Our group consisted of 18 persons: Bishop O. Schaude and his wife Brigitte; Dean M. Brockmann and wife , Tatyana; Dean W. Jesse and wife; Dean Braden Buerkle and wife; Pastor W. Benzel and wife, Jelena; Victor Subkoff and wife; Pastor Eugene Lukinov;a Victor, and an Elvira from Kazakhstan; Pastor Frieder Schirrmeister and wife, Ingrid, from Germany and Matthias Braun from Germany.

Tuesday, November 12: We landed in TelAviv. As we started on our bus trip it was starting to turn dark and there was way too much electrical lighting in the countryside, because this area was very heavily populated. We were housed at the Kibbutz “Maagan”, which is located on the Sea of Galilee, and which derives its income from tourism.The Evening Devotions were led by Otto Schaude. Since he is a teacher, he definitely had a lot to say, but everything he said was of quality and made more captivating by the tangible connection to the transcendence of God through the Bible and made credible through his rich life experiences.

Wednesday, November 13 : It was a beautiful clear morning with swimming in the Sea of Galilee. Our bus driver was named Eduard and he is a Russian Jew who exhibited both the characteristics and the sufferings of both nationalities. We traveled through Galilee, which has a mountain landscape. We drove past and around the Crusader Fortress Nimrod to the source of the Jordan River near Banyas. A person can understand why this place has been declared a Holy Site when in the middle of this arid landscape with its Sclerophyllousshrubs, you see fresh, clear cool water bubbling up. Something that left quite an impression on me were the waterfalls of the Jordan located between the mountains and the forest. This is the place where Peter made his “Christ confession” as written in Matthew 16:16.

The first hours of the day were spent on the Golan Heights, the plateau where the Syrians used to shoot on the Jewish Settlements in the valley below. This is why it is now belongs to Israel. Next, we visited the city of Catsrin, an old Caesarea. There we were on the tallest mountain of the Golan Plateau, named “MaromHagolan.” We then drove through the place of “Dan”, part of Upper Galilee and returned back to the Sea of Galilee. We then visited Capernaum and the ruins of the old Synagogue, which Jesus visited. After that we visited the home of Peter’s mother-in-law. At twilight we took a small boat ride on Lake Tiberias (Galilee). While on this boat ride had a conversation with FriederSchirmeister and he said, “Manfred, you have an unusual curriculum vitae.”

Thursday, November 14: We went to “Maalot” to the “Works of Charity”, which is a facility of the Pietists from Wuerttemberg. The Mayer brothers are in charge of this facility. The method that they use for their work and the manner in which they present themselves was somewhat disconcerting.BradnBuerkle said, “I have mixed feelings.” But I have to say this place left the largest impression on me of anyplace we visited on our Israeli trip. This place is where the last living survivors of the concentration camps, average age 90, are cared for until they pass away. The poor, old people are without relatives or friends and have been so maltreated and oppressed that they can no longer carry on a conversation with another person. These people are all God’s creatures and for that reason all we could do was to be silent and shocked. What is man? Where is God? Only God knows them and that is our only consolation. (Someone once told me that in addition to visiting this place and to reading Solzhenitsyn one should read WaalamSchalaschoff. ) I quietly bowed before these people. From here we went to “Schawe Zion”, which is a branch of “Maalot”.

Next we proceeded past Akko to Haifa. There you will find old houses of German Jews with German sayings from the Psalms on the gables. Wehad a pleasant journey on to the ridge of Mount Carmel. Behind Mount Carmel there are a lot of low mountains, on which the Israelis have planted forests.Unfortunately we could only pass by Nazareth. We visitedanother kibbutz which had been repurposed for tourism. This kibbutz was run by a Russian Jew. After our evening meal which came at the end of a long day, he turned on the television, but Otto Schaude forbade it. It was a sympathetic protest by a critical conservative. If he would have not done it, I would have protested. We returned to our own kibbutz and my wife has a sore throat. I think this sore throat has psychological implications. Kind-hearted Mrs. Schaude nursed her.

Friday, November 15: I went swimming this morning. FriederSchirrmesiter said to me, “For you this is the wisdom of age.” I am sure he is also talking about himself for he is 75 and I am 76. . This will be a very busy day. As always, good biblical words from Otto Schaude to accompany us.We went straight through the Jordan Valley to the south, past the mountains of Gilboa, where King Saul fell with his men. We came near Gilgal, and saw the place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. There were alarge amount of people there. Because it is Friday I wear my black clerical shirt, and am addressed by many as "Father".Close by is the site of Jesus' temptation. To prepare us for Jericho Otto Schaude gives us a very impressive interpretation of the Zacchaeus story from Luke 19. "Jesus sees Zacchaeus (!)", "Jesus says," Today is salvation come to this house again " In Jericho which is now Palestinian territory, we no longer see Hebrew inscriptions. Everything is Arabic and everything seems a bit messy. We drove by Qumran. We drove pastthe fortress Masada, where Simon bar Kochba led the last resistance against the Romans until they all were dead. We drove past the cliffs called "Lot's wife". Now we are driving along the Dead Sea.

In Masad Zohar I swam in the Dead Sea: an experience, but not one I want to repeat again. You float in the water and you can’t touch bottom. My Tanya panicsand clings to me and almosttears my little finger off my hand. I'm proceeding as a frivolous man on an adventure with my head in the salty water and am suddenly I am standing there with burning eyes that render me blind. . All at once I feel a strong man's arm on my arm and he leads me out of the water to a shower. Quite an experience that I will never forget as to how Brother Benzel saved me!

We finally arrived at our hotel at Eilat on the Red Sea. I had the evening devotions and I used the suggestedtext from our church’s liturgical order, which is from Matthew 26:36-41, "Jesus in Gethsemane". To begin evening devotions wesang the Taize-liturgy, “Remain here and keep watch with me, watch and pray": The story of the people and the story of God are two different things. But if you take your personal story seriously, it will help you distinguish what is important and what is not. If too much is going on and especially if it is destructionlike yesterday what we saw while watching TV, just how do put away these distractions, and then find some peace! It is so important to ask: "Who am I?" And "Who is Jesus Christ?" To know Christ, should be the passion of every Christian. Consult Phil. 3:10-12 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection … I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”My spiritual journey began 60 years ago when I read this Psalm verse on the tram in Hamburg : " You who seek God, may your hearts live "(Ps 69,32,). Then I sang the Taize-liturgy "We are on the journey to find the source, only our thirst is our light." This is how you jump out of your own human story into the greater history of God dealing with his people! Then we stopped at Valdemarand Mrs. Benzel bought somemedicine for Tanya.

Saturday, November 16: We traveled through the desert to Timna Park, where there is a museum, and the mines of the ancient Egyptians and also of King Solomon. There we watched a pretty stupid movie. Then we went on to a replica of the Tabernacle. Schaude gave us a really good explanation: Tabernacle= God dwelling with his people in the world. I remembered a hymn "God loves this world / (EKG 409), firelight and Cloud / and there a holy tent / tell his people / that God is in the world".

Then we are off to the underwater aquarium Eilat. We sent postcards to our oceanariumin Vladivostok. We went swimming in the Red Sea, and even Tanjaparticipates. I fell asleep in the sun while writing in m y diary. Food as always is very good. W Jesse leads evensong. His songs are quite foreign to me, but nice Lena Benzel tells me, "All the songs please God." Yes, what can I say? Maybe she's right.

Sunday. November 17: It is the Second to last Sunday of the liturgical year .. We are driving through the Negev Desert to the north. The Israelis have planted trees everywhere. I wonder where our tree is that MsPfister planted in the Negev for our congregations at Vladivostok and Komsomolsk? We hold a worship service in the desert, but at a rest area. 3 Israeli soldiers are standing there, one of them a sympathetic young woman.

Our Israeli driver does not want to go through Hebron because he is afraid of Palestinian fanaticism there. We will drive to Bethlehem, and there we see the wall that they have built to defend against Palestinian attacks ... A beautiful city, especially beautiful at the Church of the Nativity, which is built in the style of the Crusaders. There we have a long line to see the place of birth Jesus, and I find it strange how people kiss the stones... In Jerusalem, we stayed in a very nice hotel, Ramah Rachel.

Monday, November 18: Tanja has a cough and bronchitis. Already around 8:00 I have to bother poor Otto Schaude , who is still in the shower. Tanya wants to see a doctor. A Dr. Goldschmidt is called.Tanjais still not quite well, but she still wants to go with the rest of us to see the churches of Jerusalem. We got see the view of Jerusalem from Mount Scopus. We went down into the Garden of Gethsemane. The church "Dominus flevit" with its mosaics is located there. I was here once before. As we were standing in front of the church Otto Schaudeasked me to lead the group in singing, "Tarry here and watch with me"; my Tanya was embarrassed because she thought I wasn’t quite on pitch. Oh, well, but I do love to sing. Our next stop was at the Wailing Wall and then into the Old City. We went on to the Church of The Holy Sepulchre, where people crawled under the altar, the place of burial. They kissed the stone, which I found strange. Tanya cried.

What followed was a very interesting afternoon: We attended a lecture by Pastor JohnGerloff, who has lived for 20 years in Jerusalem. In a conversation with him we found that he portrays the country and people of Israel with great sympathy and expertise. I devoured his book "The Palestinians –A People Who Are the Focal Point of History " with an intensity very rare for me.. With him was a Miriam Holmer, journalist and Ismal scientist;and J Gerloff, a SwabianPietist, who works as a journalist for Christian Media. "? When W Benzel asked the question, “Do you do mission work?” he responded with Paul’s words from Romans 11.14: I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse the people to envy and save some of them. The following are some of his thoughts: The construction of the wall is a desperate attempt by the Israelis to defend themselves against the suicide missions of the Palestinians. One result of this structure is that it isan economic boom for the Palestinians and has led to a distortion of the settler movement by the media, because this is not a mandated program, but comes from the people themselves. - There are Palestinians who say:.. Weare Israelis.-We are Palestinians who do not want aPalestinian State . It is the others, the Russians, the UN, Europe, and the U.S. who want a Palestinian State. There is a World War going on in Syria because there are 83 nations fighting there. We should pray for the Christians in Egypt - There are "messianic Jews", and they are doing mission work on the street. - An anti-missionary law promotes awareness of this issue with adults ... etc

Tuesday, November 19: We visited "YadVashem" , the memorial to the Holocaust and then went on to the "Valley of the Vanished Communities.". Both are very impressive. The Holocaust took place not only in Germany and Russia, but also to some degree in Great Britain. The Germans were thorough, effective, "idealistic" to fanatical in their anti-Semitism; the Russian anti-Semitism emotional, unrestrained in love and hate; the British cool and reserved , and thus making their anti-Semitism very precise. Their "White Paper", with which they presented reasons to withdraw from Palestine, is rightly referred to as the "Munich Treaty" which had quite an impact on the Middle East. Then we went on to see the Menorah at the Knesset.

Then we had some free time. I and Tanja visited a city gate in the old town. For me the German Our Savior’s Church,was especially nice because of its simplicity. It is now the seat of the Lutheran Palestinian Bishop Yanun, who is also president of the LWF.

That evening we had a farewell dinner at the hotel with small talk and toasts. I thanked OttoSchaude for this trip that is an organizational, financial and theological masterpiece in my eyes! He came over to me and clinked glasses with me.

Mr. Volker Mertel, a German with Israeli citizenship, joined us for the evening. I found him to be a lively and interesting person.

Then we concluded with an evaluation of this study tour. Elvira from Kazakhstan had a lot of good things to say about the trip. I pointed out three things that left a lasting impression with me of this trip to Israel, - and I would like to conclude a my report with them:

1)The people who are living at “Works of Charity at Zedaka” , who are the last living survivors of the concentration camps, have found their last home on this earth. This experience with them left me shaken to my very soul and I bowed before them. I asked myself: What are humans? Where is God in all of this? God knows even the loneliest human beings. That is our final and only solace.

2. In the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem people kiss the stones; at the Church of the Sepulcher in Jerusalem people crawl under the altar in order to kiss the burial place of Jesus. I find this all very strange. I am so happy that we are a church of the Word and not of stones and icons.

3. The history of Israel is of paramount importance for us Christians; much more important than the history of other peoples and countries. Where are we in light of this new country and the people of Israel as it pertains to the history of God with his people?

Manfred Brockmann

Vladivostok, May 5, 2014