Israel and Jordan part 1

I originally posted this in March, but never posted parts 2 or 3. So I'm gonna re-post this part, and then add parts 2 and 3 in the next few days.

Here's some stories from my trip to Israel and Jordan. There are so many pics and stories, I have to divide them up. Stay tuned for more...

We left Sunday from LAX. I left my house at 4:15am to pick up my cousin Stacy and go to my parents house and from there we headed to the airport. I didnt sleep at all the night before hoping to sleep on the airplane. We landed in NYC at 4pm NY time and had to lug all our million pounds of luggage to a whole different terminal where we had to check in for our international flight. Once there we had a 7 hour layover. I still hadn't slept at all. We got on our plane to Amman and 2 hours into the flight I took some Ambien. AHHH the wonders of Ambien. I woke up, eight hours later, an hour before we landed. We landed at 5:00 in the afternoon monday, 37 hours after I had left my house.

Stacy and I waiting in the airport

Once there we got on a bus for a 3 hour ride to Tiberias, Isreal. About half way there we had to cross the border. We had to get our luggage off the bus, scan in thru the xray machine and go through customs to get out of Jordan. Then we had to put all our luggage back on the bus and drive 100 feet to the Isreal side of the border where we had to get our luggage off the bus, scan it thru the xray machine and put it back on the bus. We got back on the bus and sat there for almost 2 hours while they search under the bus for bombs and guards walked around with machine guns. While waiting there our adventures started. We were making a bathroom run, when we quickly learned that the toilets were turkish. Meaning that they were basically holes in the ground. There were spots for your feet and then you had to squat and aim for the whole. (Hence the nickname squattie pottie.) We finally got to the hotel, ate dinner, and called it a night around midnight.

Tuesday started bright and early at the Sea of Gallilee. We had a 6am wake up call, ate breakfast, and headed to our boat for a trip across the Sea of Gallilee. I was actually surprised at how big the Sea of Gallilee was. I was expecting just a small lake but it was quite large. So you can imagine how large it must have seemed in Jesus' time. We enjoyed our time on the lake with a quick message from Luke 8, where Jesus calms the waters of the Sea of Galilee. It was a very unique experiece to hear that story, which we had all heard many times before, on the very waters that Jesus calmed. We were where He had been. It was awesome. Many of us were in tears while singing worship songs.

Sunrise on the Sea of Galilee

Fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee

Stacy and I on our boat tour of the Sea of Galilee

Once across the sea we went to a museum and then boarded our buses to Capernaum. Capernaum was a city that Jesus frequented. There are remains of a synagogue that was most certainly visited by Jesus. There are also the remains of Peter's house.

Capernaum

Ancient ruins of the church at Capernaum

The remains of Peter's house

After leaving Capernaum, we went to the Mount of the Beatitudes, over looking the Sea of Galilee. This was a very serene place, and as another location that we know Jesus was at, very surreal. We were walking among, and sitting upon rocks, that He walked among, and perhaps sat upon. We read a portion of the Sermon on the Mount, and enjoyed the moment. It was very moving.

The Mount of the Beatitudes. Can't you just see Jesus up there preaching to the masses? It was a beautiful, and very moving, place.