Everyone at IBEX always loves a “first” – that is, when they do something that no group has ever done before. After 20 semesters, there are fewer and fewer new things to do, it seems. But it’s also true that not all “firsts” are worth repeating. Such it was with my idea last night to sleep on Arbel and watch the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. After whittling the group down to a “lucky” 7 (to fit in the Land Rover), we headed out. Actually, nearly everything was perfect. We found a very flat piece of ground right at the summit and no one else was around. We were all very tired, and the night was quiet and still. Thus the conditions were ideal, not only for us, but for the million mosquitos who inhabit the mountain. After 7 hours of a feeding frenzy, we watched the sun come up and headed back to En Gev to try to get some sleep. I’ve said before that it’s possible that Arbel was one of those mountains that Jesus climbed to spend the night in prayer. If so, I now understand better how he kept from falling asleep.
Update: One girl has counted 180 bites on one arm alone.
Even with the mosquitos I would still rather be in Galilee than in dull Santa Clarita :) I hope you all are having a good time in Galilee. We enjoyed hearing you and the two students in chapel.It brought back great memories of eating fish at En Gev after our hike from Jotapata to Cana.
-Kintner
Oh yes, the fish… I remember Happy and Zach having a fish-eye eating contest. Yum.
Todd, it was definitely the best “Master’s Moment” hearing from you, Micah and Mary this morning in chapel! I’m glad the phone conversation worked :-)
Glad to hear you can still find firsts to do, even if they aren’t the best at the time… they make awesome memories!
Hey, are you going to repeat our awesome “first”: riding bikes around the Sea of Galilee? (At least suggest it to some of the students…it looks like quite the “outdoor” group, and I think they’d like it…or in my case LOVE it!!!!) It is still one of my most fond of memories. I would do it again in a heart beat, if I could. You don’t have to do the whole group, like you did the semester after (or was it two semesters) us. Tell them to start early, before the sun rises, and watch it rise as they ride. And, tell them to head North and go around the lake counter clock-wise, if not, the last part will be horrible, because of all the hills! I don’t know about you, but it took us five hours, with 5 stops included (the longest one being a half an hour, the rest were about 5-10 minutes worth). I’m glad you guys are enjoying the time, despite the bugs:)
Ilena – yes, the group now is pretty athletic, but not even one rode around the lake. I’m not sure why. I can’t say I actually encouraged it – my time was not so wonderful (o-u-t–o-f–s-h-a-p-e). A few tried to hook up a waterski ride, but that failed. Some went horseback riding. Many went to Nazareth Village (www.nazarethvillage.com), which I believe you didn’t see. Now we’re back. It always goes so fast.
So you mean no other group after ours has gotten to see you in your Nike bike shorts? Man, those were sweet! :)
Riding around the Sea of Galilee (by myself) was one of the neatest experiences of my life. My only hindrance was stopping between 30 and 50 times for pictures. But it was well-worth it. There’s no place like Galilee.