Day 2

The weather is just beautiful today! While still experiencing jet lag, we are getting rest at night and ready to see this beautiful country. Tina and I are both surprised by how green and lush the landscape is. It seems that everywhere you turn, the Jewish people are growing something!

We learned today that more patents come out of Israel than all of Europe combined and that they are only second to the US. Our guide is name Eitan (pronounce 'a-tawn'). He was born in Atlanta Georgia and has a masters degree in ancient studies. He is Jewish and emigrated to Israel 12 years ago. He is very knowledgeable and has no noticeable accent so understanding him is quite easy.

There are 32 people from our church, The Bridge Christian Fellowship, on the trip. So far we're enjoying everything we encounter. The food has been fine so far although noticeably different. Everything is kosher which means if they're serving meat at a meal there will be no dairy. They have lots of different types of cheeses and yogurts that we've never tried and serve a lot of vegetables and salads.

Today was an exciting day. We visited the Arbel pass which is a cut between mountains that Jesus traveled many times when going from Capernum back to his families home in Nazereth. We visited the village of Magdel, where Mary Magdelon was from. Here is Magdel, we saw the "Jesus Boat". A boat that was discovered a few years ago and has been carbon dated to be from the times of Jesus. The boat was in very poor condition, but has been preserved as it was found. Because this boat is in Capernum, the area where the story of Jesus calming the sea occurred, there is the chance that this was the boat he was in. Of course, this can't be verified and it doesn't really affect our faith, just cool to imagine.

While in Magdel, we experienced the highlight of our trip so far. We rode on a replica fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. We were on the only boat owned by Christians and enjoyed some worship music and a sermon from Pastor Rick on the Sea of Galilee. Wow... it doesn't get much better than that.

After the boat ride, we went up to the Mt of Beatitudes where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. Here we looked out and saw the natural ampitheater caused by the lay of the land and could visualize thousands of people there on the hills listening to Jesus teach. We walked from the top of the Mt down to the shores of the Sea of Galilee where we had lunch.

We then traveled to Capernum, the place where Jesus lived in Peter's Mother's home. We saw the actual home where he stayed with Peter and the church that is now built over it. Here we also saw an early synagogue and a mile marker on "The Roman Road".

To end the day, we visited the top of Mt. Arbel and looked out on the Galilee. It was beautiful and stunning. tonight is our second night in the Kibbutz Ma'agan.

We are just blown away by the things we are seeing and learning. What an incredible opportunity this is to be in such a special place. The bible and the things we've learned as we've grown in our faith up until this point, are absolutely coming alive being here in the land. The State of Israel, and the Jewish people are truly a marvel.