Thursday, August 4, 2011

Galilee part 7: homeward bound

It is hard to believe that our time at Galilee got over so quickly. The days were wonderful, fun, exhausting yet blissful. The combination of amazing food, great beach time, fun family time, fun time with others, exciting excursions planned but a little bit of private time available as well, made it a magical 11 days. It was sad to have to pack up and leave. But we had to do it anyway.


Eating at Ein Gev



The great salad bar at Ein Gev


Julianne and Jacob in the Sea of Galilee



Sabrina and the Judds having fun in the raft in the lake



The kids loved playing on the beach



Kaleb and Alexia were inseperable


Our last sunset on the Sea of Galilee



We left the place and went on a bit of a drive to Mt. Carmel. Most people slept most of the way. When we got there we went to a little hillock just outside the church that was covered with rocks and scrub oaks. It seemed the perfect setting to go through the Elijah story. We sang “Who’s on the Lord’s side, Who.” Then we read through the story. I talked about how we limp between two opinions in our day. We don’t so much choose to serve both Jehovah and Ba’al, but we do try to please the Lord and worldly ideas. We soak them both in. Yet this causes us to limp, we really get nowhere in this way. I asked us all to commit to serving only God. As it was clearly difficult for Elijah it may be difficult for us, but we must serve God alone. We talked about what made Elijah so great, and his characteristics and determination that made him that way. I asked everyone to think a bit about what ways they may need to be more like Elijah. I think it was a great time there.


Students thinking and writing about what they learned and what they committed to as we spoke of Elijah on Mt. Carmel



Same


Then we went in and sang in the church, which is always a nice experience. The view on top, which is often so spectacular, turned out to be poor because it was so hazy. But we had a great time on Mt. Carmel.
Then we drove to Haifa, and looked over the B’hai gardens and the beautiful city and bay.

Mi'kell and Alexia at the B'hai overlook. Mi'kell and Meeshell took great care of our kids on the bus the whole ride home. So many students did so much the whole trip to make it great for our kids.



Julianne and Joan hugging at the B'hai overlook. All the students adore Julianne!


Then we went to the German templer cemetery, where Frank Judd gave a great explanation about the various saints who are buried there. He helped us know a little bit about their lives and gave a very nice devotional about service. We sang, people had time to think, and it was very nice. Because these graves are a bit hard to find, I thought I would put the gps coordinates in for some of them, so that others who read this blog as they go there may have luck finding them. Georg Grau is N 32* 49.656 E 034* 59.363. Adolf Haag is N 32* 49.695 E 034* 59.154. Magdalena Grau is N 32* 49.696 E 034* 59.160. Kegel Sahre is N 32* 49.695 E 034*59.161. John Clark is N 32* 49.694 E 034* 59.156.


Students thinking and writing at the cemetery



Tashara and her bosom buddy Carrie Judd at the cemetery



From there we went to Caesarea. This is a great site. Herod the Great made this his capital. He built a huge artificial port there, a large theater, a hippodrome, and then another larger hippodrome. The palace that extends out into the sea is beautiful.

Little Becca and Jacob at the palace in Caesarea. She took good care of him.


There we spoke of Peter being imprisoned and miraculously set free. We read about Paul being imprisoned and then tried, appealing to Caesar, then making his case before Herod Agrippa. From there he sailed to Rome. Peter also sailed from there to Rome. We went to the Hippodrome, and had some races. We talked about Pilot nearly killing a number of Jews there. We talked about riots and slaughtering Jews there that partially resulted in the revolt of 66 AD.


Chariot races at the former hippodrome


As we walked further into the site we read the significant account of Peter coming to Cornelius the centurion there after having the dream of the unclean animals being made clean. He fully understood it when he came to Cornelius and heard of what the Lord had said to him. It was literally in Caesarea that Peter declared that the Gospel would be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. The Gospel went to all the world from there because of that experience that Peter had. We looked at the place where there had been a pagan temple, a Byzantine church, a mosque, and a crusader church. We saw some Crusader architecture, and we went home.


Well, first we went to the aqueduct by the sea. Cool piece of architecture, pretty, and great beach. We gave everyone some time to dip their feet in the Med. Sea, and had some relaxation. Then we went home.


Class picture at the aqueduct


Family at the aqueduct


Sabrina and Mi'kell at the beach



BJ and Amber on the shore



Sabrina on the bus with her love of the day, Tyson



We were not able to miss a beat. The next day my class had a midterm. We had reviewed for it on the bus, but this was a pretty quick turn around from the amazing Galilee trip. And then we were back at Church, and ready for the next week of field trips and classes. We are now at the point where things move at lightning speed until it is all over and we go home. Hard to believe we are already at this stage.

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