Well...I slept a bit better. Up at 4:30 AM...but felt a bti more rested. We are in a Kibutz and will be here tonight too...which is nice. We don't have to haul our luggage to a bus. And I hope we get a little time to enjoy our surroundings. The room is little buildings all around. We each have our own. They have two bedrooms and a very small bathroom...similar to what you experience in Europe.
The trip is going quite well. We crammed a lot into yesterday. I would imagine today will be similar. Israel is kind of what I expected. However, I expected it to be a bit more modern. But when you get out into the towns..and even in Tel Aviv...the architecture seems to be a bit run down. It is a bit diritier than I expected to. The people are really nice and friendly. It is different not understanding anything in Hebrew or Arabic. We did see, however, NY Pizza, McDonalds all over the place and even a Chili's sign. Chili's was a whole in the wall place and very small walkin...or so it appeared as we passed by.
We boarded the bus and headed north. We viewed the Galilee valley. To the east were the Golan Heights. At one point we stopped to talk about the time Jesus dismissed the evil spirit which ran into pigs and they jumped off the cliff.. They believe that this happened in this eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and in the Golan Heights.
We stopped on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. The water is actually warm. There was a couple of churches bult to represent many miracles performed by Jesus. Feeding the 5000 (men...many more with women and children). The apostles were called here. 11 of the apostles were from Galilee...only Judas was from Judea. A church represents the confering of the keys of authority...upon this rock....
We then headed to the place where the mount where the Beatitudes were given.(Sermon on the Mount). What a cool stop this was. We stopped and reflected on Mathew 5, 6 & 7. What a powerful sermon the Lord gave at this site. I took lots of pictures and won't be able to share all. But it is easy to imagine a large crowd where the Savior provided such great counsel. So much of the Savior's life was here in this area.
Onward we go to Capernaum, where Jesus lived as an adult and called many of his apostles. Peter lived in Capernaum. Jesus taught in a synagogue here and healed many...including the men lowered down from the roof. Lots of miracles occurred in Capernaum.
Folloiwing Capernaum, we quickly headed to a boat launch area and took a very nice boat ride out into the Sea of Galilee. It was quite awesome to think Jesus called fishers from here to be his disciples...walked on the water and calmed this very 'sea'. It is actually a lake the size of Utah Lake. Pretty amazing experience....
After another 'fish' lunch with all the mediterranean side dishes, we got on the bus and headed north...way up by the Lebanon and Syrian borders. We travelled close to Tel Dan, the northern most Israel community on our way to one of the head waters of the Jordan River called Banias where a temple once stood but later became one of the very sinful places of the Bible. There we were instructed by Dan, our leader, on the happenings at this site.
From there, we started our trip back to our Kibutz along the north eastern portion of Israel. At many points we could see cities in Lebanon and Syria. Demascus, Syria was actually closer to us than our Kibutz and we were only 30 minutes drive from it. Pretty crazy. We were told at one point that only a few weeks ago, Russia had dropped a bomb on one of the areas to quell an radical group in Syria. As we drove along, we could see warning signs concerning land mines. It made you feel pretty uncomfortable.
We arrived back to our Kibutz around 5 PM. Dinner was not until 7 PM. So a few of us (Fred, Cory, Shane and I) went for a swim in the Sea of Galilee. The air was cooler than the water. But it was slightly windy so the 'surf' was up. I was impressed by the size of the waves. And you could tell that the water was clean and clear...you could see your feet even though it was pretty dark. It gets dark over here at about 5 PM or little after.
Well...another 'site' full day. I am growing tired of the same food. I could use a burger, a rib, a casserole, chips and salsa...something other than a fried fish with pita and all the pickled veggies! :-) Until tomorrow.
Here are some pictures.................
The Kibutz home that we stayed in....
Normal garbage cans....
The village....
The sea of Galillee...
The dining room....for breakfast.
Feeding the 5k and other miracles....
Sea of Galilee....
St. Peter's Rock Cathedral...
Capernaum Pictures....
Synagogue that would have been here...
St. Peter....
Sea of Galilee.....
Sea of Galilee Boat Ride....
Banias....Head Waters of the Jordan River and former temple site.
A spring comes out of this area and flows down....
Things cut into the rock from the former temple....
Some furry friends...they said they were not a rodent...but part of the elephant family. I have a hard time believing that one.....
Our instructor....Denise is on the other side over there. Not sure why we were not together. My bad.
Syrian towns (along with UN camp)....look closely and you can see out posts and barbed wire fencing...
So fun and interesting! Lucas is requesting more pictures with pocker and mongy in them! :-)
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