Nazareth

I have spent a lot of time trying to get this post done. Which is frustrating because I am very tired. It is hard to upload pictures, but I know if I don't get something down I will be too overwhelmed when I get back. I left the photos downloading all night long, but still it didn't take. So....I'll just do what I can. I hate how awful my memory is. I have already forgotten a lot and it hasn't even been 24 hours.

Mike ~ I wanted to test to see if my card was working. This is what I got...

We woke up early this morning because we have a long day ahead of us. The breakfast buffet was amazing! So much delicious food! I only had a few minutes to scarf down what I could. We were supposed to be at the bus at 7:00, but the bus couldn't park outside. We had to walk several blocks because there was a bike race. It was crazy! There were so many people racing. They just kept coming and coming. Regular racers, people riding tandem bikes, people peddling with their hands, people on rollerblades. It was cool. This was the only picture I took though.

The first place we went was Nazareth. They had a pretty good idea where the caveish thing was where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. A huge church has been built on top of the cave.

Church of the Annunciation

 Mary's house when she was younger....or a house similar to it and close by...

There are all these cool pictures of Mary that countries around the world have sent. The Japan one had mosaics made with real pearls. It was beautiful.

Japan

 United States of America

I actually really liked the one from the United States, even though it did slightly remind me of Gladys painting from Friends. Haha. I wish I had taken an overview picture of this room though. It was pretty cool.

Stephanie, Jordyn, Rachel

We went to Nazareth Village next. It kind of reminded me of Williamsburg. They had people dress up and talk to you what life was like in the first century. I liked it. They had people gathering olives, an olive press which was amazingly complicated. A weaver which was cool. They talked about why the blue and purple dyes were so expensive. Those colors came from a certain shell. One drop can be obtained from each shell. It took something crazy like 50,000 drops to make one garment in the rich blue and purple colors. Which is why they were crazy expensive. Most of my favorite pictures are on other people's phones though, so this is the only good one I got. Two shepherds.

Shepherds

We went up the hill to the Precipice and learned about stoning in biblical times. Jesus probably came up here a lot, especially when he was growing up. Kind of fun to think about. We got a cool picture with all our family members in this trip. Plus Armageddon is in the background.

Dad, Stephanie, Mark, Rachel, Sharon, Steve, Jordyn, Renee, John

 Rachel and Jordyn

We had lunch at Tanurin Restaurant. I ordered the 'whole fish' like my dad told me to. I am not a huge fish fan, but I ate this. It was pretty good. My dad brought tartar sauce. He walked into the restaurant with a tartar sauce in each pocket. Haha

Next was Capernaum. There are ruins of a 1st century synagogue there.  Another synagogue is built on top, but you can see stones from the 1st century. We met and had little mini lessons for awhile. My dad took a quick catnap, it was funny. I woke him up when everyone started walking around. He was sad to miss Sam (Israeli tour guide) talk about the Roman centurion.

Sleepy dad

The dark stones are from the 1st century

I will have to try and upload the rest of the pictures later, because it is time to go.....

We sat by the Sea of Galilee and listened to a Jeffrey R. Holland talk. It was really good. This is the possible sight of the resurrected Jesus feeding the Apostles.

 Jordyn & Rachel

 Dad & Stephanie

 Mark

We ended the day at Magdala. Magdala was lost until about 10 years ago. Some people from Mexico bought land and were planning on building a resort. When they were digging they found the remains of a synagog, marketplace, ports and lots of other things. We had a guy from Ireland give us a tour. He was amazing. He talked a lot about how important women are. I wish I could remember some of his words, but for most people in the group, this was the highlight of the day.

Again, these pictures won't upload, so I'll try to put them here later..... now off to start another day! I'll fix this up later hahaha