Day 15 - Galilee

Sorry for not updating sooner. I didn't have internet access. You will find though all the "days of silence" covered in all the blogs below. Enjoy! And thanks for the prayers! Keep them coming!

Shamir and I got up a little later this morning - but we were only late to breakfast so that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We then headed to some famous sites around Galilee. The first was the Mountain of the Beatitudes. The church structure is made mostly of basalt (volcanic rock - that's using my Earth & Space knowledge from VFCC). Over the valley, under a tree, there are about 20 rocks. As I sat on them, I wondered if this was the exact place where Jesus taught from. It was cool. We gathered as a group later and read passages from the Sermon on the Mount. Then we worshipped a little bit.

Soon after, we boarded the bus and went to the church built on the site thought to be the place where Jesus fed the 5,000. This was another church, but after you see so many churches, they start to all look the same. There wasn't much special about the site - and I remembered the words of our tour guide in Jerusalem - that its really not the place that’s special or holy, but its important to remember the event. And it's still incredible that Jesus fed all those people - a miracle.

The last stop was Capernium. This was Peter's home town. We got to see where they're pretty sure that Peter lived. After Peter died, many Judeo-Christians made it a site of pilgrimage. The Catholics have actually built a church that is over it without damaging it. It's kind of shaped like a spider. Also in the town is a very old synagogue that Jesus most likely taught in. It's been rebuilt, but part of the old structure is still there. I went down by the water and stood on the shore and wondered what it must have been like for Peter to be called by Jesus on that shore while he was fishing. It was a good time reflecting on my personal call to ministry and what God would want from my life.

We went for lunch after this, and were treated to "St. Peter's Fish." No, we didn't find a coin in the mouth of the fish, but we did receive a fully skinned fried fish on a platter (head included). We were told the fins tasted like chips (they kind of did). I ate it all, minus the head and some of the scaley spine thing. We also had really good soup, hummus (what else?) and dates. There are a lot of date grottos in the area. I didn't eat any dates though. I'm not that adventurous. :-)

In the afternoon, we went to see the Yehuddiya Falls, where we got to swim in another pool in the natural scenery. It was really cold water - but really fun. I wasn't allowed to jump off yet ANOTHER ROCK. Someone obviously does not want me to have fun (or get hurt). My buddy Ben got stung by a really big wasp right between his toes, and it left the stinger in. He was in a lot of pain and we actually had to carry/assist/help him back up the mountain. He was in A LOT of pain - so using a variety of Royal Ranger techniques, we got him back up the mountain. He's such a trooper. He's one of those people you want in your church because they're going to be dedicated and just all around cheerful the entire time. Though he was in tremendous pain, he still managed to laugh and crack jokes as we summitted the mountain to the bus. I'm very honored to have met him. Esohe also helped us. I want her to put in a good word for me at Harvard. :-)

We got to the bus finally, and Ben bought us ice cream for helping him (again - what a great guy). It was a gooooood ice cream bar too. I don't know what it is - I know that they aren't dairy ice cream bars, but I guess I never knew "non dairy" ice cream things could be SOO GOOD. We were supposed to baptize some kids in the Jordan river tonight, but it is too low. We are going to a different place tomorrow morning before we go about our regular schedule, so we'll do it then.

When we returned to the hotel, Rufus and I helped Ben get his stinger out of his foot. It involved us not really knowing how to sterilize a safety pin with a match (it really shouldn't have been so difficult) and holding him down from squirming. We got it out though.

Dinner was good and for desert we had passion fruit sorbet. It was very "twang". After which we had to sit down and write 44 postcard thank you's to supports of the Israel Experience program. 44 postcards to write about ourselves as well as address. That was a bushel of joy and happy times, let me tell you. If you're ever feeling down, addressing post cards will rejuvinate your spirits. :-) When I finally finished, I sang "Free Free I'm Free At Last…Thank God Almighty I'm FREE AT LAST!!"

A couple of us hung out in the courtyard for a while after that and discussed marriage, budgets, and personality disorders and what we want to do in our futures. These people are really amazing. And very intelligent. I'm going to miss them when this is all over.

Shout out to the Kauffman clan for their faithful following of my blog. You guys rock! (And the Kerstetters still need to host a night where I come eat Kim's good cooking). Love you all!

Shalom from Kerei Deshe.