SHARING HER SNAPSHOTS is Carolyn Hemphill of Butler, an orthopedic physician assistant, who fulfilled a lifelong dream to travel to the Holy Land last month during a two-week trip with her family and a group of friends. Above, the Hemphills visit the Great Sphinx of Giza during their time in Egypt. From left are Colton, 17; Caitlyn, 20; Carolyn; and her husband, Ned. At right, Carolyn tries out the perch on a camel.

A Butler woman fulfilled a longtime goal earlier this year when she and a group of family and friends took a two-week trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

Carolyn Hemphill is an orthopedic physician assistant with Tri Rivers Musculoskeletal Centers at Butler Memorial Hospital where she works for Dr. Thomas Muzzonigro and Dr. Kelly Agnew.

“It has been my lifelong dream to travel to the Holy Land and see where Jesus walked and all the places in the Bible, but I was always too afraid to go to the Middle East,” said Hemphill.

Nearly 18 months ago Hemphill made up her mind to finally go and convinced her husband, Ned, a recently retired automotive mechanics teacher, and their two children, Colton, 17, an 11th-grader at Butler High School, and Caitlyn, 20, a sophomore at Slippery Rock University, to join her on her adventure.

Her friend, Dr. Tony Maalouf, a general surgeon at Butler Memorial Hospital, helped Hemphill plan her trip with Pilgrim Tours, a Christian tour company based in Pennsylvania.

“He had been there the year before and helped make it a memorable experience, so special thanks to him,” she said.

Pilgrim Tours arranged a trip called Exodus which follows Moses' journey leading the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land of Israel.

Along the way, Hemphill said she gathered up some more companions for the trip.

Her former boss, Dr. Charlie Spingola, a retired orthopedic surgeon, and his wife, Kathy, also wanted to go along. He took his whole family, including his three daughters, Maggie, Liz and Kathryn, and their significant others and some friends.

Marie Yingling, Butler Memorial Hospital nursing educator, and retired teacher Connie Dittmer also joined the traveling company.

The now 16-member group left Pittsburgh on Jan. 9 for a 10-hour plane ride to Cairo.

Hemphill said the tour group hit the ground running.“After being up for over 24 hours, with no sleep or showers, our tour began,” she said.She said the highlights of Egypt included visiting the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is the only surviving one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; the Sphinx; the Egyptian Museum in Cairo that houses the famed King Tutankhamen's gold mask; Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments; and the site of the burning bush at St. Catherine's monastery on the Sinai Peninsula.She recalled, “Cairo was very polluted and the traffic was horrendous. There were no traffic lights or lane markers.”Hemphill's group also toured a local carpet school to see how children made handmade rugs.“Next, we traveled up the border of the Red Sea where Moses parted the sea at the Gulf of Aqaba,” she said. “We crossed the border here into Jordan.”The group toured such Jordanian locations as the Nubian sandstone city of Petra, carved out of the red rock by the Edomites believed to be the descendants of Esau, the elder brother of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites.“We climbed in and around Petra's hundreds of carved structures which included the treasury which has been filmed in many movies including 'Indiana Jones,' ” said Hemphill.The group then traveled to Mount Nebo where it is said God showed Moses the Promised Land before Moses died and was buried there.The group then traveled on to Israel.In Israel, the travelers from Butler County joined another tour group from Mississippi. They took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus walked on water and calmed the sea, saw the city of Capernaum where Peter and Jesus lived and preached, and took a cable car up to Masada, the mountain fortress of the Jewish zealots who fought the

Romans and committed mass suicide when their defeat neared.Hemphill's group also visited the Mediterranean port city of Caesarea, where the Gentiles first heard the Good News from Peter, Megiddo with its 20 levels of civilization unearthed by archaeologists and the valley of Armageddon.“Next we had the opportunity to be baptized in the Jordan River like Jesus was by John the baptist,” said Hemphill. She and her daughter were baptized by a minister from the Mississippi party.“Then we traveled to Beth Shean, one of the Greek cities of the Decapolis” she said. The Decapolis was 10 cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire.“We stayed at the Dead Sea and floated in the salt water in the hotel's indoor pool,” she said.Hemphill's group visited Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and Bethlehem with its Church of the Nativity and the star marking the site where Jesus was born.The group also visited the holy city of Jerusalem, sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims.“In Jerusalem, we saw the Western/Wailing Wall and went through the rabbinical tunnels to see the wall underground. We saw the Southern wall excavations and giant steps where Peter stood and preached and where Jesus drove out the money vendors,” Hemphill said.“Next we walked the Via Dolorosa, where Jesus suffered and the stations of the cross which ended at the amazing Holy Sepulcher church and the place of Crucifixion and the empty tomb,” she said.

Stations of the cross were actual different locations in Jerusalem where different events occurred during Jesus' walk to Mount Calvary.The group also visited the church commemorating the upper room where Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples.“Next, we visited Golgotha, the site outside of Jerusalem's walls where Christ was crucified and the garden tomb which is another possible place of Christ's Crucifixion,” said Hemphill.The Americans traveled to the Mount of Olives where the group could overlook the city of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock.Another stop was the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed before he was taken by the Romans.The two-week journey ended Jan. 22 with a 12-hour plane ride back to the United States.“This trip was so incredible, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to enrich their spiritual life,” said Hemphill.“It was life-changing to be able to be so close to God and feel his presence in all that we saw and experienced,” she said. “We had a great time with family and friends but were very happy to make it safely back home.”

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One of the first stops for the Hemphill group upon its arrival in Egypt was a visit to the Great Pyramid of Giza (also called the Pyramid of Khufu, after the pharaoh who built it), the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that remains relatively intact.

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is shown in this view from the Mount of Olives. The rock over which the shrine was built is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. The Prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam, is traditionally believed to have ascended into heaven from the site. In Jewish tradition, it is here that Abraham is said to have prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Caitlyn, left, and Colton Hemphill visit one of the structures carved out of rock in the Jordanian city of Petra.