Episcopal Diocese of Olympia
Holy Land Pilgrimage
September 9 to 22, 2008
Jim and The Rev. Bonnie Campbell, Mary Venske, and Yoneimi Creamer joined 25 others from around the Diocese to make this wonderful trip to Israel. The pilgrimage covered all of the main religious (especially Christian) sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Galilee. We followed the narrative of Jesus’ life laid out in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke from his birth to his resurrection.
We also met with members of our companion diocese, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, including Bishop Suhail Dawani, and heard from speakers from Jewish and Palestinian perspectives.
Our guide and teacher was Mr. Iyad Qumri, an Anglican, a member of St. George’s Anglican Cathedral, and a staff member of St. George’s College. Iyad was taught by the Rev. Canon John Peterson who was dean of St. George’s College for ten years before becoming Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
We stayed at St. George’s College Guest House in Jerusalem and the Convent of the Sisters of Nazareth in Nazareth.
To see the full itinerary and details about the places visited on the trip, click here.
Bonnie with the singing priest, Fr. Fuad Dagher at St. Paul's Church at Shefar-amr, near Nazareth
Amazing mosaic art
One of many beautiful wall murals in the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth
Bonnie posing with a camel and its owner, near Jerusalem
The Church of Heptapegon, at Tabgha, where Jesus fed the five thousand (and found several of his disciples and walked on water)
Mary and Bonnie taking pictures while riding on a First Century era replica boat on the Sea of Galilee
Mary, Bonnie, and Yo getting "holy" water at the River Jordan, the north leg of the river, at the entrance to the Sea of Galilee
Jewish settlement near Bethlehem that overwhelms the rest of the countryside and is heavily secured and closed to all but Jews.
Beautiful wall art of Mary, Jesus and the shepherds at the Shepherd's Field Church near Bethlehem
Bonnie reading about John the Baptist's birth at St. John Ba-Harim church, in Ein Kerem, a small town a few miles west of Jerusalem
Outdoor scale model of Second Temple Era Jerusalem, First Century AD, at the Israel Museum in west Jerusalem
Old City of Jerusalem Map, in the 4th Century, Byzantine Period
The Dome of the Rock, major religious site for the Muslims
Grotto/Cave at Gethsemane, possibly where Jesus and the disciples stayed before the arrest of Jesus.
Ancient Olive trees, maybe from the first century, in the Garden of Gethsemane
The Church of All Nations, in east Jerusalem near the Grotto & Garden of Gethsemane (outside the old city)
Jerusalem "Old City" viewed from the east on Mt Scopus
Our Tour Bus "Peaceland", aptly named, as we were pilgrims looking for signs of peace in a troubled land
Beautiful icon in the Roman Catholic chapel near the Mount of Beatitudes.
Bonnie, Jim, Mary, and Yo at the Caeseria Maritima ruins on the Mediterranean Sea.