Tuesday 17 February

Today we started at 8:00 in the morning as we had done the day before.  We went first to Mount Arbel so we could look down on the Arbel Valley, which is one of the caravan and trade routes through the area.  It was cloudy at first but when the sun finally broke through we had a great view of the valley, and of the Sea of Galilee, on the shores of which we are spending three nights.  We spent about an hour on the mountain and listened to a great lecture of how Jesus had used this area for his Galilean ministry.

After Arbel we went to a Kibutz called Ginosar, where they have a preserved boat from the first century.  There is no doubt about the age of the boat.  We had been here before but it was interesting to see the boat once again.  We also took a short ride on the Sea of Galilee and stopped to look at the probable site for the Sermon on the Mount from the sea.

We had lunch at the Kibutz and then went to a relatively new dig called Magdala.  It was very interesting and we had a good view of what a fishing village on the shore of the lake would have looked like.  Afterward we went to the Mount of the Beatitudes, above the natural ampitheater we had seen from the lake earlier in the morning.

We then went to a place which is onle a probably location of where Peter was challenged by Jesus with his "Do you love me?" question followed by Peter's answer.  Beautiful seaside and interesting lecture by our leader.  We also stopped at the site of Capernaum, and our leader thinks this is probably the correct site for the city of Capernaum.

It was getting late by this time so we got back on our bus and came back to our comfortable cabin on the lake.  It has rained on and off all day, but we have not let the rain stop us from enjoying being here again and listening to very enlightening instruction.  We have been accompanied today by the pastor of the Cana Baptist Church, and he will be with us again tomorrow.  We are really blessed to be able to be in this place.