Church of Nazareth/Basilica of the Annunciation
This church commemorates and is believed to be the location where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, telling her she would become the mother of the Son of God (Luke 1:26-38).
Around the entire church and top floor were incredible mosaics from countries around the world, all about the birth of our Savior.
This church is also the largest Catholic church building in all the Middle East.
At Yardeneit, the Baptisimal site on the Jordan River
The passage from Mark 1:9-11 was displayed in all sorts of different languages.
I love this place!
What a special excitement to be clean and follow the example of our Savior was found with everybody here. Not to mention, it's absolutely beautiful and I even saw an Otter swimming around!
The remains of Peter's home are also here.
We were blessed to be here first thing in the morning with no crowds, only the special spirit and peaceful Galilee to guide our thoughts closer to Christ.
The Synagogue Jesus taught in at Capernaum!
Mt. of Beatitudes (Matt 5:3-11)
The name Beatitude comes from Latin word for beatus, which means "blessed or happy." I like to think of these verses now as the happy things! We will be happy and blessed when we follow Christ's teachings laid out so easily for our learning.
Also, the Sea of Galilee is right beyond those trees; it is gorgeous here! A fun fact about here is that we can see ancient city of Gamla from this mount, so it is believed that Gamla is the city Christ referred to when He said, "A city set on a hill cannot be hid."
Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes (Luke 9:10-17)
I love this mosaic on the ground, and the story that we can do so much more with Christ than we ever could by ourselves. He will multiply and exceed all our efforts, like he multiplied the few loaves and fishes a young lad gave him.
Sea of Galilee
All I can think of as I sat here is Christ calming the waters, because it is so peaceful here. God can give my soul peace even when the waves of the world are surrounding me.
Matt 8:23-27
My view from the backyard of my bungalow :)
Life is surreal right now
Boat ride like Jesus with His apostles.
The inner child in us: watermelon, sponge bob, ice cream cone, and swirlie ice cream!
Peter's fish? Delicious!
Church at Tiberias!
This building was a renovated house, a gorgeous one, dedicated by Elder Holland in 2007.
Having our meeting here was one of the most incredible experiences; we could see the whole Sea of Galilee from the window and think of Christ's miracles and teachings as we take the Sacrament right where He taught. A young man blessed the Sacrament in Hebrew also, which was an incredible and extremely unique experience to have. No matter our background, all children of God unite in worshiping our Savior together. I'm so grateful to feel united with members everywhere and see this marvelous work continually moving forward.
The view from church. Such an amazing day!
Most amazing night!!!
The weekend in Galilee was conference weekend and we had the opportunity to watch it on the shore of Galilee! This was a surreal experience... to listen to our Prophet's voice, the word of God, where the apostles listened to His word so long ago. We are a modern day depiction of the original disciples of Christ. We listened to apostles talk about miracles and Galilee while we are in the very place! What a beautiful view and what a glorious message! I am so incredibly blessed! I would catch myself just looking around smiling in awe, trying to take these miraculous moments in.
The internet wasn't very good and we were unable to watch everything, but that made this message that much sweeter. It will be a little bit more difficult to watch conference, instead of a simple channel on the TV we will have to find a way to receive this message later. I'm so grateful we had to do those things because it helps me appreciate, focus, and listen to what is really important--the word of God!
Mt. Tabor, inside the Church of the Transfiguration.
This church commemorates when Moses and Elijah restored the priesthood to Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17).
The church is run by the Catholic Franciscan order, and has three sections dedicated to Jesus, Moses and Elijah, with Jesus' the grandest and most beautiful.
Megiddo!
That circular thing is the sacrificial altar. The date palms are from archeologists in the 50's who spit out the pits of dates during lunch and they ended up growing into gorgeous trees! I'd like to thank them. I learned so much about Canaanite civilization here and Solomonic gates and more!
We went swimming here and fish ate the dead skin off our feet!!! I'll try to add a picture of them later (they are on my friend's GoPro); it tickled so bad we were all screaming! I learned to love it though and my feet felt amazing after. Free spa treatment! The water felt amazing too and their were gorgeous waterfalls; this was a natural place that's been made up for people like us. Gideon's army was chosen by the Lord here. We must try to live worthy lives to be ready when God wants to choose us.
Dan
We got to explore the awesome bunkers and we could see Lebanon from here! The war here was pretty much between Syria and Israel, caused when the British divided up the land. It turns out the pencil mark was a lot thicker on the map than they thought. We saw an old tank in the middle of the valley, and cows grazing peacefully. There have been incidents of cows getting blown up by forgotten land-mines; we were sure not to walk anywhere near.
Forget me not :)
Caesarea Philippi
This is where Peter gained his testimony (Matthew 16, Mark 8:29, Luke 9)
Nimrod's fortress!
AKA my first real castle, sorry Disneyland!
From this hilltop we saw the road to Damascus and could even see Syria from here!
This one is for you Grandma!!!
I thought of you when I saw this lighthouse.
Back at our hotel in the kibbutz Ein Gev.
I found tons of cute little sea shells I was obsessed with!
My roommates and I at our bungalow! This place was paradise.
Mt. Carmel--Muhraqa
The setting for Old Testament episodes
1. Elijah's challenge to King Ahab and the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18)
2. The summit upon which Elijah challenged the priests (called el-Muhraqa)
We saw funny little Marmats here and plenty of beauty from our lookout.
On top of this mountain sits a Catholic monastery where we had a special experience singing songs with people from Korea. A language barrier separated us, but with music we were able to communicate. We sang the same songs, us in English and they in Korean... what a special experience. We are all children of God and it doesn't matter where we are from or what language we speak! Communication comes in so many more ways than just spoken language.
Haifa overlook
This is the Baha'i compound, headquarters of the Baha'i faith located at the lower northwest slope of Mt. Carmel. Baha'i is the Persian term meaning "the glory of God," and comes form Baha'Ullah, the title of the faith's founder. This faith is syncretistic (borrowing from other religions) and universalistic (accepting of other religions), with their central unities being the Unity of God, Unity of Religion, and Unity of Humanity. They believe in one God, and that all religions have been progressive stages to reveal God's will through Baha'Ullah, and all humans are of one universal race. Today, there are over seven million members of this faith, across 200 countries.
Pretty cool religion I think; I wonder why I've never heard of it before.
Haifa Templer Cemetery
This place is important to us for our remembrance of the late 19th -century LDS missionary activity in the Holy Land
Elder Adolf Haag
He was a 27-year-old husband and father who served in Haifa for only a month before dying of typhus fever, 1892.
The broken pillar symbolizes a life cut short.
In Israel, placing stones on tombstones is a respectful and reverent gesture just as we place flowers on graves.
Magdalena Grau
In German quotes Rev 14:6
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel."
She was baptized by an Elder Spori who had a dream of a blacksmith who was prepared for the gospel. In Haifa this Elder Spori found the blacksmith, Johan Georg Grau who had the same dream, and baptized him and his wife Magdalena who are both buried in the Haifa Cemetery.
Tombstone of Elder John Clark
1894, a 23-year-old student at BYU accepted the call to serve a mission. He left his dream of attending BYU in order to serve the Lord.
He died of smallpox only a year after serving in Haifa.
At one time there was missionaries in Israel... today there is too--the students at the BYU Jerusalem Center. Even though we can't exactly preach, we can show the light of Christ by our example. Their legacy lives on, I want to continue with their courage and faith.
This was a special experience especially because on of the students Eden, is related to Elder Clark. His example and legacy is continuing with her, right before our eyes. Eden has even been called to serve a mission, following in the footsteps of her ancestor who sacrificed so much to serve the Lord.
Caesarea Maritima
Herod the Great really picks the best spots huh?
Caesarea is a port city along the Mediterranean, next to fertile Plain of Sharon, 20 miles south of Haifa. Originally it was "Strato's Tower" named after a 4th century Phoenician king
(I did my site report on this place, so I know all about it haha).
Herod the Great renamed it after Augustus Caesar, who gave it to him in 30 BC. Herod built up this place to be incredible, even building an artificial harbor. Caesarea was the place the census for taxation purposes was conducted from (found in Luke 2:2). It became the capital of the region with the Roman governor Pontius Pilate taking control after Herod's son Archelaus was removed from rule. Pilate traveled back and forth from Caesarea and Jerusalem, which was how he became involved in the trial of Jesus. Paul also taught here and was later held in Caesarea for two years before Roman governors sent him to Rome. Philip also preached here and Peter baptized Cornelius here! Caesarea must have been a very important place, and must have looked incredible. It was Herod's dream on the sea.
Ancient aqueduct at Caesarea and Chloe, two beautiful things.
Racing in the Hippodrome at Caesarea!
