Update 1 From the Holy Land

Shalom from Israel! Jon and I spent two full days traveling and finally arrived in Tiberias after dark last night (Tuesday). The tour guide was telling us what all was around us as we drove, but we couldn't really see because of the darkness. That made it even more special to wake up this morning to a beautiful view of the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee.


Today was a very busy day of touring. Here are some of the things that struck me. Jon can get on and tell you about his thoughts, too.

1. It is amazing how close together so many major sights are in Israel. From one vantage point, you can see so many important Biblical places.
2. All the houses are huge! The different generations live together in one house (especially the Palestinians), so each one has many stories to accommodate. The Palestinians also do not borrow money from the bank, so they will often start a house and build until the money runs out and then make more money and do some more building. That means many houses had lower floors that were complete but upper floors unfinished.
3. THE Sea of Galilee! The very one that Peter fished from, where they walked on the water... Crazy!
4. We have an awesome tour guide. He's very fun and funny and so very knowledgeable.
5. Caesarea was amazing. It is right on the Mediterranean Sea and is full of history: amphitheater, hippodrome, aqueducts, Herod's palace ruins. It's ancient history coming alive.
6. Megiddo was fun to see so soon after Jon preached on it. There is a hill there with literally 22 different layers of civilizations building on top of one another when the area changed hands. We also got to walk down into their ancient water system and got to imagine how hard it was for the slaves to dig out and then regularly get water back up to the top.
7. I got to drink water in Nazareth from the same source that Mary, mother of Jesus, gathered her water for most of her life. We also saw the possible sights where Jesus changed the water into wine and where he was almost pushed off a cliff.
8. We visited a diamond factory and learned what an important industry it is to Israel. We also learned that young pastors don't make enough money to buy any of the diamond jewelry, even with the supposed steep discounts and break on taxes. The bishop, however, was able to afford a little something...
9. The food is awesome and VERY vegetarian friendly!