Some of the people we have worked with

The greatest highlight of our time here has been the wonderful people we have had the privilege of meeting and working with.  In an earlier post I shared about NETS and the great job it is doing in training and equipping leaders for the churches here.  We have also enjoyed meeting with and worshiping in various churches in the area.

As I have shared in the past, Lynda and I have been attending the Good Shepherd Baptist Church near our house.  Pastor Afif Saba and his wife Mimi have been wonderful friends and encouragers to us.  He has truly served as our pastor while we have been here.

 Recently they welcomed to the family their latest grandchild--little Afif!

 Ibrahim Bishara serves as the worship leader at Good Shepherd Baptist Church.  He serves part-time and also works as a teacher.  We celebrated his daughter Grace's birthday recently.

 Ziad Farraj serves as the worship leader at the church in Tu'ran.  Ziad is working on his Master's Degree.  He works as a teacher for kids with visual impairments.

 Hanna Eid and his family serve in Eilaboun--a beautiful community just north of Nazareth.

Hanni Sayegh and his family serve in Pkeki'in in the Upper Galilee.

These men and their families represent some of the 20 Baptist Churches that are part of the Association of Baptist Churches in Israel.  With 800 baptized members, the challenge to impact this region and nation for Christ is huge.  Please pray for these leaders and their families and their churches.

Lynda and I have been humbled by their faithfulness in the midst of great obstacles--a minority of a minority of a minority of a minority!

Part of our work here has been to help strengthen the communication tools of NETS to tell its story.  I hope that you will sign up to receive the NETS e-letter which will include highlights of the work of NETS along with interviews with staff and students, plus prayer requests.  Just drop me an e-mail (ssmith@brnonline.org) and I will be glad to add you to the mailing list.  Thanks!

A Bit More about Jerusalem

There is so much to see and do in Jerusalem, let me catch up on a few more sights and experiences we had.

The Mehane Yehuda market is located in West Jerusalem.  It is a bustling and crowded open air market that features all manner of food and other products.Just walking through the corridors of the market fills your senses with wonderful smells and sights in the midst of great diversity of people.

Another highlight in Jerusalem is the fantastic Israel Museum, which contains relics and artifacts covering the history of entire span of the region of Israel.  Here are some sarchophagi, 

 This four-cornered pagan altar was found in Beersheba and dates to the 8th century BC

 Here is the seal of Jezebel!

 In the exhibit dealing with the time of Jesus, there is a copy of a heel bone pierced with an iron nail (the actual bone and nail date to the first century A. D., illustrating the type of method used in crucifixions at that time.

 In addition to the indoor exhibits, the Museum contains a scale replica of Jerusalem as it was during the Second Temple era.

The Museum includes the Shrine of the Book which contains the Dead Sea scrolls found at Qumran.

 Here is a mosaic of David playing the harp. From 508 AD

 This is a silver amulet containing the oldest fragment of scripture found to date.  This item dates to the 6th - 7th century B. C.

This plaque contains the epitaph for King Uzziah!

We spent the entire day wandering through the exhibits and could have spent several days trying to see it all. A great exhibit!  The day we were there they also had a special exhibit of artifacts related to King Herod!  I guess not such a big thing to those living in Jerusalem but to us it was amazing.

On a more sobering note, the Holocaust Museum in Israel is also located in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem (A Memorial and a Name).  This is truly the most sobering and difficult exhibit I have ever visited.  As you enter the museum area you walk along the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations, which highlights those Gentiles who aided the Jews during the time of the Holocaust.

 This tree was planted in recognition of Corrie Ten Boom and her family.

 This cattle car was used to haul Jews to one of the death camps.

 The Hall of Remembrance is a dark tomb-like structure that bears the names of  21 of  the main death camps.  At the centre of the room is a casket of ashes from the cremation ovens and an eternal flame above it.

 Uziel was one of the 6 millions Jews killed in the Holocaust, his parents funded the Children's Memorial where the names of each of the over 1 million children are read out with their ages.

The main part of the exhibit is a long corridor with 10 exhibition halls.  Over 2,500 personal items have been donated by the survivors and their families.  Each of the halls is dedicated to a different aspect of the Holocaust.  The exhibit contains numerous videos of survivors retelling their experiences.  

It truly is almost impossible to walk through and view these exhibits and realize the true horror that man in his prejudice and bias and hatred can inflict on other human beings.

We also were able to go to Bethlehem which is part of the West Bank, Palestinian Territories.  The Church of the Nativity is an interesting building.

The building is actually three buildings connected--which can be identified by the three different crosses on the sections of the building.

 St Catherine's Church which contains the tomb of Jerome

 Church of the Nativity

Armenian Monastery

This area was identified as the place of Christ's birth since at least 160 A. D.  The church was built by Constantine in 326 ( portions of the Mosaic floor from that time are still visible). 

 It was rebuilt by Justinian in 530 and the current Nave dates to that time as well.  

Behind and below the altar is the Grotto of the Nativity.  

There is a silver star on a marble slab that is over the spot where Christ is said to have been born.

The entrance to the Church of the Nativity is called the Door of Humility.  The doorway was reduced in size by the Ottoman ruler to hinder horses, donkeys or camels from wandering into the building.

We also visited the site of  the Shepherd's Fields.

 The site contains a beautiful chapel.

Whose walls are covered with beautiful depictions of parts of the Christmas story.

Being in Jerusalem during Passover and Easter was a truly incredible experience.  There is so much to see and do there--to actually see and walk through the places that are recounted in the Bible numerous times.  It is clear that some of the places identified in Jerusalem today may not really be the actual place, but to know that it was in the general vicinity was truly thrilling.  But as our tour guide said when we visited here two years ago, "People, People.  It is not about the place.  It is about the Person!"  Truly it is!

Pass the salt!

In this blog we will go from the beginning of the Dead Sea to the end.

Just before arriving at the Dead Sea from Jerusalem, you pass by Jericho.

Here is the Zacchaeus sycamore tree!

Jericho is part of the Palestinian Territories.  Many of the roads in and around the refugee camps have been provided through the USAid program of the United States.   Here is one of many signs throughout the area acknowledging and expressing appreciation to the US for the assistance.

We went to the ruins of the old city of Jericho where you can see over 20 layers of sediment indicating how old Jericho  really is.  It claims  with good evidence to be the oldest city in the world.  Plus it sits over 800 feet below sea level it is also the lowest city on earth!

Here are the ruins of a segment of wall dating to the time of Joshua!

Here is a view from the Old City of Jericho towards the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted for forty days and nights.

To reach the Mount of Temptation you have to travel via cable car over a mile north of the Old City.  Carved out of the mountain is the Monastery of the Temptation dating back to the 12th century.

Here is one of the pathways in the monastery.  You can see the row of rooms used by the monks who live there.

Jericho sits as an oasis in a vast arid area.

 Right after the highway turns south coming from Jerusalem passed Jericho is Qumran.  From 150 BC to AD 68 this site was home to an ascetic community of Essenes.  They passed from existence following the conflict with the Romans.  In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy came across a cave of jars filled with scrolls while looking for a lost goat.  Those jars contained 190 linen-wrapped scrolls dating back 2,000 years. Over the next twenty years scrolls were found in a total of 11 caves.

Copies of the scrolls found here are housed in the Shrine of the Book attached to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.  Extensive ruins are accessible.  But the highlight for me was to walk to the edge of the ruins of the Essene community and see the cave in the adjoining ridge where the scrolls were found!  These scrolls contain the oldest known versions of various books of the Bible including a copy of the book of Isaiah dating to 100 B. C.  It is a wonderful story of how the Bible was preserved and protected through the generations.

At the extreme other end of the Dead Sea in a truly arid and barren area is the traditional site of Sodom.

We were surprised to find a sign indicating where Lot's wife was turned to a pillar of salt.  There on top of one of the mountains made of salt was a formation that looks like part of it is leaning away from the rest--Lot's wife!

Just below the outcropping called Lot's wife is a cave.

 The rock formation really is composed of a salt-like substance.

The Dead Sea area truly is beautiful.  Hard to imagine that in all that beauty it is a mineral-laden dead sea!