Two Chaminade University students went on a once-in-a-lifetime 10-day pilgrimage to Israel, the Holy Land. They arrived back in Hawaiʻi on Oct. 1, and six days later, Israel was bombed by Hamas, a terrorist group. Since then, the conflict has been raging with nearly 16,000 Palestinians killed and more than 100 hostages taken, according to Reuters.

“We could have easily been there at the wrong place, wrong time,” said Laʻakea Gamiao, a 23-year-old second-year student from Honolulu studying Environmental Science and Data Science, Analytics and Visualization. “For it to have happened right after we got back was a little more than coincidental. We take it as a sign of how special that trip was for us, and how special it will be, seeing as anyone who takes trips there now might have a sadder note to it because of all the things that are going on right now.”

While on the trip, some of the places that they visited included the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place in which Jesus’ cross was placed during the crucifixion, the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus spent his last night on Earth, and walking the route of the path from Palm Sunday, a popular holiday in many Christian denominations.

“My favorite part would be the Palm Sunday walk, said Easton DelaCruz, a second-year student from Saipan studying Communication. “It’s the same route that Jesus did. It was from Mount Olive down to the old city of Jerusalem. Going on a pilgrimage, you think you’re gonna walk. But we were on a bus. We weren’t really walking, so we didn’t know how Jesus felt. The hot desert sun of Israel made me feel as if I was reliving the moment of being like Jesus and just walking where he walked.”

For both of the young men, the 10-day journey made a significant and positive impact on their faith life. 

“This trip strengthened my faith a lot,” Gamaio said. “To put a face, and places to these names and stories you’re being told, to actually have mass in the desert, to visit the churches, to go to these places where it’s said to have happened, it’s a lot more revealing, and more tangible for someone to understand than just stories in a book.”

Neither DelaCruz nor Gamiao expected to have been able to make this trip as a student. Despite the grandeur of the journey, being a university student meant that they weren’t excused from doing school work. Issues arose as Canvas (the school’s platform for classes and schoolwork) was unavailable in Israel. DelaCruz and Gamiao also had to pay for their phone service before departing for the trip. 

The trip was coordinated and sponsored by The Interfaith Alliance Hawaiʻi and co-sponsored by Rev. David Jackson (Kahu Kawika) from the All Saints Episcopal Church in Kapaʻa, Kauaʻi. TIAH has a partnership with Chaminade University professor Sister Malia Wong, who invited DelaCruz and Gamaio. 

“For many people, especially Christians, it’s on their bucket list that before they die is to visit the Holy Land,” DelaCruz said. “It originally wasn’t on my bucket list, but I did it at 18 years old. I was always thinking [that] I was making the people of Saipan proud. I’m an 18-year-old who’s representing Hawaiʻi, and I’m not even a Hawaiʻi local. I was able to speak on what I learned at Chaminade, what I learned about Hawaiian culture and the culture from back home.”