Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Today was a full day. We got a look at the Old Testament by traveling into the Negev desert to discover places like these:

Tel Be'er Sheva (which appears in many Genesis texts--from Abraham to Jacob--and was the southern border of the Kingdom of Judah)
Tel Arad (which includes the only Judean temple that's been uncovered with the Holy of Holies intact)
Dead Sea (which gets its name because its 33% salt and nothing can live in it--compared to oceans which contain 2-4% salt; we also got to float in it!)
Masada (which was Herod's fortress and was also a site where over 900 Zealots committed suicide rather than surrendering to Roman troops in 72 AD)
Qumran (which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found; some of us visited the Science Museum of Minnesota's Sea Scrolls exhibit before we left)

We hope you enjoy the video updates from Katy and Betsy! More to come tomorrow after we spend a full day in the Old City of Jerusalem, learning about the current Israeli-Palestinian situation before heading to Bethlehem.