The North - Dan, Syria and Lebanon

War.
Today was emotional. Tears ran down my face as we watched a 20 minute movie with real footage and interviews from the Yom Kippur war of 1973.
And then looked over the valley into Syria, saw the UN presence, the military on watch,..

Many soldiers came in where we ate lunch. I thought this one was particularly poignant.You can take photos of the military if they are off duty.

The Syrian border. The white buildings are the UN.

 

These signs are everywhere - land mines, stay out. Israel cleared where the road would be, but it's too expensive to clear it all, and who would walk here anyway...

I haven't talked much about the food here in Israel. Today we went to a Druze village, sat down to a meal and were served. Food just kept coming. I even tried falafel, hummus, and pita with goat cheese.
Still not my favorite, but I ate half a falafel, and  two bites of pita with hummus. Goat cheese I can handle. They also served grilled meat. 

Living waters in a very dry land

No rain since April here in Israel. So far we have been basically breathing in dirt.
And yet here, the waters flow. 
David, our tour guide, compared three different types of water here in Israel. 
Living water, bitter water (filled with salt and causing death) and finally the "disappointing water." Water that runs in the spring during the rains but by the time the rains stop the stream has dried up.

I have learned so much today there is no way to write a simple blog about it.
One thing that is quite clear though is how Jesus used his locations to emphasize His teachings. 
For example, He taught about living water near the above stream.

Over and over, it was pointed out to us how important it is to know the geographical locations to get fuller understanding of His messages.

 Tel Dan
The tribe of Dan in the north. Interestingly, they did evil from the beginning. They were suppose to settle somewhere else, and yet wanted easier land. They got it, but no good came forth.
This is outside the gate which still remains, on King Ahab's seat. The big bowl looking thing is where one of the four poles would go for a canopy over the king.

The gate made of mud brick which remains today because it was buried. This site has very little excavation done yet.

This is a model of what the site wold have looked like. Abraham would have walked through this gate on his way from Ur of the Chaldeans. Talk about walking on ancient ground.

I always like to add some nature into the day. We saw fig trees with fruit, olive trees and a surprise to me - there are lots of eucalyptus trees! They are not native, but they are everywhere and very tall.

A few people here have been purchasing eucalyptus lozenges for our coughs, colds, sore throats.

On the way back to our kibbutz, we passed a spot where all three countries meet - Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
We also went down a very high mountain. A very high steep mountain. Think Tour de France in a mountain stage with switch backs near the edge.

This does not come close to showing the depth perception.

And speaking of mountains, we saw Mount Hermon today. The tallest in Israel. The top was in the clouds though.
And guess what? They have a ski resort here in the north of Israel!

From Anna-Lee
I learned a lot today. 
The most powerful thing today was a movie we watched. It was about the Yom Kippur war. It all came to life as you saw the bombs and tanks fighting the Syrians who invaded Israel in the north right where we were near the Valley of Tears. 
There were so many more Syrian tanks than Israeli, but Israel won! It took three days for more Israeli help to come so they fought night and day with no food or water.
It was done by the head tank team for Israel. In the movie three of the soldiers who were in it tell about how horrific it really was. 
Then we went to the border of Israel and Syria, we stood on a lookout looking at Israels enemies right in the eye! (Mom's edit: no we did not see any enemy to look them really in the eyes)

I love looking at animals and today we saw lots, I saw more lizards today. One came right up and ran right by me. It was to fast to be able to get a photo. 

I am super tired and have been coughing all day. The coughing makes me tired, and it is hard to fall asleep when you need to cough to be able to breath!
Anna-Lee.. 
 Our clocks go back one hour tonight - a week before Canada.

View this morning from our front door. We are in small cottages on a kibbutz.