Day 8 – Sunday 30th March

Floating on the Dead Sea

This morning we stopped at Gideon's Spring, as recorded in Judges 7. God used Gideon and 300 men to save Israel from the Midianites. The spring plays a pertinent role in choosing which men were to accompany Gideon.

Beit Shean is an ancient town which has been excavated to show the Roman streets, etc. We spent a fair while here wandering around. Glenn climbed to the top of the Tel, but neither Ginny nor I were inclined to expend so much energy on a hot day. Jane had explained at Megiddo that a Tel is a man-made mountain. When a town has been established on a site, subsequent towns are built on top of it. Over the centuries these towns upon towns form a mountain.

We were told to pack an overnight bag as we would only be staying one night at the Dead Sea, and the large bags would be left on the bus. A swimsuit was a must. I think I bought my last swimsuit ten or more years ago, and until a 40C day this summer when I swam in Ginny's pool, I don't remember the last time I wore it. I had the opportunity to pay nearly $300 for a new one in a boutique in Pakington Street, but declined on the grounds that it wouldn't get that much wear. I got one on sale for $70 and considered it to be a bargain!

At our hotel in the Dead Sea, we changed into our bathers [that's a foreign word to Americans] and caught the golf-buggy to the shore with Sylvia and Gregg, two women from the States. This was a really amazing experience, and you really do float! We were warned not to put our faces in the water. Water in the eyes needs to be washed out, or it will sting. If you swallow it, you need medical assistance!

Day 7 – Saturday 29th March

Worshipping on the Sea of Galilee

We had an incredible experience this morning. We boarded the “Faith” boat owned by Daniel Carmel. Daniel comes from Haifa, but now works here as a boat captain / singer. He ministered to us in song in English and Hebrew. He has translated a number of Christian praise songs into Hebrew, and he recognises Yeshua {Jesus} as the Jewish Messiah. Jews who believe that the Messiah has come as Yeshua, which means Salvation, are called Messianic Jews.

It was so amazing to worship Jesus whilst sailing upon the same sea He sailed upon so many times during His earthly ministry.

We then went to what is believed to be the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount {Matthew 5 - 7}. Ps Steve Berger from Grace Church brought a Bible study on The Kingdom of God.

Afterwards, we visited the ancient city of Caperneum, where Peter lived and Jesus made His home at various times. Kfer Nahum has been excavated to a great extent, and it is possible to walk on the Roman streets. They believe that they have identified Peter's house. They consider it to be one of the earliest House-churches in the world.

http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/capernaum.html

"PETER'S HOUSE - Only a few hundred feet from the synagogue, the stone house of the disciple Peter has also been found at Capernaum. This is where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law and others (Matthew 8:14-16). Jesus may have lived with Peter while staying in Capernaum. In the years following Jesus' death and resurrection, the house apparently became a house-church. Centuries later, Christians honored the site by building a church here. It was destroyed in a later conquest of the city. Archaeologists have excavated both the church and the earlier house below."

We then saw “The Ancient Boat”, discovered by two brothers in 1986. As it is a First Century boat, it was called “The Jesus Boat” by the media at that time. It had been preserved in the mud for 2,000 years, but was discovered at a time when the Galilee was particularly low.

Lunch was at a kibbutz, and we ate St Peter's Fish. I didn't know you had to ask for it to have the head removed. The other choices were pizza or pasta. I once had a pizza in London, which I couldn't eat, so I wasn't going to choose that sight unseen. Ginny had noticed the fish with head on someone's plate as we were walking to our table, and told me. I said I couldn't eat something that was looking at me. Chris, a former work-colleague of Dan's, heard and laughed at my comment. When Chris's fish arrived, Ginny told him he should give me his fish, as Dan had requested that his and Chris's fish come sans head. When he went to do so, I said, no, she is joking, but he insisted. What a nice man. He was a pro-footballer and is now the vice-principle and football coach of the school in San Diego where Dan had given him the job.

After lunch, we went to Tabgha, the place on the Sea of Galilee that Jesus prepared breakfast for the disciples after His resurrection. Peter and John and the other disciples had gone fishing, but had not caught anything that night. Jesus told them to cast the net on the other side of the boat, and John realised it was Jesus, as He had instructed them to do the same thing on another occasion. John said, “It is the Lord”, and Peter jumped into the water to swim ashore. They caught 153 fish.

Ginny dipped her feet into the water, but as I don't like putting wet feet back into sandals, I declined. Yes, I am fussy, as most of you know.

Glenn said that you can't come to the Sea of Galilee and not swim in it, so when we arrived back at the hotel, he and Ginny had a swim in the sea, and afterwards in the hotel pool. Personally, I could refrain from swimming in the Galilee – it has to be really hot for me to swim anywhere.

After dinner, we walked into Tiberias and had a hot drink and a very rich chocolate mousse dome for dessert. I only had a couple of spoons-full as it was really rich. We noticed a man standing outside, and Ginny wondered why there would be a bouncer for a cafe. She then realised he is the Security Guard, and we thought it is very sad that their presence is required in Israel.

On the Israel forum of Tripadvisor.com, they mentioned an Israeli brand of shoes, called NAOT. They originally started making them on a kibbutz in 1946. I had decided to use the money Mum had given me for my birthday to buy a pair. We found a shop selling NAOTs on our walk in Tiberias, and Ginny and I both wanted the same pair. Unfortunately, they didn't have black in a size small enough for me, or big enough for her.

Day 6 – Friday 28th March

Supporting the Israel Defense Forces

We drove to the IDF Base in the Golan Heights, where we assisted the soldiers. Ginny and I joined a group folding and stacking uniforms in a small warehouse. When this was done, we went to the garden of their Memorial and helped some others weed. They were having a Memorial service on the following day. People on other tours Chuck and Dan had taken there, had originally planted the garden around the small building with photos and effects of the soldiers from the base who had been killed on duty. It was very sad to see these faces. Glenn helped to paint a store-room during this time.

We knew that there are other non-Americans on the tour, but had only met Brett from Melbourne, who is currently working in London. Glenn met Rex from New Zealand whilst painting. We had lunch with Rex and Rozy. Rozy had been born in England, but her family emigrated to Australia when she was a child. She came out on a flying-boat, which took 9 days. Well, I guess two flights adding up to 20 hours or so, is really nothing much to complain about!

At lunch-time, the soldiers served us, and then we went outside to sing to them their National Anthem in Hebrew, the Hatikvah. We had practised this a couple of times. Jonathan, our Worship Leader, is on staff at Grace Church in Tennesee. He had listened to it many times prior to coming on the tour, to ensure we got it right. It was very moving to sing to these young men and see their faces as they realised that we do support their defense of their nation.

We then drove to the Golan Heights, and Jane pointed out Syria across the border. Damascus is 40 miles away. Jane explained that Henry Kissinger told the Israelis not to give up the Golan due to its strategic position, and their ability to watch for an invasion from the north.

After this we went to Caesarea Philippi, where Chuck spoke on Matthew 16:13-20. Peter recognised that He is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.

Day 5 – Thursday 27th March

Tel Aviv to Galilee

There are over 75 people on the tour, so we have two buses. We are in the Orange bus with Dan as the Bus Captain. Chuck and Nancy alternate each day in our bus or the Blue bus. We also have Jane Benari, our Israeli Tour Guide. She is very interesting and informative. She has been guiding tours for many years, and her wealth of knowledge about both Israel today and what occurred where in the Bible, is incredible.

Our first stop was Caesarea. In the ancient theatre there, Chuck spoke about Peter coming to Cornelius from Joppa.

Herod's Palace was brought to life for us by Jane. This is an unlikely place for a port but Herod built one anyway. An earthquake destroyed the wharf within one hundred years of its construction, and Paul had left from Caesarea when he went to Rome, where he was imprisoned, and eventually, killed. Ginny asked me how far Rome is, and I said, “Far”. She said that Glenn had told her the same thing. It is not the sort of information that lingers in the brain, even if I had ever been told the distance.

We then went to Mt Carmel, where Elijah defeated 350 prophets of Baal when he challenged them to call down fire. He told the Israelites that if Baal be God to follow him, but if Jehovah be God to follow Him. The other prophets were not able to have fire from heaven consume their sacrifice, but God heard Elijah's prayer, and fire consumed his sacrifice, even after he had it doused with water three times. The view from the top of the mountain is incredible.

We had lunch at a Druze village. It was felafel. The tahini sauce was very strong and I didn't like it. The Druze are Arabs who broke away from Islam over 1,000 years ago. No one, except the Druze, know exactly what they believe. They are loyal to whichever country they live in and Druze men in Israel complete National Service in the IDF as do the Jews.

We travelled to Meggido – Har Meggido or Armageddon, where the enemies of Israel will gather some time in the future, and Jesus will return to defeat the forces of the Anti-Christ. We did a lot of walking up to the top of the Tel, and then we climbed down into the tunnel that was dug to bring water inside the town from the spring outside.

Nazareth is now a large town of predominantly Muslims. There are some Christian Arabs living in the town, but they have much fewer children than do Muslims, so they are not as numerous as previously. We went up to Mt Precipice, which is believed to be the site from where the Jews tried to throw Jesus when they considered He had blasphemed.

It was truly awesome to look out on the land in which Jesus grew up, and to see the same views He did. It was very moving to consider the promises God has made to us, as evidenced in the gift of His Son. We had a wonderful time of worship, and then Chuck spoke about Jesus's boyhood.

We drove to Tiberias to the Gai Beach Hotel, which is situated on the Sea of Galilee. This is actually a fresh water lake. It is really beautiful here.

It seems very odd to us that tea and coffee is not included with the evening meal, but can be purchased later from the bar in the foyer of the hotel. We had a drink and Ginny emailed James. Wi-fi access is free in the foyer.

Day 4 – Wednesday 26th March

Chagall and Yafo {Joppa}

After breakfast we caught a taxi to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art [ILS42]. We had to enter via a Security scanner and our bags were checked. We also had to hand in our cameras prior to going to the Collections. It is a huge building with very high ceilings and ramps to access some of the exhibits. As we were wandering around, Ginny remarked that when they were in the Guggenheim in New York, she walked around a corner, and there was a Chagall, and wouldn't it be funny if it happened again... Within a few moments, it did. There were nine works along two walls. We spent a while looking at them. I must have made a comment that I love his colours, but not the style of his paintings, as one of the Security ladies, told me that the Old Masters are downstairs. She picked up on that well. There is a painting of Chagall's that I did like. It is The Wailing Wall and was painted in the early 30s. It is more sombre in tone than his usual style, and I found myself drawn to it in a way I haven't found with the other works. There was another Chagall in a different collection, that Ginny hadn't seen before.

They also had Rodin bronzes, which were exceptional, naturally. It is a large museum with many different facets of the art world represented – some I appreciated, but there are some installation pieces which are frankly, disturbing. I didn't spend any time with those once I realised that they were not what I consider to be art.

After having a juice and a rest, we went to find the Old Masters. In a room near-by they have boxes cut into the walls with a large number of miniature rooms decorated in different styles – Renaissance, French Provincial, Queen Anne, Georgian, Victorian, etc. It was fascinating. I commented that it was unusual to have to stoop so low to look in the rooms, and was quickly told not to complain about having to stoop. Well, yes, I guess when you are closer to 6 feet than to 5, it is a bigger issue. I realised later that they were low due to the children who visit the museum.

In the Gift Store at the entrance, I had bought a card with a work by Maurycy Gottlieb – Day of Atonement. We went into one room and the original was on the wall. It is very large, and his detail and use of colour is beautiful.

It was now nearly 1:00pm, so we decided to head to Jaffa. We had originally planned to walk along the waterfront, and thought we could get a bus to the water, and walk from there. Glenn asked the Security Guard which bus we needed, and where to get off. After waiting for the #82 bus for 10 minutes or so, and having had three #18s go past in that time, we decided to take a taxi to the Market in Jaffa. The taxi driver asked if we knew the fare, and I said, don't you have a meter? He said Yes, why not use that? I said that would be good. It cost ILS31.50.

The Flea Market is an experience. There is a lot of stuff set out on the ground, as well as on tables. A lot of it is what we would term junk, but to people who haven't got a lot of money, it would be a cheap way to obtain some household items, tools, clothes, shoes, etc. It was quite sad really. The buildings are shabby with gaps and rusted wiring. Glenn couldn't believe that there seemed to be no council regulations they needed to abide by to fix them up.

We walked into the shopping area, and Ginny bought a fruit smoothy. Afterwards we started walking towards the Visitor Centre and Museums at the top of a hill. As we approached a restaurant, a woman asked us if we wanted to try the best falafel in Israel. As it was past time for lunch, we decided to try felafel, which is the Israeli fast food, even though it did not originate here. She brought out dishes of tahini, hommus, tomato and cucumber, and lettuce, and a plate of pita bread. The felafel arrived with chips. The hommus is the best we have ever tasted, very smooth and creamy, and the felafel tasted really nice.

We visited the Church of St Peter, which is lovely inside with pastel coloured marble. We wandered around for a little while, and then decided to head back to Tel Aviv. We didn't hurry, and it took us about an hour to reach our hotel. There is a footpath almost the whole way along the water between the two towns.

We had dinner, and then there was a meeting for everyone on the tour. The other members had arrived that afternoon, and are mainly from the US. We were told we would have an early wake-up call, and the bus would leave at 8:00am.