The Dead Sea

Wow! So much salt! The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on the face of the earth! The Dead Sea is about 31% salt, compared to ocean water at 3.5%. It has its name because it is so salty nothing but the tiniest organisms can live in it. That's good news for people who are terrified of seaweed (don't be embarrassed, Theresa) as they can enter without fear of being attacked. The rocks and stuff along the shore line had a coating of this white salt crusted on them. If you're really nerdy and want to learn more about The Dead Sea you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Sea

We had lots of fun floating in it. I had to be careful to balance on my back because if I turned at all, the fat from my backside is apparently more than the fat on my frontside and it would flip me right over onto my face...I also forgot the advice we got last time I was there, namely not to shave that day. Boy did my legs burn! Jerel had the same problem with his neck/face. You suddenly become aware of nicks and cuts you didn't know you had!

When I was at Ricks College Susan Bednar (Elder David A. Bednar's lovely wife) gave a great talk about salt and explained that it is used to preserve, protect, and enhance. She tied it all in to how we are the salt of the earth and such. I was going to be really cool and add a link to the talk, but everytime I try to open it at the byui website it freezes up my computer. So you'll have to survive with my two sentance summary of the talk.

Qumran

Our first day of touring started with a visit to Qumran. Qumran was an ancient community near the Dead Sea with people who shared the little they had in common. Some people believe this community was the Essenes or Sons of Light (Luke 16:8). Qumran is well known for being the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Some Bedouin boys were exploring the caves and found the scrolls by accident. After the scrolls were discovered, the ruins became significant and were excavated. Living quarters, writing halls, cisterns, and immersion fonts were found which indicates a religious life similar to Judaism.

A part of every book of the Old Testament (except Esther) was found in the Scrolls, including the entire book of Isaiah. The scrolls are 1,000 years older than any previously known Hebrew biblical text.

You can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_scrolls if you want more information about the scrolls.

At Qumran we saw some old ruins and also saw from a distance some of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient texts were found. It was interesting to hear about some of the things written in the ancient records and the similarities to the LDS church. For example, the ancient religion was govered by a man who had 2 assistants, then a committee of 12, and then a group of 70 men as well. It reinforced to me that truth is truth no matter the time or place.

Pictures can be viewed by clicking the link at the right for Jerel & Amanda's flickr.