Today we walked through the security wall at Bethlehem, to experience what Palestinians do each time they want to cross.  One can understand the security to a point, after dealing with suicide bombers, but the difficulty this poses to the average Palestinian is unbelievable.  Our host family has strong opinions about Israeli practices and intentions.  It will be interesting to talk with the Israeli settlers at our next home stay. 

Our Bible era studies portion, involved visiting Qumran, (Picture) where all the Old Testament scrolls except for Esther were found.  It was about 108 F and how men could have lived here is incredible.
We stopped at the Jordan River,(Picture) where Jesus was baptized by John.                                      We then went to Jericho,(a picture of an old Sycamore-fig tree like the one Zacchaeus would have climbed to see Jesus), and saw the archeology of the various periods in its history.  It is proclaimed as the oldest city in the world.  We also climbed 3/4 of the way up the Mt. of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted after fasting for forty days.