Volume 37   Number 11                                                                                     July 1995

It was good to worship again with brethren in Israel, and to revisit the locations in the Bible Lands where many of the events recorded in the Holy Scriptures transpired.

Our tour group of 38 people from 9 different states left the United States May 15th. Airline connections necessitated our spending several hours in Rome, so we visited the Colosseum, saw the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine, and the magnificent structures of apostate religion.

In Egypt we visited ancient Memphis and the Pyramids of Giza. We reviewed the stories of Abraham sojourning in Egypt, of Joseph and his brothers, and of baby Jesus being taken to Egypt, and beside the Nile we reviewed the story of Moses and the plagues.

In Joppa, Israel, we stood atop the roof of the reconstructed house of Simon the tanner and reviewed the account of Peter's vision at that location. We walked among the ruins of Ashkelon, Caesarea, Jericho, Megiddo, and the Masada. We stood on Mt. Carmel and reviewed the account of Elijah and the idolatrous prophets. We read the Sermon on the Mount on the Mount of Beatitudes, enjoyed a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, visited Bethlehem, Nazareth, and sites in and around Jerusalem including Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, and the Mount of Olives.

At the Dead Sea we talked about Sodom and Gomorrah. The level of the Dead Sea was considerably lower than when we had last visited that area of the world.

There were six elders, 4 evangelists, and 2 men training for evangelism on the tour, besides Eli, an evangelist living in Israel who with his family joined us for part of our tour in Israel.

The complications of all the inspections and regulations with the ever increasing throngs of thousands of people passing through international airports add pressure to the travel, and illness plagued some tour members, thus diminishing from the pleasure of the trip, but in spite of these things we had a good trip, pleasant fellowship, and experiences that will linger long in the memories of the tour members. Our group was impressed by the loving comments of the aged brother Vactor in the Jerusalem church service.

Seeing the locations that we so often read about in the Scriptures truly makes the Bible more vivid in our minds.