Israel

Happy New Year!

Eric and I spent the second half of December on our honeymoon in Israel. It is a place that we both had been wanting to visit.

The country is relatively small, so we rented a car to easily visit a number of places that people recommended and that we had an interest in exploring.

After an overnight flight from Uganda, we landed in Tel Aviv in the early hours of the morning, figured out how to start our rental car and off we drove around the dark and quiet Tel Aviv on to the south to a town called Arad.

In Arad overlooking the town and the Judean Desert hills

It was a Saturday morning, which is a holy day in Israel, therefore as we arrived in Arad, there were only a few people out and many places were closed.  We enjoyed driving around to see the beauty of the town then continued to drive south to the Dead Sea. We were in awe of the unique desert beauty and the wildness of the landscape near the sea.

We took time to walk out about 2 miles on a jetty in the Dead Sea towards the Moab Mountains in Jordan. Days later we "floated" in the Dead Sea! What a crazy feeling to get in the water and bounce right back up :)

 Dead Sea floating

Jetty walk at the Dead Sea

Dead Sea floating

Our trusty rental car!

View from mountains above the Dead Sea

It was crazy to see camels in their natural habit!

Other experiences we had in the southern region of Israel were:
- Hiking and exploring Masada
- Hiking Ein Gedi and the desert springs
- Finding a coffee shop we loved and visited several times

Hiking to the top of Masada where we learned about the existence of King Herod's Palace and life on this fortress through ancient ruins

Wadi David, a spring in the middle of the desert (Psalm 1)

View from our hike at Ein Gedi- overlooking the Dead Sea and western Jordan

Hiking Ein Gedi

After those few days, we drove north to the Sea of Galilee with a midday stop in the Palestinian city of Jericho. It is said that Jericho is the oldest (11,000 years) and lowest (846 ft. below sea level) city in the world. Although Jericho is surrounded by Israel, it is a Palestinian city with its own personality and gregariously welcoming citizens.

In Jericho

The place where Zaccheus climbed the Sycamore Tree in Jericho

Overlooking Old and New Jericho

We only spent a few hours in Jericho and visited a museum. The museum had a garden with a sycamore tree that was around 2000 years old. Although no ones knows if this is the actual tree Zaccheus climbed, as stated in Luke 19 in the Bible, the area of the museum is believed to be the place where the story happened. We then drove up to the Mount of Temptation that gave us an incredible view of old and new city Jericho.


After Jericho, we continued our 2-hour drive to Tiberias, which is located on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. The landscape slowly changed from desert to lush vegetative fields and of course, Eric was enthralled over the farms that we were passing! As we were driving, we drove along the border to the country Jordan and at times and we got to see the beauty and flourishing green farms in the Jordan Valley.

Sunrise at the Sea of Galilee

While in the north we took time to visit:
- Capernaum
- Golan Heights
- Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)
- Mount Carmel
- Nazareth where we got to see what life was like in the city where Jesus was raised
- the city of Safed
-Magdala- a crossroads of Jewish and Christian history- It is the town where Mary Magdalene came from and where the remains of a first-century city and Jewish synagogue were recently discovered. Because Jesus taught in the towns and synagogues surrounding this area, it is quite possible that Jesus visited and taught in this very synagogue.

The church at Tagbah where the feedings of the multitudes took place, the Mount of Beatitudes is nearby, the calling of the apostles, and many other significant Biblical events took place

Jordan River - where John the Baptist baptized Jesus

Safed town was HIGH in elevation- a city built on a mountainside and we loved it! It holds a lot of charm mixed with a lot of history.

Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18)

Capernaum was the city where Jesus did the most of his ministry

The Sea of Galilee where Jesus did a lot of ministry and where He walked on water

Ruins of a Synagogue in Capernaum

Northern Israel landscape- the Golan Heights

There were a handful of dairy farms that we passed while in the north. Eric got in contact with the Israeli Dairy School that was touring a farm and got to sit in on an information session about how they run their operations. It was really amazing for him! That night we ate at McDonald's where they had huge burgers and a touchscreen "create your own burger" ordering menu.

Order what you like at an Israeli McDonald's! HAHA!

After several days in the north at the Sea of Galilee, we headed south to Jerusalem! While in Jerusalem we stayed at my friend's 7th-floor apartment, which allowed us a spectacular view of the city for miles and miles (many thanks to Katrina and David! :) )

Heading to Jerusalem!

Our first sunset in Jerusalem

We visited:
- Old City Jerusalem including: the Wailing Wall, the Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- Hezekiah's Tunnel
- City of David
- Bethlehem (just a few miles from Jerusalem city)

Old City Jerusalem markets

The Wailing Wall - the remnant of a Temple, a place where people come from all over the world to weep and pray. Isaiah 2: 2-3

We learned A LOT of history, religious history, Biblical explanations, random facts, etc!

Christmas Day was one of the most memorable ones of my life.  We went to Christ Church Jerusalem that is located inside the walls of Old City Jerusalem. There we joined the church community and people from all over the world who were spending their holiday in the most sacred place for this season. In the very region where our Savior was born, lived, and died. We sang meaningful Christmas hymns and worshipped together among people we didn't know, yet felt so connected to.

Christ Church Jerusalem

Christmas in Bethlehem

Markets in Bethlehem

Christmas Morning in over Jerusalem

The whole adventure to Israel was deeply meaningful for us- it included many "firsts". Our first time traveling together (we did great and also found that we think alike as far as travel is concerned). We celebrated our first Christmas together and it was the first time either of us had visited that part of the world.

We deeply hope that your Christmas season was lifegiving and refreshing. Joy to the World, our Savior reigns in our lives. Happy 2019! We look forward to updating you in a few weeks on our move to northern Uganda.

Lots of love and joy,

Lauren and Eric

This trip would not have been possible without our Waze car app set to German- needless to say, we learned some German along the way and managed very well!

Eric got me flowers for our 18-month anniversary of dating on December 19! They included some of the flowers I picked to use at our wedding!

If you know me, you know I LOVE to eat Maryland crabs and I found crab chips in Israel!