Day 9: Our Last Day

Ah, our last morning to wake up in Israel and in beautiful Jerusalem.  We all greeted each other with friendly, "Boker tov" expressions which means Good Morning. 

I wrote in my journal that I would miss having salads for breakfast, not seeing fish with my coffee, but I would miss the strong coffee of Israel, the delicious mozzarella cheese, olives, dates, fresh fruits, pita bread, and even perhaps the felafels. 

Our travels began at the Israel Museum where we were so blessed to see the Jerusalem model.  The model is incredible and an absolute must see if you ever have the blessing of going to Jerusalem.  The model helped put into perspective all of the places we were able to see.  The model is built on a scale of 50 to 1.  Inside the museum, we saw remnants of the scrolls and a replica of the Isaiah scrolls that were found in Qumran. 



Click here for more information about the Jerusalem model.

We enjoyed walking through the gardens of the museum:



From the Museum we travelled to the Holocaust Museum...oh what a place. My heart aches just thinking about it. I was so stunned by the stories and the history represented in this place that I didn't take a single picture to share.



From the Holocaust Museum we travelled to the House of Caiaphas. Caiaphas had a prison under his house and this was where Jesus spent His last night before His crucifixion.


We saw the caves/prison where Peter and John would have been imprisoned too:
And then

we saw the pit where they would have lowered Jesus to spend His last night. Our feet walked down the steps to stand in the dark pit. The lights were turned out and we stood in darkness. My thoughts were: The Light of the world in the dark pit...for me and for you. Oh, what a Savior! Thank you, Lord Jesus!




The walls of the prison where Jesus was have stains on them as if even the rocks were crying too:



Outside of the prison, we saw the steps Jesus would have walked from the House of Caiaphas all the way to Golgotha.

From there, we made our way to the Garden Tomb area:

What a beautiful, happy place.  I enjoyed seeing all of the enormous palm trees and branches and hearing the birds singing:


From the Garden you can see what they believe is Golgotha-can you see how it looks like a skull:


Finally! We saw the Garden Tomb-the empty Garden Tomb! And we all rejoiced at the sight of it. It was amazing to walk inside and see where His precious head and feet would have been. I love the sign on the door that says He is not here for He is risen! Praise, You Jesus!

Here is Rachel getting ready to go inside:

Where they would have placed His precious head:

And the sign...yes!  He is risen, just as He said!




Our group had the Lord's Supper in the beautiful Garden and Margie beautifully sang, "How Beautiful." It was amazing. My heart was filled to overflowing with absolute gratitude and joy being in this wonderful place.



Sadly we all loaded the bus for our final dinner in Israel. I cried all the way to the restaurant as my eyes gazed on Jerusalem for the last time. I wasn't ready to leave; it is so hard to leave this place.

After travelling in our same clothes for nearly 40 hours we arrived back home safe and sound in Texas...but we will never be the same! My thoughts often are with the people of Israel and with all the Good Lord allowed us to see and experience. I'll never be able to thank Him enough for that great blessing of being there with my family.

Yes, it was a journey of a lifetime. One I hope that all of you are blessed to experience too. You will never be the same and your love for the Lord will be deeper than before.

Thank you for so graciously joining me on my Journey to Israel. Shalom!