The Lowest Point on Earth

Good evening again my blog readers. Today (Saturday) our group headed out to the region of the Dead Sea to explore. First up was our baptism on the Jordan River. The spot we went to today was much more secluded and far less touristy feeling. Plus it is most likely closer to the actual spot that Jesus was baptized in. It was a sweet time to be together in the Lord's presence and remember our faith and be baptized in the same waters that Jesus was. Everyone agreed that it was the highlight of the day.

Then we headed to Masada, which is this giant fortress built on the top of a mountain by Herod the Great and it was later used by the Jewish during the revolts during 70 A.D. To get to the top we had to ride cable cars like the ones you see in the Alps. I am not a huge fan of heights, and Adam and Alan found about it when we were driving through the Golan Heights the other day and kept teasing me about it...good-naturally of course. :) it was really interesting to see and once we got to the top it didn't really seem so high up so I was great.

Then we stopped at Ein Gedi, which is the site where David and his men sought refuge when Saul was chasing them. David also used these settings as inspiration for many of his psalms. It was a beautiful nature park with walking paths and waterfalls. It was at one of these waterfalls that we stopped to read about David and Saul and also to read some psalms. The psalms really do come to life when you can actually see and experience the things that David is writing about.

After that we stopped at the Ahava store, which is the maker of all the Dead Sea skincare products. We bought a few things before heading down to the Dead Sea for a swim. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth and is over 30% salt, compared to only 3% in the oceans. Swimming in the Dead Sea was on my bucket list and today I accomplished that. It was awesome to get into the water and without even having to try, be completely buoyant, floating in the water. The edges of the shore are also extremely cool with salt formations along the edges. The only bad thing is that the shore is extremely rocky and it kinda hurts getting in and out of the water. We also slathered ourselves in the Dead Sea mud and took some really fun pictures. The mud is right there along the shore. It is super rich in minerals and is so good for your skin. It was an adventure getting it off though and we had lots of laughs as we played in the mud.

Then our last stop of the day was Qumran, which is where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in the 1940's and 1950's. The park was officially closed but since Leor is so well known they let us in to explore a bit. (well I guess we kinda jumped the gate....:)  There were caves built right into the sides of the cliffs  which is where the scrolls were found. We loved just getting the chance to explore this awesome place that is so important to our history.

Back at the hotel, we headed to dinner and also visited a little grocery store in downtown Jerusalem before heading to our beds for the evening...which is where I should be so goodnight!

Heading South

Hey there blog readers! I didn't get a chance to update my blog yesterday because we signed into our new hotel and it costs $9 an hour for Internet. Boo.... So here goes Friday's activities.

This morning, we packed up and said goodbye to the beautiful Ma'Gaan resort at the Sea of Galilee. I have absolutely loved staying there with it's spacious rooms, gorgeous grounds, and amazing lobby that we hung out in. We then began our trip south to Jerusalem and we stopped at many places on our way there.

Our first stop was at Gideon's Springs, which is where the story from Judges 7 takes place with Gideon and his army being made smaller by God so that God could be glorified when the Israelites won the battle. It was very pretty there and we took lots of great pictures.

Then we stopped at an oasis and hot springs in the middle of the desert. It was beautiful there and the water was so clear and blue. This might have been a spot where Jesus stopped to rest on his long journey from Capernium to Jerusalem.

Our next stop was at Beit Shean, which is one of the oldest Roman settlements in Israel. The city was buried in an earthquake and many of the structures were left unharmed. It was Fun to explore, with ancient marble mosaics and huge limestone pillars. It was a major metropolitan area in Jesus' time.

Then we headed into part of the West Bank. It is divided into 3 zones: A, B, and C. C is the safest and is controlled by the Israelis so it is pretty safe. We drove pretty close to the border of the country Jordan and in the buffer zone between the two countries we did see some mine fields with active mines...from a bit of a distance. We were safe, don't worry. Our tour guide is exceptional and knows where it is safe. We actually might end up not going to Bethlehem because it is in the West Bank in zone A which is under Palestinian control. I would love to go, but definitely not if it isn't safe.

Then we stopped at Leor's house on our way into Jerusalem to meet his family and have some refreshments. He actually lives in the West Bank: zone C.
We then drove through the Jordan Valley and the regions of Samaria and Judea. We drove through the desert and saw lots of beautiful things like camels, rocky cliffs, and cacti. Then we stopped for lunch at Abraham's Tent. We dressed up like they did in Abraham's time and rode camels to fet to our destination. Riding the camels was such a new and different experience and we all had so much fun trying to get on and stay on our camels. At the tent, we ate lunch. It was delicious. They had chicken with a date honey glaze, rice, and many other foods. The chicken was so yummy that we all had seconds. It was a ton of fun to eat in a tent reclining on cushions around the table and the view outside the tent was spectacular. It looked out on the mountains of Judea and out the Jordan River Valley.

Then we drove into Jerusalem for our first view of the Temple Mount from the mountains. Then we wove our way around the city until we reached our hotel. It is much more fancy than our other hotel, but I don't like it as much. It is interesting though. In order to turn the lights on, you have to insert your room key into a slot. I guess it saves them money and electricity, but it is kind of a nuisance. Then we also arrived on Shabbat (the Jewish sabbath) which started at sundown. Dinner was a grand feast, all kosher of course. Lots of salads and weird Israeli and Jewish foods so I didn't really eat much.

After dinner we all hung out in the lobby,  just chatting about the days events and bantering with each other. This is probably one of my most favorite things about this trip, just hanging out with our group. I have gotten to know all of them so well and I know that I will be sad to see the trip come to an end in a few days.

Well, I gotta go. See you all soon. :)

Note: This post was from Friday, March 11th.

A Change of Pace

Hello again blog readers. Today's post will be a little more laid-back than the previous few posts. We headed north into the Golan Heights area which encompasses most of the northern part of the country. Our first stop was Dan, home of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. We saw some ruins as we drove but since it was still raining we weren't able to go see them. We did stop briefly at a nature preserve there and saw one of the springs that feeds into the Jordan River. It was super pretty.

Then we started our ascent up into the Golan Heights. Leor explained about the 6 day war in Israel as we drove and showed us different places of interest. We then stopped at Caesarea Phillipi where they had another natural springs and ruins of a pegan temple. The place was interesting but I wasn't very fond of it, it was where Jesus Called Peter a rock of faith and said "Upon this rock I will build my church.

After that we Drove along the Lebanon border. It was quite menacing with electronic security fences and a guard there watching. There were also mine fields everywhere. They were fenced off of course  but it is just a completely different world over here. Until now I really hadn't seen much evidence of it, but today was definitely different.

Then we stopped at the Nimrod Fortress and explored a bit. It Wes pretty slick because of the rains but it was fun to see this huge fortress up on top of the mountain. I stayed to the outside of the fortress but everyone else went inside and explored. It was just a bit too slick for me.

Then we drove up to Mount Herman, which is where many believe that Jesus was transfigured on the mountain. We didn't actually stop because at that high of elevation the rains had turned to snow. There was probably at least 2 inches in some places which made the roads kinda slick. It was funny because everywhere we looked there were people outside throwing snowballs, sledding, or making a snowman. There were even people who had pulled off the roads in order to play in the snow.

Then we headed off to lunch at this little pizzaria. The food was delicious and I had been hungry for pizza for awhile now. :)

After that we continued down the Golan Heights to the valley below. Leor told us of the stories about when the Jews returned to Israel after WWII and the only land left was not suitable for farming, but through their faith on God, the land became the most prosperous in the nation. We also saw our 6th rainbow today as we were driving through the mountains.

Finally we stopped at Leor's cousin's house to visit. We were able to see what a typical modern family house looks like in Israel. We also learned that at the Jewish feast of Purim the children dress up in costumes similar to our Halloween costumes.

Then back at the hotel I headed down to the shores of the Sea of Galilee for some quiet prayer time. I came away feeling so refreshed and rejuvenated, even though most of the time it was raining.

After we ate dinner, we all hung out in the lobby for awhile because that is the only place we can get internet access. This is without a doubt one of my favorite times of each day...just relaxing, processing the day, and teasing and joking with one another. I really feel like I know each of my traveling mates so well and many of them I only met on this trip. Everyone is so completely awesome and I feel so comfortable with them..it is truly amazing!

Well, off to bed so I can rise early I. The morning. We are packing up and leaving the Sea of Galilee for Jerusalem and all the awesome things to see at the southern end of the country. And I get to ride a camel tomorrow...should be fun. :)

Oh and I forgot to post this earlier but the Internet is pretty slow here so I haven't been able to upload any pictures...we are hoping the speed in Jerusalem is faster and I can upload them then.

Until my next post, see you all soon!

On the Sea

Shalom and good evening to you my friend. Today has been my favorite day of our trip so far. We spent the day touring around the Sea of Galilee. It was a beautiful day and it was amazing to truly walk where Jesus walked and experience the things that He did.

We started out at the southern shore of the lake and started traveling around to the east. We stopped briefly at the location where Jesus cast the demon out of the man and into the pigs before heading over to Capernium. This place was amazing. This was the main place where Jesus did the majority of His ministry. capernaum is no longer a functioning city but it is full of artifacts. We visited the archaeological site of Peter's house where his mother was healed by Jesus. But my favorite place today had to be the temple at Capernaum. The original foundation from Jesus' time is still there and a newer version (still really old) is built on top of it. It is built of limestone and it stands out beautifully against the black lava rock. This place is full of history and life and it spoke to my heart about who Jesus was on Earth and how out of this humble place comes our faith and what we believe.

Our next stop on the tour was the Mount of Beattitudes. It is the place where Jesus most likely gave his famous sermon on the mount. I wasn't as impressed with this site because it was a modern day chapel of sorts and it seemed more commercialized than other places we have visited. We did head down to a small pavillion to gather and reflect on Scripture, which I really liked. Standing there looking out over the Sea of Galilee I was able to see the connections to the surroundings that Jesus used to help his audience understand what He was teaching them. Like the fertile soil, the birds and the flowers, and the mustard seeds. Mustard grows like wildfire here and it is almost everywhere you look. The parking lot had amazing views of the Sea of Galilee and it was a very beautiful place to visit.

On our way to the next stop, we sang worship songs. We all laiughed about it afterwards how terrible we all were, but it really was a sweet time spent praising our God as we drove around the Sea of Galilee.

Our next stop was the boat ride on the Galilee. There is a museum exhibit that is part of the experience that is all about a 2,000year old ship that they recovered from the Sea of Galilee. It was so interesting to see what a fishing boat looked like in Jesus' time and to learn how they preserved the boat for us to see today.then we headed out onto the sea. It was an amazing experience to be on a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus walked on water and calmed the storm. It was pretty overcast today but we got really lucky with the rain. For the most part, it only rained in between our stops or when we were inside. On the boat, we were paired with another group, so we spent a lot of time at the front of the boat experiencing this special time together. Tyler talked to us about how Jesus walking on the water had even more meaning to the people living in Jesus' time because they were afraid of large bodies of water and were superstitious that demons lived in the lake. So Jesus was showing them that faith is about trusting in Him and knowing that He will take care of us and also that He is bigger than anything in this world. These words just resonated with my heart because I feel as if these words were aimed directly for my heart and God is telling me to trust Him in all of the unknowns in my life. He has it all under control and I just need to trust Him.

Then we headed to another small town named Migdal for our lunch. The restaurant is famous for serving St. Peter's fish, basically a whole breaded fish caught in the Sea of Galilee, eyes, fins, tail and all. Only Adam was brave enough to get the whole one, everyone else got it filleted. I got the chicken and it was delicious. I am glad I didn't get the fish because they don't have tartar sauce in Israel. Lunch was great fun and we all had lots of laughs.

After lunch we went exploring near the cliffs of Arbel on the Nazareth Path. We hiked along the trail that Jesus would have taken to get from Capernium to Nazareth and Jerusalem. It was absolutely gorgeous and we loved hiking and taking pictures of God's country.

Since it rained so much today, we saw 5 different rainbows. Each one was more beautiful than the last and the last one was a double rainbow. It was almost as if God were smiling down on us and reminding us of his majesty.

Then we headed over to the Jordan River baptism site. We did not really like the atmosphere, so our guide Leor set up for us to get baptized in another less commercialized place. It was kind of sad to see such a special spiritual time be so affected by commercialism. It reminded me of when Jesus got angry with the sellers at the temple for disregarding the holiness of the temple and for not having right hearts about it. So instead we took some really pretty pictures of the river and stopped at the edge to reflect and touch the water.

We also stopped at a specialty market that sold all sorts of produce, spices, and other Israeli specialties. It was fun just to explore this place and see the unique items in there.

Tonight after dinner at the hotel we all met in the lobby to process the day and discuss what we had seen. This is probably one of my favorite parts of the trip and why I love our small little group. With only 9 of us, I feel like I have known these friends for much longer than it really is. Our group dynamic is so special and I look forward to spending more time with them throughout this trip. :)

Sent from my iPad

touring Israel

My friends I am writing you from the lobby of our hotel on the shores of the Sea of Gallilee. Today is March 8th. I am telling you this because it probably won't make it onto the blog until at least the 9th because when I tried to log into Blogger, the screen would only come up in Hebrew...so needless to say I couldn't log in. :(

The past 48 hours have been crazy, busy, and fun. As you know from my previous post, our flight to Tel Aviv was delayed overnight so yesterday morning we headed to the airport around 4:00 a.m. to head out on our flight. The flight was super long...we took off at 6:30 a.m. our time and landed in Tel Aviv, Israel at midnight their time. The only saving grace was the in-flight entertainment system. There were over 100 movies to choose from as well as movies and games. So I slept a little on the flight but most of my time was spent watching movies. I saw Tangled, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince part 1, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Bride Wars.

We stayed overnight at Tel Aviv and in the morning we headed out to begin our sightseeing. Our first stop was at a museum that described Israel's fight for independence in the 1940's. It followed a group of young Israelis who were key players in the story. Their tale was told through documentary and theatrical films as well as life-size dioramas with special effects. At first I really didn't enjoy it, but as the film progressed I was able to appreciate the struggles that the Israeli people have gone through to get to where they are today.
Then we journeyed on to Cesearea where we saw the theatre there and were able to explore a bit. It was on the Mediterranean Sea and it was truly beautiful. It was also great to see some Roman architecture from the time of Jesus. It was quite blustery and it rained on us at the beginning but we managed to enjoy ourselves and have fun exploring this historical place.

Then we headed north towards Mount Carmel. We stopped for lunch at the home of a family whose son was killed in a suicide bomb while serving in the Israeli army. The food was delicious and there was TONS of it. My favorite was the chicken....oh so delicious and just the right amount of seasoning. Then the family told us the story of their son. This was so meaningful and heartfelt and It brought the story from the museum to life even more.

Then we stopped at Mount Carmel, which is the site where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal in 2 Samuel. It was so high up in the mountainous region of Israel and it looks down upon the Valley where Armageddon is. We got some awesome pictures on the lookout before we headed into the chapel at the monastery there and read the scriptures. I was once again reminded how great and awesome my God is. Just as he showed up for Elijah in his situation, God will also show up for me in my situation, no matter how impossible it looks. I just need to have faith and trust that He can and that He will.

Our next stop on the journey was to Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus. The town is built into the mountains and it is truly a site to behold. We went to the highest spot in the city to take in the view. This spot is also one of the places that Jesus preached the Word. to stand on that mountain and be where Jesus walked and to see what Jesus moved me and made me all the more excited to explore more of this beautiful land.

Our final stop for the day was our hotel on the Sea of Gallilee. We checked into our rooms then we all headed down to the shore to see this place where so much of Jesus' ministry happened. It is so beautiful and peaceful, surrounded by huge hills and with palm trees and flowers everywhere. We will spend much more time exploring here tomorrow...I can't wait!

Well, I am off to bed...it is almost midnight here unlike back home where it isn't even 5 p.m. yet. :) So I am signing off...see you all tomorrow!

Stuck in New Jersey...

Well blog friends. It has been a VERY long day of traveling and I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Newark, New Jersey. It is currently 1:36 a.m. And after a shower I am feeling much revived. And with Internet access I thought I would update you my blog followers with the trip so far.
Our trip started very normal with a fairly uneventful drive to O'Hare airport in Chicago. When we arrived we found out that our flight to Newark had been delayed by 30 Minutes so we grabbed some dinner at the airport...nothing fancy but filling. I also spotted a Garrett's popcorn shop so I had to get some of the best cheesenpopcorn on Earth...heavenly! Finally we boarded our flight and took off. We ran into some bad weather near Newark and our 1 hour and 52 minute flight turned into over 3 hours. Our connexcting flight was scheduled to take off just 15 minutes after we landed, so we got a ride on one of those fancy carts to our terminal. Well, almost all of us...Clint and Adam ran the whole way and I got pictures of Adam running through the airport. :) when we arrived at our gate, however, we found out that our flight had been delayed to 6:30 a.m. And this was just after 11. So they got us set up with meal vouchers and we each also got a voucher for our own rooms. But since we have to leave here in about 2 hours to head back to the airport I decided not to go to sleep. We have a 12 hour flight ahead of us so I am going to sleep on the plane...I think I will be tired enough!
Well, I think that's enough excitement for today so signing off and the next post will be from Israel. Good night!
P.s. - if you want to read more about our trip and see more pictures, visit our group's blog at www.pccisraeltrip.blogspot.com.

World Traveler

A passport is a wonderful thing. It literally opens up a world of travel to a person. Europe, Asia, a remote tropical isle....they all become possibilities when you own a passport. So many people have never left the United States, but in my little passport lies proof of the wonderful adventures I have taken. Britain, Mexico...and in just a few short hours I will be heading to another new destination. Israel: another place to explore, to experience, and to be.

I will be chronicling my journey through this little blog as I explore this ancient and holy land, the birthplace of my faith. So stay tuned, my blog readers, and experience the Holy Land with me as I go on this once-in-a-lifetime journey.