Hey again!
Thanks for joining me for another marvelous day through the extraordinary land of Israel.
If you’re just picking up on this blog, my name’s Rachel Snelen and I had the outstanding privilege of visiting the Holy Land with my twin sis, Melody, our mom Joy Snelen, and our missions friend, Emma Hustad.
We made quite a team as we adventured through God’s chosen Land with very little knowledge of our schedule or what would take place…we just took God’s lead!
To begin our journey to Galilee, we first needed to pick up a rental car.
The small vehicle we had reserved was out of stock, so we were given a much larger car for the same price. That was indeed a blessing, as we all have long legs and could use the extra space!
(Joy, Mom!, driving in Israel)
By God’s grace, we managed to navigate safely and accurately through Jerusalem and arrived to the main highway to Galilee.
During our over two hour drive we were highly observant and hungry to absorb all we were seeing.
Our attention was frequently drawn to the mountain sides as we noticed the many herds of sheep scattered throughout the terrain.
It reminded us of our essential need for The Good Shepherd (Psalm 93)…someone to protect us from danger, one to “herd” us in the right direction, someone to be patience with our ignorance…it’s all completely relevant.
(Notice the “Sea Level” sign, do you see any water around?)
As we continued our drive, we noticed a cute, well dressed camel sitting by the side of the road. We had heard you can ride one for a small fee, so we pulled over.
We approached the camel with apprehension at first, knowing that they have a reputation for spitting.
However, the owner assured us that “my camel does not spit.”
And he was right. This camel was super friendly and even smiled for pictures!
We each took turns taking a “joy ride” on the camel… we felt just like the wise men searching for Jesus!
We arrived in Galilee early afternoon, then grabbed a bite to eat at a local Kibbutz ( Hebrew for “communal settlement”- a self sustaining community) nestled along side the Jordan River.
While sitting overlooking the Jordan River, we read from Matthew 3 and Mark 1:1-12 where it talks about the baptism of new Believers and the Divine baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
Although we were aware that this wasn’t the exact location where the baptisms took place, this river is still very significant in Biblical history and it was a great pleasure to visit this site.
While in the gift shop at Yardenit (a baptismal site on the Jordan), Mel and I struck up a conversation with a guy working there.
We found out that he was a self described “Jewish Atheist.”
He was a well informed individual (even knowing a considerable amount of Biblical history…in fact, seemingly more than most Christians I’ve talked to) and has traveled internationally to learn about different cultures.
Although he was a bit obstinate at first, while we shared our Faith with him and why we’ve chosen to believe in Jesus, by the end of our conversation he had softened up and began listening…he even accepted 
a Christian book we gave him.
He said we were different than other American Christians and he wanted to listen to us. He also said he’d read the book we gave him.
He said he can’t stand the American Christians because he feels they are Christian only because their parents are and they seem to never think for themselves.
He also candidly explained to us how intellectually stunted American young people are.
In his words, all they do is live off their parents money, play video games and don’t think for themselves.
That might be a cynical stereotype, but there is some observed truth behind his assessment. We’re just glad we got to break down those barriers with him and displayed something “different”.
After that interesting stop, we headed to a friend’s house in Galilee.
Our friend then took us to some wonderful locations bordering the Sea of Galilee (aka Lake Kinneret).
We watched the phenomenal sunset illuminate the sky with a glow that celebrated God’s greatness!
It was a fitting moment to… “stop and consider God’s wonders.” Job 37:14
As the sun set, it marked the beginning of Shabbat (The Jewish Sabbath day of rest begins on Friday evening and ends on Saturday evening).
For the evening meal, we were invited to attended an Erev Shabbat (evening of Sabbath) meal with a family of Jewish Believers. We all sang together, ate (a lot!), talked and enjoyed our fellowship with one another.
This concluded a marvelous day!
I will write more as soon as I can!
Rach
