Israel - Part 2!

Hi, everybody! I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am.

I have a lot of time on my hands this week (and only this week) so I'll be finishing all parts by Saturday.

Enjoy!

Nazareth

We went to a place where things (& people) were set up like it would look in the Bible days! I loooved that.

This is supposed to be "Joseph's Workshop"! The room was small & above us was a little roof made out of sticks. You could really picture Joseph back then doing the same thing this guy was doing.

And here's 'Hannah' making...something.

The Jordan

Oh, goodness! I was soooo excited to get baptized here!

While were were standing in line on the rock stairs, I was all happy, smiling wide & all, and the next thing I knew I tripped fell hard down a few stairs! (And still have a scrape to prove it!)

Maybe it was just the enemy trying to bring me down? Because what happened next was beyond beautiful.

(I wasn't hurt, just a little embarrassed. But I laughed it off!

After I walked under this sheet the were holding over my head, it was weird, I could just feel the Holy Spirit so strongly & I just started to cry.

Our leader anointed my head, lips, ears, hands and feet with oil and said the most beautiful prayer. She said exactly what was on my heart & I'm pretty sure no one else told her that other than the Holy Spirit!

The water was coooold!

Since I was in the Jordan & it was probably the last time for a while, I felt this urge to swim out further since it wasn't so filled with people.

But I have to tell you my fear of open water. I know there aren't sharks in there, but still! Who know's what's under my feet!

Anyway, I was so scared, that I had to pray for the courage! And yes it was granted!
I can remember the sun on my face & a smile that wouldn't go away.

Okay, there are sooo many pictures. Should I show them all? I want to badly! But then I might have to do them in 5 parts!

Oh well. This is fun. (Hope I'm not boring you)

Ok, there was a day where we went to look at shoes (Haha, I know.)

While walking back to our bus, a siren came on & all of a sudden, no one is moving, no one is speaking. Just standing there in the middle of the area. The siren went on for a minute or two & it was SO cool! I felt cool. Anyway, later, I found out, since it was Holocaust Remembrance Day, it was a Holocaust siren.

The Holocaust museum was so very heartbreaking. We walked in a pitch black room where there are these mirrors all around you & there is one candle that reflects throughout the mirrors so you see a million candle flames. You had to walk through this maze type thing & a voice came on, naming all the kids, one by one, age by age, who were murdered.

The museum held real belongings of these people. What got me was seeing the huge pile of shoes, the bunk bed they had to sleep on at the camps, & even a whole braid of hair.

There were journal entries, pictures, everything you could imagine.

Beit Shean

So incredible here!

It was, I think, an undercoverd city they excavated over 40 years long.

Here's the walk in to the theatre

The public toilets they used to use thousands of years ago!

Can you believe this was underground 40 years ago?

Okay, here is the place where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls!

Oh yeah. We also saw the mountain where Jesus was tempted. But seriously, I have so many pictures of random mountains, I can't remember which one it was! (These random mountains included the Mountain of Transfiguration! Sorry!)

Next stop, the Dead Sea!

Wow, if you have a serious cut--stay out! All I had was a paper cut and that baby was burning!

But nevertheless, how many times are you gonna have the opportunity to float in a sea full of salt?

The water so so clear. It's not like a river or a lake. Once you walk in, all you're stepping on is a bed of hard salt. And it only ever goes up to your knees. (unless you go out waaaay far) 

The next morning, I woke up, & without even thinking I sat my body up & went out to the 'balcony'. What a sight!

It was sooo early, although I was used to it. I smiled to myself because I looked out over to other people's balcony's & saw at least a few pairs of feet hanging out over the ledge just like mine were.

"O LORD, my God,...[You] stretch out the heavens like a curtain. [And the sea is a bed for its colors.]"

Stay tuned for what happens next in Part 3!

Someone jumps in a spring, boiled eggs are very much involved, as well as a garden and a tomb.