Biblical Lands and Caesarea!

This is the the beginning of our trip to Galilee. We stopped at a bunch of places heading up there and here we were able to see how life was lived in the ancient times. We got to herd sheep, which was incredibly funny and suprisingly a little difficult. Those sheep can be stubborn sometimes. I tried to taunt them with grass, nudge them along, and push them but they wouldn't move. Finally I had to scare them to get going. I would run and scream and eventually they moved. It was hilarious and fun to do. Our tour guide kind of chastised me because that isn't the right way to herd sheep. You have to earn their trust and guide them gently like the Savior would. I guess I have some work to do.











We finally got them all in a ring!! yay! Then after that we scattered them and then the next group would have to go gather them up again. We were able to do it again and we had to walk them around the poles and guide them as a shepard would. It is so cool how if you can keep the head sheep going on the right path the others will follow suit very nicely.










Here we saw the process of how they make a torah scroll. They made the ink from all these different plants and spices to make the perfect color. We also learned that for every time you write the name of God in the scroll you have to cleanse yourself by dipping in a bath. Sometimes the scribes will not write the name of God and leave it blank so that they can write God all at once and dip in a mikvah(Jewish baptismal font) over and over. It is very pretty writing and to not ruin it with your finger prints they use a Yad, the little hand pointer thing.














Here is the the start of the Caesarea tour. It was a really cool place. During its peak the harbor there was consider a wonder of the world. It was a huge man made harbor that Herod built so that trade would come into Judea and cut off trade to Alexandria in Egypt. It was a very smart plan and it worked this area really flourished and became prosperous from the harbor here. It was Paul here that defended himself against king Aggripa.