Our beautiful hotel, Magdala!
On Monday we were once again pulling out before 7:15 AM. It didn’t look like that full of an itinerary, but between Machmoud and John, we were running to incredible sites all day long. They had arranged for a living history-type Nazareth Village to open early to give our group a tour. They employed people to dress like ancient times to portray what life would have been like back then. They taught parables and scripture stories at each station. They taught about things like tree pruning, turning wool to yarn and sheep shearing. I liked seeing the ancient wine press they found on the property as well as the millstone and olive press replica. I also thought it was fascinating to see a first century tomb and stone that had not been altered like the ones Jesus may have been buried in. There was a church with a thatched roof like the one that the man with palsy may have been let down through, there was a watchman’s tower, and a boy working the potter’s wheel (Isaiah 64:8). We are clay in the potter’s hand.
Nazareth was not very clean. It was sad to see that the people who live there do not take care of their city. John talked to us a lot about appreciation for the way others worship and the term “holy envy.” We don’t have to believe the way that they do to appreciate their faith and the way that they worship. It is beautiful to have holy envy and to see the good, the beauty, and the faith in other religious practices. We spent a lot of time enjoying the beautiful buildings and worship of other religions. With his pep talks it was easy to see the goodness and beauty and to have holy envy.
Nazareth
(“to blossom,” or “to flower”) Located in the hills of Galilee, 1,230 feet above sea level, about midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. The home town of Mary and Joseph. The place of Jesus’ formative years. Nathanael implied that it was an obscure village. Due to unbelief, only a few miracles were performed. Current population is made up of Arabs.
• The annunciation by Gabriel to Mary (Luke 1:26-38; Matt.1:18-25)
• The place of departure of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7)
• Resumed residence after a hiatusin Egypt(Matt. 2:21- 23)
• Sermon of Jesus in the synagogue. (Luke4:16-30)
This was pretty cool, he demonstrated how a real tomb and stone worked back then. To the left of the tomb, inside the rock wall is where they would put the bodies to decompose. After a year they would take the remaining bones and then place them inside the tomb for good. To make room for many people.
This is the areas last remaining first century wine press and stone quarry.
It's really hard to visualize how it all works from these pictures.
Up above you can see the vine terraces where the grapes grew.
You can see a hole in the ground with water in it.
They would put the grapes in that hole and stomp on them.
They juice would run down into the bigger hole underneath it.
You can see the water marks on the stones where our guide put water to see
how it would work.
Pretty crazy!
John had us look at the straw roof.
We discussed the story about the man with palsy, Mark 2:4.
"Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Right in front of Jesus."
In Nazareth we went to a few churches that honored Mary like the Synagogue Church. We know that Jesus was from Nazareth, Matthew 2:23, Mark 16:6, Luke 2:39, John 1:45-46.
We had to walk through markets to get there.
John had us stop to peek inside a window into a first century home to what archeologist believe could have been the home
of Mary and Joseph, where Jesus lived. Obviously it is impossible to know if this is true, but fun to think about none-the-less!
The Church of Annunciation
This is the largest Christian church in the Middle East.
Supposedly this is where the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she would be carrying God's son.
He started out with a guessing game.
His clues:
This person many years ago about the age of 14 had an experience with a divine being.
It changed the course of the world.
Prophets saw this person in vision centuries in advance.
God chose this young person for a special mission.
Who am I describing?
Of course we all blurted out Joseph Smith.
He was referring to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
At the age of 14.
I forget that part.
Can you imaging being 14 and caring around that kind of news?
While we often focus on the 14 year old boy who helped bring about the restoration,
we should also celebrate the 14 year old girl who helped bring about the redemption
by giving birth to the Savior.
He really encouraged us to get to know Mary better.
In Luke 1:6 we read that the angel departed from her. The real test came after the angel departed from her. We were encouraged to consider what happened after the angel departed from her. How does Mary tell her parents or Joseph etc.? The hard part comes after the angel departs. Of all the things Nephi sees in vision the first thing he mentions is Mary. King Benjamin and Alma the younger both mention Mary by name. In response to other churches worshiping Mary, maybe we don’t talk about her enough. Jesus was extremely inclusive, and the people didn’t like it, especially in his home town of Nazareth. We can learn from him to not be shy in reaching out to those in the margins. (Luke 4:14-30)
I was stopped at this church because my shorts were too short. Had to shimmy them down a bit! Kind of silly when I looked around and saw many men with shorter shorts than me!
This church was unique because in the courtyard and inside, there was artwork from so many different countries, depicting Mary. I took Travis's picture in front of Spain's renditions. I'm standing in front of the United States' artwork.
The grotto of the believed spot where angel Gabriel appeared to Mary.
Upstairs was a beautiful cathedral where a mass was going on.
Back view of the church.
This was the view underneath the bottom floor.
Believed to be the childhood home of Mary.
We had lunch on our own in Nazareth giving us time to explore and shop. Generally your options were falafel or shwarma. The shwarma here was very good!
Our next stop was Megiddo, the site of many Old Testament battles, and the prophetic site of Armageddon (Revelation 16:10-21). It looks out to Mount Tabor where Judges 4 and the story of Deborah took place. In Judges 6 and 7 we read the story of Gideon. It teaches that God loves and can preserve the underdog. It was interesting to see the towns mentioned in Joshua 17:11, Judges 1:27, 1 Kings 4:12, all built on hill tops with the valleys left empty. We can see these locations in the distance.
Revelations 16 talks about Armageddon on Mount Megiddo, one key theme of the second coming is that JESUS WINS. D&C 45 makes the second coming sound really bad. Matthew 24 and 25 emphasize that it will be bad but to be not troubled.
In Revelation 19:11, 14, 19 we read about the final spiritual war on earth. We can always have peace because ultimately Jesus will conquer.
Megiddo
(“place of troops”?) Located 22 miles north of Shechem on the southern edge of the plains of Jezreel. The most famous battlefield in the world. Built upon the ruins of several cities, going back to 4000 BC.
• Joshua slew the king and took the city (Joshua 12:7,21)
• City possessed by Manasseh (Joshua 17:11; 1 Chr. 7:29)
• Solomon fortified the city as “chariot city,” with facilities for 450 stables (1 Kings 9:15)
• Ahaziah, king of Israel, was killed here by Jehu (2 Kings 9:27)
• Josiah was slain in a battle against Pharaoh Necho in 610 BC (2 Chr. 35:20-24; 2 Kings 23:29-30)
• The battle of Armageddon (Rev. 16:13-16; Ezek. 38-39; Zech. 14:2-3)
Walking down to see the water system.
The Petersons gifted us honey harvested within 2 miles of the site.
Jace joining us for some jumping pictures.
He was a hoot!
He was there with his wife (Jen) and 2 youngest boys who are twins,
(Brexton and Daxton.)
He served as a mission president in Taiwan.
What a fun mission president to have!
They were always joking around and having fun with us.
His brother (Richard) and his wife (Lonna) were also in our group.
This day we sat by all of them in the back of the bus.
At first Stephanie thought Richard was Jaces' dad, ha!
They never stopped joking about that.
To be fair, he did look like he could be his dad.
We seemed to click with the Jergensen family.
Funny how that naturally happens.
We finished our sites for the day at Cana with the St. Simon the Canaanite Chapel where we remembered the first recorded miracle, turning of water to wine and John 2. We read from the New Living Translation and John mentioned that we might consider reading the bible stories from different translations to receive new insight. “Do whatever he tells you” are the last words we hear mother Mary speak in the scriptures. What can we learn from these words?
Cana
(“reed” or “place of reeds”) Located 4 miles northeast of Nazareth.
• The hometown of Nathanael, “in whom there (was) no guile” (John 1:47; 21:2).
• Jesus changed water into wine at a wedding--the first miracle(John 2:1-11).
We had dinner at Macmood's house that night. He is a rags to riches story. His house seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. Both tour buses met here. The food left something to be desired and I was so bushed and cold that I crawled back into the bus and shut my eyes for a bit.
Apparently, after dinner, they busted out the olive oil for purchase we got the feeling they do this to make a little extra money on the side with the travel agencies:)
Back on the bus Jace and Richard started teased about the selling of olive oil like the selling of Do-Terra.
We.Were.Rolling!!
The drive back to Magdala was a treat as John played some tunes on the radio
for us to jam to. After no music for a few days we welcomed
Sweet Caroline and Bon Jovi like we were listening to a newly released Taylor Swift hit!
Back at our hotel, we walked a little ways off to a small shopping plaza and scored some amazing gelato!
Then we changed into our swimsuits and walked to the shore of the Sea of Galilee for a night swim! As we walked up we saw the Jorgenson family already swimming! Well, the sons were at least haha! The water was super cold, but we were determined. We shrieked as we walked into the brisk water! It was an experience to remember! I'm so glad we did it.
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