Holy Land Tour
1/11/00 - 1/22/00
My father standing on a boat in the Sea of Galiliee. This is where many miracles occurred including:
Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14:24-33)
Simon Peter catching a fish with a 4-drachma coin inside it (Matthew 17:27)
Disciples catching fish from the other side of the boat (John 21:6)
Jesus feeding 5000 men with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish (Matthew 14:14-21)
Casting demons out from Legion and into a herd of pigs (Mark 5: 1-14)
Me and my father standing inside the ruins of a church that was built on the site of where Peter lived.
Standing in front of the Church of Beatitudes, the site believed to be where Jesus told his disciples who would inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew: 5:1-12)
My parents at the Church of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
On a walking tour of the surrounding areas of the Sea of Galilee, here my dad is giving a short sermon as we sit on the slopes facing the Sea of Galilee.
My mom taking pictures of our group on the slopes facing the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is however a large body of fresh water and not salt water, which is why several kinds of fruits and grains are grown in the fields that surround the Sea of Galilee.
For lunch we all ate at a sea-side restaurant. Oddly enough, our waitress was a Korean international student from Han-Dong University studying short-term in a kibbutz. My parents were so excited to meet her that they wanted to get a picture of her.
I'm standing inside the Church of Seven Springs, which is where the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000+ men and women with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. I'm not exactly sure what that rock is there for, maybe that's where Jesus sat or something.
Here my parents are standing in front of Nimrod Fortress. This was not a scheduled stop, but the place we were going to was closed, so on our way back we stopped here. Unfortunately, this place was also closed.
Here is part of our tour group.
Nothing better than fresh icy cold Jordan River water to quench that thirst. This is the site which is close to where Jesus was baptized. Many people come here to get baptized. Three of our own people got baptized here in the Jordan River. Most of the people in our group were pastors, but that didn't stop some people who didn't have pastors from baptizing themselves as the lady on the left did.
This Wedding Ceremony Church in Cana is where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding. (John 2:1-11) "This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee."
My dad looking up at the Basilica of the Annunciation. This is the site of the Annunciation and also said to be "The House of the Virgin Mary". The basilica is built over the grotto and the ruins of four earlier churches.
This is me and my dad standing in the rear of the Basilica of the Annunciation.
As usual, Korean people can't go anywhere without bringing their Korean food. The bus in the background was our replacement bus after our originally one broke down.
Some of us were more adventurous to brave new types of food. Here Pastor Jon is waiting for his order of Filafe (pronounced phi-la-phea). It's very similar to gyros, but there are fried dumplings made of hummus. It's really good.
I'm standing holding up rocks in the ruins of the ancient city of Megiddo also known as Armageddon. Armageddon = "Hill of Megiddo". This is where the final battle will be fought in the end of days. This ancient city was fortified and is strategically located where several routes intersect.
We are walking down a vertical passage which allowed the inhabitants of the city to reach a horizontal tunnel that was dug to reach a spring which was beyond the city walls during times of war.
Here I am on top of Mount Carmel which over looks the plains of Armageddon. The picture doesn't do the scenery justice. The plains are actually very flat.
This outlook close to the shores of Haifa, a very prominent area in Israel. Many wealthy people live here. Nothing very interesting here...we were just passing through, but the view was gorgeous.
This is the site of where Jesus was born. I don't know if there's anything actually in that star with a hole on the left side of the picture. This is called The Star of Bethlehem.
This is a scaled model of the old city of Jerusalem before the city was destroyed in 70 A.D. This model took 7 years to build. The old temple which cannot be seen in this picture only took 4 years to build. The detailing of this model city is exquisite.
Here I am at the Wailing Wall. This is a part of the original wall surround the temple, and is the only part of the temple wall that still exists today. The Romans left only a portion of the wall standing as a reminder to all of how magnificent the temple was and of how powerful the Romans were. To this day Jews pack this area carrying their prayers with them on little pieces of paper and squeezing them into the cracks of the wall. The left side of the wall is reserved for men and the right side for the women.
Here I am standing in front of the Dome of the Rock. From a distance this mosque looks amazing, but as you can see, close up, it looks kind of strange with all those colors.
This is part of the road of which Jesus last traveled before being crucified. This road is a few meter below the current ground level. Here we had a short service memorializing Jesus' last steps.
Built here is a Christian church, close-by where Jesus' tomb was. Beside us on the ground is a rock that is split into two, believed to be caused by the earthquake during the resurrection.
Here I am with my mom standing inside the "Upper Room".
Check out the camel. Looks happy and nice but it's really a mean thing. I think it was about ready to bite me.
Here we stop for a brief picture while walking down this road. This is the Hosanna Road, the path traveled by Jesus as he entered the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
Directly behind me is the Golden Gate. According to prophecy, the Son of God will enter the city of Jerusalem through this gate. Since the Palestinians control this area, they closed up the gate and blocked it off. When the British was at war with Turkey, a tank was about to destroy this gate but for some mysterious reason the tank was ordered not to.
This place is known as the Church of Agony, or the Church of Gethsemane. This is the rock on which Jesus wept, the night he knew he would be betrayed by one of His disciples.
Here I am standing atop of Masada. This was the last of the Jewish resistance against the Romans. When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, a small group of zealots escaped the devastation and fled to the mountains.
It took an army of 5000 Roman soldiers and several Jewish slaves to finally build a ramp to ram the walls of Masada. Down below, the remains of the Roman camp can still be seen. It took a year for the Romans to finally finish the ramp and ram a hole in the wall. As the prepared to storm the city, the soldiers were met with an eerie silence, for all the Jewish men, women, and children had committed suicide, rather than face the fate of the Roman Army. Only a few survivors were found in a cistern.
The Dead Sea water is about 22% salt, so salty that nothing can live in the water, not even bacteria. Here I am effortless floating since the water is so dense. It was very windy that day and we were not allowed to go very far. You can only spend a few minutes in the water and were told that drinking the sea water could be potentially fatal.
The rock on top of the cliff that looks like a statue is said to be where Lot's wife turned to a pillar of salt. I'm not sure how they knew that but at any rate all the rocks around this area are salty. To my right is the Dead Sea.
