Shellie Day 5: Galilee

This was a big day of touring at some of my favorite sites, places where Jesus Christ grew, taught, healed, chastened, and fed his followers.

First was the Mount of Beatitudes.  This sculpture below memorializes the five loaves, and on the ground are two fish made out of black stones on a white background.

 The grounds are beautiful with flowers, trees, and holy words.

Inside the chapel's dome are the words of the Beatitudes in Latin.

 

 Signs of Christmas time were evident in each of the churches.

 Descending the hill, we could see the Sea of Galilee in the background.  We read from the scriptures and talked about what the Beatitudes mean to us today.

The next stop was Tabgha, which comes from Heptapegon, or Seven Springs.  This site commemorates the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes.  

Here is a baptismal font in the shape of a 4-leafed clover representing the cross.

A pool with goldfish graces the inner courtyard cloister.

 The church surrounds a piece of bedrock and preserves a famous mosiac of two fish flanking a basket of round loaves.

 The four candles of Advent remind us of the Christmas season

 The next church is called St. Peter's Primacy.  It also incorporates bedrock, this time to remember the site where the Savior provided coals and bread to eat with Peter's fish.

This is the place mentioned in Elder Holland's talk in General Conference last October, where Peter was asked three times, "Lovest thou me?"

Leading down to the water are some heart-shaped stones, which are often made where two pillars for a corner, as we saw later at Capernaum.  But here they are especially appropriate, reminding us of that searing and searching question, "Lovest thou me?"

We let Shellie dip her toes in the chilly waters of the Sea of Galilee so she could say she walked where Jesus  walked.  

Capernaum was the home of Peter's mother-in-law and would have been the headquarters of the church for a time.  

A modern church perches over the site of an ancient church, which surrounds an enlarged home thought to have belonged to Peter's mother-in-law and served as a meeting place for the fledgling branch of Christ's followers.

 A glass portal in the middle of the modern church lets you look down at the ancient site below.

This nativity creche sits inside the modern church.  Can you see what is missing?

This white synagogue was built over the ancient basalt or black volcanic stone foundation.  The basalt synagogue is the right age and location to identify it as the place where Jesus declared himself to be the bread of life.

Here you can see a corner column which would yield a heart-shaped cross section.

Remnants of a thriving village are everywhere at this site.

By the sea of Galilee we watched the sun getting lower in the sky.

 With rocks more prevalent than wood, many ancient doorways would have had a stone lintel over the top, called a beam.

So in the parable of the mote and the beam, it is quite likely Jesus was talking about huge rectangular slab of stone.   You can see Shellie is holding a small speck of rock to contrast the mote with the beam.

We sang, "Master, the Tempest is Raging" and enjoyed the sparkles on the water as we sang the words, "Earth's sun in the calm lake is mirrored, and Heaven's within my breast."

 This decorative stone, perhaps from the synagoge, depicts the wheeled cart which would have conveyed the Ark of the Covenant in early Old Testament times.

We went to Yardenit along the River Jordan, where the Savior's baptism is remembered.  His baptism likely took place farther south, but this is a nice, clean, reverent place, and it is special to us because Amanda was baptized here.  I am so grateful for the example of Jesus Christ in showing us the gate back to heaven through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We always get a kick out of the Hawaiian pidgin scripture.

Some friendly water mammals with big orange teeth came up to say hello.

This sign reminded us of Amanda's nickname.

Nazareth was pleasantly vacant, which made parking convenient.  We made a quick trip to the Church of the Annunciation, which is the largest Christian church in Israel.

This church has a very modern feeling with international mosaics. Its cement walls and angular design feels strong and progressive while preserving an ancient grotto.

Looking up at the conical dome:

Here is the same church viewed from outside:

The kids always enjoy walking through this geometrical maze to reach the statue of Mary.

A smaller church nearby commemorates Joseph's carpenter shop, and therefore the boyhood of Jesus.  

This was a day of remembering scripture stories and recognizing the efforts of Christians to venerate and preserve those stories.

As we drove home to Jerusalem, we sang and played games and tried to keep peace and harmony.  It's wonderful to bring ourselves into the churches, but harder although satisfying to try to bring the church and the Savior's teachings into ourselves.