Jericho Road

Earlier this week, we went on our second field trip. We had the opportunity to go see Jericho! It was awesome! It was nice to see more of Palestine. Our first stop of the day was the site of Old Testament Jericho. We visited a spring that has been providing water to the people here for the past thousands of year, and we saw parts of the ancient city. There are still pieces of walls and stairs from so long ago. I say "so long ago" because I can't remember the exact dates; we learn lots of cool facts like this...my memory is already fuzzy from a few days ago. :)

Happy to be in the sunshine :)
In the oldest city in the world...18,000 years old, at the lowest place on Earth...1300 feet below sea level!

Then we headed to King Herod's Winter Palace. Sooo cool. This is the same King Herod who talked with the wisemen around the time of Christ's birth. Jerusalem is a little chilly during the winter so he would journey to Jericho and be away from the cold. This was preserved so well! I loved imagining the people in it.

Touching the same walls Herod did. Hehe.

King Herod's Hot Tub hahahah

This part made me sad. As soon as we arrived at the site of Herod's Palace, these two small Palestinian children came walking towards us, carrying baby goats. Everyone gathered around them to take pictures, pet the goats, and ended up giving them sheckles. I wish I had gotten a picture of the barefoot feet, blistered and bleeding, because that is what was most memorable to me. Someone tried giving the little boy a band-aid for his open wound but he didn't know how to use it and just threw it on the ground. It made me feel sad because this is meager means to help put dinner on the table. They live in an shack and make money by hanging around tourist groups who "ooh and ahh" over how cute they are. These children knew the routine well, and stuck around until we left the site. I wish there were a way to give shoes to every child. So many families live in poverty.

Our last stop was at the Quruntul Monastery. It is built into the side of a mountain. Monks live here in order to be "in the world, but not of the world." The monastery is the right in the middle of the Judean "wilderness" that the Bible refers to so frequently. Biblical scholars believe that this is the site where Satan tried to tempt Jesus as he fasted for 40 days.

I walked up the side of the mountain and imagined what it felt like to be the man traveling to Jericho...before the Samaritan came and helped. Then I thought about the Savior spending days in this desert, battling hunger and thirst. I felt the wind in my hair and the dust in my eyes and it was such a lonely feeling. Jesus Christ knows what it feels like to be lonely and tired and hungry. I feel so grateful to be here in this Holy Land.