Israel - Day 9

We started day 9 out with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. This was an incredible experience. The boat was modern but built completely out of stained wood so it felt like an old fishing boat. They started out by hoisting the American flag up beside the Israeli flag to the U.S. National Anthem. We all sang along with our hands on our hearts. It was great to see our flag flying beside Israel’s and made me feel a little homesick. I do love it here but I love my homeland as well and am proud to be an American. Uncle John spoke about Jesus’ Galilee ministry and we sang along to some great music. It was a great time.



Here's Pappy pointing out what you can see along the way.



Mom and I on the bow.



And our fearless captain giving us a demonstration on how the fishermen in Jesus' day would have fished. He didn't catch anything...



We docked at a museum that houses the oldest boat that has been found in Israel (possibly the whole world?). It is actually 2000 years old. It was preserved in the mud along the banks until being discovered a couple of decades back. Pulling it out and transporting it was a very complicated process that involved a lot of the top scientists and archeologists in Israel. When they finally got the boat to the building where they were going to work on it, it took another 10 or so years of treating it with chemicals before it was ready to be put on display. After viewing the boat, we had some more shopping time (we seem to do a lot of that).

Our next stop was one of the neatest of the day. We climbed the Mount of Beatitudes. We found a cool spot that was like a natural amphitheater. We had another teaching by Uncle John and then some time for reflection. The mountain looks out on the Sea of Galilee so it had some beautiful views of the water. On our return down the mountain we found a side path that looked like it may be a short cut to the water. It was steep but very rewarding when we saw that it led us past the cave that many believe was a resting/sleeping place for Jesus while he was ministering on the mountain. We found a lot of lit candles inside the cave so it is clearly a popular spot for believers.

Here's a view of the Sea of Galilee from the Mount of Beatitudes.



And here's the cave.

After descending the Mount of Beatitudes, we visited the city of Capernaum. This is the city where Jesus lived for about 3 years of his public ministry. There are a lot of the remains of the city from back around Jesus' time. There is even the remains of a house right near the water that is believed to be where Peter lived (and Jesus stayed). I won’t go into all the details of why they feel this is the authentic site but it is fairly convincing. A Catholic church built their building above the spot and they have a glass floor inside that looks down on what is believed to be Peter’s house. We gathered in some shade by the water and talked for a few minutes before moving on once again.

Our final stop before lunch was the remains of Bethsaida, the ancient city where five of Jesus' apostles grew up (Peter, Andrew, James, John, & Phillip). This was a fairly short stop as there are really just a lot of rocks that make up the outlines of the buildings.

We ate lunch at Kibbutz En Gev where we all experienced the famous Saint Peter’s Fish that everyone raves about. This is the fish that I originally said I was not going to eat unless they cut the fish’s head off before bringing it to me. I really don’t like any food that can wink at me while I am eating it. I decided to suck it up and get the fish without any special requests. It was actually quite good and I managed to eat it without looking the fish in the eyes. Not something I would want to do on a regular basis but worth it for the experience.

We then went to the Jordan River for a baptism ceremony. Three of our tour group chose to be baptized in the Jordan. It was a neat experience.

Here's Adrienne:

And Sue:

And Clay:

And the whole crew:

Our last stop of the day was at a factory store that sells dried fruits, spices, and much much more. I picked up some dried papaya, pineapple, and bananas and sampled one of the most disgusting foods that has ever touched my tongue. It was only dried ginger but it was quite disgusting. It was a huge piece too so I can’t even imagine the look that must have been on my face!

It is hard to believe we are coming down the homestretch of our tour. We have already seen so much but the time has really flown by. Today we will hit quite a few more stops around the Sea of Galile including the Golan Heights, Dan, Caesarea Phillipi, and Safat. It will be another very full today so we should arrive back at the hotel tonight thoroughly exhausted! As someone so aptly put it, we didn’t come on this tour to rest, we can do that back in America!!!

Want something to pray for today? A massive heat wave has moved across the area and today’s high is forecasted to be around 107 degrees in Tiberius!