Oh, Galilea!

(On the Sea of Galilea - photo courtesy of Ashley Wilkinson)

How can one blog post possibly encapsulate ten days in the Galilea? Galilea was the center of Christ's earthly ministry, where the Savior delivered his parables and where thousands were blessed by miracles at his hand. Galilea won my heart with its warm sea and its impossibly hot Jordan Rift Valley climate. Organizing my thoughts about Galilea is an impossible feat. There is nothing to do for it--you will have to endure a scatter-brained bullet list:

*We sang "Master, The Tempest Is Raging" as we boated across the Sea of Galilea. Originally, lyracist Mary Ann Baker wrote the chorus in first-person, as though it were a dialogue between the disciples and Jesus. When we sang it, we followed Baker's original verse. (pg. 105 in the hymnbook)

*Our rafting trip down the Jordan River proved to be exciting, despite the fact that the water was only 3-feet deep and virtually still. We put on our scurviest attitudes, and attempted to splash, swamp, steal from, and overtake our neighboring rafts. Who knew that Sister Ohman (our stake president's wife) could be such a pirate?

*The bungalows were quaint, and my front door was less than two minutes from the shoreline. The sea is as warm and pleasant as the temperature is hot and miserable. Every free afternoon that was not spent studying or fieldtripping was a blissful day in the water.

*Walking in Christ's footsteps was a pleasure. We visited Tabgha (traditional site of Christ's meal with the disciples), Capernaum (Jesus' "own city," says the New Testament), and Nazareth (Jesus' childhood home). We also visited Sepphoris (where the Mishneh was compiled, and where mosaics litter the ancient town floors), Caesarea Maritima (built by Herod; visited by Paul when he was confronted by Festus and Felix), Akko (ancient crusader ruins), Nimrod's castle, Tel Dan (the northernmost edge of Old Testament united monarchy Israel), Megiddo (Biblical Armeggedon, with archaelogical destruction layers!), the Bahai headquarter gardens, the Haifa Cemetery (burial place of some important LDS pioneers in the Holy Land), and Mount Tabor (traditional site of the transfiguration).

*I played the role of a priest of Ba'al on Mount Carmel. ...Obviously not the role I want to play in real life, but memorable no doubt.

*I've seen more crusader ruins, more tels, more aqueducts, and more casemate walls and Solomonic gates than I care to admit.

*At Tel Dan, we walked through old bungalows from the '67 war. Syria and Israel fought for the area because when they drew the borders, the pencil line on the map was too thick, which led to some ambiguity as to who actually laid claim on the land. That was my favorite gem for the gee-whiz file.

*We held church with the branch in Tiberias, at the first dedicated branch house in the Holy Land. That was the best thing of all. Knowing that Jesus Christ lived and died, and being able to partake of weekly ordinances in His name is something that I can take with me from Galilea. I won't always be able to walk in the Savior's geographic footsteps, but when I covenant each week to remember Him, I promise to try my best to develop a heart like His and to follow His example. I am grateful to follow my Savior, in Galilea and wherever I go.