March 16, 2012 (Friday)

What a great day we have had! Lots to tell but it's late and so I will try to summarize.

- Supposed to do 1-2 more things in Jerusalem this morning but there was a marathon all around the old city wall and so we were trapped. Bus could not get to us to pick us up. It was our last day in Jerusalem so we checked out of the hotel and lugged our bags 10 or 15 minutes, crossed the marathon route on foot, and connected with our bus!
- Drove to Bethany, which was mentioned 3 places in the Bible. Most famous was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Kathleen climbed down slippery stairs to see his tomb. Had a lovely mass at the Catholic church built here to mark the 3 occasions. Sanctuary of St. Lazarus has beautiful mosaics. There was a man with a camel here. Kathleen wanted to take the camel's picture, but the man was a good salesman and convinced her to get on. See the photo I posted today!
- To Qumran, the site in the desert where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947. Took a brief tour and saw a historical video about the Essenes who most likely wrote the scrolls about 2000 years ago. This place is super interesting and beautiful in a desert way - I would have liked to study it more.
- To the Jordan River, Quasar El Yahud site. Between the Israel and Jordan borders. This area was disputed between the country of Jordan and Israel from 1948 until 1967 I believe, and so it was mined. It was only recently opened up for visitors. Now there is a lovely baptismal site where many hundreds of people were visiting today. A good photo posted. I heard John Hagee broadcasted a 1.5 hour show from there today, so let me know if any of you saw it! (long shot) Here we repeated our baptismal vows, and we were sprinkled with the water, but we didn't get in. Some people went for full immersion in other visiting groups, but we did the quick "drive by" instead. We had many more things to do today. This spot was really special, I thought. We would have spent more time here if we could.
- To the Dead Sea for a quick dipping in and lunch. Kalia Beach access point. We had limited time, so again, we decided against full immersion! Arms and legs only. Used some of the famous mud on our skin. We had fun here at the Dead Sea! Laughed a lot.
- Jericho, probably the oldest settlement on the planet, and site of both New and Old Testament references. Signs of civilization date back 10,000 years, and has been continuously inhabited since then. Reason is that there is a natural spring here which made this a desert oasis. The spring is still there, and we visited it, dipping our hands into the spring.
- Drive north through the Jordan River Valley is interesting. More lush and green here. Lots of cultivation. Dates, tomatoes, all kinds of crops could be seen. Lots of sheep and goat herds being tended - that probably hasn't changed much over the years. We crossed through an Israeli checkpoint as we left the west bank and crossed back into Israel proper. Same some bunkers nearby, I guess for emergency use.
- Arrived at Sea of Galilee, checked into new hotel for next few days. We are staying at the town of Tiberias, which was founded by the Romans (Herod Antipas) in the time of Jesus (about 17-18 AD). Tiberias was the caesar or emperort of Rome at the time.


We had lots of water activity today: River Jordan baptisms, wading in the Dead Sea, and visiting the spring of Jericho. And many other activities - a great day!