Hey Hall Boys and Friends Everywhere!

Wish you were all here with me. Everyone should take this trip!! My expectations were low for Caesarea. I expected a bunch of rubble with plaques. We were all totally blown away by the beautiful ruins of a glorious city built by Herod Antipas. A fully restored Roman amphitheater, a coliseum complete with a cage for the lions, incredible baths with mosaics still intact. This was the home of Pilate. Paul passed through and was perhaps in prison here. Philip went through after meeting the Ethiopian eunuch. We wanted to stay for hours but our guide kept us moving…on to beautiful Haifa, a peaceful modern port city. Then to Mt. Carmel, where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. Lunch at a falafel stand and then we pushed on to Magiddo, the 4,000-year-old ruins of an ancient city that has been destroyed and rebuilt 17 times. Solomon stayed here. We saw the clever water system (braving 186 steps down, 80 up whew!), grain silo and even the water troughs for the stables. Incredible! We ended our day with a glimpse of the Sea of Galilee. We just had dinner with tons of salads, roasted vegetables, fish and more and now sit in our kibbutz (farm community) hotel room listening to something howling outside, birds nesting in the hallway and scent of cow wafting through our open window. Hoping we’ll get good sleep tonight. Another busy day tomorrow. Miss you all. You will come with me next time.

We’re having a Great trip! It is such a wonderful group, guide, and driver. We had a VERY busy, active day- We’ve seen so much. Our accomodations are on the Sea of Galilee-can you imagine? Tomorrow we have a boat trip across the Sea, among many other sights.

Almyra

Betty Dungan and I represent the FL contingent. We still like the color of our beaches, but the view of the Med and all the views from heights of all the Mountains are really surprising. Har Meggido was the most surprising and militarily stratigic location. Hope this helps fill the blog for you.

Larry Dungan

Hey Bud, Sam, Silas and all!

It's hard to believe we are here. Trip was long and the plane (a huge 747 Jumbo Jet) was confining, but having so many friends with us made the time go by. My seatmate was an Israeli physicist and we talked for hours about Israel, Obama, culture, faith and Facebook. 11.5 hours is a long time to sit in one seat, but the time passed and soon we were landing. The entire plane burst into applause.

Tel Aviv is a modern,cosmopolitan city and looks like a lot of other large cities except the signs are all in Hebrew. We had a great shabat (sabbath) dinner at the hotel and took a walk along the beach of the Mediterranean sea. Our guide told us that the streets are safe for walking...even at night. Dr. Goza reminded us that this beach was where Jonah embarked on his fateful encounter with a large fish.

Sam & Silas elected to send animal friend Tiny along with me. So Tiny will be included in many of my upcoming photos. Thank you all for your prayers and for all your help with the boys while I am gone. I never dreamed I would be able to take this trip! More news tomorrow.

June

Well, it is almost 9:15 pm here. We had a LONG but uneventful flight. It was really strange. We were not allowed to open the windows on the airplane. Even though it was daylight outside we had to keep it dark in the plane. Let's just say that spinach pizza at 6am (our time) leaves a lot to be desired. We did have all the snacks and drinks we wanted on the flight and were able to move around. All our luggage made it and we are checked in the hotel. Had a buffet supper and went for a walk to the Mediteranean Sea. It was about 2 blocks from the hotel.

We met Zeev(Ziah ev), our guide. We will get a wake up call at 6:30 in the morning and have breakfast and head out at 8 a.m. to head north. Renee

Departing Thursday at 12:45 pm.

We will be traveling to New Orleans in vans and pulling a trailer for the luggage. Visions of youth trips anyone??