Israel Update 2

I'm sorry it has taken me a few days to blog about my trip-- I was waiting to get my moleskin notebook back from DiMy who was grading them. I got a 60/60-- thanks for asking! :-) Haha. It might take me a few entries to completely cover what we did so I will take it in segments.

After our visit to the Church of Annunciation, we made a trip to what has become known as the "Jesus Boat museum." Though we have no proof that Jesus sailed in this boat, it is dated back 2000 years ago and would have hit the high seas during that time period. They found the pieces of the boat because there had been a severe drought that caused the sea to recede. Blessings do come from hardships.

Our next adventure was Capernaum, which is known in the Bible as the area of many of Jesus' miracles. This is where he cleared the synagogue, cured Peter's mother-in-law, made the crippled man to walk again and healed the Roman centurion's servant. This city existed until the 8th century when it was abandoned. We saw the remains of the synagogue and the place where they say that Peter's mother-in-law lived based on artifacts they found mentioning Peter and Jesus. As with most other sites in Israel, a modern church is built on top of the ruins. On this day, we also climbed the mountain that is said to be where Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount. I wish we had had more time for reflection here, but we read the sermon, sang a few songs and prayed. It was a neat place. One of my favorite parts of this day was sailing on the Sea of Galilee. We went out into the middle of the sea and sang. Knowing I was on the body of water that Jesus walked on was just surreal to me. We read some of the scriptures that dealt with this sea. We stayed in a village-like place this night and it was really a neat place. Many of us went swimming at night at the community pool.

We then went to Qumran where they found the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. Though we later saw the originals, they had replicas at this museum and we looked over a lookout to see the caves in which they were found. We also saw what was left of purifying baths. The people who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls had to bathe and purify themselves before writing the name of God. If they made one mistake, they had to start all over. This finding was such a blessing to the Christian world. Before these findings, the latest copies we had dated back to 9th century A.D. Over 1000 pieces of literature now prove that the scriptures date back 2000 years! Isaiah was found in its entirety. Isn't it funny how God gradually reveals himself to those who are looking? It just amazes me how the words we read today have been so properly preserved. As a writer, it makes me cherish my profession.

Oh, Masada. I never thought I would say this. I promised I wouldn't say this-- but...*dun dun dun* I'm glad they made us watch the movie series. The acting was horrific, the soap opera storyline was ridiculous-- but the familiarity it gave me with this place was very helpful. It was scorching hot this day, but we grabbed our water bottles and lived the story live. We took a huge lift up the mountain which was so much more high and impressive than what I thought. In the movie, Flavius Silver (played by O'Toole) is always shouting up to the Jews on top of Masada and the leader of the Jews is always sarcastically calling back. That ain't happening here, people. Unless in 76 A.D. they had megaphones and a jumbo-tron hanging from the cliff, there is no way this type of communication would be possible. We got to see the ramp that the Romans built to get on top of Masada and we saw remnants of the waterways that enabled the Jews to live on top for long periods of times. The story of Masada is depressing, but our guide told us the reason that it is told to young people generation after generation. The Jews ended up killing their families and committing suicide rather than face the slavery that would meet them once the Romans conquered Masada. Avner said that each year the Israeli troops take an oath on Masada, claiming that Masada will never fall again. They instill in future Israelis that freedom and conviction is of utmost importance. We didn't take the lift back across-- we instead stumbled down about 4 kilometers of steep mountain to get to the bottom. I saw what I thought was a vision of a man holding out fresh orange juice toward the end of the trail, but he was real. I totally quenched my thirst right then and there. Best orange juice I have ever had!

Swimming in the Dead Sea-- one of my favorite memories of this trip. First of all, I'm a pretty stout girl. I've got some muscle on me and I usually sink. When I submerged myself in this water, I floated to the top like an apple to be bobbed for. It was such a weird feeling. You would try to flip over to your other side, but it proved to be quite a challenge. To make things better, DiMy and Captain bought us body mud and we covered ourselves in black. We let it dry, got back in and came out silky smooth. I bought some later that day.

Stay tuned for the tales of Jordan. :-)