Galilee Part 2!

 Part 2 of Galilee, we stayed for 11 days so we had lots of time to go all around the area of Galilee and see everything all around the Sea and beyond.

Sunday we started our day at Mount Tabor, the mount traditionally known as the Mount of Transfiguration. The church is very beautiful and our devotional focused on priesthood and the keys of the kingdom given to Peter. Inside there was 3 places set for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses who were transfigured before Peter, James, and John.

Mt. Tabor from far away. Look up the BD picture!

At Hazor with Rachel!

As we stopped at Tel Dan we were all very surprised. There's greenery! It's not ruins sitting on a hill in the hot weather but under beautiful trees with springs everywhere. We had a devotional on Jesus and the Living Water Discourse with the Samaritan woman as well as the water that flowed out of his belly on the cross. Tel Dan is a spot where springs come out of the earth and flow into the Jordan River into the Sea of Galilee.

At Tel Dan, doesn't look like the picture. To the very right of the picture is Mt. Hermon, the other possible place of the Mount of Transfiguration

At tel Dan there is this is a mud brick gate dated 2000 years ago called Abraham's gate because he possibly walked through this exact gate!

Megiddo which is known for the many battles fought there or nearby by many kings and warriors but also known as Armageddon.

We went to a natural hot spring turned tourist spot and made cold for summer with lots of pretty waterfalls. It was the perfect way to end the hot day!

Just Jerica being awesome. We love popsicles, especially watermelon shaped ones! (And don't forget those Magnum bars!)

At Caesarea Philippa at a temple for pagan god Pan.

Also at Caesarea Philippa is where Jesus promised Peter the keys of the kingdom.

"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?"
"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."

"And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16:15-19

AJ and I at Nimrod's Castle!

The castle is huge and very cool ruins

French Braids are the go-to hairdo here.

At the bunkers during the war against Israel and Syria.

The resort we stayed at in Ein Gev is absolutely beautiful. The sunset was always absolutely beautiful, the best sunset I will ever see in my life. The Sea was right by our apartments, we'd go swimming every afternoon after field trip or class and lay out on the hammocks with my amazing group and talk and look at the stars.

We had fun taking sunset pictures (Analise and Hailey) Note: These are NOT color-enhanced or photoshopped, it's the real deal sunset!

Rachel is so beautiful and I had so much fun taking pictures of her dance jumps!

Mine aren't as graceful but it was still fun

After our classes were done in Galilee we had straight full day field trips. It was split in Eastern Galilee, Upper, Lower, etc. This is our Western Galilee field trip towards the end of our trip. We stopped at Sepphoris, a place Jesus condemned with Chorazin and Capernaum so he must have visited the city.

Me with the Ludlow family in Sepphoris

I love the Ludlow girls so much (me with Melia)

Inside the black basalt synagogue is a "seat of Moses" where the person would seat to read the Torah. Black basalt is more common in Galilee so this is more like the scene would look like when Jesus taught in Synagogues.

I have the coolest roommates ever! (Amy, Devery, and Rachel)

Just us being cheesy and silly, as we usually do when cameras are put in front of us

We found some beams which are used to cover the top of buildings which were probably what Jesus was talking about in the mote and beam at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. A mote is just a tiny little chip of stone that comes off the beam. It was really cool to physically see the comparison.

A mote and a beam

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consierest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
"Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." - Matthew 7:3-5


The next day, our way home to the JC we drove to the coast and stopped at Akko, where there is lots of Crusader buildings still used and preserved from the 11th century.

Marissa was a champ all through Galilee in her wheelchair! (At Akko)

Inscription at Akko

Reminds me of movies set during medieval times

Now it's time for me to show off my friends. Aren't they so great!?

Emily, Stehly, Melissa, Lane, and I at the Mediterranean Sea

I love my friends so much!

David Burbage is the best person ever!

I am so glad Rachel is here with me!

Megan is so beautiful, such a model!

Last day at Ein Gev, Devery and I grabbed some sand and water but my camera had fogged up from coming from the very high air conditioned room to the unusually hot morning.

We also stopped at the Baha'i temple grounds, a religion with 4 million believers. The grounds were so beautiful!

At Baha'i temple grounds in Haifa

It was so beautiful at the Baha'i temple grounds that we felt like princesses so of course Analise and I had to take a picture together :)

We also went to Mount Carmel, the place where Elijah had a showdown with Ahab!

Mount Carmel! I can read the Hebrew part too which is the coolest thing ever!

Devery and I on Mount Carmel

Reenacting Elijah calling down fire. We make great fire don't we? 

We went to the old Roman acqueduct which was really cool.

This only shows like a quarter of it, it's so long and pretty!

Jumping picture! Naturally

I love Devery to death!

So here's the story: We were all having fun taking pictures on rocks and in the sea  as a huge wave came and completely soaked my whole back side!

I was soaked! And my dress was sagging like no other

I ended up going back out in the sea and taking a few more pictures. I even sat down on the rock. If I'm already wet might as well get some more pictures right!?

Next stop: Caesarea! One of my favorite stops of the day and even Galilee. A huge Roman city plus it's a big part of the Kingdom of the Crown book series and so to see it and imagine what happens in the book is so cool! Also Paul was possibly trialed there by Festus and Felix right where we had our devotional so that was cool to see.

Caesarea! So big and beautiful! A favorite stop for me! The heat didn't even phase me (that much)

Brother Huntsman giving his devotional in Herod's palace where possibly Paul was judged as he came to Caesarea and was trialed by Festus and Felix in Acts

We ran on the hippodrome, took pictures by the sea crashing into the pavement and the waves went really high up and saw lots of temple ruins.

We were sick of stand smile and look pretty pictures so we took some silly pictures.

While getting ice cream. Stephanie is so beautiful and the colors of her shirt and door are so great

Had to get a picture with the sign that said "No standing on antiquities" just for Brother Jackson

Theater, our last one for our stay here.

Galilee was so great but it's been great to be back home in Jerusalem. We had fun swimming, stargazing, bonfires, and just being together. I love this place and all the people I get to share this experience with! Driving up to Jerusalem and seeing the Dome of the Rock and those familiar arches of the JC was such a great feeling. I think besides my home in Royal no other place in the world has felt so much like home to me. There will always be a million great memories associated with this beautiful building on top of Mt. Scopus. I can't believe I will be leaving it so soon! I have to soak in everything I can. Here is to a fabulous last week in my favorite new place in the whole world!