They looked like any other tour group wandering through the Old City of Jerusalem, but these weren't ordinary tourists. These men had captured the imaginations and hearts of people worldwide with their dramatic rescue from the bowels of the earth. The trip was the miners' first time visiting Jerusalem and the first opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, which is Latin for "Way of Grief or Way of Suffering."
The miners came to the Holy Land through an invitation by Israel's Ministry of Tourism. Rafi Ben Hur, the deputy general of Israel's Ministry of Tourism, said: "People recognize and we tell it to the whole world that the Holy Land, that Israel is a place to come and pray to God--that if you want to say, 'Thank you God,' this is the place to do it."
The miners did just that at the Kotel (Western Wall) as they put their hand-written notes between the stones and offered prayers of thanksgiving.
