For All Concerned

I'm still alive. I'm in Tiberias. Just got Internet installed in the place we're staying - it was supposed to be set up a week ago, but now's better than never. It's been a week getting up at 4:20 AM to work in the hot sun until 1:30 PM. We start digging Monday. I'm working with Mexican archaeologists who are much more meticulous than the Israelis. Israelis pick a spot and dig until they hit rocks. Mexicans construct a grid of 20 m boxes and then run multiple preliminary tests. We've done topography tests, electromagnetic geophysical speculation, and electric resistance tests. This has shown us where there are high concentrations of rocks under the ground. We now know which box is the best to start in. Digging will consist in clearing 10 cm at a time and drawing pictures of every rock we find. They let me try the electric resistance test on Friday, after Fr. Juan’s turn, and then, considering how quickly and efficiently I did it, they made me do it for most of my work today. We’ve put up shade over the site where we’re going to excavate and set up the grid there. Digging starts tomorrow. I've been up to Tabgha and Peter's Primacy, but still need to make it to Beatitudes and Nazareth. Today we went to Megiddo (the future site of the Last Battle of Revelation), Caesarea Maritan (a Roman city on the Mediterranean), Akko (Acre, the Crusader capitol of the Holy Land), and Beit She’an (the chief archaeologist who excavated Beit She’an for 20 years gave us the tour – he’s now part of our project). I'm loving it and hoping to find a way to prolong it about a week. Just wanted to let you know I'm still here.