Ascension: We can go the distance.

I purposely turned off the alarm on my phone last night, and I still woke up at 6. That was fine with me - I got plenty of sleep. And I got a few quiet minutes to write in my journal, read my scriptures - both the Book of Mormon and New Testament - and admire the fog as it rolled out. Yes, fog. Fog that re-soaked our shoes and clothes that we had set out to dry. Ah well. It was a lovely morning.

I forced Sylvia out of bed around 7:45, and we went down to eat around 8:15. I tell you, we ate well! Great dinner last night, and a great breakfast this morning. I suppose that is for the best - we haven't had much of anything else since then. Except lots and lots of water!

We began our journey already a bit lost. I tell you, we are struggling to find/follow the trail markers! But in the distance we could see the "Horns of Hattin" - twin hills that we knew marked a part of the path. So, we followed the road that seemed to lead to them, and it was the right decision. We made it there, and boy what a view!

Now, I hate to be didactic, but we couldn't help notice a life and Gospel lesson here. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. We often get lost in the here and now, not sure what direction to take. But with a clear vision of where we want to be, we can make it there. I have often heard that there are many roads to God (or variations of this idea), and in many regards I agree. But there are certain roads and markers that we have to reach and pass.

As we discussed this little life lesson, Sylvia mentioned that sometimes we can't see our destination because it is blocked by trees or other obstacles in our vision (this was oddly out of context, since there was not a tree within 300 yards of us - and none between us and the horns we were trying to get to). I concurred, which led me to the next part of the analogy: in those moments, lacking a detailed map or intimate knowledge of the trail, you have to find a clearing from which you can get a good view of the goal, and your relation to it. I may be approaching dangerously close to overly religious or sentimental territory here, but I do think this is true. Keeping a clear view of the goal and a self-assessment of how we are doing in getting there is absolutely crucial.

So, there you go. Our philosophy for the day. This became a recurring theme, as the trail markers were often hard to come by, and we had to rely on the distant goal for guidance. Often, we were not on the "correct" path at all, we realized later, but here we are in our comfortable guest house resting from the day's labors, quite satisfied with our success.

We made it up and around the horns, which wasn't too much of an ascent, but boy, was it a descent! And we seemed to lose the trail around the time of the descent. We followed a trail, but we think it was the wrong one - no trail markers, and it brought us to a cow farm (apparently not a dairy, however), where we had to trek through more awful thistles. And the trail coming down was rather encumbered by horrible thorn bushes, which I'm quite certain are the kind used 2,000 years ago to make a crown for Jesus (from the ones pointed out to me by my teachers when I was in the BYU Jerusalem Center). They were a pain! Literally!

From the stinky but charming little farm, made our way to a real road, where we found markers again. They led us to Nebi Shueib, where we were not allowed to enter the Druze shrine because, apparently, our long, well-past-the-knee shorts/capris were too short (the guide book said, and I quote, "pants past the knees"). But they did let us in to the parking lot where we rested under some shade and refilled our water bottles.

We then made our way down into the little town of Kfar Zeitim - which means, Olive Village - and again lost the trail markers. We are a little frustrated with this pattern - we are three relatively intelligent young women, with pretty good eye sight (when my contacts are in - and they are!). How can this be so hard! But we asked a guy on the street - he was a local, and I talked to him all in Hebrew, and he understood perfectly, and I understood his response perfectly. Those moments are so very fun! He directed us toward the right way, although I don't think it was the actual trail. No matter - we were heading to the next major goal: the Cliff of Arbel. Is this starting to sound a little like Frodo and Sam's journey in the Lord of the Rings? It felt a little like it!

Suddenly, we found trail markers again, and they led us to the ruins of an ancient synagogue. It was quite remarkable. We then knew our guest house (accommodations for the night) was close. Good thing - Anny was fading fast (it was about 1:30, and it was really hot. She doesn't seem to be sweating very much, so her cooling system is not working; mine, on the other hand, is working outstandingly). We found the guest house, which is a small apartment with all the amenities, and it includes a nice little pool! Sylvia and I took advantage of that!

We made excellent time today, despite the pauses for rests and searching for the trail. It's been nice to rest here and get geared up for the final leg tomorrow - which will be the longest and possibly the hardest. But I'm really excited for it - we begin with the cliffs, which have an incredible history and afford a spectacular view; then basically walk along the shores of the Galilee for about 12 miles.

Can you tell I'm not so tired now (it's only 6:40, and I've been swimming/resting/catching up on the blog for about 4 hours)? I am writing a lot more. I'm thoroughly sunburned on my arms and legs, which I didn't cover in sunscreen. And I realize that in the future, I will bring either a hat or a kerchief to protect my head and stop the sweat from dripping into my eyes (turns out sweat mixed with sunscreen is rather painful to the eyes, and makes for some irritated eyelids too!). But We're all feeling great and raring to go!