Off to Bethlehem, by Riley G.

Jerusalem is much higher in elevation than most other parts of the country, so it gets much hotter during the day. It doesn't help when the morning starts at 75 degrees. In the morning I quickly packed an overnight bag because the group was heading out to Bethlehem and other sites much farther south.

Our first stop was to the Herodian, a massive man made hill with a crater in the middle. We climbed to the top and explored Herod a Roman king in the first century. His palace is amazingly large and has many pieces of architecture. Although currently in ruins this area is still is very good shape. At the top we had an amazing view of the area around including some farmland and open areas.

The most important thing we saw were the settlements that people were starting and the way Israel was trying to stop these illegal settlements. Part of the old Herodian palace was his intricate stairwell in the middle. It's amazing the amount of insider areas were able to be uncovered. We were about half way down this man made mountain (inside) when some of us wondered if we had enough time to return to the group of people and head back down. Some headed up a massive amount of stairs and another small group pressed forward. We found an exit just near our bus and relaxed while others headed up and then back down.

Pressing forward, we left for Bethlehem. This has obviously been turned into a tourist destination. Many of the houses had Christmas lights on their houses. We entered the Church of the Nativity. This is where Jesus was born. They destroyed the image of a baby in a manger in an open field. Rather, Mary had the baby in a cave. We were able to touch a sixteen point star that represented Jesus' birthplace. The monks in this church were very strict. Many times they came through the line checking to make sure our shoulders and knees were covered. One girl in our group accidentally dropped a glass bottle which shattered on the floor. The monks and security were very loud and angry with our group. They embarrassed the girl in front of the whole church. Then because the people were too loud in line (somewhat laughing) because the line was very long, they shut the door on their faces to prove a point that this should be a serious event. They were very strict.

After leaving Bethlehem, we visited a Refugee Camp. Our goal in this was to pass out our Rag Dolls to Love so the children could have something to hold onto in their world of transition. They would not let us pass out the dolls directly, instead, we left them at a desk. We found that there are many more children in the camp than adults. One person kept theirs and will be able to hand them out. While walking through the refugee camp, we came across a tribe of young children who greated us with great hospitality.

We left the camp on our way to our overnight destination in the desert. In route, we were stopped at a checkpoint. The officers asked the driver to pull the bus over, most likely because someone was taking their pictures. They asked to have our passports out and ready to show them. Although they never asked for them, they came on board and checked out the bus. They searched through the loading area below for items they did not like (I don't know what those are still).

We arived at an Oasis in the Negev Desert hosted by Bedouin people (fake camping although they tried to make it as real as possible.) First they welcomed us with a bit of cultural entertainment. They served us fresh watermelon, lemonade. They then made us tea which was very good and coffee that was not. As a way of welcoming us to the camp they offered us Cammal rides. What an experience to ride an amazing creature. Later that night, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese in Washington (Bishop Greg Rickel) joined us in the desert for the remaider of the trip.

I can now say that I have slept in the middle of the open desert. At 10:30pm it was an astonishing 89 degrees outside. We neded to get our rest though because the next day we head to Masada (large mountian).