More Touring

Sorry but I forgot to publish this post!


The day before yesterday, we started out at Tel Dan (that's the tribe of Dan up in the Golan Heights) The tel has been home to about 19 different towns/cities over 4000 years, one rebuilt on top of the other.It's also one of three places where natural springs exists to feed the Jordan River, Sea of Galilee & the Dead Sea. At Dan, the watercourse is quite narrow and so the water flows quite fast and is crystal clear.

We then moved on to Caesarea Philipi, which was a pagan city where human sacrifices were made to the God, Pan. Interestingly, Jesus didn't shy away from going there or maybe he went there for a specific purpose. During the sacrifices, a first-born child would be thrown in to where the spring starts - if it drowns straight away, then the sacrifice is accepted - however, if blood is seen coming from the spring, it's not been accepted - seems pretty hit and miss to me!

Next stop was Capernaum where Jesus would have lived for some of His ministry. They say that he probably stayed at the house of Peter's mother-in-law (as she was a widow without sons). Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the house but the synagogue was one of the best preserved that I've seen.

The final activity for the day was a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee where we read some relevant scriptures, prayed and did some Hebrew dancing. One of the guys on the boat showed us how fishing was done in the day but, no, he didn't catch any fish! 

This was a shot of Reggie (my room mate) and I on board (Reggie the darker of the two)

Yesterday started with baptisms in the River Jordan for those that wanted to take part. Amazingly, for two people who did so, it was there birthday and one of them had been praying to do so for 20 years! I also took part as a way of recommitting myself to Jesus in a setting which may be once in a lifetime. (I also got a DVD of the event if anyone's interested)

Next stop was Beth Shean - this was one of the 10 cities built by the Romans to try and get the Jews to give up their worship of God and become pagans. The amount of excavating that has taken place is enormous. In 749, a huge earthquake flattened the city but archaeologists still don't know what happened to the inhabitants. I walked up a nearby hill, the site of yet another pagan temple, to get this shot.

Yet More Sites in Israel!

Saturday was a pretty special day as it started at a baptism site on the Jordan River. I decided to get baptised as a recommitment of my faith in Jesus - it was not only a special time for me but for about 8 or so others from my tour. In addition, 2 of the people were getting baptised on their birthdays!

We then moved on to Qumran where the Essenes are thought to have created the scrolls and then hidden them in the nearby caves. 

The excavations included some huge cisterns & purification pools which were filled when it rained heavily in Jerusalem and the water also ended up gushing out of the hills above Qumran.

Sunday saw us at Masada, the second most visited site in Israel. It's amazingly built on the top of a mountain - how they did it originally, I have no idea. Nowadays there's a modern cable car!

They didn't have a source of water but Herod created huge storehouses and cisterns so that they could withstand a siege for up to 7 years.

There were many fascinating features like an incredible system to provide a sauna but the loveliest thing was to see that some of the frescoes remained in some of the houses which gave us some sense of the splendor they lived in.

We then moved on to Ein Gedi, the oasis where David tried to hide from King Saul. The caves he hid in still exist but, of course, we don't know exactly which cave it was. Incredibly in the desert, there was a small waterfall fed by a spring.

The final thing we did today was to go to what's called Abraham's Tent - it's a tourist place where a guy explains about things that Abraham did, why and where. It was quite entertaining given that Abraham was a Messianic Jew from Melbourne! He also told us about local herbs and local cooking and we got to go on a short camel ride! Did you know that only the double-humped camels spit?

I'm off to breakfast now and leaving for home tonight so I'll do a final post when I get home!

Finishing in Jerusalem & Beginning My Tour!

I went to the museum at the Christ Church Guesthouse today & the guy there suggested that I see King Solomon's Caves where the limestone was sourced for the Second Temple. It was pretty awesome, like much of what you see in the ancient city.

I finished off the day with a meal at a local falafel restaurant - the food was absolutely delicious but a bit pricey!

Next day I wanted to see Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial, which meant a few trips on the Light Rail System. The displays were really well done and were a vivid reminder of the evil that can be in the hearts of men. As you can see, it was housed in an unusual triangular building and on the day there were about 100 police men & women viewing the displays as well.

Straight after that, I caught a bus from the Central Bus Station to Netanya which is about 20 km up the coast from Tel Aviv and where I was to meet the rest of the tour that night. I met Reggie (my room mate) and we chatted for about 3 hours over a meal - thankfully we got on really well together.

Next morning we headed off the Caesarea, another 12 km north of Netanya and saw our first ruins, including and the amazing amphitheatre from around the time of Jesus and which is still in use today.

Next was a visit to Mediggo to see a pretty vast area that had been excavated, including a pagan sacrificial site to Baal (the God represented by the g|olden calf) and the female goddess Asherah.

They also had an amazing water system - in times of siege, the spring could be accessed from within the city walls by descending 183 steps (that's today) and then walking along a horizontal tunnel - in this way, the enemy didn't know how the city was surviving without a water source!

Last stop for the day was at a recreation of parts of the village of Nazareth - it was really well done and the guide used the whole tour as an opportunity to tell the story of Jesus in a very natural and interesting way. The highlight for me was an operational olive press as would have been used 2000 years ago - quite amazing! If we had been there a week later, we would have seen this press in action as they were just about to harvest this year's crop of olives.



More soon - they really pack some experiences into these tours!

Exploring Jerusalem & Surrounds

Monday 5 - by the time I responded to emails, sorted some photos & finished a blog, it was 11 am!

The Tomb from the Outside

First order of business was to buy some soap & deodorant at a local supermarket - tick. Next I was going to try riding to the American Colony Hotel by Light Rail but it was the last day of Sukot so they weren't running - oh well, walking is good for us. I bought the book on the Palestinian-Israeli dispute that I couldn't get yesterday and then headed to the Garden Tomb.

Their Best Guess at Golgotha

This is history's best guess at where Golgotha and Jesus' Tomb are. The British organisation running the site don't claim that it's absolutely the site but say that it fits the Biblical information - they concentrate more on what Jesus did rather than where he did it! If you want more information on why they think this is the place, I can tell you more or it may be on their website.

I really enjoyed visiting this site - I sat inside the tomb and read some scripture and prayer for about 15 minutes.

The Supposed Garden of Gethsemane

I then took the long, hot walk to Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives outside the east wall of the Old City. When I saw what was supposed to be the Garden of Gethsemane, I was amazed at how old the olive trees were & I could imagine that this is where Jesus prayed while the disciples slept.

I was also surprised that all the trees were heavy with green olives!

Temple Mount

The walk up the Mount of Olives was very steep but very worthwhile - the lookout at the top gave a view over the whole of the Old City and the Temple Mount in particular.

I took a panoramic movie from the lookout - if you like to see it, just click the Youtube link below or copy and paste it into your browser.

https://youtu.be/1BQxgL_EEtA

Beautiful Olive Groves

The valley between the Eastern Wall and the Mount of Olives was just beautiful, but I couldn't imagine how an invading army could breach those forbidding walls.

There's lots more I could write about but you can ask me when I get home if you're interested!

God bless, Greg

On to Nairobi & Israel!

The Crean's Cell Group

Wednesday 30 – flying to Nairobi, Kenya today so up at 5 am for pickup at 5.45 am! Great flight with RwandAir in a smaller rear-engined jet – very quite, good legroom & smooth. Pete Crean (a New Zealander who I met on my previous trip) picked me up and I heard that Japan had beaten South Africa in the rugby – amazing! I spent the next couple of days with him, his wife Sharon & their daughter Liz – a pretty lazy time but I did lead their cell group on Wednesday night. The group consisted of the Creans, Humphrey & Ester plus Cynthia, Matthew & Christabel. Had a meal and then a good time discussing the specifics of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. On Thursday, Sharon wanted to film a group of kindergarten kids at a school in Kibera slum but the road authority had, in their wisdom, closed the entrance from the road so it was a no go!

Friday 2 October – up early again for my flight to Tel Aviv via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. While I waited to board the flight from Nairobi, I met Rebecca who seemed to know a lot about Jerusalem – turned out she lived there and worked for a US university in a Palestinian University just over in the West Bank & her subject was Middle East modern history – boy did I have some questions for her! After a stop in Cairo which wasn't shown on our itineraries, we arrived in Tel Aviv. Rebecca and I got to immigration very fast and there were no lines and no entry form to fill in!

Entrance to Guesthouse

She had a driver picking her up and so she offered to take me with her if I paid the driver US$30 and he'd take me right to Christ Church Guesthouse (just inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City) where I was to stay – can't beat that & once again God gave me a contact that was both very interesting and also helpful.

Outside Dining Area

Saturday 3 – had a well-deserved sleep in today and just started to get my bearings, however, I couldn't go far as I didn't have any local or US$ money and it was a Shabat (Sabath) so very few of the stores were open. I spent the day catching up on emails and my blog and doing a bit of reading. The setting of the guesthouse (the first Protestant church in the Middle East) is quite beautiful & peaceful.

Mosaic in Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Sunday 4 – I was a bit more adventurous today! Went to a nearby mall and withdrew 100 New Israeli Shekels (NIS)(A$37) and then walked up the main street (after getting lost for the first time) looking for a bank to cash my Travellers Cheques – still no luck, but found a money changer with a reasonable rate. Then walked about 3 km to the hotel bookshop that Rebecca said had the books on the Middle East issue but it was closed. Walked back towards the Old City (OC) and found the Main City Bus Terminal and entered the OC through the Damascus Gate (it was actually the Herod's Gate). There was a very heavy Police presence as two people had been shot that morning, leaving five children orphaned. I got lost many times on my way to the Western Wall (where I prayed for my family) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was ornate and very Orthodox. The image is of a huge tile mosaic. Had lunch at a tiny restaurant run by two older Jewish ladies and had a delicious falafel pocket.

Jaffe Gate

After lunch I went on a walk along the southern walls of the OC, starting at Jaffa Gate.

The walls were quite narrow in places but provided some beautiful views of the city.

One View from the Southern Wall

The Enthusiastic Congregation

It was quite hot so by the time I got back to the guesthouse, I was a bit tired and sweaty. However, I found that there was an huge event on at the guesthouse – a Day of Prayer for Peace in Jerusalem which was being televised live around to world via God TV, which I have never heard of – it was amazing and very uplifting to see the passion that some Christians have for the well-being and salvation of Jerusalem & the Jewish people. After that I attended the regular Sunday night Anglican service in the garden – pleasantly low-key as we studied the Psalms of Assent at this time of Sukot (Feast of Tabernacles).

My Time in Uganda Comes to an End

Wednesday 23 – more little jobs completed at Wakisa and another chat with Vivian on sponsorship issues. I also had access to their internet and so was able to catch up on all my emails using a relatively fast internet. I had found out where the doctor's new office was and arrived in plenty of time – it turns out that the pharmacist gave me the wrong medication – no wonder my toe felt as if it were getting worse, as it probably was! He gave me the correct medication which I took straight away. About 3 pm, we went into town to collect a dress that Linda was having made – what a surprise, it was still being sewed when we arrived. I waited a while and then had to go and meet Miriam – she was going to show me the best place to buy a bus ticket to Lira and that was the GaaGaa Bus Terminal. After a coffee, we shot back to the guesthouse because Craig (see previous post) had invited us to a dinner he and his son, Joshua, were putting on for the teachers of his school project on the outskirts of Kampala. It was a lovely celebration including some wonderful singing – Linda & I sat with Pastors George & Rose who head up the project as well as Rose's sister Evelyn & her husband Stephen.

Thursday 24 – I caught up with my kids this morning on Facetime and it was just great to hear what's going on at home and have a chat. I then caught a boda to Kajjanankumbi to visit Winsy. Winsy was at Wakisa during my first visit to Uganda in 2007 and later she was sponsored to school but didn't work out. She is now living with her father, sister, her aged grandfather who has been brought from the village, her daughter Madrine and her sister's kids. Winsy was working at a supermarket but unfortunately the business failed and so she's out of a job. Madrine goes to the local Catholic school and just loves studying. Back at the guesthouse, Jane dropped in around lunchtime. She was at Wakisa when I was there in 2010 and during some computer lessons I was running, showed some real potential. She was still there when I left to come home and we lost contact. Then in 2013, I was at a market in Kampala when I heard a small voice “Uncle Greg! Uncle Greg!” - it was a chance encounter with her again and she explained that she had been exiled with her politician father in Kenya for 3 years but had now been sponsored by a Canadian lady to complete her high school studies. So she is sitting her final exams in November and hopes to get a scholarship to go on to university. She needs very high marks to achieve this and if she does, will be the first Wakisa girl to do so. Linda and I took her to 1000 Cups for a light lunch and a drink and then Miriam dropped in on her way t work to give me some shoes she had bought for her father. I was then off to the bus terminal for my trip to Lira in the north. 40 km out, there was a large bang and we had a flat tyre! The spare didn't look very good at all and so ensued a heated argument between some of the passengers and the bus crew which was interrupted by an absolute downpour which sent the passengers under cover. In the meantime, the crew changed the tyre and, still in the middle of the downpour, the driver revved the engine to indicate that we should get on the bus – needless to say that everyone was soaked in doing so but that is bus travel in Uganda. We arrived in Lira at 10.30 pm, the trip taking 2 hours longer than normal.

During the trip I sat next to Ben, a Ugandan man, and had a good discussion on being “Born again of the Spirit”.

Friday 25 – no power this morning, so another cold shower. I met with Morris, the founder of Atin Africa (Child of Africa) at about 9.30 am. We chatted for about an hour and then went off to meet Daniel, a deaf mute boy of 15 that I have been sponsoring for the last year and a half. He attends a special school and I was most impressed with the hearts of the Deputy Headmaster and his class teacher – they seemed so caring and patient. Daniel is super shy and he hasn't been signing for that long, both of which made communication a little difficult. Both his parents are hopeless alcoholics so being boarded at school is definitely the best option for him. He seemed a lovely boy and had such an infectious smile!

A had a great time chatting with Morris but time was moving on – I caught a boda into town and bought two types of beans as a gift to Miriam's family. This wouldn't normally be an appropriate gift but they had lost their recent bean crop to unseasonally hot weather a few months back. Tom, her dad, was at a meeting, so I got to have a lovely chat to her mum, Margaret, for 30 minutes – Margaret has suffered from a painful problem with her legs for 24 years and has had 13 operations but still remains cheerful and trusting in God. I also got to greet Lawrence, Martin, Eric & Molly, Miriam's siblings, Shadrack her son, as well as her two widowed neighbours. Tom arrived back and we shared a wonderful late lunch of northern Ugandan food, including millet porsho, pea sauce, rice, chicken and shea butter. 

Tom is very active in the local church and is the choir master, so around 4 pm, we went to the church for choir practice – they just have wonderful voices and Shadrack spent the time taking around 100 photos with my camera! Tom has a motorcycle, so after choir practice he took me into town to buy my return bus ticket and drop me to my hotel. The power was back on but my water still wasn't hot – not sure why.

Saturday 26 – on the return trip I got off at Bombo, about 20 km from Kampala and was collected by Mike Tyrell, an Australian pastor who has been living in Uganda for the last 15 years. He has a 22 acre property about 10 km into the bush and when he's not trying to make some money from the farm, he uses his passion for ministry to provide rural pastors with some Bible teaching, especially in the areas of the power of the Holy Spirit and healing. We spent the afternoon chatting as we wandered around the property and Mike explained all the issues he was dealing with with the neighbours – and wow, there were many.

Sunday 27 – Craig was originally going to Watoto church with Florence but was not able to make it. I felt the disappointment in her voice and so decided to take Craig's place. And I'm glad I did – the guy who lead the worship had an incredible voice and the message on “Grace & the Law” was really well done and I learnt a lot. Florence went back to work and I went to meet Miriam & Linda at the the St Francis Makerere church. We caught a taxi and then walked a way to Miriam's home – it was lovely and cool inside and she had made it very homely – we also enjoyed a cool, freshly squeezed, orange/tangelo juice!

We went back to Vivian's house as we were invited to lunch but Vivian was preaching in three services that morning and so couldn't get back till around 3 pm. So we had a lovely lunch served by Sylvia (Vivian's housegirl) and Joyce (one of the Wakisa girls). Mala dropped in as we were finishing so that was good and then later, we met Helen, a young woman from the UK who was staying in one of Vivian's spare rooms – she had been in Uganda since early 2014 and was very interesting – she also conducts an exercise class for the Wakisa girls every Monday afternoon.

When we got back to the guesthouse, we sat down to chat with Craig and along came two Aussies from Springwood, not very far away from where I work! He was a dentist and they had previously been CMS missionaries in the Congo. Now in their late 60's, they felt called to do another 4 years in the same work. The six of us went off to a plush shopping plaza for dinner, had a wow of a time telling all manner of stories and ended up back at the guesthouse about 11 pm.

Monday 28 – I wasn't sure what I'd be doing today, but as it was Craig's & Joshua's last day in Uganda, Craig wanted to come down and see Wakisa. He just loved it and thought it was a great ministry. Just as we were going down to the agricultural plot, Vivian arrived and they were able to meet ever so briefly. When Henry arrived with the vehicle, we went of to but some paint to complete the new gift shop – the entire exercise took 3 hours! I then got stuck into finishing off some odd jobs around the place, only to find that I needed to buy some plumbing items and also get a quote on Linda's phone – she had dropped it earlier in the day and had smashed the screen. I collected Linda’s phone about 7 pm and was supposed to meet a Canadian lady involved in Atin Africa (the organisation who supports Daniel) but she didn't show which was a shame – not to worry.

Tuesday 29 – today was school visiting day! Henry and I left at about 9 am and headed to Buloba Primary where we saw Hamidah who I think was in Primary 6 and is sponsored by Greg & Anne Roby, some friends of mine. She was a lovely girl who wasn't too shy and had a warm personality.

We then moved to Buloba Senior School where we saw Sarah & Annabel. Sarah was one of the girls who I met in 2010 and is sponsored by a lady in the UK. All the school was in the middle of mid-term exams and so the girls had to leave after about 30 minutes.

To my surprise, we then had to go and buy some banana seedings – apparently Vivian needed them to plant at her village property. First we went to the office and laboratory site to pay for them and the to the nursery site. It took about an hour to get and load the 150 plants into the back of car so I spent the time asking the foreman about 100 questions – I learned a lot about propagating and growing bananas!

We then dropped in on Dorcas at Kings College Budo, one of the best high schools in Uganda.

I had hoped to get back by lunchtime but no, it was 2.30 pm, and all I had time to do was to tidy up the shed, fit the last 3 self-closing taps and check the gutters for leaks, thanks to a sudden downpour at about 3 pm. It turned out that the gutters were fine but, now that water was being collected from 2 sides from the roof rather than 1, the volume of water collected was too much for the 4” filter – I left instructions for Henry to change to a different filter system, one that would not get blocked by leaves being washed down from the roof and gutters.

Dinner at the guesthouse with Linda and Miriam (and Henry dropped in to say goodbye and we invited him to stay for dinner) and that was my time in Kampala over!

More News from Kampala

Sorry for the long pause between blogs - it's often difficult to find the time to get onto your computer and the internet is often unavailable. Also, my apologies that I don't have photos of everything - all those that know me know that I'm hopeless at remembering to do that!

Friday 18 – I did some more work at Wakisa today. However, this required me to buy some extra gutter and fittings, a padlock and some extra keys and some contact adhesive. This unfortunately took up until lunchtime due to the constant haggling over prices that is required. I worked as fast as I could and managed to get all the gutters finished buy the end of the day – I was hot and sweaty as usual but it was satisfying to actually get something completed. That night, a bout of gout started in the knuckle of my big LH toe and it continued for the following week!

Saturday 19 – had a bit of a later breakfast this morning and we met a guy called Faras. He was born in Los Vegas of Iranian descent and was in his 4^th year of a medical degree. He was in Uganda to do a year's placement at Kisoro Hospital but had one day in Kampala and wanted to see the Baha'i temple – apparently there is a major temple on each continent and the one for Africa is in Kampala. In the afternoon, I was sick of the slow internet at the guesthouse and so went down the street to the internet cafe where I could plug my laptop in and get some good speed – at only a$0.40 per 40 minutes! I then investigated which bus to get to go to Lira the week after – not so easy. I went to Jaguar Coaches but they don't go to Lira – I was directed to the Kisengi Bus Terminal but it turned out they don't have buses going to Lira either & they directed me to the Buganda Bus Park – here I found out that the best buses are Fiesta and that they leave at 6am. Linda and I then decided that we wanted something different for dinner and so got bodas into the city and had Chinese at Antonio's – great value for money and quite good!

Sunday 20 – Florence, who looks after the restaurant at the guesthouse, asked us to Watoto church so we decided to accept – the music wasn't as good as usual but the message was very good & Biblical. Florence had to go straight back to work, so we decided to try and find the 1000 Cups coffee place and after about 15 minutes of searching on a boda, we managed to find it within 100 mt of the church we were just at! Trip Advisor said that they did the best coffee in Kampala and we thought that they were probably correct – they had coffee made from beans from all the major coffee producing nations of the world. 

I bought some gout medication and then back at the guesthouse, we were expecting to be collected by Henry, Vivian's driver, but instead she arrived in a car driver by Mala, a Malaysian Indian lady the she has "adopted" as a daughter. She drove us to Paul & Suzan's place to celebrate Vivian's birthday. Paul is Vivian's elder son and works as the manager on a large farm owned by Vivian's sister, Dorothy. With the gifts and speeches finished by 7pm, we headed back into town through the typical traffic jam.

Monday 21 – today I was to get Irene back to school and also visit the other girls who are studying at St Michaels High School. I first needed to see Rachel at Wakisa (she looks after the school sponsorship while Gloria is on maternity leave) to get a list of all the girls and also to collect Irene's payment paperwork (all fees are paid directly at a bank into the school's account). Christine was accompanying Irene and they were to meet me at the taxi park at 10 am. Unfortunately there was a big traffic jam on the way due to some roadworks and they didn't arrive till 11 am. We bought some supplies that Irene needed and we were off in a taxi to Sonde, a little trading centre near the school. We paid her fees at the local bank, bought gifts for the rest of the girls (cordial & biscuits) and headed off on bodas to the school only 1 km away. The headmaster was pleased to see us and it took us 30 minutes to extricate ourselves from his office. We then met Patience, Fortunate, Rebecca, Caroline & Goretti – I must say that I have never visited such a healthy-looking and happy group of girls – I was really pleased and wished them all well in their upcoming exams, especially Patience, Irene & Rebecca who will be doing their final exams in November. We then scooted back towards Kampala as I had made a doctor's appointment to see about my gout – unfortunately, I had their old address and went to the wrong place.

Tuesday 22 – long God story, but since my last visit, I had connected with a guy called Robert, who is involved in prison ministry and today I was excited to be speaking at a Luzira Women's Prison, the main women's prison in Uganda. We went with Rev. William, a wonderful Godly man who has been ministering in the prisons for over 42 years. We started by meeting the 2IC and I was asked to pray for her malaria. We then moved down to an assembly hall and already present were about 200 women in bright yellow prison dresses – they were all clean and many of the ladies had beautifully braided hair and large smiles on their faces! The worship songs were sung with such enthusiasm that I was amazed. Rev. William addressed them with encouraged words and then handed the mic over to me. I started by asking them to confirm that I was actually in a prison and not a church! I gave my testimony and spoke of the love of Jesus and it's life-changing power – I hope that it was also an encouragement to them – I was deeply moved and felt that the difference between this prison and prisons in Australia, was that the system in Australia tries to exclude God from this space, whereas He is welcomed in Uganda – and what a difference that makes.Unfortunately for security reasons, I could not take any photos.

On the way out, William mentioned that the prison had run out of firewood and so the inmates were likely to go hungry – I felt an urge to help and so asked William if it would be OK for me to provide funds for 2 days worth of timber – he said it was OK and he took it to the senior officer who was now back in the prison. Her name was Stella and what a lovely lady she was – she came down to thank me and give me a couple of gifts – she was probably in her mid-40's and was due to be married soon and I was again asked to pray for her and her future husband – what a wonderful day!

I am continually reminded that these trips are not about what I do, but about who I meet - God is always needing to remind me about that and what a blessing it is.

Not so long a wait till the next blog - I hope!