Ascension: Have you found Jesus? We have. Sylvia's eating dinner with him.

But that story is yet to come.

For now I begin with last night. Our little apartment was very nice, with a beautiful flowers, a grape-vine covered walkway, and lovely pool; but what I will remember is the food. Oh, yes, the food! First, I must admit it was rather expensive, but it was superb! I got St. Peter's Fish (in Hebrew it's just called oven fish - interesting to note), and it was perfectly flavored and pleasant.

I woke up early again - which was good - we needed to get an earlier start because this day was going to be the longest yet. And breakfast was everything we could hope for. On the table waiting for us was an assortment of delicious fruits, several kinds of cheese, two kinds of jam/marmalade, bread and cream cheese, cut vegetables with a delicious creamy dip, olives, fresh yogurt with granola, mint tea, a fruit smoothie, and a an egg fried in a ramekin with some kind of tomato salsa. Amazing.

Fully stuffed, and completely slathered in sunscreen (we learned our lesson from yesterday in which we thought it a good idea to get some sun; Sylvia and I have paid a rather painful price for that), we departed and headed toward the Cliffs of Arbel. The cliff's edge provided a spectacular view of the Galilee and various towns. And the knowledge that we would soon be making our way down that cliff was thrilling.

And thrilling it was! The trail was mostly easy, but for about 200 yards, it was straight down the cliff's edge, with rubber-covered metal cables and metal foot/hand holds protruding. Sylvia thought it quite the satisfying adventure.

(Anny just commented, as I'm sitting here writing, "We are amazing! Every day walking more than most people travel in a car!" Indeed we are.)

These cliffs have quite the history. In the time of Herod the Great, the Galilean rebels hid out in these caves. Herod sent down soldiers in baskets, and they reached in and pulled out the rebels, throwing them down to their deaths. The rest they burned out. According to Josephus Flavius, hundreds died this way.

From the cliffs we marched on toward Wadi Hammam (Hamman means pigeon, apparently for the pigeon caves found therein), which is a small Bedouin village (the Bedouins in the south are still nomadic, but in the north, apparently they have settled into villages). We stayed on the path quite well today, and found our way to Kibbutz Ginosar - where the "Jesus Boat" is housed. This is quite a thing to see - a boat dug out of the mud on the shores of the Galilee, dating to the time of Jesus. We rested here for about 2 hours, then tromped out into the heat of the day.

It was sauna-like. Dry, all-encompassing heat radiating from every direction, up and down. It measured 95 degrees outside. This was the truly challenging part of our day - of the whole trail. We slogged on for two hours in that heat, stopping only 2 or 3 times when we found some decent shade (this was hard to come by for long stretches), and when Anny needed to relieve her bladder (she's rather proud that she learned to go outside, and did it a lot! Sylvia and I rarely had to do so, since we were sweating so profusely).

By 4 we made it to the long-awaited gas station that marked the point where we were close to our final destination. But there we ran into a taxi driver who is mentioned in the Jesus Trail guidebook, and who often picks people up. He told us we had better hurry, because Tabgha and Capernaum would close at 4:30 (not 5, as we had read). We still had 2 miles to go, and were fully exhausted from heat and distance. But we were also determined, so we hauled it up a rather steep hill and down into shores of the Galilee, where, at exactly 4:28 the guard let us slip in for a quick view of the church celebrating the miracle of the loaves and fishes (a famous mosaic resides there that is of ancient date, but we hardly had time to read the story). Afterward, however, as we were walking, rather briskly, out, we came to the closed gate (with several other perturbed tourists). We waited for a full 10 minutes (I was NOT a happy or patient waiter, I can tell you!) before some handy guys picked the lock, and we headed toward Capernaum.

We didn't make it to the Mount of Beatitudes, which was a bit further up the hill, and closed anyway, but Sylvia and I did take a dip in the Sea of Galilee. Oh, it was lovely! Not really cold at all, but refreshing. And, hey, we swam where Jesus walked.

On our way back up to the main road to catch the bus, we ran into a nice guy from Spain. Sylvia was elated to practice her Spanish, and I just kept getting more and more confused between Spanish, Hebrew, and English. Turns out, his name is Jesus - a fitting way to end our Jesus Trail adventure! We got lucky enough to have a taxi take us to Tiberias for the same price as the bus, and then another small sherut take us to Nazareth for the same price as the bus. Sylvia and Jesus went out for a shwarma dinner, and here we are.

I have had occasion to ponder several times over the last few years on our capacity as humans and children of God. I believe that we can do hard things, and that, in fact, we are made to do hard things, we need to do hard things. What those hard things are, of course, differs for each person; but we are made to grow and to stretch and to do things we may not have dreamed possible. Some of these things are ones we choose and long to do; others are thrust upon us. But I believe God wants us to strive and yearn, to grow and look back with satisfaction at what we have accomplished, and the person we have become. And I believe He helps us so much more than we can possibly know. I have done various things in the last 10 years that I never considered possible for me, and I do know, in at least some ways, that God has made them possible for me. I ran a half marathon, twice; I taught middle and high school and loved it; I was accepted into a Master's and then PhD program to study Israel (which had been the dream for so long); and various other things along the way. As we trekked on today, through incredibly difficult heat, I remembered this. I still believe it. Now, thoroughly exhausted and with some painful sores from my sandal rubbing, and some good old-fashioned sunburn (some of it a product of my own neglect), I am glad we did this hard thing.

Today as we sat in the Jesus Boat museum, we made a list of our favorite quotes/repeated phrases from the trip. The top 10 are as follows (I must warn those of you sensitive to talk of bodily functions - you just can't help talking about bodily functions where you're walking outside for 10-13 miles a day!):

10. Anny: Amber smack my bum gentle. Sylvia hurt!

9. Every time we arrive at a new archaeological site, Anny screams, "Yay!".

8. We had quite the argument over the fecal excretions of runners. I insisted that a decent portion of Americans have had to make do with leaves instead of toilet paper, since frequently when one is out running, one finds oneself in urgent need, and without such amenities (and yes, this conversation came up because it has happened to me). Sylvia insists that this is a rarity, while I think it is more common than she thinks. Without further research, I guess we'll never know.

7. Anny: Oh, look at the cows! So cute! (She thinks they are so cute; apparently Taiwan has no cows.)

6. Sylvia, upon coming out of the bathroom: Is it weird that I really like to poo?

5. Amber, in response to a small, accidental gas emission from Sylvia: I heard that! It was pathetic. Sylvia's response: a HUGE and very loud, very deliberate gas emission.

4. Amber, while climbing down the sheer cliffs: My mom would be cussing if she saw me now! Sylvia (sarcastically, because I am the non-cusser): Your mom cusses? That's where you get your potty mouth!

3. Sylvia, as Anny does her bladder relieving behind a bush: I am so jealous that you can pee so quickly!

2. Amber: I want to keep my snot. I'm fond of my snot.

1. Sylvia: The balls of my feet hurt. Amber: My balls are fine. (Sylvia makes a valiant effort not to laugh and reveal that her mind went directly to the gutter. She fails.)

The pictures here are a little out of order, but it will take so much time to reorder them, you're just going to have to deal. You know the order of things from the narrative above.