Galilee 2

After Capernaum we took off to the Mount of Beatitudes, where we sang Primary songs and listened to the sister at the chapel give us some pearls of wisdom. Afterwards, we went down to Tabgha, the traditional site of the miracle with the loaves and fishes. They were selling these cute fish and loaves stones, but I had no money, so I took a picture instead. We went over to another church close by called Peter Primacy, which was the traditional location of the post resurrection meal that they have on the beach. Dr. Allred bore an amazing testimony, and read from Elder Holland's talk the First Great Commandment. I think that it was my favorite place of that field trip. 

We worked our way over to Magdala, where we looked at a synagogue and a first century boat they dug from the bottom of the sea when there was a drought. Finally, we hopped on a boat of our own, and took off across the sea back towards En Gev. Here's my lovely sea picture. :) I loved sitting in a boat, and smelling the water and feeling the wind. It was like Lake Powell! We stopped in the middle and had a devotional and sang Master the Tempest is Raging, which means a lot when you sing it on location. :) In the afternoon a wind will kick up that gets the whitecaps going, and during a storm they can up to 9 feet tall. I felt like the Lord took the opportunity to remind me that he can calm the storm inside me just as easily as he does the storms on the sea. 

We had another day of classes on Thursday, and we took the chance to go swimming!! It was so nice. I read a book as well, which is my favorite beach activity. That night we went to dinner at the fish restaurant of the kibbutz, where we got our own fish called Peter's fish. A whole fish was laid on my plate, and I had to disassemble it myself. That was a little gross. But I did it! Afterwards, we went to Tiberias, which is the biggest town around the Galilee, and went to their shopping street. I bought a lovely dress, and an even lovelier ice cream. Vanilla with sprinkles. Sometimes you have to go back to the basics. It was so exciting to walk along the boardwalk, eating melting ice cream and laughing with friends. It was a scene from a book, that's how perfect it was. 

Another field trip on Friday took us to Gamla, which is a fortified city on a hill in the middle of a valley, and hiked around. Mind you, I was wearing my new dress, which was great temperature wise, but not so great for hiking around. But I did it!! Afterwards, we went to Bethsaida, where Laurel sang Come Thou Fount. We talked about how to make this experience last past when we go home, and we took some time to think and pray. I had an amazing experience, where I said a prayer telling Father how much I wanted this to stay with me, and asking how I can. Lo, a wind blew and flipped one page in my scriptures--which were open from our discussion--and I looked down and BAM! There it was. If you have a light, you don't put it under a bushel. If you have a testimony and experiences that changed you, you share them. It was pretty amazing. 

Saturday my class drew the good lot, because we got to go have sacrament meeting with the lovely Galilee branch members. All the speakers were our students, because I imagine the branch members need a break sometime. I cried the whole time. Sometimes the Lord reaches out and reminds me things that I need to know. It was a beautiful experience. Afterwards we went out on the balcony and took pictures. Here's Emma and I, looking like we are in Italy. 

We had another day of classes, combined with a nap and some good scripture study, then took off the next day for another field trip!! We went to one of the traditional sites of the mount of transfiguration, called Mt. Tabor. It was so high up, and we had an amazing view. We sat in that church, which was so beautiful, and talked about Christ. I really loved it there. :) Next we went off to Megiddo, which was the traditional site of Armageddon. It was really interesting to talk about the second coming, and we got some great study time there. They were really good about giving us lots of time to sit and think. I think that was my favorite part actually, because Galilee is the best place to sit and think. This photo was taken at the spring from the Gideon story. We are so cute! It was so nice to sit in the park there and read that story, because we got to reenact it! Yay for role plays!