Instant report, 1st thing Thursday:
"Driving south down the Jordan valley through the West Bank with Samarian mountains to the right. 'Shine Jesus shine' coming from the back of the bus. Reading from Canon Paulon the woman at the well. On to Jericho then crossing border to Jordan, a swim in the Dead Sea, and home. Looking forward to reunions."
Collaborative report from young pilgrims:
Wednesday 26th October
Today we started off our journey in Cana where Alex’s parents - Laura and Andrew - and Hugh, Mary and Eve’s parents - Kate and Jason - renewed their wedding vows. This was where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water in to wine, at a wedding.
After this we headed to the church where Mary’s house was in Nazareth. Around the walls inside and out, countries had contributed their image of Mary. In some she was Chinese in others she was dark-skinned. Unfortunately we couldn’t find England’s contribution but we did find a particularly “unique” one from the USA called the tin lady. The Church of the Annunciation had what was the biggest dome in the Middle East. But now it is the second biggest.
Father Paul then said our last mass in the Chapel of Saint Joseph. It was very moving for many as we sat and reflected on the experiences and insights the trip had brought us. The music was beautiful even if we did end with one of Gerard’s least favourite hymns! A particularly memorable moment was when Aaron was commissioned as a Eucharistic Minister, it was a very special moment for him and for the rest of us as we watched. We ended the visit with as quick group photo shoot and then journeyed on towards the promise of a McDonalds for lunch!
After this we left McDonalds and went to the crusader town of Acre. Here we were able to see the headquarters of the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights Templars. These were very interesting middle age castles, and gave us an insight into life back then. Once we had looked at this we left the headquarters and walked along some escape tunnels to the city via the bazaar. Finally we came out on the coast of the Mediterranean in time to see the sun set. We then left this place and got on the coach, and headed back to the hotel for one last swim!
Tuesday 25th October
Today we woke up after our first most blissful lie in – 7:30. We started our activity on the Mount of Beatitudes were we heard readings from Tilly and Andrew about the old laws of Judaism, and our own personal consciences. –After which we drank fresh Italian coffee and visited the church.
If you get the opportunity to visit the amazing church of the multiplication, get Aaron to inform you about the unusual numbers of loaves and fish (there’s one missing and he can tell you why).
We then moved on to the “sea” of Galilee were we collected our own “Peter” which meant stone in Latin and paddled...
...followed by another theft of Hugh’s keyboard batteries.
Capernaum – here we had a chat with Fabricio (our guide) about Jesus and his rabbinical training, the intricacies of Jewish law and his rabbi duties. We saw Simon-Peter’s mother-in-law’s house where she was healed and was the same building where the lame man was lowered through the roof because the crowds were too great for them to get him to Jesus at the door.
For lunch we experienced the Mediterranean style ‘fast food’, which turned out to be not so fast. The lunch consisted of a whole St Peter fish . . . complete with eyes, tails and fins! There was the more popular alternative of spiced chicken and chips with ketchup. The most expensive meal yet but a welcome alternative to falafel.
On the boat sailing across the sea of Galilee saying mass. It was a choppy and windy trip across the sea and back again with an imaginative interpretive dance of the Gospel, directed by Julia and Peter, and an accompaniment of musical instruments directed by Hugh’s musical skills.
On the way back, everyone was excited by the prospect of getting back to the swimming pool. As soon as we got in the door it was into swimming kits and into the FREEZING pool! This included a crazy game of water rugby, during which there was a full contact ruck between Don and Gerard which almost ended in tears but DID end up with a couple of yellow cards for the adults from Sue.
Looking forward to a night out on the town this afternoon walking across the pier and have a look at the many shops of Tiberius.
Background to the Trip
Following on from our successful 2009 trip, Canon Paul Townsend is leading another Youth Pilgrimage during the October half term, visiting Jerusalem and sites around the Sea of Galilee, aimed at young people from Years 9 and upwards. We will travel as a group, stay in medium rate hotels or hostels and will have about 20 young people in the party. This means that we can get to see all the biblical sites and celebrate mass together as a small group at some of those sites. It’s a memorable trip for anyone to take, and our young people from the last pilgrimage got a massive amount out of the experience. Its hard work with early morning starts most days but the group had a great time, learnt a lot and grew individually and as a group in their faith.
Dates: Thursday Oct 20st to Friday Oct 28th 2011, leaving and returning from St Peter’s with flights from Gatwick.