Today was incredible! We woke up at 6am and hit it hard from the start. Unfortunately, our hotel has a problem with the Internet so I can’t post very many pics tonight (check out a few at bottom). Hopefully I can tomorrow because I took some fantastic pics and video.

We drove from Tel Aviv north (up the coast) to Caeserea. They have a bunch of ancient sites to look at. An amphitheater, Herod’s temple, Roman Aqueduct, plus other really cool spots. Paul was in prison here for 2yrs. This is also where Peter spoke to Gentiles for the first time and Cornelius was converted. (Acts 9-10)

Then we drove to Mt Carmel. We saw the location where Elijah called fire down from heaven and it devoured the the sacrifice. As a result, Baals prophetess were killed also. This is a beautiful spot in the north west corner of Israel. From the mountain, you can see many places in Israel.

We are lunch at a local place in the countryside. We ate all local food: falafel, olives, grilled chicken, fresh bread, peppers, fresh hummus, and salad. So good and so much good!

From lunch, we headed to the Valley of Meggido where Revelation 16 says the final war on earth will take place. We didn’t have time to stop.

Next, we went to Nazareth and saw a recreation of an old village. They had people in traditional dress and actually working the trades of that day, Shepard, carpenter, seamstress, etc. We saw the only wine press in the village so it is clear that Jesus would have been at this exact location. The wine press was hewn out of the rock so it is obvious that it is over 2000 yrs old. We also saw their olive press. The procedure o obtaining olive oil was incredible. The technology for that period blew our minds.

We went from the old village to the location of Mary’s and Joseph’s home when they heard from the Angels. Both locations have Catholic Churches built on them.

At this point it was about 5:30pm and we traveled to our bus driver’s church in Nazareth. They were getting ready for Wed evening service. We were able to meet many of their congregation and join them for a few worship songs and prayer. Thy are very passionate and open to God’s Spirit.

After service, we sat down and each of us were able to talk one on one with people. What a great time to actually learn culture and make connections.

By this time, we were so tired! It was time to leave Nazareth and head to our hotel on the Sea of Galilee in the town of Tiberias. It was about a 40min drive. When we got here we dropped of our stuff and ate a late dinner.

As we did last night, the guys took off for a stroll along the Sea of Galilee. Our hotel is literally on the shore. Amazing!

Hopefully, the Internet works tomorrow and I can post some more pics.

+robin

To see all the posts from Israel, click here.