Well here we are, sitting at Ben Gurion Airport, and will be for awhile. We have a 7:15A flight to Amman & then Kiev. So we were picked up at the hotel at 3AM for the less-than-one-hour trip to the airport in Tel Aviv. By 4:20A we were through the xray machine (our luggage), did not have to go through the step where they open our bags, went right to check-in. So now we have coffee (can you believe the 25 star hotel or whatever didn't have a coffee pot in the lobby ... any half star hotel in the states has that :)), a roll and some grapefruit juice, doing computery stuff. It appears we will be sitting at this nice table for over 2 hours until time to board. At least it wasn't the mad dash through the airport like in New Yawk.

Anyway, as for Day 13, Saturday, we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, walked a bit of the Via Dolorosa, then went through the Armenian section of the Old City to walk what our archaeologist guide thinks was the real Via Dolorosa, and then went to the Garden Tomb (Gordon's Calvary).

Brief note. We were in the line at the traditional sight of the cross & resurrection (Ch of the Holy Sep.) for a very long time, most of it spend in line (over 2 hours), inching our way along, trying to keep our group together, tussling a bit with the group behind us who got upset that we weren't moving, and enjoying one of the Spanish speaking ladies in our group who was deeply moved by the experience and kept singing, mostly in Spanish but sometimes songs we knew and could join in. I will say that is one of the cool things about visiting these sites: you often hear groups singing as you pass some holy site. And all the waiting in line so we could arrive at the entrance into this cave kind of place with a guy telling you to hurry up, turn your camera off because there's no time to take pictures. Of course we took pictures.

How unlike the visit to the Garden Tomb. This one is a late discovery of a rock formation that looks like a skull and a cave/tomb nearby. It is run by protestants, should I say evangelicals. At least our guide, from England, was a joy to listen to. We entered as a group, walked to a place where you could see the crucifixion spot where he spoke wonderfully of the cross and what Jesus did for us, then to a seating area near the tomb where he spoke powerfully of the truth of the Bible and the power of the resurrection. Then we were allowed to take our time enjoying the empty tomb which we did. I have what I hope is a great video of the entire talk before going to the tomb.

Back at our hotel we had supper and then said goodbye to most of the group, esp Dave & Bev who were catching a midnight flight. So they packed and had no sleep; we packed and then slept from about 8:30P-1:45A ... not enough but we are quite thankful for that.

So now it's on to Zaporozhye. Please pray for us, for strength, for health, for the ability to be useful to the Lord in every way. Perhaps in our weakness we will be at His best!