We have had two great days on our pilgrimage to Israel. Our desire is to soak in the experience and spend time praying, studying and walking. We also want to meet other people who are here as visitors and as residents. This has happened!
We are staying in a house located at Magdal, a few minute drive from the Sea of Galilee shore. We purchase groceries at a small neighbourhood store (one block away) and a larger market that is a five minute drive. We buy coffee at Aroma, connect with the neighbours and landlord, have people saying Shalom as they walk by our house. We have a small feel for what it is to live in the Galilee area of Israel.
We met a Canadian named Paul at Magdala and he was so excited to see people from Saskatchewan that he asked to be our tour guide for Saturday. After spending some time at Capernaum, the town where Jesus lived, we went to a local congregation of Messianic Jews and spend a few hours worshiping and listening to a sermon (translated into English from Hebrew). It was great to be with the local Christian community of the Galilee.
Then we went with Paul to see some sights. He took us to "the City on a Hill" where we spent some time looking at the ruins, found some pottery and glass shards from the Roman time period, and explored the city on the hill that Jesus talks about in Matthew 5. This site is the city of Hippos and is not a common tourist site, it is new and will become one that is visited more in the future. We then went back down the windy road (sorry Alysia for the fast turns) and came to a site that some think is where the demonic man was healed and the pigs went into the Galilee (the other option is the more traditional Kursi site). Joe read the passage and along with Paul shared a great devotional. Then a tour group from Oregon showed up and we listened to their pastor share on the same passage. So great to join in with other Christian groups in Israel.
On Sunday morning we went up to Mount of Beatitudes and read the sermon on the mount together. We got there at 8:00am and could see the place get much busier as 14 tour busses pulled into the site. ChristyAnn met a Brazilian family from Sao Paula and was able to practice her Portuguese. We also were able to find a small quiet space where Jacob shared his testimony as we were next going to the Jordan River for his baptism.
We drove to the Yardenit Baptism Site and had a special moment as we participated in Jacob's baptism. We had one of the entry areas to ourselves and were able to take some time to soak it in. It was good! We also saw lots of people from Mexico coming and getting baptized in the Jordan River.
We then went to Beit She'an and explored another Roman city, and it is massive. Jacob and Alysia had fun acting out a scene from Shrek at the large stage. We enjoyed exploring the large Roman Theatre, checking out the ancient public bathrooms, climbing a long hill to see the view from above. We walked on a Roman road, and saw a gymnasium and ancient bathhouse with hot water cauldron, warm water pools and cold water swimming. Who needs to go to Rome when you can see sites like this in Israel.
At the end of the day, we thought we might as well have a boat ride on the Galilee. So we went to the dock and were able to join a tour group of Nigerians that were going for a cruise. We sang and danced with them, they took more pictures of us than we took of them, and we saw the sunset from a boat on the Galilee. It was great to hear their pastor share about the story of Jesus walking on water and spend time in prayer. It was special.
An amazing pilgrimage to Israel.
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