Israel-Jordan Trip--Epilogue

There are so many comments I would love to make regarding the trip, but I will try not to overwhelm those of you who have been kind enough to follow along through this blog. However, I do have to mention several people we met on this trip. This is one of the advantages of traveling with Christians...we make friends with those of like faith. I mentioned at the beginning that we already knew about half of the group. The "new" friends were treasures also.

We had two parent-child groups: Mark and James were a father-son team, and Tiffany and Mary were a mother-daughter team. Tiny little Mary kept all of us inspired by the way she took on every challenge. Floyd...well, if you know Floyd at all there is no need to explain further. He is a one-of-a-kind personality, always full of some hilarious comment. Steve and Karen managed to be in the center of all of the activities, and in most cases leading the party! Stacy (my computer guru friend) is also an excellent artist. She thrilled all of us with her sketches of scenes of the trip, which she drew in a matter of seconds. (I have a photo of Stacy standing beside a centurion at Jerash.)

Wayne and Gary were the Arizona additions to the group, and Ron and Lea were from Tennessee. All four of these were dedicated students of the things we were learning. Peggy's son back home responded to the blog several times. I think he was not sure she would be ok, but she was great, and lots of fun. I have already mentioned Robert and Grace, good friends of our good friends in Athens, Jerry and Wanda. Mike was always fun and a joy to be with. Ken and Dewey were a hoot. They lost their video camera at one of the stops, but he MAY have made up for the blunder with the camel-teeth necklace...maybe not. (See photo.)

Brian and Nancy are a lovely couple. We needed more time with them; and Casey and Blaine were fun to get to know since we have traveled with her parents on previous trips.


I feel sorry for the preachers on the trip who had not had the foresight to locate someone to preach for them Sunday morning. (Photo of Frank preparing his lesson in the airport in Frankfort.) He was not the only one in this situation...just the only one I caught with my camera!

Once we arrived at JFK in New York we were all in such a hurry to make connecting flights that there was hardly time for proper good-byes. However, to all of you, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the associations we developed over the two weeks. By the time we got that far on the trip home we were all so weary (photo of Mike and Peggy) that we actually forgot who we had spoken to, and who we had not. To all of you: It was a time we will never forget. Thanks for being a major part of our lives for those two special weeks.

Some of you asked for copies of photos or video we took. We will get those to you, but am not sure I can set a deadline on that. The "to-do" list here seems to be growing all too rapidly, but eventually I will fulfill my promise.

Some people told me that they had problems commenting to the blog. I am sorry. We enjoyed the comments we got and it was nice to know that someone was reading along with us. I am sorry we could not respond to each individual comment, but getting the blog written and the photos published was all we could manage on a daily basis.



If any of you out there have not taken this trip, you must consider doing so. It would be so helpful for young preachers with a lifetime to share the knowledge gained on this trip. It is a faith-builder for Christians of every age, and a valuable resource for those who teach younger children in Bible classes. Don't wait until you are as old as we are to go these places and learn these things. Do it while you are young and can share your knowledge for many years. However, no time is the "wrong" time to take this trip with a scholar like Ferrell Jenkins to lead the group. So, save your money...take out a loan...whatever you need to do, but GO!

I hope you learn to comment on the blog in the next three weeks! Believe it or not, we leave three weeks from today on another of Ferrell's trips. This one is called "Steps of Paul and John" and includes the towns of the seven churches in Asia mentioned in Revelation, plus Ephesus, a cruise to several islands on the Aegean and eventually stops in Athens and Corinth. Taking these two trips so close together sounded like a good idea when we booked them several months ago, but now that I am looking at the mound of clothes to be washed, folded and re-packed, plus all of the scheduled activities that are on the calendar for these three weeks, I am wondering how it is all going to work out.


However, it WILL all work out, even if some things here go undone. On the morning of May 5 we plan to be on a flight to Istanbul and another great learning experience we would not miss for all the "undone" things at home.


So, tune in again in three weeks. We will see if we will have cooperative hotels in Turkey and Greece that will enable us to send updates and photos. Join us again on another "journey"...and thanks for the memories...those of you who were with us in person, and those of you who were reading along with us.