Wow! We have a lot to catch up on so buckle up.
Let's start with the free day before Galilee because I didn't mention that in my email. We visited the Israel Supreme Court and their Parliament. It was really cool to see how much they encourage the public to get involved in politics.
They also include women in government so yay! They have about 25% of their legislature made up of women representatives, which obviously isn't 50/50 but it's better than America. Actually, fun fact (but not so fun), Afghanistan and Iraq have higher representation of women in their legislature than America does.
We then went to Galilee. Some of this will be repeat from my email but plus pictures!
We went on some amazing field trips.
On the Mount of Beatitudes (which means Mount of Blessings) we talked to this awesome nun who gave us all these pearls of wisdom. She told us that we are the pen and God is the hand. On our own we are useless, but as we do God's will we are able to reach our true potential. She also said that if we are one with the Lord we will never despair.I love faithful people like this, who haven't received the fullness of the gospel yet but are doing amazing things with what they have.
I loved visiting a town called Bethsaida, which is where Christ did many miracles. Unfortunately, they became accustomed to these miracles, and they fell away. This caused me to ponder a lot. I have experienced some wonderful manifestations of God's hand in my life, and I wondered what I need to do the rest of my life to ensure that I never fall away from the Gospel and the Church. I can share with you the answer I received there but I'd invite all of you to ask the same question for yourself, because there are different things we all have to work on at any point in time. One thing I was reminded of was Elder Christofferson. He came to the center a couple of weeks ago and encouraged us to turn outward and serve. I'm still working on that, but I'm glad for a perfect example to follow.
One of my favorites was also the Mount of Transfiguration. See my instagram post for the peacocks and Grandpa Davis moment! I loved that.
It was just cool knowing that Christ really lived, and that He did it there in Galilee. He loved Galilee and performed so many miracles there. I love all the miracles He did with casting out unclean spirits. Satan has power and sometimes we feel that power more strongly than at other times. But I know that Christ's power is infinitely stronger and available to us if we ask for help.
I also loved learning about the apostle Paul in particular. We went to the Syria border and looked out to Damascus where Saul was visited by Christ who asked him "why persecutest thou me?" and asked how long he would kick against the pricks. Pricks are pointed sticks used to prod cattle, and kicking against them infers resisting guidance or prodding. We talked about how we sometimes feel promptings that what we are doing is wrong or that we need to do something, but we put it off because of the difficulty or because we don't feel like it. Saul put off the Spirit for a little while, but once was converted, he didn't kick against the pricks any more and was super devoted.
We then went to an old sea port city called Akko. Paul was likely there when he recieved the instruction to return to Jerusalem. I like the scripture in Acts 20: 22 "And now, behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there". I loved that. So often I feel that we are led to a certain place or action but we don't know the specifics that lie ahead. I hope I can be like Paul though, and that if the Spirit tells me to do something, I will be bound by that.
Akko was also fun because they had some cool Medieval ruins. There was an eating hall, which looked suspiciously like the Great Hall, which had an orange and red banner with a lion on it. Is anyone thinking what I'm thinking?
Dueling.
We also saw some cool Roman ruins.
We also went to Nazareth. We talked about Mary there. I had never spent much time thinking about how incredible she must have been. It makes sense though, that if God sent His perfect son to us, He would send one of His most humble and pure daughters to be His mother.
More Roman ruins.
Pretty waterfalls.
A really cool (modern, not ancient) hanging garden built by the Bahai religion.
Fish eating.
Really so much! This blog post is overwhelming I don't even know what all to say.
We rode on a boat on the Sea of Galilee. For a lake it really does get wavy in the afternoon. And the wind in Galilee is incredible. With the right wind, I can see how the apostles could have gotten into a dicey situation. I am so grateful that Christ is always nearby waiting for us to call out for His help. Let us not take counsel from our fears. We should never make a decision based on fear.
Megiddo was also really cool. Aka Armageddon. A final battle will take place there before the Second Coming. One thought I liked from that site was that sometimes we feel fear about the things that will happen before the Second Coming, but the one who would want us feeling scared about Christ's coming is the adversary. Truly, if we are doing our best we will be okay. My teacher said, "If you have God on your side, you will never be outnumbered"!
I also loved some ruins we went where we saw homes built out of basalt. When a piece of basalt stone chips off it is called a mote. They're tiny. And the beams used for the ceilings are called, well, beams. Basically don't judge other people because we have enough stuff to work on ourselves and we can never understand everything someone is going through that influences their actions. "Treat everyone you meet as if they are in serious trouble (as in they need your help) and more than half the time you'll be right".
Mote.
I also got to sit on Moses's seat, which is the chair in synagogues where you sit and expound scripture.
Basically, we saw so much! And it's too much to write and synthesize all of it! But these were the highlights for me. I hope you guys are super duper. I love you!
No comments:
Post a Comment