The Gurney Clan is packing and preparing for the Holy Land!

rusmeister · Jan 3, 2019

I can't say I know any "churched" Russians who would behave like that. Nominalism IS a big problem here, though.

gurneyhalleck1 · Jan 3, 2019

gurneyhalleck1 · Jan 3, 2019

gurneyhalleck1 · Jan 3, 2019

They were wealthy, most of them. We all noticed that. And it wasn’t 2-3 of them, Rus, it was over 40. Plus they’re loud and rude about the city and hotels. Russians have a bad reputation around Israel. It’s mind-blowing.

I was told before I left to beware of the rude Russians at these sites. I figured it was probably not that bad.... I was wrong.

How “churched” these folks were I do g know, but they were wearing their head scarves, carrying prayer books and paper icon prayer cards.

rusmeister said:
I can't say I know any "churched" Russians who would behave like that. Nominalism IS a big problem here, though.

Anhelyna · Jan 3, 2019

It's sad when something like that happens - it makes it much harder for your group to focus on what you should be focussing on .
Hope you manage to avoid folk like these for the rest of the trip

ArmyMatt · Jan 3, 2019

gurneyhalleck1 said:
They were wealthy, most of them. We all noticed that. And it wasn’t 2-3 of them, Rus, it was over 40. Plus they’re loud and rude about the city and hotels. Russians have a bad reputation around Israel. It’s mind-blowing.

I was told before I left to beware of the rude Russians at these sites. I figured it was probably not that bad.... I was wrong.

How “churched” these folks were I do g know, but they were wearing their head scarves, carrying prayer books and paper icon prayer cards.

just tell them we're trying to live in a society, here!

gurneyhalleck1 · Jan 3, 2019

No kidding!!! I was about to go full Costanza!!

By the way, the icon I bought...hand-painted

ArmyMatt said:
just tell them we're trying to live in a society, here!

ArmyMatt · Jan 3, 2019

gurneyhalleck1 said:
By the way, the icon I bought...hand-painted

haha, I'm glad

dzheremi · Jan 3, 2019

Maybe you could go to a smaller place where you might not run into as many tourists? Taybeh (10 miles from Jerusalem, according to wiki) is the only all-Christian village in the West Bank, and even has its own brewery (!) owned by the former mayor David Khoury, in addition to the ruins of the Crusader-era castle of St. Elias and the Church of St. George (Al-Khidr).

gurneyhalleck1 · Jan 3, 2019

It’s not on our tour...

dzheremi said:
Maybe you could go to a smaller place where you might not run into as many tourists? Taybeh (10 miles from Jerusalem, according to wiki) is the only all-Christian village in the West Bank, and even has its own brewery (!) owned by the former mayor David Khoury, in addition to the ruins of the Crusader-era castle of St. Elias and the Church of St. George (Al-Khidr).

dzheremi · Jan 3, 2019

Oh, bummer. Sorry, I didn't realize that you are on some kind of package tour schedule.

Orthodoxjay1 · Jan 3, 2019

Sorry to hear about your expirence with the Russians, they get a bad reputation as tourists, it not just in Israel, it brings back memories of when I first looked into Orthodoxy, when I went on the ROCOR church near me, pushing and shoving to kiss the cross, and receive the antidoron, dirty looks, people practically elbowing one another to receive communion, however the priest and the greeter were very nice. Overall your expirence seem nice, the Palestinans seem warm.

gurneyhalleck1 · Jan 4, 2019

AMAZING DAY!!!

So today we went to Yad Vashem
Holocaust memorial museum in the morning. After that, we went to the Tomb of King David. Gurney and sons donned our yamakas! It was incredible praying before the greatest king Israel ever had. Just mere yards away, we crossed into the Upper Room!!! Kneeling down and venerating the floor where Our Savior blessed the Eucharist and held the Last Supper....I haven’t the words frankly. Imagining the 12 sitting with Him, the breaking of the Bread...

Then we went into the Christian Quarter shopping, then the Muslim Quarter......then we journeyed to Golgotha and venerated the place of the Crucifixion....again, I’m a pretty wordy guy who hasn’t the words to describe it....

Next we venerated the slab where they laid Jesus’s Body and prepared it for burial.....then.....THE HOLY SEPULCHER.....

Being there is out of this world. It gives you hope, guys. And when you see the flocks, crowds, armies of people from all walks of life STILL interested in Christ, in a crumby world of atheism and greed and secular slime, there is still that hunger in so many people....

We left the holy sites and went back through the Muslim markets smack dab in full-blown super loud muezzin action and made a really dumb decision. Kate, an Australian friend of ours, the kids, and I decided to walk, to huff it back to our hotel. We got lost LOL!!! Sabbath is going on, streets are vacating, and this 16-year-Old Muslim young man, Hamed, came to our rescue and walked miles and miles to help us back to our hotel. He was warm, selfless, kind. We tried to pay him and he fought us off until he relented after an eternity. He was blown away how we wanted to hook him up with $$$$. Sweetheart of a kid. It touched my heart. Honestly I’ve met some wonderful Muslims this trip.

We walked a full hour through the dark streets of Jerusalem tonight. Gritty but cool. Serious adventure today!