Meghan's Israel Adventure

I am over halfway through my time here in Israel, and I can't believe how fast it is going. We are well into the third week, and have been making great progress at the dig. In the square I am working in, F10, we finally reached the floor today and have been finding nails all over the place. We plan to finish up that area in the next few days and move on to something new. Although, one thing I have learned is that in archaeology everything is always changing, Dr. Schuler likes to tell us that we should ask him again in 20 minutes, implying that he will have a different answer to whatever question we have asked, so, things could change.

 Last week the room next to us was completed, and we are beginning to get a good idea of what the area looked like. On the other side of the dig, they are also making a lot of progress. Today they found a mosaic floor in two of the rooms they are digging in, and one of them has an inscription! That is pretty exciting stuff for Dr. Schuler. Some of the other things we find include lots of nails, marble, various metal objects, bones, glass pieces, and stone objects. And of course lots of pottery. Most days have been a lot of heavy work, lifting rocks and tons of buckets of dirt out of the square. Today was among the first days we were sitting with a trowel and brush because we had to be so careful working so close to the floor. It pretty exciting to see things coming up that have been there for thousands of years.

In between digging, we spend our time washing pottery and doing lab work. We have also gone on a few tours with the Haifa group (another university that digs at the same location as us) and attend lectures. There have only been a couple lectures though. Time seems to go by so quickly and we are almost always busy. We continue to get up to work at 4 AM, and leave at 4:40 to catch the bus. We work from 5 AM to 11:45 or so and then walk down the mountain to catch the bus. The afternoons are filled with naps, lab work, pottery washing, devotions, dinner, lectures, and occasional tours. We try to be in bed between 8 and 9, but sometimes that's a little optimistic.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support, and I will try to post once more before the trips end!

On our second weekend here, we went to tour the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We left the Kibbutz Thursday afternoon (weekends here are Friday and Saturday), and arrived in the Old City of Jerusalem Thursday evening.  We drove through the Jaffa Gate and checked in at our hotel, Gloria Hotel in Jerusalem, and then went for a walk to learn our way around the Old City. We followed the path that archeologists believe was the path that Jesus would have followed as he walked to his death. We saw Herod's palace, and the place outside it where they believe that Jesus' trial would have taken place. We ended our walk at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is known as the place of Jesus crucifixion. We saw the place of His crucifixion, burial, and ascension. It was amazing to see the places that I have heard described for so long. We ended the night with dinner at the hotel, and then we went up to the roof of the hotel! It was amazing, you could see much of the city from where we were, and it was pretty cool to see the city lit up at night. Inside Herod's castle, there was some kind of show going on, that we could see bits and pieces of.  We sat around as a group and hung out and Dr. Schuler even came out!

The next day was very busy. We returned to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to try to see the tomb where Jesus was buried, but were unable to get in. After breakfast at the hotel we went to the City of David, and walked through Hezekiah's tunnel, as described in 2 Chronicles 32. It was so cool! We walked down through the cave and then through he tunnel with running water. The tunnel came out at the Pool of Siloam. The tunnel was dark, so we had to bring flashlights and started out deep (just above the knee), but most of it was about ankle deep. After Hezekiah's tunnel we went to the Davidson Archaeological Park and saw the steps to the temple where Jesus walked. This is one of the sites that we can be 100% sure that Jesus walked. Most of them are the sites where these things are commemorated, or where history tells us they are about. But the steps to the temple are one of the few places we can be 100% sure Jesus walked. Then we ate lunch in the city, and went to Redeemer Lutheran Church. This is a Lutheran church in the Old City of Jerusalem. We climbed up the tower and were able to look down on the entire city of Jerusalem.

Then we returned to the hotel to get ready for out hike up the Mount of Olives. We followed the traditional Via Del Rosa, the path Christians for centuries have held as the path that Jesus walked on his way to the cross. The hike was long, hot, and tiring, but it was incredible to see the places where Jesus would have been along his path to the cross. Once at the top, we stopped at the Church of the Ascension, the place where Jesus ascended to heaven in Acts 1. From there we worked our way back down the mountain and stopped at the Church that commemorated where Jesus wept in Matthew 23:37-39. After seeing that church, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane as described in Matthew 26:36-46. This is the place where Jesus was betrayed. We continued on to visit the Church of All Nations, which surrounds the place where Jesus prayed before he was betrayed. The last church we visited on our tour of churches was St. Anne's Church. This church has amazing acoustics, and some of the people there were singing. It was absolutely beautiful. It was an incredible visit, many of the churches and sites were not exactly what I was expecting, but it was amazing all the same. We finished off the day with some shopping in Jerusalem and dinner at the hotel.

Saturday was the last day of our tour, and we spend most of it in Bethlehem. We first went to the Church of the Nativity, which commemorates the place of Jesus birth. There is also a place that commemorates the place where the manger lay. It was beautiful and very exciting to see. The rest of our time there was spent shopping at local shops and getting lunch before we hit the road again. We went next to the Herodian, one of the many fortresses Herod built to prevent attacks and give himself a place to hide from his enemies. We hiked up the mountain to the top, and then down into the cisterns of the fortress. It was very impressive that they could build something like that so long ago in such a dry desert place. After the Herodian, we headed back to the Kibbutz to get ready to dig the next day. It was an amazing trip, even if we were all exhausted by the end of it. No one was quite ready to go back to work Sunday morning.

This week has been more digging, and then this coming weekend we will go tour the Dead Sea. We have a couple day trips in the afternoons as well this week. I trying to get pictures posted on Facebook, so you can look for that. I'll try to stay caught up and post again before the end of the week. Thanks to all the payers and support we have received so far, please continue to pray for the safety of the group as we travel again this weekend!

As most of you probably know, I am in Israel. I know I have not posted any kind of blog yet, but I thought I would try and start. So, here is an overview of what we have done so far. On Thursday June 30^th we left from the MSP airport and met up with our group in Philadelphia. We landed in Tel Aviv Friday afternoon, our flight was only slightly delayed because President Obama flew in and out of the Philadelphia airport shortly before we did. We traveled from the airport to Kibbutz Ein Gev where we are staying, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

On Saturday we toured around the Sea of Galilee and saw the sights! It was really exciting to see the places in the bible that I have heard about for my entire life come to life. We started with Hippos, the mountain where we are digging, and looked around there. From there we went to the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:2-12). The church and garden that have been built to commemorate them are beautiful. We then traveled to Tabgha, the site that commemorates the feeding of the 5000 (Matthew 14:13-21). At the sight there is also a fully reconstructed Byzantine church that included an ancient mosaic. I think Tabgha was my favorite place that we saw that day. We went from there to Capernaum, the hometown of Jesus. We saw Peter's church, and a synagogue, or at least what was used as a synagogue on the Sabbath. After that we went to Kursi, a site that commemorates the casting of the demons into swine (Matthew 8:28-34). We also saw a partially reconstructed Byzantine church there. We finished the day by swimming and chair surfing in the Sea of Galilee, which was a perfect way to end the day.

On Sunday we began our real work digging up on Hippos. A brief overview of the day is we get up around 4, and leave around 4:45 to arrive at the base of the mountain and get to the top (a 10 minute hike) shortly after 5. Then the work begins, we have a ½ hour breakfast break at 8, and finish around 11:45. We drive back and have lunch at the Kibbutz. The first week was mostly clearing debris and large rocks so we could start digging. But, by the end of the week we were getting pretty far down. The most exciting things that happened were on the second day of digging (Monday) Jackie found a coin that we later found out was not worth much because it was out of context. But, it was a very exciting moment, and still an exciting find. Then, on Tuesday I found an inscription. We were digging and I noticed that one of the rocks were digging out had some writing on it. Dr. Schuler was very excited, and eventually figured out that the piece was the final missing piece of an incomplete inscription that had been found in two parts years earlier. The piece I found was the last missing piece (you can read more about it here on Dr. Schuler's website http://hippos.archaeology.csp.edu/). We also dug up lots of walls, and one of the groups uncovered an intact doorframe with the top still on it. These were some of the most exciting moments up on the dig site. The rest of the time we spend hauling buckets of dirt and huge boulders out. Every time you dig one out it seems like there is another underneath it. But, it is pretty cool to see the progress.

This is just an overview of the first week or so. I realize I am still behind, and am trying to catch up. We recently returned from a 2 day trip from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. I will post about that soon. I have lots of pictures posted on Facebook for those of you who are interested! Thanks for your interest and support in my trip, please continue to pray for the safety of the group and we dig and safe travels back home at the end of the month!