We left early Monday morning to make it to Galilee with some stops on the way. Our first stop was Nazareth. We stopped at a few churches. One had morals from all over the world commemorating Mary the mother of Jesus. They were all so beautiful. I took a few pictures of my favorites. The church was huge. When you first walked into the lower level, there was a small area of ruins that is thought to be the very place that Mary lived. Standing next to it and looking up at the ceiling, the roof has been designed to look like an upside-down lily because in most pictures of the angel Gabriel and Mary, he is holding a lily. Up on the second floor there were more morals including one from Canada, the U.S., and Brazil.
Next door to that church was a smaller church commemorating Joseph. It was simple, but very beautiful.
We were also shown ruins of the ancient city of Nazareth.
Next we went to the Synagogue Church were Christ began his earthly ministry. After that we got some free time in the city so we got some more lunch, (they give us sack lunches that consist of a cucumber, pita meat sandwiches, fruit of some kind, a bag of chips, and a small candy wafer bar, but either we are still hungry after these or we are sick of having them four times a week).
Our last stop of the day was Mt. Arbel. It is a mountain on the west side of the sea of Galilee. It was really cool because as you are walking up the trail to the top, you can't see the sea at all, but then you reach the top and it is such a beautiful sight. You can see Magdala, Capernaum, and Tiberius. We got to spend some free time up there just looking out at the view and reading our scriptures. It was really amazing. I decided to read 1 Nephi 11 when Nephi is asking for the meaning of his father's dream. One of my favorites.
We then left and traveled to the east side of the sea to our kibbutz that we are staying at for the next 11 days. It is awesome. We are in little beach houses with four people right on the shore. There is a beach to swim in, hamocks to lay on, beautiful sunsets to watch, and pretty great food. All day everyone kept saying "My life is the best" and that is exactly how I feel. I am so lucky to be here so close to where Jesus spent most of is life.
Tuesday was wonderful. We only have one bus while we are here so they split us up by class so one day my class is on a field trip and then next we have classes and we switch with the other class so we are on opposite schedules. We started off by having class the first day which was by far the best optioin. We had three hours of class before lunch, then we had lunch, and then had the rest of the day as free time. It was fabulous. I spent some time reading on a hamock and also napping on the hamock, but then after lunch I swam and swam. I was the first one in the Sea of Galilee! It was awesome. It was a really great, relaxing, and fun-filled day. I was in heaven.
While I am here I have started reading this book by George Pace called "Our Search to Know the Lord". I have it all planned so that I can finish it before I leave Galilee. So far it has been a really great book. Of all the things that I want to leave Israel with is a stronger, deeper relationship with the Savior and that is my focus for this Galilee trip.