, pause, hesitate, wait, approach and provide a “you’re inconveniencing me” look. Asking for help seems to be a bother to the people—they’ll either lie to you, tell you to move on, or they won’t answer at all. We were trying to buy bus tickets and were told to get out of the way. Paid for parking in coins and were cursed at. Our worst experience was when we asked to buy a specific bus ticket to Tel Aviv. The gentleman working the counter sold us a general ticket to Tel Aviv. After discovering the bus was not going to the specific area we needed, we went to return the ticket. The man yelled at us behind the glass, “You told me Tel Aviv, I gave you a ticket for Tel Aviv…I told you this…!” Kaitlyn became frustrated told him “No, we wanted a specific ticket for a reason, we don’t want the random one you gave us.” and he said, “Give me your ticket, give me your ticket!!” (motioned rudely with his hand) and then said “Buy your ticket on the bus! BYE! Next person, next” and threw the change through the hole in the bottom of the glass. We went to the next window to try again. Our final bad experience was during check in for our flight home to the US. The gentleman refused to let me carry my (Nicholas) bag onto the plane (even though it is carry-on size) and refused to measure it or get his supervisor. Like I said above, we haven’t quite figured out why these people show this adverse treatment to others, but it is quite sad. We felt that a lot of the people didn’t care for conversation and lacked relational skills, unless it was either eating at their restaurant or showing interest in their shop. We wonder if it is part due to the Jews being seen as God’s chosen people, thus they act superior to others (again, this is just a hypothesis). Unfortunately, some of our negative experiences have caused us to question our future return…and after being treated so poorly, we understand (to a degree) how the Palestinians feel. Again, we are reminded that we all need our savior’s grace, so we must attempt to show that same grace to others in order to be a witness for Christ and not against Him.
As I stated earlier, even though we seemed to have many poor interactions, we also had several great interactions. One of these interactions was with a Muslim man, who bought Kaitlyn some candy she wanted, but did not buy because it was too expensive. He said, “Here you go, welcome to Israel!” When we tried to pay him he refused, and said to enjoy in broken english. Another positive was when we took our rental car to the dead sea, upon entrance of one gate, I asked one of the Israeli soldiers a question and he said, “That’s correct, have fun guys!” Another was at a restaurant with a girl who told us we were an extremely cute couple and were kind hearted. She said she would one day love to visit the US and maybe even marry an American man. We also had the pleasure of meeting a very kind man who owned a tiny little burger shop on the side of the road. In addition, he made a pretty mean burger for those looking for some comfort food. ;)
Travel tends to open up your eyes; we can honestly say that Israel opened them in many different ways.
N + K
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