From Madaba, Jordan to Natanya, Israel

The sky was blue and temperatures cool this morning as we walked down the streets of Madaba, Jordan to the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George to see the mosaic map of the Holy Land. We enjoyed the demonstration of how to make mosaics. The mosaics are made by physically disabled people who receive government support for their work.
Our next stop was Mount Nebo where we could see the Dead Sea, Jericho and Jerusalem. We read Deuteronomy 34, the story of Moses climbing Mt. Nebo to see the Promised Land. And then he died. It was an emotional experience to think of Moses looking at the promised land, knowing that he could not go in because he struck a rock when God told him to speak to it (Numbers 20). But then we thought about where he did go – to Heaven! His work was finished. He had taken the Israelites to the Promised Land. He had trained Joshua to take them into the land. We continue to be overwhelmed by the distance the Israelites traveled and the conditions in which they lived. The people from our bus sang “I Love You Lord” together as we stood on top of Mt. Nebo.

As we traveled back down the mountain we saw many Bedouin tents and communities. Although the tents are meager shelters, we occasionally saw a tractor outside their tent, a bicycle and even some satellite dishes!
Entering Israel
Going through customs to get into Israel went very smoothly. We no longer have an armed guard on our bus as we did in Jordan, but we did have an armed guard walk through our bus at the Jerusalem checkpoint. Our Israeli guide, Shem’on, is once again excellent. As we travelled down the highway, he pointed out different areas and talked about Israel.

Today was a Holy Day in Israel – Shavuot (Pentecost). Traffic was much lighter because many Jews spend the day worshiping or at home.

West Bank is divided into three sections: one where just Palestinians can be, the second is controlled by Israel but Palestinians can come in and the third is for Israelites and Palestinian civilians who enter will be searched. A wall with barbed wire looping has been built to separate Palestine and Israel because of the terrorist shooters. Palestinians may not drive into Israel, but many of them walk in each day to work there.

Israel is known for it’s irrigation systems, and in fact, sell them across the world. Everything green has been planted.

Our hotel is in Natanya tonight, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea (also known as the Great Sea). We stepped in the Mediterranean, enjoyed gazing at the water and palm trees for an hour and watched the sunset. In Israel we can eat fruits and vegetables and drink tap water.