June 13, 2023

DAY TWO - 31 MAY 2023. We departed from the hotel earlier than yesterday to be able to see all the sites planned for the day. At this juncture, I would like to introduce the Group members on this tour. We were thirty-three in number and came from Nigeria, USA, UK, Switzerland and The Gambia. We are all believers in Jesus Christ, by the grace of God. Quite a few of us were first timers, and many were repeat visitors. The Group comprised people from various professional backgrounds and skills, and included worship leaders, instrumentalists, official photographer, administrative assistant and a young man who accompanied his mother. The Group leader was Pastor Elsie Obed, Founder of Lilies International Christian Outreach with worship Center at The King’s Temple, Hewlett, New York, USA. This was the formidable group of people I had the privilege to be with on the tour. There were fun times, and lots of laughter and sharing, but there were also sober moments of reflection, contemplation, prayer and meditation. There were emotional moments too. I was also privileged to have three family members with me on the tour, my older daughter, Ame, my Sister Angela and her husband, Lee, with whom I share memories of this tour of a lifetime.

THE DEAD SEA

We travelled for over one and a half hours from Jerusalem to get to the Dead Sea which is situated between Israel and Jordan. We saw the Judean and Negev deserts. Our guide informed us that the Dead Sea is over 400m below sea level and the earth’s lowest elevation point is at the Dead Sea. The landscape around the Dead Sea was the Negev desert and there were many orchards of palm trees intentionally grown in the area. There were some tourist camps on the beach, but we did not have access to the beach or to float on the sea. We were, however able to purchase discounted cosmetics and other body products made from the Dead Sea minerals, as souvenirs of our visit.

JORDAN RIVER

Our next stop was Jordan River which runs along the border between Jordan, the West Bank, Israel and southwestern Syria. Jordan River has many significance as recorded in the Holy Bible. Once we got to the river, we paused for a time of reflection on these significances some of which are presented below:

· The Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promise Land

· Jesus was baptized by in it by John the Baptist.

· Prophet Elisha performed two miracles it: he healed Naaman's leprosy by having him bathe in its waters (2 Kings 5:14), and he made an axe head, lost by one of the children of the prophets, float by throwing a piece of wood into the water (2 Kings 6:6).

· Joshua and all the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground as God miraculously parted the waters (Joshua 3:1-2).

· Elijah struck the water with his mantle and it divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them (Elijah and Elisha) crossed over on dry ground. (2 Kings 2:7).

· Elisha used Elijah’s mantle that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And the water divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over. (2 Kings 2:14).

· And more….

Jordan River is therefore significant as a place of salvation, healing, miracles, source of life etc. We worshipped and then went into the water knee deep and prayed. It was a solemn moment. On the walls enclosing the river area there was a quotation from Mark 1:9-11, the baptism of Jesus, written in many languages of the world: ‘It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

THE SEA OF GALILEE

We left the Jordan River for the Sea of Galilee. On the way we passed the towns of Tiberias and Magdala. The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake that has the shape of a violin. We sailed on a boat from Galilee to Capernaum. The Sea of Galilee, Galilee and Capernaum were significant in Jesus’ ministry and some of the significances are presented below:

· For 3 years, Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23).
· He called his first disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John from Galilee (Matthew 4:18-20).
· The Sermon on the Mount was preached in Galilee. (Matthew 5-7).
· He walked on the Sea of Galilee (John 6:19-21).
· He calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:23-26).
· He showed the disciples miraculous catches of fish (Luke 5:1-8; John 21:1-6).
· He fed 5,000 men, apart from women and children, with five loaves and two fish. (John 6:1-12).
· He turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana in Galilee. (John 2:1-11).
· He raised Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:1-44).

As we sailed on the boat, national anthems of nations represented were played after which we sang worship and praise songs and took photos. It took over one hour to cross over to Capernaum. We got off the boat and on our way to the bus, I was surprised to see a tree native to The Gambia which we call ‘sademe’ in our local language. There were many of these trees and the orange coloured fruit it produces littered the ground. I wondered how they got there. We drove to Magdala where Tilapia -Peter’s Fish was on the menu! After lunch we were presented with certificates of pilgrimage and we were given new titles - JP, meaning ‘Jerusalem Pilgrims’! We then set off for the very long ride back to Jerusalem and along the road we saw fields of tropical fruits like mangoes and bananas which are not native to Israel.