This morning we left our beautiful guest house to descend Mt. Arbel. It was this beautiful mountain top that had a lone olive tree right at the precipice and was just a beautiful sight to behold. After our devotion at the brink we began to descend Arbel, and wow! was that a challenge and a half! The descent involved some ladders, some windy paths inches from the edge, and overall just a lot of praying :) The hike proved to be slightly more difficult due to the increase in blistered feet. However on a positive note some of our group members have discovered their passion for blister care, blister popping, and have honed their mole-skin cutting abilities. hehe :)
It's always daunting to see at the beginning of the day the mountain top far in the distance where we are supposed to eat dinner, but somehow we always reach our destination with smiles on our faces. Nearing the end of our hike we first visited Tabgha which is where it was said that Jesus fed the 5000. Next we visited the Church of the Primacy of St. Peters which is built in the place where Jesus was supposed to have had a meal with his disciples after his resurrection. In the middle of the church surrounded by a beautiful mosaic was a rock which is where they were supposed to have sat exactly. This I think was amazing, it's moments like this that reinforce the reality of of Jesus life and miracles. Then we climbed up our last mountain (!!), Mt. of Beatitudes where Jesus preached his sermon on the mount. Finally, after a looong day we visited some of the archaeological ruins of the city of Capernaum. Then in the Sea of Galilee we washed the feet of a partner as kind of a symbol of how we had finally reached our destination and in recognition of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.
Then we all got on our wonderful air-conditioned bus, which I think was a welcome relief to all. The drive back to Nazareth took about 45 minutes, the trek that had taken us 4 days to complete on foot! Although this might seem a little bit frustrating I think it served to increase our appreciation for the invention of the car. But more importantly helped us to put into context the life of Jesus, and to gain a better basis of understanding for the learning that is still to come in our adventure.
Thanks so much for all your prayers and thoughts so far! and keep checking our blog for more fun and fact filled stories!
Katie P. on behalf of the group :)
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