September 15

We started off the morning with a beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Galilee.  As I was leaving the hotel room I ran into Jack and we were the only 2 early birds from our group to enjoy this sight

We started off our tour at 8:10 AM with a visit to the Mount of Beatitudes.  Amber was the reader for the scripture relating the event of Jesus preaching the Beatitudes

We then headed to the northern part of Israel to visit Dan, the sight of the altar built by Jeroboam after the death of Solomon and the split of the northern and southern tribes 

Our next visit was to Caesarea Phillipi and the pagan site that was considered the "Gates of Hell" according the Jews of the day.  This is when Peter said  " “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock^[b] I will build my church, and the gates of hell^[c] shall not prevail against it."

Next was the hike down to the Banyas Falls.  This has always been one of my favorite places

Our final stop was the Valley of Tears  and the memorial to the soldiers who have fallen since the war in 1973  The last was listed as 2010.
  

We were told that the Al Qaeda had occupied the town across the border so Laura decided to wave

When they started to shoot at her we headed for the bomb shelters that happened to be a Chocolate Factory

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and a winery