Hike Dudim Cave

 Just to show how we hiked

 hugging the side on a mountain

 in ancient times they would call this a road

Road Sign

 helping each other

King David hid in one of these caves 

when he was running away from King Saul

 From there David went up and lived in the strongholds of ‘Ein-Gedi

we reviewed the story that David 

cut the corner from Saul's robe 

 along the way was a cave, and Sha’ul went inside to relieve himself. It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave

 Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha’ul’s cloak

Boukje & Laurens

 The teaching about the corner of the robe

the cutting off of the tzittzit

and the wings of protection

How precious, God, is your grace!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings,

and healing in his wings

 But to you who fear my name,
the sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in its wings;

 back for lunch

 this was very tiring, waiting for our turn to go down

 another hike, another wadi, same general area

 cooling our heads

we were asked to think about 

"what drives you"

I had to say that currently Marc was a big drive

I want to be a good example for him

to follow and to guide

maybe that's why it was easy for me to get my feet wet

 on this hike I ran in a wall

Lori gave me electrolytes and I went on again

this was a day of difficult hikes

At the end of the hike was a waterfall

 we were supposed to go and stand under it, like Andy here

 Lori coached Margaret to go under

I needed coaching too, I was totally done

Jo

Marc was already dry again

He walked back with me as support
he carried my camera 

 one more stop at the En Gedi synagogue

 thankfully, it was very close to the bus

I think we hiked all the hikes on this map

at least it felled like it.

Morning Devos was "give it your all"

I guess I did

We aired our our shoes on the ridge outside our hotel room

 I liked the elevators

The Daniel, tomorrow a traveling day

Follow the Rabbi

 Every morning we started with saying She'ma

She'ma Israel

Adonai elohenu-Adonai echad

Ve'ahavta et Adonai eloeikah,

b'khol levavkah

uve'khol naphshekah

uve'khol m'odekah

Ve'ahavta le'reacha Kamocha,

Amen

Then we sang the She'ma song

Hear oh Isra-el

the Lord our God is one Lord

You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart 2x

You shall love the Lord your God with all of your soul 2x

you shall love the Lord your God with all of your might 2x

you shall love the Lord your God with all of your mind 2x

hear oh Isra-el

Garace & Coleen would lead the song

Marc would use the jumbee that our church got from Rwanda 

Morning devos were about

giving it "your all"

 This morning we started our with a little hike

Not all groups gets to go here 

because it is in a protected nature area

 we followed a park ranger 

 to a mysterious building, I'll tell you more in Ceasarea

Todd loves these kind of signs

no idea what is says

 Hydrex

and lots of Ibex

also high on the ridge

 we are still in the desert

 but it's greener 

 there is water

enough to pool together

This picture shows the desert above the lush green in the wadi

 We were in wadi David

Just as a deer longs for running streams,
God, I long for you. I am thirsty for God, for the living God!
When can I come and appear before God?

 at EnGedi

 a beautiful waterfall in the desert

Mayim Chayim = Living Water

water that is not carried but comes straight from God

The sound of God's voice

 ^{God not only provides water, but is living water} 

 ^{a Succot teaching with Marc playing the priest with a pitcher of living water}

We chanted Hosa-nah

Lord save us!

 Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking!  Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!”

Todd taught passionately

 ^{we were all spread out}

 sometimes reading memory verses

 writing in our journals

 Margaret had taken along her own seat

wonder how much Marc wrote in his journal

 we hiked along an edge

 not a favourite kind of hike for Marjorie

 Last time I went to En Gedi we only made it to the parking lot

down by the trees

We couldn't believe we were so close without hiking to the water

 The dead sea looks fresh

Marjorie is making it. Annie is a great encourager

 Marc came to tell me, if you go left your feet stay dry,

but the Rabbi went right

 It was a test in following

 would we follow the rabbi and get our feet wet?

These did

But most didn't

On the way back we again were supposed to choose
to go through the water again
more went this time