sea of galilee

a picture perfect day on the sea of galilee (sailing from tiberias to magdala)

Welcome to Israel

We made it safely to the Holy Land! We flew into Tel Aviv yesterday, met our guide and bus driver, and then proceeded to drive to Joppa for lunch. We walked around the old city, enjoyed the scenic view, saw the old port where Jonah got on his boat, and visited the church marking the place where Peter had his vision of the animals. We stayed the night in Tiberias, took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, and visited churches marking the spot of the Beatitudes and the feeding of the five thousand. We also went to Capernaum, the hometown of several of the disciples and one of the centers of Jesus' ministry.

More next time - in the meantime you cam go to my facebook page to see a few more  photos. Shalom!

this is how lutherans like to celebrate

cfw walther celebrating the sem's birthday

happy 175 csl

Travel Itinerary

Here is our travel itinerary for the Trip to Israel ...

Oct. 21 - Tel Aviv
Oct. 22 - Tiberias, Sea of Galilee, Mt. of Beatitudes, Mt. Hermon, Golan Heights, Jordan River
Oct. 23 - Mt. Tabor, Deboriya, Nain, Megiddo, Jezreel
Oct. 24 - Meet Pastor Nabil Nour's family and visit his hometown of Haifa
Oct. 25 - Nazareth, Cana, Amman (Jordan)
Oct. 26 - Petra (Jordan)
Oct. 27 - Jericho, Mt. Nebo, Jordan Valley, Inn of Good Samaritan, Mt. of Temptation
Oct. 28 - Bethlehem, Nativity Church, Shepherd's Field, Field of Boaz and Ruth
Oct. 29 - Masada, Dead Sea, Qumran, Cave of Dead Sea Scrolls
Oct. 30 - Jerusalem, Bethany, Mt. of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, Mt. Zion, Tomb of David
Oct. 31 - Wailing Wall, Mt. Moriah, Dome of the Rock, Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, and Garden Tomb

Thank you for all your support and for keeping us in your prayers. Shalom!

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Israel 2014

Today is Sept. 20th. That means that in just one month I will be leaving on my trip to Israel.

I can't really put into words what I'm feeling right now. Nervous, jittery, excited, concerned ... a little bit of everything, I guess. I've tried not to think about the trip much so as to temper my enthusiasm, but now with only a month to go, I just can't help myself. I am FREAKING out. I guess it was going to happen sooner or later.

A few people have asked me, "Why would you want to go to Israel?" My response is, "Why would you NOT want to?!"  The Holy Land encapsulates everything I hold dear - God, Jesus, the Gospel, the Bible, history, geography, archaeology, etc ...  it has been "numero uno" on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. I'm not saying everyone needs to go in order to be a good Christian or to have a full and complete life. I'm just saying that I need to go.

So, my plan is to update my blog as often as possible while in Israel. Originally I was planning on blogging every day, but after looking at our packed itinerary, let's just say that I'll be blogging on a "regular basis".

Before we leave, I will post our travel itinerary so that you can follow along with us and have sort of a virtual tour of the Holy Land on your own.

That's all for now. Much more to come. Did I mention my dad gets to go too?  ;-)

Shalom,
Pastor Pete

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