Rivers and Mountains and Deserts, Oh my!

On Day 3, we started out at the River Jordan, on the site it is believed to be where Jesus himself was baptized by John.  We took off our sandals and stood in the water and renewed our baptisms.  Deb Sadowski wrote this reflection on this experience at the River Jordan:  

One quick snippet from today that was moving – we stopped at a baptism site on the Jordan River. It turned out to be at exactly the same site that Brent and Barbara visited in 2005 on their trip to Jordan! Barbara recognized it immediately, though the Israel side (where we were today) was vastly different from 13 years ago. Donna blessed each of us in the Jordan, and then the five of us joined hands and shared a prayer of thanksgiving and of remembrance of Brent.

We went into the city of Jericho—at 10,000 years old, it is the oldest city in the world!  We went to the archaeological park, to see remains of the wall that fell after Joshua and the Israelite army marched around the city blowing their trumpets (Joshua 6:1-27).  What I liked most about Jericho (besides the bananas we got from a roadside farm market) was seeing how Israelis and Palestinians can work together and live in peace.  May there be more places like Jericho.

We drove through the desert, stopping by to see the place where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls (Nancy Hamilton’s favorite place—see picture).  We ended a long day at our hotel that looks out over the Dead Sea.  

Stay tuned for more posts on our pilgrimage through the Holy Land.....