What day is it anyway?

Ok, I have completely lost track of the days. This morning I woke up and my first thought was, "Are we STILL here?" I was woken up by the early morning chatter of other guests on the way out for their day's excursion. It was easily 6 am.

Since I last wrote we have been all around the Sea of Galilee. I think I told you that it's not that big after all, and today we swam the 8 miles across in the morning and then 8 back in the afternoon. It took about 4 hours each way, to our shock.

Then we ate live chickens and guinea pigs for dinner, too!!!!!!!!!!

Right. That was just to see if Nicholas or Melissa is reading our posts!!
The kids swam in the moonlight last night is more like it.

We have visited the towns and villages all around this region because this is where Jesus lived and chose his disciples and healed people and performed many miracles. He fed 5,000 Jews on the one side of the lake and then 4,000 Gentiles on the other side, all miraculously, with only a little bread and a few fish each time. This is the place where He healed the Gadarene demoniac and the demons, named legion, begged Jesus to let them enter a herd of swime rather than be cast out of the region. Once he agreed, the 2,000 pigs ran off the edge of a cliff to their deaths in the Sea of Galilee. Pigs can usually swim so it is surprising that these drowned. Archeologists believe that this species had espeically sharp, razor-like hooves, and when the tried to swim, they cut their throats with their hooves. They may not have drowned, but bled to death.

We saw the area where the Hebrew servant girl, whose name was never mentioned in 2 Kings 5, implored her mistress to have her husband, Naaman, go and see the prophet of God that he might be healed of leprosy. He did and he was healed by dipping 7 times in the Jordan River. Now that I have been IN THE JORDAN RIVER MYSELF, I can understand why he was aggrivated with this remedy for healing. It is pretty gross. It smells, and it is not clear...but murky. Cows graze alongside of it and drink from it. We have even heard that sewage spills into it...we went rafting on it yesterday, nonetheless, and are no worse the wear for it. (Although one young girl, Sarah, is now battling a sore throat. That just occurred to me as I wrote. She is 9 and has a fever tonight, so please pray for her to be healed. They still have a big part of their journey ahead as they don't leave until Saturday and then they fly back to AUSTRALIA!)
So, the Jordan River is dirty and Naaman was healed by God and we saw that place.

We also saw Bethsaisa, Capernaum and Korazin, plus the Golan Heights....where there are UN Headquarters and barbed wire fences that say DANGER, LIVE MINES. Syria bombed the area with mines decades ago and has refused to produce a map with their locations, despite the fact that a peace accord is in place. The UN helps to uphold peace in the region and has for a very long time. All we saw in that region were IDF jeeps and vehicles and fences and of course, orchards everywhere.

This nation is a giant nursery. Every field and plain has orcahrds planted. This is a Sabbath year though, so while there are all kinds of fruits on the trees, none is harvested by the Jews. The Arabs may be planting and harvesting, but the Jews are not. They can pick fruit and eat it in that spot and may pick fruit anywhere in the entire country...whether it belongs to them or not.

Tomorrow we are going to the site where Gideon chose his mighty men, by a certain river...do you know its name? We will then read the story, swim in a giant pool and I forget what else the day has in store. Our last dinner is tomorrow night.

The kids have all bonded tremendously. One family from Houston, had 2 trees fall down while here when the hurricane hit. We all looked at the photos with shock and sadness, that their Grandma had sent of one tree crahsing into the son's room and lego's! The Grandma said she was washing the lego's one by one for him. No one else has received bad news while here, thank God.
Anyway, the kids love each other. They have spent hours and hours talking and playing and all of us parents are dreading getting back home and dealing with the loneliness they will all feel after parting. It is really not a normal kind of envronment, to be with kids non-stop for 3 weeks, day and night like this. It has been wonderful that they have gotten along so well, but when do kids ever get that much time together?? Chris Davis, our guide, told us that his son was just the best man in his friend's wedding, his friend from a trip that his family made on this tour about 6 years ago. Many families keep in touch and have even traveled across great distances to see one another again. The Canadian young men have really made the trip fun and that's not so far away, is it??? They live in the province just above Nebraska. Maybe you could pray that God helps their hearts to let go?

This resort is really beautiful. Like most places in Israel, it is full of cats, but there are also a couple of dogs around. Naturally, Abby and Caroline have LOVED that. Abby fed one this am and when we came back, it was waiting for her by our cottage door. I wonder if it stayed there all day? Abby has named it, of course, and will miss these pets, too, when she leaves.

For us parents...well, we will need God's grace and compassion to help the kids to transition back to life in America. We are going to miss the meals being made for us and the Moms...well, all of the plans being taken care of by someone else! We plan to get together at 6:30 am tomorrow morning on the beach of the Sea of Galilee to pray for Israel together. We are using James Goll's book as a guide. If you haven't read it yet, it is tremendous and I highly recommend it.

I have made you read too long, I know. Thank you for following our journey with us to this land of many people, deep conflicts and danger on every border. One thing is for sure though, God has an incredible destiny for this nation and He is a promise keeper. No matter what it takes, He will keep His word to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the families of the earth will be blessed as a result!
love you and miss you!
Lisa, for everyone