Pelicans in the Holy Land

Our group has all landed in Israel and are settling in tired, but excited to be together here in the Holy Land. We are entering this trip thankful for this group, the rest of PPM, and for the opportunity to experience together the sites where Jesus did His ministry and established the Church. 

After a night of great and much-needed sleep, our team ate breakfast at our guest house in Tiberias, enjoying our meal and meeting together within view of the Sea of Galilee.

Jim shared the story of this trip, one that has been in the works for years. We couldn't imagine a more perfect time, here in the Holy Land celebrating the beginning of PPM's 20th anniversary of building up, encouraging, and assisting the local Church! 

Pastor Doug is PPM's board president and a long-time friend of the organization. He is one of several pastors on the trip and we have loved learning from him this morning about the area and its significance!

Our team then visited Capernaum, the town where many of Jesus' miracles were performed and where the Apostle Peter lived. There are many ruins of the ancient town there.

Also, that is Pastor Lloyd Stanford, the founding partner pastor of PPM! He and his wife have joined us from Belize along with several other staff and PPM friends from there.

We then stopped by Bethsaida, where several disciples were from and where Jesus did many miracles. The area is filled with ruins that we could walk throughout, being so close to areas where disciples lived and where David spent time. 

After Bethsaida, we spent some time at the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. It was beautiful and we got to spend some time together there to reflect on what we had seen.

Pastor Lloyd shared a message on the Beatitudes, encouraging us to be shaped and transformed by the kind of life Jesus is calling us to!

We started this morning off with a word from PPM president, Jim Noreen, and some worship led by several PPM staff from Belize. We are looking forward to spending the day with Pastor Bishara, his wife, and several of their leaders doing outreach!

Upon arrival in the village, we heard from Pastor Bishara, his wife, and several leaders they work with and who partner with their outreach ministry regularly. They are so glad to have our team here today to pray over, visit, and encourage this community that they love! 

After lunch, the team spent time with some children and youth from the community. The team working with the kids performed a skit about the resurrection of Jesus while others built relationships with the youth. Then we all joined together for some songs - we all had a blast!

This morning, we had the opportunity to worship with our partner congregation in Nazareth. We felt so honored to be welcomed so warmly into their church family for the day. Our Belizean crew blessed us all with some worship as part of the service!

This morning, as we packed up to leave the guest house in Tiberias, we spent some time praying over the city that has been our home for the last few days. We prayed that God would provide for them and that they would come to know Jesus. We know He has amazing plans for this nation! 

We then heard from Pastor Lloyd. He shared about Peter walking on water and that we can walk in action, knowing that we have the authority of Jesus and power through prayer.

Our team then went to the Jordan River, where many of us went into the water to reaffirm our commitment to follow and love Jesus!

After our time at the Jordan River, we drove several hours south to the Dead Sea. We will be here for the night and will have some time in the morning, but several team members couldn't wait and hopped in to float before dinner! 

This morning, several of our team took some time for an early morning float in the sea before we start heading toward Jerusalem!

On our way to Jerusalem, the team stopped for some camel rides!

Our team put a lot of miles on our feet today as we walked through the Old City of Jerusalem. The Old City is made up of four quarters - Christian, Armenian, Muslim, and Jewish. We covered them all today!

We began this morning at an overlook by the Mount of Olives and Mount of Ascension. It was a beautiful way to see so much of a city that we've loved exploring and learning about the past couple of days. It has been incredible to see the physical places where Jesus lived and did His ministry.

In the afternoon, we visited the Garden Tomb, another site that has Biblical backing that suggests that it may be the site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. It had beautiful grounds and a place that was very conducive to reflecting on the death of Jesus and the empty tomb.

After the Garden Tomb, our team had some time to explore on our own. There was a group of us that went to the Church of St. Anne's, which houses the birthplace of Mary and the Pools of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the paralytic man. The chapel there was beautiful and had incredible acoustics, so our group spent some time praising God together for all we have seen during this trip.

As the last thing we did together as a team, we gathered with some other believers from around the world for a Shabbat meal. This highly symbolic dinner is how Jewish families begin their Sabbath time on Friday evenings. It was such a special way to end a trip that has meant so much to all of us! We are truly grateful to God for the ways we were able to rest in Him and experience such tangibility of the truth of His love for us.