Day 4
Today we started out with Mt Arbel. It was so interesting to be able to climb the rocks and hills here. I am scared of heights so it was good to be able to conquer one of my fears and stand at the edge of the cliff. Mt Arbel is at the Sea of Galilee. The valley below the Mountain would have been where Jesus traveled through to bypass the city of Tiberius, because Tiberius was a roman city. It was cool to see where Jesus had some alone time while traveling to the sea of Galilee.
Next we went to Magdala. This is the first time I cried on this trip. At first we were outside in heat just looking at the ruins of the city Mary of Magdala would have been from. It was cool, but it was hot. Eventually we met a pope and he took us inside his church dedicated to different women in the bible and women in the future. Then he took us to the bottom floor of the church which is the original first century market place of the Magdala port where Jesus most likely would have walked on. For me this spot was a game changer.
Most biblical places we had been to has had a church built on top of it or had been built over with new things hundreds of years ago, but this floor was the original and untouched. It was the first time that I would be stepping where Jesus would have actually stepped. There was a picture within a picture where the woman touched Jesus garment and was instantly healed. It went in perfectly with the room because you could only see Jesus knee and below. We had the opportunity to have some quiet time and sing some some songs and pray. During the prayer is when i couldn't hold it in any longer and i busted out with tears. I could feel God like i had never felt him before. I know that God’s power is strong everywhere but there was something about standing where he stood that changed everything. It was like I was standing on holy ground. I wanted to take my shoes off and just walk with my bare feet where my Jesus would have stood. It was truly life changing.
Next we went to Kursi, which is the place known as where Jesus put the demons into the pigs. It was kind of hard for me here because I felt like we were in a rush. There have been some places where I feel like we need to spend more time to reflect and soak in what is going on and to talk to the locals or people who work at these places but we are just all in a group and we just go with what Amos, the tour guide, says. He is a very knowledge guy about the places we go, but I would like to hear from the people visiting or the workers about their opinions of the places we visit so we can see what their culture thinks about these places and fully experience each place.
The rest of the day we got to go back to the resort and have a free evening. A lot of us went swimming in the Sea of Galilee. It was the most beautiful swim i have ever had. It's been really nice getting to know the people that I am on the trip with and to hear other christian’s point of views on the places we have been. I really enjoy when we all get together and reflect about our day and how we felt at the places we went to.
It was interesting for me because I am normally not a water person but being in the sea of Galilee felt refreshing to me. I was surprised that i could actually enjoy myself being in the middle of the sea and trusted that I wouldn't go overboard and drown. I felt as though God's arms were around me and keeping me safe. Being surrounded by christian friends helped me open up about my own life and relate to them. Tonight we all expressed how we felt about life and how God is changing us while here in Israel.
Day 5
As we left the Sea of Galilee, we made some stops before heading to Jerusalem. The first stop was Masada, which is known as King Herod’s place near the Dead Sea. King Herod was known as the perverted king. He encouraged sexuality. This place was in the actual desert part of Israel. Before I came to Israel, i always pictured it to be desert with sand dunes, but I was proved wrong until I came here. This was the first time i was seeing the actual desert. It was the hottest place on earth that I have ever been to. I was drenched in sweat and felt dehydrated.
King Herod was a crazy roman king.
He included a sauna with his ritual bath. His poor slaves had to blow smoke and hot water to cause heat for his sauna. By doing this they became more hot and a few of them probably died in the spot. It's crazy for him to have a sauna in the middle of the desert. The heat probably got to his mind.
Next we went to Qumran where the dead sea scrolls were found. The scrolls are the oldest documents that is officially found on earth, but it might have been a copy of the real original papers. To this day it is not proven if it is the original or just a copy. The founding of the dead sea scrolls was very fascinating. A shepherd threw a rock in a cave while looking for his sheep and instead of hearing the rock hitting the bottom of the cave he heard it hit a vessel instead. He discovered the scrolls. It is so important that it was found during this time because people were now able to date the documents and understand its context with new technology. If it was discovered any earlier than the scrolls wouldn't have been affected or translated correctly. God works in miraculous ways and made it happen at the right moment and at the right time.
The dead sea is the lowest point on earth. The scrolls were able to be preserved because the humidity is so strong. The Dead Sea consist of an abundance amount of salt and no plants or animals can survive here. The Dead Sea may seem so lifeless and unimportant, but it held the most important documents of all times. God can use the most unexpected and bring life to it.
Arriving at the Dead Sea to swim was something we had all be waiting anxiously to do. We quickly got into our bathing suits and rushed to the water. One thing we weren't expecting was for the beach area to be super rocky. There were huge rocks in the water that we couldn't see. As we were trying to walk out into the Sea it scraped all our legs. Once we got in deep enough we had to turn around on our backs so that we didn't get water in our eyes. Once we were in deep enough the water took control of our bodies and we floated. It was hard to maneuver.
Once we floated around a bit we went to the shallow end and grabbed mud from the floor of the sea and started rubbing it all over our faces and bodies. The mud from the dead sea is known for its healing powers and we definitely were going to take advantage of it. As we were sitting in the shallow part we started to pick up rocks and noticed that they weren't rock. It was salt! I started to rub the salt all over my body and it felt like i was using a scrub or exfoliator. I was tempted to taste it, but the water was so salty I could only imagine how that tasted. I had so much fun at the Dead Sea. I will definitely have to go back.
After the Dead Sea we continued our way to Jerusalem. We are staying at the Leonardo Hotel near the Old Town. I am excited to get out and explore the city. Unfortunately no one in my group was awake enough to want to go out and explore, but tomorrow I think we will. I am also excited to get to talk to locals from this area and get to learn about their culture. The trip is already halfway over and it still feels like it has just begun. I don't want to start thinking about going home yet because there is still so much to see!
Sorry I don't have pictures of the Dead Sea! I didn't want to get my phone wet! Also, we were not aloud to take pictures of the Dead Sea Scrolls!
Thanks so much for reading the second part of my trip to Israel! Stay tuned for part 3! ALSO A VIDEO!
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