Hi there,

Today began with our heading for the Tel in Jericho, where we saw first Elisha's Spring that has been flowing for thousands of years and is still active today. We started out by looking at the excavated ruins of what is believed to have been the Jericho wall, a watchtower that is over 10,000 years old, (the oldest ruin in the world), seeing from afar, the mount of temptation, a traditional site where Jesus is believed to have been tempted in the Judean Wilderness and a Greek Orthodox Monastery that comemorates the site.

When we finished at the Tel, we convened on the roof of a very nice store and restaraunt where we had church. We had a great sermonette from Pastor Graig about Joshua and obedience and how successful we become when we acknowledge God's sovereignty and plans for our lives.

We left after buying some great fruit, both dried and fresh, headed for a glass shop in Jericho. Many folk bought things you'll get to see when we return and had a great time shopping.

Our destination after the glass shop was the ruins of Herod's Winter Palace, also in Jericho where some hiked a short way to the recently excavated ruins and others of us stayed back and were entertained by local kids and their goats and donkeys.

On the way out of town we were got to see a herd of camels, next to the road, pruning some farmer's olive trees.

We picked up Julie, our guide, who being Israeli, cannot enter any of the major cities of the West Bank, so had not been with us earlier in the morning. Hazem then drove us to Qumran, believed to be the home of the Essenes and the location of the repository of the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, by a shepherd boy. There is some controversy about whether the Essenes actually occupied Qumran, but the concensus is that they did and were the authors of the scrolls found in a variety of caves around the site. They were a monastic sect of devoutly religious Jews that were in the end, annialated by the Romans, who also tried to trash many of the Scrolls.

Bethlehem was our next destination, once again where Julie couldn't join us, so we picked up our Bethlehem guide Adel, the same gentleman that had helped us the last time we were in Bethlehem in 2007. We began with a great lunch and were then off to the Shepherd's Fields and a cave similar to the one believed to house the shepherds, the night of Jesus birth. We were able to go into the church built over the site of the cave and once again were blessed by Graig's teaching.

We left the Shepherd's Field and traveled the short distance to the Church of the Nativity for a particularly trying and dificult experience. This holy site was being visited by literally thousands of people who all, including us, stood in line, or mass, waiting their turns to see the traditional birth place of the Savior.

The last place before dinner and bed, was a stop at the Three Arches where we all shopped for Olive Wood gifts and endless other beautiful things you'll all get to see either when we get home or some other occasion. Mike Cannuati, the owner is a most gracious and excellent business man and friend who welcomed us to his store and cared for us well as we selected our Treasures.

Dinner was great, once again, and bed welcome as this was an especially long and tiresome day. Several are feeling a great deal of fatigue and could use some specific prayers for strength and endurance. All are healthy and continually praising our Savior for bringing us to his homeland and our spiritual home.

Lord bless you all; stay tuned and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

Doug