Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. is led a group of 61 people from the Great Plains Conference on a tour of the Holy Land. They visited the traditional sites of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as locations of other key locations from biblical history.
Todd Seifert, conference communications director, shared these videos each day during the journey.
Today, our group started with a moving experience at the garden tomb, a second possible place where Jesus was buried, with a time of exploring the tomb and communion. The group also visited Emmaus and the Benedictine Abbey of Abu Gosh, which was built by the Crusaders. On a more sober note, the day included a powerful time at the Holocaust Remembrance museum at Yad Vashem.
The group started the day with a visit to the Mount of Olives and a chance for devotions and singing in the Garden of Gethsemane before walking Jesus' possible route on Palm Sunday and seeing the suspected location of the Last Supper and the location where Peter denied Christ three times.
The group visited the traditional location of Jesus' birth, covered today by the Church of the Nativity. It also visited the traditional location of where the shepherds became the first to hear the good news of the Savior's birth. The group visited Jericho, the second oldest city in existence. But perhaps the most moving experience was Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr. leading a remembrance of baptism in the Jordan River.
The group visited the ruins of Sepphoris, where it's believed Jesus and Joseph may have worked; Miggido, the site of Armaggedon from Revelation; the Church of Annunciation, built over where it's believed Mary lived when she was told by the angel that she would give birth to Jesus; Mount Carmel, where Elijah struck down the 450 prophets of the false god Baal; and Caeseria by the Mediterannean, a town Herod the Great built in only 12 years.
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