12 July: Day 5: Wheel of Fortune style: Dead Sea of Galilee

Singing on the Sea of Galilee was how we started today. Our tour bus, which Mickey the leader calls our ‘air-conditioned camel’ dropped us off at a small dock. We then took a ‘worship cruise’ across the harbor, which consisted of singing and a little talk by the captain who was a Christian Jew. During the second half he showed us the type of net Jesus and his disciples would have used, but we didn’t catch anything even after we cast it over the right side of the boat (Bible joke!!!!) He also sang us some of the worship songs he had translated into Hebrew as well as an original composition. He got very into it. Papa said this was is his favorite things he has done so far on this trip.

Next Papa and I, along with some of the other tour group members, chose to be rebaptized in the Jordan River. We have two ministers on our tour so they baptized us with the Jamaican/Georgian church ladies singing in the background. It was quite a different experience than being baptized at Green Valley Baptist Church. Papa and I had a long discussion about the theological merits/demerits of being baptized again and passed some interesting ideas back and forth. Fun fact: afterward, two different people told me they took pictures of my grandpa for me! Afterward we stopped for lunch and I talked my grandpa out of McDonalds, so we shared a sandwich with some very friendly Canadians.

The bus got a little less pleasant once it was full of damp people and plastic bags full of wet clothes, but we pressed on to Beit-Shean. This was once a thriving city because of its location at the intersection of the Jezreel and Jordan valleys. It looked a lot like the ruins I saw in Greece, with the roads, buildings and sometimes even rooms discernible among the rubble. We saw two bathhouses, a temple, two public restrooms, a ton of stores and a 7,000 seat amphitheatre. It was SUPER hot with no breeze while we were walking around so we elected not to climb to the top of the mountain, but some people did.

We drove by Jericho on our way to another spot along the Jordan River, this one near where Jesus was most likely Baptized. This is also the spot where Elijah and Elisha crossed the river so there were a lot of chariot of fire jokes. The river is tiny at this point and we easily see across the 15 feet to wave at the tourists on the other side, in Jordan. Yes, once again we came within walking (in this case swimming) distance to another country, although this once has yet to launch a rocket at Israel this week. There were quite a few Israeli soldiers sitting around near the border, and their casual attitudes juxtaposed with their not casual guns.

The Dead Sea came into view and we visited the spot where the Dea Sea scrolls were found. This was an interesting but very brief stop as there wasn’t much to see except a little museum and a cosmetics shop. On the first night in Israel I realized I had brought two bottles of shampoo and no conditioner, so I asked Papa to help me look for some since my hair has been very hard to untangle. He found a $50 bottle that we did not buy, but then I found a $9 bottle, which is still expensive but now I have Dead Sea conditioner.   

To end our day we visited Ein Gedi, where King David hid from Saul. I never realized how big of an impact  bathroom issues had on that story. Ein Gedi means Spring of the Goat and there were both springs and goats!

Tonight we’re staying at a fancy shmancy resort type place on the Dead Sea. Dinner was very decadent with lots of choices and unlimited soda, beer and wine and about 10 different kinds of dessert. Mickey said this was because this is the site of ancient Soddom and advised us to remember moderation or bad things could befall us. Because this hotel is so fancy you have to pay for the wifi, so I will be posting this whenever a free connection is available. Because of this lack of internet I also am not up to date on whatever is happening with the conflict in Gaza. We didn’t see any tanks today and only the soldiers at the border with Jordan, but I don’t imagine things have resolved in 24 hours. We are grateful for our safety thus far and continued prayers. We are halfway through our journey!