Dead Sea and More...... and a little lost luggage.

Day 6 Sunday Jun 4 - Beth-Shan; Jericho; Dead Sea float.

We checked out of the hotel and are traveling to the Dead Sea.  It has become official that we have lost 3 suitcases on the journey.  One of them being Tammy and mine. We are fine as we packed well but would rather have not lost some of the items we had packed.  Feeling pretty bad for Jack and Nathan as they lost all they were intending to use on the trip.  We held out hope but today they told us there was no expectation of getting them back.  Oh well, I keep telling Joe, WE ARE IN ISRAEL! What does it matter!  Our first stop today was at Bet She’an.  We really were not prepared for this place at all.  After Saul and his sons were killed in battle the Philistines pinned and displayed their bodies on the gates of Bet She’an as a sign of triumph.  Though Saul was not a good man, the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead took the body and properly prepared and buried Saul and fasted for seven days.  Saul had turned his back on God, but the men of Jabesh looked beyond that.  We were asked by Pastor, Is there someone we know that has turned their back, walked away or may be being a rebel?  Could we not recognize them and show compassion towards them?  Gave us a lot of time to think and pray for family and friends.  As we traveled further South the temperatures continued to climb.  We drove by Jericho and the ruins there.  It was totally destroyed and literally looked like a huge pile of dirt.  The new city of Jericho now surrounds the old and is about 30,000 and are mostly Muslims. From there we traveled to our hotel at the Dead Sea.  We jumped into our suits and literally floated on top of the water.  The Dead Sea is 10 times more salty than the oceans and makes you so buoyant only a small portion of you is in the water.  The salt softens your skin but you definitely know where any cut is on your body!  You had to be careful and just float on your back as you did not want to risk getting it in your eyes.   Tomorrow we plan to go to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.  We have posted a picture of the caves where they were discovered below.  We will also see En Gedi and Masada and then arrive in Jerusalem for our final three days.  The remaining pictures are from Bet She’an.