Pieces of History

Today was a very history based day in our journey through the Holy Lands. We started with the ancient fortress of Masada, which was built by Herod the Great. Here is where the last of the Jewish rebels held their own for 3 years against the Roman conquerers. When the Romans finally breached the walls and entered the fortress they found that the Jews had killed each other and themselves rather than become slaves to the Romans. An amazing experiance for some of us was walking down from Masada, it was an amazing view. Then we went to Qumeran, which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and we learned about the ancient people who resided there as a community of worshipers. We then traveled to Jericho, which is the oldest city in history. We saw the ancient city, and the sycamore tree that could have been the one Zacheus used to see Jesus as he passed by, it was dated over 2000 years old. After that many of us rode a camel and had some conversation with some Palestinian school girls on a field trip. We ended the day floating in the Dead Sea. From there, you could see the Mount of Temptation, and it is also believed that John the Baptist lived by the Dead Sea for some time. All in all, it was a very good day. History is an important part of our society and our religion. It was a good thing for us to learn about and see, and something that we should not soon forget.
Abby Clark and Kourtney Berg
youth conveners