Day 23 - June 2 - Thursday

My Journal Entry:

First stop on the list today was Qumran - the place where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. We couldn't get to the cave without rappelling, but we saw the entrance and the old community area - basically a Jewish cult monastery/kibbutz/thing - surrounding it. Then we went to the Israel Museum for three hours, saw a model of Old Jerusalem and a bunch of artifacts from ancient Israel and its surrounding neighbors of Greece, Rome, and Egypt, looked at some weird art and sculptures, etc. After that we went to meet the woman who arranged our transportation in Israel. That was mostly uneventful, but my head had been hurting all day, and it got REALLY bad in the van on the way to meet her. When we got out, other people on my team noticed and helped - Val gave me some ibuprofen, a couple different people asked if I was okay, and Nick made sure I was in the shade and prayed over me. Once again, just like when I was sick, I am reminded just how blessed I am to be on this amazing team. I only really knew two of the team members (Heather and Luke) beyond basic interaction before leaving for Israel, and now every single one of them is like family to me. God has brought me into some amazing relationships here, and I am so grateful for each person on my team. :) After that, we checked into a hotel in Jaffa for the night and met briefly in Amanda's room, and now it's off to bed. Tomorrow should be a pretty chill day since we're leaving at midnight.

Mr. Wilson's Details:

We got out fairly early again, in order to visit part of
the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Along with viewing a cave said to be the one holding the clay jars containing the scrolls, we toured a ruined village of the Essenes, the ascetic sect that lived in that region during the first century AD.

After getting a distant view of the city of Jericho, we climbed back out of the desert and came again to Jerusalem, where we spent the afternoon touring the Israel Museum, perhaps the “Louvre” of Jerusalem. The most unique display is the outdoor model of the city of Jerusalem and Herod’s temple as they appeared in about 66 AD, before the Romans destroyed it. The scale is 1:50, so that an inch on the model equals about 4 feet of actual building dimensions. The entire model is about 60 feet wide by 40 feet deep (my guesstimates). It was interesting to study the features from all angles, in comparison with what we saw in touring the Old City as it exists today.

We are staying in a hotel in Jaffa (Yafo, or Joppa), packing for the trip home and planning our traditional VISION farewell meal, with associated sharing and ceremonies, which will have to be lunch on Friday, since the team flies home, starting at midnight Friday night.