Galilee Week 1

Hello Family!

Monday, we got up early and began our Galilee adventures. We drove up the Jordan River Valley to Bet Shean. That’s the city where Saul and Jonathan’s bodies were hung by the Philistines. It was later the Chief of the Decapolis. We walked around the ruins there. We then drove to Nazareth where we saw the Jesus Synagogue and Church of the Annunciation. The synagogue is actually a tiny church commemorating the synagogue where Christ announced that he was the Messiah. Nearby is the Church of the Annunciation, which is the largest Christian church in the Middle East. It is built around the grotto where the angel Gabriel visited Mary and announced her role in the birth of Christ. Part of the complex also includes the grotto (and the Church of Joseph on top of it) where Joseph had his carpenter shop. The church was huge, and was funded by Catholics all over the world. Each country donated a mosaic depicting Mary and the Christ-child to decorate the church. Most were pretty and some were strange, but all were fun to see. We drove to Mt Arbel, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. We hiked to the top and looked out over the area to get a sense of the land. We then drove to our resort on the Sea and settled in.

Our class had Tuesday off. While we’re here, our classes switch days that we go on field trips, because we only have one bus with us over the next 2 weeks. We had New Testament for 2 hours then I took a nap, read a book, did some homework, edited some pictures, and just lounged around. We ended the day with the Near East class.

Wednesday, we started the day on a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. We went from there to the Mt of Beatitudes. We had a lot of free time to read the Sermon on the Mount and look around the gardens and church there. Next was the Church of St Peter’s Primacy. It commemorates the scripture John 21:1-17, where Christ asks John 3 times if he loves Christ. We talked about Elder Holland’s talk, the First Great Commandment. It’s a great talk, I recommend reading it again. We walked to the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes. It’s a mouthful for a tiny church. It had a very nice courtyard and fish pond. Our last stop was at Capernaum, Christ’s headquarters during his ministry. It’s believed that Peter’s house became a church and that the current church is over the excavated remains. The church looks like a flying saucer because it’s suspended over the remains. When we got back, I swam in the Sea. It’s filthy water! I was covered in a layer of dirt and twigs under my swimsuit. It was really gross. But still fun.

We had class in the morning on Thursday. That afternoon, we went canoeing on the Jordan River. There were a lot of rope swings and trees over the water to jump off of, lots of splashing and racing, and lots of fun. Half of us had to rush back so we could go to dinner in Tiberias (the other half went to dinner the night before). We went to the Fish Restaurant. I opted out of the fish and had pizza. I did have a bite of my neighbor’s fish for the experience. Then we walked on the boardwalk in Tiberias to see the nightlife. I got ice cream from the classy Tiberias McDonalds.

On Friday, we went to the Golan Heights. We hiked to Gamla, the city thought to be Christ’s city on a hill. It also had a fortress that held out against the Romans in the Jewish Revolt. There was a lot of cloud cover, which was a mercy because it was a steep hike. We then went to Kursi, one site they think to be where Christ cast the devils into swine. We went back for lunch and then 60 of us crammed onto the one bus to go on an optional hike to a waterfall. It was a fun hike, more like a nice walk, to a waterfall and pool. We spent about an hour swimming and hanging out there before hiking back out.

Saturday is still the Sabbath, so we got to join the Tiberias branch for their sacrament meeting. They meet in a converted house near the Sea of Galilee. The members there come from a lot of different backgrounds and nationalities. Members speak English, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and/or Russian. We significantly added to their numbers. Marissa opened the meeting with a prayer in Hebrew and someone else gave the closing prayer in Spanish. After sacrament, we left to go to the Galilee baptismal site. It’s the same baptismal place pictured in the back of you Bible. The rest of the afternoon was ours and I spent a long time editing pictures. (By the way, I finally put up the rest of the Jordan trip pictures)

We had our last free day on Sunday. Every day for the rest of our time in Galilee will be spent on field trips. After class and lunch, Ashleigh, Ryan and I (all of the Hebrew students in my field trip class) were invited to get a tour of a near-by kibbutz, Sha’ar Golan. Our ‘tour guide’ is an Israeli-Mormon BYU student we know from Provo whose family lives and works on the kibbutz. He showed us the dairy farm, plastic factory, and walked us around the living areas. It was really cool to see them after learning a lot about kibbutzes in class. It felt like a small town. Everyone knows everyone, it’s really quiet, there are houses and trees all over. Tal told us stories about his family and what it was like growing up there. After the tour, we went swimming in the swimming pool. It was really cool. After dinner that night, we had a big JC bonfire and made smores.

That’s my week! Only a few more days in Galilee and then back to Jerusalem!

Love you all!

Kelby