By Ebriku John Friday
The Year 2017 that just passed was remarkable to me in many ways. I started the year with lots of hope and aspiration, which is the ideal thing to do but it never occurred to me that the unimaginable was lurking around to make the year memorable for me. God proved Himself and through the instrumentality of the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), Dr Tor Uja, who graciously approved a slot for my online news portal, www.theleaderng.com, when the head of the media, Mr Celestine Ogugua, presented it alongside other online platforms to cover the pilgrimage for the December 12-21, 2017 batch to Israel. This for me was a notable recognition for our unrelenting coverage of activities of the NCPC.
After going through the clearance processes and participating in an enlightenment programme ahead of the date of departure, I was still wondering within myself, about the reality of truly traveling beyond the shores of Nigeria to Israel for pilgrimage and indeed see for myself firsthand all I have been taught by my Sunday School teachers right from my childhood days to my adulthood as a teacher of the Word of God myself today. I have always know that one day I will go for pilgrimage, but I never knew it will happen in such a surprising way. I give God the glory for the first privilege and the opportunity to experience God and His Christ in such a profound practical manner.
I must purse here to commend the NCPC team for making the processes for the trip a seamless one, from passport, to visa, to clearance at the airport to boarding and our final arrival at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.
We left the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at about 12:21am of December 12, 2017, and after over five hours airborne, we arrived the Turkey Antaiya Havalimani Dis Hatlar International Airport for thorough security checks. After boarding, we departed the Turkey airport for Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, where we went through another security check and got a nine days stay permit. It was a smooth journey afterall.
At the airport we were grouped in batches, and each group has a coaster bus attached to it and a tour guide. I was in Bus 3, comprising of FCT pilgrims. Our tour guide was an amazing young man called, Oshri El-Markias hired by Tailor Made Tours in Israel. For the nine days he stayed with us, we became friends and family. He was a good man, and everyone seems to love him, his humorous nature, deep knowledge of the various holy sites we had the opportunity to visit and his humble way of addressing issues. During our stay we were lodge in three hotels in three different cities. We were first lodged in Ararat Hotel in Bethlehem, Palestine on arrival, then in Nazareth Plaza Hotel in Nazareth and before departure we lodged finally in Jerusalem Gold Hotel in Jerusalem the capital city of Israel. The best hotel for me remains, Nazareth Plaza Hotel.
I fell in love with the serene, dust-free, noise-free and exquisite buildings from day one. And as we traverse the various cities where holy sites were located, it dawned on me that Israel is indeed a holy nation. The infrastructure, electricity, roads, technology, transportation system, agriculture, and organization all caught my fancy and got me thinking as well as wondering when will our Nigeria get to this point. The people too are accommodating. They also enterprising. And the best city, that bubbles with life from all the places we visited is the Old City of Jaffa.
Truly, apart from the eye catching scenes and the busy schedules, the whole experience was a spiritual one as well. I enjoyed the early morning devotions and the evening time spent in exhortation and prayers. The fact remains that my pilgrimage to Israel was not a jamboree. The significance of the various holy sites visited became real and meaningful. I felt the presence of God. Jesus was visibly presence. There was impartation and indeed the move of God. Prayers were answered almost instantly. There was shout of praises and God was magnified in the midst of His people.
Upon our arrival in Israel on Wednesday for the 2017 pilgrimage exercise, on Thursday, December 13, 2017 we started our visit to sites from Bethlehem to Nazareth and concluded in Jerusalem. It was a winter season, so we had a feel of the cold weather.
On Thursday through our tour guide hired by Tailor Made Tour Ltd, we were driven to the top of Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection. Pilgrims will visit the holy shrines on the Mount (chapel of Ascension and Peter Noster Church) and walk on down the “Palm Sunday Road” visiting the Chapel of Flevit (Jesus wept) enrout to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of all Nations where Christ prayed on the night of His betrayal in Jerusalem.
Other sites visited include Ein Karem, where John the Baptist was born. In Bethlehem we visit Basilica of the Nativity, where we had the opportunity to kneel at the birth place of Jesus Christ in the Grotto of the Nativity. Also in Bethlehem we visited Field of the Shepherds, where the Angel of the Lord proclaimed the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.
On Saturday we were driven back to Mt Zion in Jerusalem to visit the Upper Room and the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu. We ended the day with visit to the Garden Tomb and Gordon’s Golgotha, Tel Aviv and the adjacent Joppa where we saw the local basilica built on the location of Simon the Tanner’s house where the impure animals vision took place.
On Sunday, the guide showed us the Mt of Beatitudes, Tabgha. Here we saw the Church of Multiplication of the loafs and five fishes. We had our Sunday Worship Service and took the Holy Communion. We also visited the Chapel of Primacy and had a boat trip across the Sea of Galilee.
Our visit to holy sites ended on Wednesday, December 20, 2017, where we visited the Old City of a Jerusalem and walk in the footsteps of the Jesus as He bore the sin of humanity to the Cross at Golgotha. We also visited Pools of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the man who had been crippled for 38 years (John 5:1-9). The tour took us Via Dolorosa 14 stations of the Cross from Pilate’s Judgement Hall to the empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and climax with visit to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem. Then the JP celebration before a shopping at the Old Jerusalem Japher popular Market. It was an incredible experience. I will love to have it again.
THIS IS FOR THE RECORDS…
