November 14

Today we visited the ruins of Ceasarea which was built by Herod the Great. The town was literally on the beach. We learned about the city in the theater, which faces west to honor Rome (most Roman theaters face north so the sun would not be in the eyes of those inside during performances), and then eight of the students here sang at the floor level of the theater so we could see what the acoustics were like. We were given a little bit of time to explore the beach, collect seashells, and dip our feet in the Mediterranean, then finished learning about the significance of this port city, which is now a major tourist attraction. Herod seemed like a smart guy…too bad he was so power hungry! We also visited Natanya Academic College in Natanya. Nantanya is unique because it is the only school in which the students from the three main religions represented in Israel attend, together, in harmony. There are 4,000 students enrolled at the university and many are immigrants to Israel. This will be the location of a peace conference for teens which will be held there in October of next year. I will help train those students who will be teaching seminars at the peace conference by teaching them about public speaking, how to facilitate discussions and how to teach the material they have to learn for this conference. I may also be part of the executive team that will help the program director in the planning process. From Natanya College, we ate lunch at a mall. A school bus full of children came in after us and one of their teachers was carrying a rifle. I’m not sure the reason, but someone told me that children in Israel are a commodity and are protected….again, not sure if that is the reason. It was interesting and different, but then again, I’m in a completely different culture with different customs, experiences, etc. We finished off the day by going to Tel Aviv, mainly the old town of Jaffa. There’s a promenade and as you walk up to the top of it, there’s a wishing bridge where you are suppose to put your hand on your astrological sign (which are carved on each side of the bridge) and make a wish….I was a party pooper and did not do this…plus I was late for our lesson about Jonah, and then Peter, from the Bible. During this little lecture, we had several distractions. The Evening Call to Prayer (I’m not sure if that’s what it is called) came on..that’s where the prayer comes on over a loud speaker. Then there was an amazing sunset and with that there were about four groups of migrating birds that flew overhead! Oh, and I can’t forget the 6 month old baby we have along with us as she babbled and made her noises…then the four newly wed couples who came up to get their pictures taken! Our poor lecturer! From this point is a beautiful view of the coastline of Tel Aviv. It is gorgeous! Bishop Walkenhorst, his mom, John Paskett and I were taking pictures while the group was heading back to the bus and we lost our group! John and I were running around (John did most of the running) trying to figure out where they were. In the meantime, Bishop made friends with a taxi driver who was checking something in his car! We did end up finding them after looking for about 15 minutes. Even though Tel Aviv is a nice city, it’s probably not the place I’d want to get lost in.