Day 5: Impacted

So let me say first of all happy birthday to the best husband a girl could ever ask for! Ryan, I know other people are reading this, so I get to brag on you a bit. You are such a loving husband to me and this past year & 8 months has been the happiest of my life. I'm sorry I'm not able to share  it with you today, but I'm sure our families back home will shower you with love for me. :)  

Ok now that I've let you all know what I wonderful man I have, I will now tell you about my latest adventure. Today started out leaving the Bedouin camp at 5am and driving to Masada for a sunrise hike. I was reminded on this hike how much I love the outdoors and the glory of God's creation. Seeing the sunrise from a vantage point like that is something I will never forget.  After enjoying the views, we went around Masada and learned a little bit about the place. This was where King Herod build his hilltop fortress, and where a small group of Jewish zealots took refuge after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple. The Romans ended up building a ramp to Masada (look up pictures online, you will see this was no easy task), and taking it over. It was scary to think of taking refuge in a place such as this and knowing you would never make it out alive. On the way down I took my first ever tram-ride, and felt like a little kid at Six Flags (even though the ride was only 3 minutes total).  

After Masada we went to Ein Gedi--also known as "David's Stream." It was so fitting to come here on my husband's birthday because the whole place reminded me of him. It is a little oasis in the desert where David hid from King Saul, and has beautiful pools of water hidden throughout. This was probably one of my favorite places of the whole trip. Even though it was hot, I was in awe of the fact that I was in the place that David hid from Saul! It just absolutely blew my mind, and after being there you can see why it was the perfect hiding place.  

For the next part of our day we drove down to the Dead Sea to "swim." You actually can't swim here because the water contains 30% salt, and so you float. It was the strangest feeling to lean back and not sink at all--plus I enjoyed the exfoliating benefits of rubbing the sea mud on my legs and arms. It was quite the experience.  

We finally got a small break from the heat as we drove to Jerusalem. We went to Mt. Scopus to get a better view, and that is when the full impact of this trip finally caught up with me. As I looked with my own eyes at the place the Temple would have been, it took all I had not to start crying right then and there. I am still extremely impacted by it. The amount of history that has gone on here, and some the people whom I've read about in the Bible had at one point been at the exact location I was looking at! It's a very hard feeling to describe, but the only word that comes close is "overwhelming." I thank God so much for the enormous blessing this trip has been to me.   I wish each and every one of you could experience it with me.

Well, that's all I have for today! I want to again wish my handsome husband a very happy birthday, and thank all of you again for taking the time to read this and pray for me. It means more than you can possibly know, and I can't wait to be able to tell you all about it when I get back.   Shalom!

Picture: Masada (top left & right, middle right), Dead Sea (top & bottom middle), Ein Gedi (middle right, bottom left & right), Jerusalem (large middle pic)