Field trip to Arad!

We had a three day, two night field trip to Arad this past week and being there we saw some really cool sights!!

Day one:
We traveled a little ways down to Judah where we studied in Lachish and Beth Guvrin valleys, then we went down to the shephelah. The shephelah is also called the lowland because of how low it is in the spot that it is placed. We first stopped at Moresha, where we saw some really really awesome sights. There we saw like really old wine presses that still had wood in them, super cool. Then we stopped at this tomb in Moresha where there were at least 20 graves. It was really cool to step down into a tomb area with a bunch of animal carvings on the wall and know that people had been buried there, kind of creepy actually. In Lachish we saw a really cool mountain city/fortress. But in 586 BCE it was destroyed by Sennacharib, we didnt go up to this sight but we were able to take some pictures of it from below. This spot was pretty cool because from our view you could see the place where Sennacharib had built a ramp to get to the city of Lachish. He then attacked via the ramp and eventually overwhelmed and destroyed Lachish. It is also really interesting that in the palace of Sennacharib there were drawings or paintings of him laying siege to these people, so you can see how prideful he was when he destroyed the Israelites. We then traveled down to Ashkelon, and there we saw an archway that was probably in use the time of Abraham and Sarah, that is like 2000BCE, that is so awesome. I probably walked through an archway that Abraham and Sarah also did! That is just cool. At Ashkelon we got to swim in the Mediterranean Sea, that was really cool but it was so cold so i didn't stay in very long at all, but we also, as a group, built sand castle city of basically every major thing we had seen so far, it was so awesome!!! Our professors marveled in it! It was a good day. We then traveled to Arad where we spent the night. We went out on the tow that night and we visited the mall but seriously the mall was literally a seven minute walk through and then nothing was there it was so boring!!! All the sights that we saw were very cool and i learned a lot!! SO interesting!

Day two:
On the second day of our field trip we went to a place just outside of Arad and there we got to see the remains of this really cool fortress and a town below it!It just amazes me how people are able to keep these places from such a long time ago and then we are able to go and see how things were back in the day! I just love seeing the ruins! The best part of the Arad Iron age fortress and the early bronze age town was just the fact that at some point people lived here and then seeing their structures and how life was to them is just amazing to me!!! It was really cool to see the fortress especially because i really like the fortresses we have been to because of the idea that there were soldiers here. There was probably someone really important that might of stayed there once or twice. Also because a fortress was not only built for war but it was built to protect trade routes, goods and water. We then traveled down to Beer-sheba! This was the name of the town back in the day of the Bible and i can not remember the name of it now. At this place we actually got to walk through a city that had been there. It was really cool because the city streets had their original outline so you could see where things would lead to. We found out that in Beer-sheba people were actually using a four-room style house, with a main room, bedrooms, and store room. That was really interesting! My favorite part of Beer-sheba though had to be the water tunnels, they were actually preserved and we got to walk through them. The things that these people built that long ago were so sophisticated and seems ahead of their time. These water systems and cisterns were 20 feet belong ground and probably further, so imagine trying to chizel away with a tiny pick ax, it just blows my mind what these people were able to accomplish. The last place we went to that day was called Avdat! Avdat was a military base for the Romans and also had a lot of byzantine stuff as well. Most of the stuff on the surface was Byzantine, like the churches and wine presses, and then there was a military camp just south of the main area. At the military camp you could see that they built that to protect the valley below and also their water source, just very interesting stuff! I said that was the last place but our professor surprised us with another place and just before the sun went down we traveled to this place called the Super Bowl! The Super Bowl is basically a huge hole in the ground caused by erosion of the ridges. This place was so awesome to see and take pics of! It was just amazing of how big it was! We got back to the hotel and played about two hours worth of charades! IT was a blast! Best charades i have ever played.

Day three:
This was the last day of trip we went to the Dead Sea! We made our first stop in Masada which was really cool! Herod had built another palace on top of this huge mountain and you can actually see where his troops built a ramp to get up to Masada from the ground because it was a legit mountain. If you don't know anything about Masada what happened there was a city for jews and when Herod took over he built a ramp up to Masada and was going to storm the city and kill everyone and rape the women, so the Jews there decided to rather kill themselves than let Herod have the pleasure. So each man took his family and killed them and himself and it was a mass suicide as Josephus puts it. Herod then built one of his amazing palaces on top of this place and you can actually still see were a lot of his stuff was it was pretty extravagant. The next place we went was to En-gedi, and while at en-gedi we got to swim in the Dead Sea! It was one of the coolest things i have ever done! You literally float in the dead sea, it is so cool! It is like you are sitting in a lounge chair, coolest thing! But when it is all done you feel slimy and gross! But then we trekked up another valley close to the dead sea and got to swim in some fresh water under a waterfall! It was absolutely beautiful! So awesome!!!! The last stop of the day that we made was to Qumran, for those who do not know, Qumran is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found! I thought this was going to be the best part of the entire trip, i had gone to see the Dead Sea Scrolls in Minnesota at the museum and i was super excited to be able to explore some caves and look around a bit, but that wasn't the case. We were there maybe 25 mins. before they announced that we had to leave. It was kind of a bummer because i will probably never get to go back and i wanted that time to go and explore some caves or just look around for stuff! I just expected a different experience than the one that i had! But it was a really good day! If not for the ending it would of been the best day by far! The Dead Sea was amazing and the waterfall was beautiful! Even though we didnt have a lot of time to go and explore at Qumran i still think it was a highlight of the trip because of the history of the place of Qumran. I really liked this day! It was awesome!!

So to wrap it up! It was a good three days, sorry i wasn't able to keep up with the blogs i was just so exhausted after each day! But they are all done now! Today is a free day so just going to bum around and study a bit for my test tomorrow!

I have learned that God can make Himself known is some of the best ways. We climbed this valley that was very steep and when we reached the top it was so amazing! The scenery was just spectacular! WE were all just in awe of what God has created! At that moment our whole team gathered around in a circle and we prayed! We just thanked God for this awesome trip and the place that we were! We knew that He was watching over us and just smiling at that moment! God is GOOD!!!!!! We thanked Him for all of the people back home praying for us and thinking about us because that means so much to all of us that we have people who care enough to send blessings upon us from the US! So thank you all of you for thinking and praying for our trip so far! It has been amazing and God is definitely opening our eyes and answering the prayers of us and you guys! Thank you so much!

God Bless and DO GOOD!!!