Day 4 -Capernaum, Nazareth, Meggido (Armageddon)

So we woke up today around 6 a.m. wow it was nice to sleep in! When we looked through the blinds we saw blue sky, but could see some clouds coming. En Giev is considered a kibbutz, which means that a small community works together and shares the profits, (garden, fishing, so forth) It is definitely low season this time of year, the bungalows are set up for sunbathing and swimming, ours slept five nicely and had a little kitchen. Our view looked over the lake, after taking it easy for awhile we finally got up and got ready for breakfast (included in the price) when we walked out the door we found the clouds had already started coming across the lake, so much for a nice day. Jared asked Jackson if their would be pancakes and Jackson said "yes" I raised my eyebrow at that. In Egypt I had the experience of a Middle East breakfast and there were no pancakes involved. We entered the dining room and found a buffet laid out which consisted of:

Cereal(not the sugary stuff)

Cream of Wheat

Eggs- hard boiled and omlet style except it was just the egg

Crossaints with chocolate syrup

lettuce with sliced carrots

cucumbers

sliced tomatoes, and baby tomatoes

baby corn

olives (greek)

cheeses

hummus

cottage cheese

Juices

breads

At first the kids didn't know what to do we got them started with some cereal and then they opened up and tried some other things. You know that taste of vegetables straight from the garden? That's how these tasted, the cucumber was really sweet, and the crossaints were to die for. After breakfast we walked out and found the clouds in and threatening rain. When we first walked out of our room the temperature was balmy, now it had dropped 10 degrees. The interesting thing about the Sea of Galilee is that there are seashells even though it is fresh water.

So I had a few requests for rocks, but figured seashells would work too. Just as we left to go looking for seashells it started to downpour. We ran back to the room and tried to wait it out but it wasn't happening, so I put on my raingear and Jared braved the weather with me so we could go looking for seashells. Being in Primary I have been trying to think of what I might be able to bring back to the children that wouldn't cost me tons. As I picked up each shell, it suddenly dawned on me that a seashell would be the perfect thing. I had brought gallon bags to collect rocks, so with a vegence I started stuffing them with shells (I needed at least 100) I also picked up rocks, luckily I brought some tupperware with me because I figured I would be bringing back breakables, so hopefully they last. Soon it did stop raining for a moment and Jackson and the other boys finally joined us. Next we headed to Nazareth, you have to climb a hill out of Galilee at the top there is a breathtaking view of the city and lake. On the way we went through Cana where Jesus was at the Wedding Feast and turned the water to wine. Apparently there is a beautiful chapel here that is called the Wedding Chapel. Many people come and propose and get married here, unfortunately we weren't able to take the time to find it.(read Jesus the Christ "from Judea to Galilee; the miracle at Cana in Galilee) Nazareth is in an interesting place, you actually have to travel down into it and then back up to get out. It's like San Francisco, there are a lot of arabs that live here, which is a sore spot with many Jews. This is where Jesus grew up and prepared for His earthly mission. The Catholic Church has a basilica here called The church of the Annuciation, which pays tribute to God telling Mary she would bear the Christ-child. It was built in the 1960's, and is built upon older ruins of another church. Nazareth is a very busy place, we found a parking area and then walked up to the church. Next we were off to a place called Nazareth Village. It is like This is the Place Heritage Park, where they have built a village that would have been like Jesus' time. Every place you look there is a building in Nazareth so it's amazing that nothing had been built on this land, a hospital nearby owned the land and the YMCA bordered it as well, a doctor at the hospital thought of the idea to create the village, when they started excavating they found a winepress and other things showing this to be the ruins of an old village. They date it back to 1st century, (I find it a little too convenient) in any case it's a really great place to see what a working village would have been like. You can google nazarethvillage.com and see more. We took a tour with another tour group, they were from Indiana and were so sweet with the boys. At first I'm sure they thought "oh great!" but in the end all of them came up and said how much they enjoyed having them with them. On the tour we learned some interesting things, (it is a Christian organization so they referred to parables and other religious things which was nice) there were olive trees where they talked about how the trees are a sign of hope, even if the tree is sawed down it will begin to sprout up shoots and begin to grow again, next he talked about the threshing circle, he explained that they would gather the harvest and then would have to wait for a really windy day with the wind blowing in the right direction to be able to get the "good fruit" or grain, they would use a type of fork and throw it into the air the good grain would fall to the ground while the chaff would be blown away, he compared it to the trials going on in our lives and talked about the wind has to blow in the right direction for good things to happen. He then talked about the wine press and that this would have been a big event and celebration. He explained that they would have to press the grapes with their feet because if you pressed it with anything harder the seeds would break open and cause the juice to go bitter. He then talked about that because they lived on a hillside they would use terracing, which means, the would have to build a rock wall and then add soil, it would take a year just to prepare the area and the whole community would share this area, each family would recieve 1/4 an acre of their own to grow. He also talked about the watch towers, during the time that things were ripening the men would take 3 hour turns keeping watch over the fields, the towere couldn't be to high because then they wouldn't be able to see the foxes trying to eat the food and if it was too low they wouldn't be able to see the birds. The men would stand with whips and crack the whips to keep the birds away. There was a man there acting as the watch guard we took a picture with him. Next he talked about a cistern, the difference between a cistern and a well, a cistern collects rain water, where a well is from a spring. We then went Hannah's house, she was weaving a blanket and showed us how she would take wool from a lamb at make it into yarn, they would then dye the yarn with onion skin, saffron, and other things to create color. We went to a working Olive press where he explained the first and second pressing was the good oil used for eating and then the rest of the pressing was for oil lamps and other things. they would use different weights. The heaviest would be for the end. Even the seeds contain oil. He talked about the word "Gethsemane" and how it means Olive Press and compared it to the Savior's suffering for our sins. We then went to a replica of a synagouge, it was interesting to see after visiting the ruins at Capernaum. The inside of the building was surrounded by steps that people would sit on, and the person teaching would be in the middle. During Jesus' time they had weekly readings from the 5 books of Moses. They would schedule it so within a year they would read all five books. They had 6 people do this and then the 7th person would be someone asked to stand up and read from the prophets. They would read from scrolls that were kept in a pot. He talked about the day when Jesus read a verse from Isaiah and talking about the Messiah coming and saying today that prophecy is fulfilled. The guy giving the tour was probably about 20, he asked the pastor of the group to read from the New Testament (not our version) After Jesus said this the clergy became upset with him and sought to kill him. The guy giving the tour at this point said, "I always wondered growing up why they would get upset with him, but as you read this verse it talks about how the word would be spread to the gentiles and I finally figured out that it was because they didn't want the gentiles to recieve the gospel" It took all I had not to raise my hand and say "Can I give you another explanation" again I was so greatful to have been taught that the reason the clergy were upset with Him was because in the version of scripture we have that verse talked about the return of the Messiah and when he said today that prophesy is fulfilled he was incinuating that he was the Messiah, the clergy couldn't believe that this man who had they had seen grow up in their town would have the "audacity" to say that He was the Messiah. I really wanted to explain this to the tour guide, but felt that since we were tagging along I didn't want to start a discussion especially if the rest of the group believed the same way this young man did. We then ended the tour and they gave each of us an oil lamp.

We then started for home, Meggido or Armegeddon was on our way so we stopped but were to late to go in. This is a big hill that many battles have taken place on or near, and is said to be the spot where the last battle will take place before Christs comes and at the end of the Millenia.

It's a very green hill (right now) with lots of yellow flowers. We then continued on our way back to Jerusalem, not having enough time to stop at Cesearea (ruins of roman city on coast) but was happy with our day.

Tommorrow

Church at the BYU Jerusalem Center

Mount of Olives

Gethsemane

Guy at the Watchtower

shores of the Sea of Galilee


Meggido (Armageddon)