Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Becoming a Part of It; The Baptismal Site; Galilee

After a bit you feel yourself becoming a part of things. Meaning, you feel like your fitting in, in some small way. Your feeling more comfortable and you do things that make sense to your current situation and location. I found myself fitting in the other day, when going to the market to get our pre-sabbath emergency goods, there were no parking spots, so I did what any good Israeli driver would do. Found an open spot and pulled up on the sidewalk. Janis couldn't help taking a picture of my "becoming." I've even started honking, mostly as someone who is veering into my lane, but sometimes at yellow lights or at random. 

Another great view. 


At church we ran into a friend from Hawaii. His name is Alfredo, and he was the TA for BYUH's Center for Entrepreneurship while Seth taught there...also great friends with Wynn and Pam Johnson from Hawaii. Alfredo asked for a picture and we all gave the Shaka. 
Aloha Johnsons.

After Church we also met some friends from Israel. They are the parents of some Redmond friends the Naveh family (they are the family that rented our house while we were in Hawaii). We had a nice conversation with them and they feed the kids chocolates.


But sometimes you realize you don't fit in, and you just want something familiar. On Friday morning we had to the downtown of Jerusalem to a lab and we took everyone with us. Hungry, after a wait, we saw a McDonalds sign. The kids begged us and we decided since Jayne hadn't really eaten in weeks, we gave it a try. She ate four chicken nuggets and felt sick. Just too much food in her tummy. I will admit, I never eat at McDonalds. We will go there for a treat once and awhile in Redmond, but I usually grab something from next door to eat. But we all at this McDonalds and the food was actually really good. The hamburger was too big, I didn't even finish it. Different food standards? I think so.


Jake was pleased with his hot fudge goatee. 


I remember that going to the Sea of Galilee was one of my favorite parts of my Israel experience when I was here as a student. So Seth and I decided to take the kids there. We rented a place in Ein Gev for two days- a little vacation from our vacation, I guess. Since we have not heard back from the Ministry of Health re: the trial for Seth, it was nice to have a distraction and leave our home in Jerusalem for a couple days. 
Off we went. Into the desert. Really, once you leave the outskirts of the city headed East, you are in a barren land. I kept asking Seth how much gas we had, in fear of breaking down in this hot dry no mans land. The picture doesn't really do it justice. 


Before we left on our trip, our friend Paul told us that the place that Jesus' real baptismal site was now available for us to see on our way to Galilee. As you know, it is impossible to know exactly where things happened thousands of years ago, and there are several sites for many of the scriptural events. I had visited a site where they believed Jesus was baptized in a different place when here before, but this other site was thought to be "the" site of Christ's baptism. We decided to stop and check it out. 

That is the muddy Jordan river behind those cute kids. Jayne decided that she wanted to be baptized here when she turned eight. Then Sam teased her that there were crocodiles in the water and she changed her mind (mean brother). 


I told the kids to each touch the river so say they that they did. Here's Jakey.




 Though we believe that we need to be baptized only once, other religions believe to baptize often. This group in white were here to baptize themselves. They would go in the water and immerse themselves three times fast. 
My favorite part was singing with the little girls the primary song,  "Baptism."


I told Seth and Jayne to turn around so I could take a picture of where we were. It was super hot, maybe a hundred plus. Of coarse, we ate popsicles there. But because this area was a border area and hadn't always been available for the public to visit, we drove along  a barb wired fenced road with signs that said, "Do not enter, land mines." Jayne was nervous to get out, but we assured her she would be fine. But just to give you a location, the other side of the Jordan river was Jordan. 


This is looking into Jordan.


The drive to the Galilee was only suppose to take 2 hours, but ours took more like three and a half- due to our two stops. But it felt like it took forever because we weren't quite sure where we were. If we knew, I am sure we wouldn't have felt so lost, and even though we were on the right road the whole time, we just kept questioning if we were. We went through a border check, meaning, I guess our road had crossed over the Jordan border at some time. Sam and Ellie got stuck singing a made-up song about a man-eating lama to the tune of a popular rock song. Seth and I kept cracking up, we couldn't help ourself, it was such a ridiculous song. I always say, "Singing is a sign of happiness."


We finally arrived. It was such a nice welcome. Swim suits on and off to the beach to play.


There is Jake on the sea shore. In the chair is Janny and Jayne with the butterfly suit. Janny and I sat in the chairs in the water and just hung out. The temperature of the water was like a warm bath tub.


Jake and Jayne playing on the beach. They also gave us  exfoliating messages with the sand on our legs and arms as we sat in our water submerged chairs and then would wash us off. Water and kids are a great mix. They really enjoyed themselves.


Although it was hazy, I snuck a photo of the sunset after dinner. 



It was really nice at Ein Gev because I could let the kids just play outside "without" my super vision. It was great for all involved. 


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