Thursday morning, July 9th, 12:05 AM:

We just returned from our final tour. We also did not train today and I wanted them to at least get a few extra hours of sleep, before we left for our final tour. What I will try to do is explain where we wnet today and what we did. Then I will leave this portion of the blog with my personal thoughts about the past 5 days of touring. I hope you will enjoy it and not take offense to anything I may say.

We left the hotel at 12:30 PM for a village about 1 hour north of us. It was a Druze Village, where we had the most wonderful lunch that was prepared by an old woman outside in a fire oven. You may ask, what is a Druze Village and why did we go there. I asked the same thing. The Druze people is a religious group that began in the 11th Century in Egypt, where it was tied to Islam. They (Druze) broke away for Islam and started their own beliefs. They are Arabic and live in Israel and are citizens of Israel and only the men serve in the Israeli Army. The women must do some type od social service to the country. Inside the family, there is a Secular and Religious person. It might be that the woman is religious and the man secular or vice versa. What is very important to know, is that both women and men are equal. The other important part is that they beieve in re-incarnation and only being re-incarnated as another human being inside the Druze and because of this true belief, they never visit the cemetery. I asked our host (a young Druze woman) if she knew about the religion and she said not at all as she is secular. So, even inside the family, there is no discussion of religion. There is never any conversion to becoming a Druze. You must be born in to it with both parents being a Druze. It is a very mystical religion and their belief is that there is only one supreme being who rules over them and no belief in the trinity. They are truly monotheistic in their belief. This was truly a highlight for me. I got some great photos here and can't wait to see them after getting them developed!

After this, we headed to the Sea of Galilee for relaxation and fun. The team enjoyed this as well. After swimming an such, we had dinner there. The Sea of Galilee empties into the Jordan River. the importance of the sea for Israel, is that their entire water supply come from it.

The day was terrific and quite enjoyable.

I would like to share my thoughts and perspective on what we have seen and how it has touched us all and especially me. Here we go, so please bear with me as I put my thoughts down on this blog. For me, Israel is really not about religion, but rather about a people that is continuing to fight for it's freedom and very existence. Traveling and seeing Israel, I do not see it as a pretty country. But, as I wander in my own thoughts and perspectives, I do find Israel's Heart to be as beautiful and captivating as any country I have ever visited. As we were traveling all over, a unique thought entered my head. I looked out the bus window and saw barbed wire fences almost everywhere and thought about our trip to Germany in 1987 and having to go through the former East Germany to get to West Berlin at the time and all we saw was miles and miles of barbed wire fence. I thought we were in a democratic state and I am still seeing this type of fence?! It further re-inforced what I was truly feeling about this journey in to Israel's heartland. It may be democratic, but it is still fighting for it's freedom! This is a word we take for granted in our country and here, they just want to be free, just as they did at Masada, when they took their own lives rather than being captured by the Romans. This is quite poignant to me, in that freedom should be for everyone who desires it and not have to fear living, just to maintain it.

The Heart I am talking about is not that Israel made me more religious or more reverent, but that it made me think about my own parents (may they rest in peace), who taught me about how I should live my life. They taught me to always stand up straight, plant my feet firmly on the ground, know who I am and where I came from and I would always find my way. I really did not understand that until now. I now know these things my parents were talking about. It was not about being Jewish, it was about my Heritage and how we got to where we are today and at what cost and how many lives have been taken because of this very freedom that Israel is fighting for everyday of it's life, now and in the past. You see, you do not have to wear your religion on your sleeve, as long as you know who you are and where you came from, you will always find your way.......in your own Heart!

I apologize for the length and depth of this blog, but I needed to relate my personal thoughts, because it has finally come to me, after all these years, just exactly what my parents tried to teach me at a very young age and that happened in these past 5 glorious days, in a journey into my own Heart! I know Sean is having a similar experience as well and my hope is that Aly will also. I know when I come back with my wonderful wife, she too, will experience this, exactly as I have tried to describe.

So good night and stay well. We miss and love you all, especially Marie and my "Gang of Five".

Preston and Sean from Israel