Preparation went well – everything in order.

We left the house around 1:00 pm with Amanda, Alex, and Mitchell.  They dropped us off.

We gathered with our group, checked luggage and went through security.  We were notified that our flight was delayed for an hour and a half.  We broke up into small groups and went for dinner.  Our group consisted of Christine, Jared, Tom and myself.  We went to the Rock Bottom restaurant.  I ordered the chicken enchiladas.  Meal was good.  Talked with Tom about his Architecture firm and the possibility of drawing plans for the BTM Equipping Center to include an artist rendering.  He wants to talk more about that.  Sent text to the guys about texting.  Not really sure how this technology works concerning our data plan, but really don’t like big surprises.

Flew United from  MSP to Newark.  An hour layover then flew directly to Tel Aviv.

We arrived at 9:45 am CST Saturday morning.  That is 5:45 pm in Israel.

Taleb is our driver.  We drove 45 minutes to Jerusalem.  Today is Saturday and thus Sabbath – which means the travel is easy because the Jews don’t drive on Sabbath. Sun goes down around 6:30 pm and was as we entered Jerusalem.

I want to remind myself to write about how I am feeling as I go.

I kissed the ground and prayed once outside of the airport.  Took a picture of the spot.  Took a picture of me and Tim Hatt as well. as a memory stone.

The entire drive from airport to Jerusalem was up – I mean a constant climb.

We entered through the Jaffa Gate and went directly to our hotel which is positioned right next to the gate.  The name of the Hotel is “The Gloria” – we were sent over to the Annex rooms across the street because they are over booked in the main hotel.  I was not happy about that because we will have to change rooms tomorrow.  I really wanted to just settle in.  The room it is very simple with two single beds and a desk.  The big plus is that it has a balcony which really only over looks a road that is about the size of an alley.

The Jaffa Gate is also David’s Gate and is one of 8 gates in Jerusalem’s old city walls.  Jaffa Gate is the only one of the Old City gates positioned at a right angle to the wall.  During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israeli forces fought hard to connect the Jewish Quarter of the Old City with Israeli-held western Jerusalem by controlling the Jaffa Gate.  Israeli forces were not able to gain control of the gate until the Six Day War in 1967.  Also, in 2000 Pope John Paul II came through this gate to the Old City as a sign of respect.

My initial feeling is that this seems so commercial.  I haven’t felt (based upon my short stay) that this resembles Jerusalem of Jesus.  I guess we will see if that changes, but part of my journaling I intend to record how I feel about certain things.

The travel has taken a bit of a toll and I am feeling it – however, I am glad we are here.

Dinner was at the Gloria and it was a buffet.  The food seems to be very traditional to the region.  I am glad to try things, although I didn’t eat anything that was really to my liking and certainly not to my wife’s.  We will try again tomorrow.

After dinner, we went out to exchange our dollars to shekels.  This was really fun as we went down David’s Street which is full of shops.  We didn’t buy anything yet, but I got to know a couple of the shop owners.  One person I spent time talking with was Zak Mishriky.  He is an antiquities dealer and a Palestinian Christian.  He is the money changer we met and Steve Hudson knows him well and trusts him.  He speaks English, Hebrew and Arab.  He told me that “Shook Rum” means thank you in Arab.

Well, after that we went up to our room where we tried to figure out our converters.  This is still not something I am too comfortable with as I certainly don’t want to fry out our electronics.  Also, I couldn’t get a Wi-Fi connection in our room so I am sitting in the Gloria lobby writing this post.  As I complete it, I see it is 10:19 pm in Israel.

Off to bed – Good night!