We were up early to eat, pack up and check out of the hotel before heading to Church again at the Jerusalem Center.
Jerusalem has a train system throughout the modern areas of the city.
Somehow I missed this sign last week, but Gary saw it on our bus ride in so I walked back with Valerie and Sister Jones to get a picture. They didn't get the memo from President Nelson about using the nickname "Mormon" apparently.
Different angles toward the old city of Jerusalem
And Church was even more sweet in this room the second time around. It was full with lots of tourists and they had the Primary program with 6 children and 12 young adult students as Primary teachers singing and doing their parts. But what made it more special was now I could look out of these amazing windows and see the Old City and know I had been to some of those special places--The Mt. of Olives, the Temple Mount, the streets of the city, the Garden Tomb. And singing the sacrament hymn while thinking about those places was a highlight! (I actually highlighted the two sacrament hymns we sung while there, because I wanted to remember singing them with this sweet view. Yep, I am weird like that. We sang "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth" and "I Stand All Amazed." It was especially sweet to sing the second one as that was my dad's favorite hymn and one we sang at his funeral.)
As we were walking into the hotel to pick up our luggage and wait for our ride to Tel Avia, another small van from Israel Revealed was dropping off some guests who had come in from Jordan to start the tour the next day. We were delighted to run into Elder and Sister Eppich, who had served in our zone until their release last June. So fun to see them again.
We then headed to Tel Aviv to spend one more night--on the beach this time. Valerie, Megan and Landi joined us although they stayed at a AirBB a few minute walk from our hotel. Rick, Linda, Shar and Jim headed to Jordan for a few days and then back to Jerusalem before heading home. Sister Winn and Sister Jones stayed in Jerusalem and flew out the same flight we did on Sunday morning.
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| Parasailing off the coast |
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our hotel
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Once I saw the tour arrangements for the trip, I knew we had to add one more night and stay at Tel Aviv and go to the beach. I don't know if I will ever see the Mediterranean Sea again in my lifetime and I didn't want to miss an opportunity to swim in it. There is something so soothing about playing in the waves of an ocean or Sea. So glad that we took the time and spent the night here.
We stayed and played in the water until the sun had set.....it was like a dream--sunset over the Mediterranean Sea. I don't think I ever thought I would see that in person! Amazing life and an amazing trip! So grateful for the life we have been blessed with!
Heading back for dinner and bed!
We ate dinner in the hotel and ordered somewhat "blindly" off the menu hoping for something good but different.
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| Silliness in the elevator |
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| My dinner was amazing with yummy hummus in the middle of some Israeli foods |
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| Gary's food |
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| And Jena got a pizza! |
We had an early morning wake up at 3:30 to catch our taxi to the airport and then our flights from Tel Aviv to Paris, Paris to London, and then London to Salt Lake City. We arrived home about 8:00 pm after a long day of flying.
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| Ready to go home |
In the Tel Aviv Airport was a kosher McDonalds so I had to get a picture (and some breakfast).
The meat and dairy parts are separated so if you wanted a cheese hamburger, you would have to order the hamburger from one window and the cheese from the dairy window--with two completely different kitchens.
Heading home......
And that is a wrap! We enjoyed our trip to Israel and if you wanted to go, I would highly recommend it!
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