Tour Leader’s Blog

Yesterday being Sunday, we decided to walk to the Parish Church in Stratford-upon-Avon for morning worship. We received a warm welcome at the Baptist church, which was full for a baptism service. Dottie Hathaway said the sermon was Anabaptist one and Mel was heard saying “Amen.” Karen Birt reminded the group that William Shakespeare, in addition to writing “Taming of the Shrew” which we enjoyed on Saturday night, is also known for his assistance in translating Psalm 46 for the King James Bible.

This morning, on our way to Wales, we visited Tewkesbury Abbey and Walter Dick was thrilled the organist playing during our stop. The music was beautiful and made the setting very worshipful. Elsie Dick was surprised to discover that visitors could make donations with their credit card!

Wales is a beautiful country and we learned much about Welsh life during our visit to St. Fagans National History Museum. Cardiff is a very clean capital city and many of the warehouses at the old wharf have been converted for other uses. Marg Fast expressed her enthusiasm for the scenery as we traveled through small Welsh towns.

~ Wilmer Martin

Our England, Scotland and Wales tour arrived in London on Thursday June 26th. We enjoyed the beautiful Kew gardens; the double-decker bus tour of the city of London; Ingrid our enthusiastic guide as we toured Westminister Abbey; and the changing of the guard and parade at Buckingham Palace. Elsie Flaming remarked at the end of the parade what a wonderful show - “God Save the Queen”.

On Saturday, following the tour of the Tower of London, we visited the London Mennonite Centre at Shepherds Hill. What a peaceable setting! The gardens were enjoyed for conversation and lunch was prepared by Ed and Phyllis Shirk. Vic Thiessen, the director, interpreted the exciting program the center facilitates across the United Kingdom. The Roots and Branch program can’t accept all the requests for resourcing and teaching related to peace and conflict resolution. It is exciting to hear of the tremendous growth of the Anabaptist family across the UK. Ray Weber said it is encouraging to see the London Mennonite Center encouraging other Christian groups. Tonight we go to see a Shakespeare Play!

~ Wilmer Martin.

Today the TourMagination group visited the village of Ak Metchet. This was the final village of the Great Trek and where Klaas Epp died. We spoke with some villagers who showed us where the church and school used to be. Other than the memories, the only thing left of the Mennonite Settlement are one well and two school desks (still in use).

John Sharp led us in a reflective time on what we have learned and what it might inform us today. The memories of the Mennonite presence are many including: the introduction of tomatoes and potatoes, orderliness to the point of fastideousness, and a peaceful resistance to the collectivization of Stalin. There is much more to learn. Each trip uncovers more information and more leads.

~ Ed Epp

Today we are in Bukhara. We drove to where the Trek was stalled for a winter waiting for permission to enter and travel through Bukhara district. Here the local population offered their mosque on Sundays for Mennonites to worship. At least one Mennonite marriage was performed in the mosque. There was a baptism and also funerals in the mosque. It is still standing and is perhaps the most significant example of interaction between Mennonites and Islam in our history. We gathered in the mosque and listened to H.A. and Tim Penner read from their great-grandfather’s diary of baptizing Elizabeth Stauffer’s grandfather at this place. The Imam gave us permission to sing and pray.

I wonder if we today would make our churches open for Moslem worship for strangers on their journeys?

~ Ed Epp

From Bethany we drove back “down” from Jerusalem - 3500 feet down in fact -
to Qumran. The first view of the Dead Sea was spectacular but deceptive -
it looks like a normal sea from a distance, but nothing can live in it. The
sea itself is shrinking rapidly and some scholars estimate that in 150 years
it will be reduced to a mere puddle. It has already split into two bodies
of water. It was pointed out to us how far the waters had receded in just a
few years.

At Qumran we saw the ruins of the Essenes village. We saw a brief movie
about “The Sons of Light” who were purists that moved from Jerusalem
to get away from the corruption of the Romans. Three times a day they had
to have ritual baths. They spent their time working and copying the
scriptures. They were preparing themselves to fight for the Messiah who was
to come. After the revolt in AD67, they ran from the Romans, hoping
eventually to return, and they hid the scrolls which were not found again
until 1947.

Then we went out to see the actual cave where the scroll of Isaiah was
found. Seeing this cave and the actual original scroll found there at the
Jerusalem museum this morning gave me great assurance that God does indeed
preserve His word, as He promised. Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea
scrolls, the oldest manuscript was dated 1000 years later and was 98%
accurate and the inaccuracies that do exist do not change the meaning.
Surely this demonstrates God’s intervention in history.

As we were exploring the ruins, we saw a group of mountain climbers
preparing to ascend the rugged mountains in front of us. I (Tobin) at first
wished to join them, but then I felt sorry for them climbing these huge
mountains in the 41 degree heat of the desert. I didn’t want to go any
more!

We then went to the Dead Sea and “swam” in the 28% salt chemical soup.
Floating in the sea was unique - I (Ian) felt like a human raft. It was
truly an uplifting experience. Some of the group completed the ritual by
plastering themselves from head to toe in the mud found on the beach. This
invoked a variety of reactions from a gross to “a wonderfully smooth skin”
experience.

For me, one of the most moving experiences of the day was being able to look
up at any point to the mountains across the sea, to Mount Nebo and see the
place where Moses was buried. Truly, this land contains so much of biblical
history, spanning through many, many generations!

~ Ian Elsinga & Tobin Voth