Hi All!

Today, we toured around the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee, also known as the Lake of Gennesaret and the Sea of Tiberius, is the lowest fresh water lake in the world. It's located 700 feet below sea level. It's circumference is 32 miles. It's 9 miles wide at its widest point and 12 miles long at its longest point. Much of Jesus' ministry occured in villages and towns on and around the Sea of Galilee.

Several stories of Jesus' ministry involve storms on this lake. Storms here are common, because winds come in through the Valley of the Winds and Doves and create violent upheavals which suddenly start and end. Today however, we had unseasonably warm weather (it was around 90 degrees fahrenheit) and the sea was an absolute dead calm. In fact, Bishop Schneider, who's been here 15 times or more, said he's never seen it this calm, especially in the fall when the weather is usually much rougher. In any event, it was good to be out on the boat in calm weather, and it was a nice peaceful way to celebrate Bishop Schneider's 75th birthday!

On our tour around the lake, we also visited Capernaum, where Jesus taught in the synagogue and healed Peter's mother-in-law. While the site of Peter's house and the synagogue at Capernaum are pretty certain, other sites are more or less simply based on tradition. The sites of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes and the site of the Beatitudes, for example, are two places we visited. While much of Jesus' teaching, preaching and miracles probably occured nearby, many of these sites are based on reports and research of Eugenia, an early Christian nun, who came here to find the sites in 384 AD.

Tomorrow, we're heading south for Jerusalem, where we'll base ourselves for the remainder of our days in Israel. I'll try to keep photos posted every couple of days, at least.