December 8, 2010—Wednesday
Today, Logan and I headed to Israel. Marla and I went while he was on his mission, and he emailed me then if I would take him, and I replied that I would. We started planning this when he got home, and it ended up that just he and I are going. Ethan had had enough of traveling with our going to Brazil, Utah and the Grand Canyon this past summer. Marla’s back wasn’t up to the trip again, so here we are.
I did not forget my camera this time so there were no emergency calls home. Marla drove us down, and we made it through the airport quickly until we got to the scanners at Security. Fortunately, we did not have to do the full-body scan, but some people did.
We fly to New York, JFK Airport, and then we take an overnight flight to Tel Aviv, getting in about 2:40 pm their time. They are seven hours ahead of us. We are renting a car and risking driving. Logan is set up to be the driver, and I will be the navigator. I am praying for safe travel. For all the places we want to visit, it would have been too expensive to hire cabs. We will be going to almost all the places on the first trip, plus a few others: the Church of the Annunciation, where the Angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced she would be the Mother of the Son of God; a Nazarene village set up like a village in the days of Jesus; Hezekiah’s Tunnel; St. Mark’s house; Annas’ house; and other places, I hope.
We will get in in time tomorrow to drive to Jerusalem, go to a grocery store, and check in to the hotel at about sundown, which is 4:30 pm. Sun up is about 6:30 so we have about ten hours of daylight each day. Friday, we will get up early to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Calvary is. I have read that the priest with the keys unlocks at 5:30 am, and around 6:30 is the best time to go when it is not crowded. When we went, it was crowded, so we want to go early. Our days will be packed. The next day, Saturday, we go to Church in the morning.