Monday the 14th- Thursday the 24th
On Monday morning bright and early we woke up at five in the morning and headed for Nazareth. We went to several churches in Nazareth. One was commemorating Mary (this one was in the location where the angel appeared to Mary and told her she would bear Christ as her child), one commemorating Joseph, and several in the sites where Christ had taught in the synagogues. After Nazareth we continued on our way to Galilee. We went to an overlook of Galilee and saw the whole Sea and all the cities surrounding it. From this moment on our entire field trip was about Christ and his life and his teachings. I learned more this week about Christ and his personality and the way that he interacted with others and his relationship with his apostles than I ever have in my entire life. As my teacher pointed out, many of us will be able to come back to Jerusalem in the future with our families. But almost none of us will be able to come back and spend 11 days in Galilee. Gallilee is one of my favorite places because of the strong spirit. If it was possible to do a study abroad in Galilee, I would. They have even told us that over these few months while we've been here, we've been able to see about 90% of all the Holy sites here in Israel.
Our rooms in Ein Gev were little huts right on the beach. The inside looks like a hotel with one bedroom a main room a pull out couch a full bathroom and a full kitchen. Monday night we had a group FHE devotional from brother Ludlow our ancient near East teacher. He taught us about gratitude and the important things in our life and talked a little bit about dating and Marriage. Tuesday morning we had three hours of class. We then had lunch and then free time until the end of the day. We spent the day playing in the water at the beach. Near the end of the day our friend Benny was doing crazy dance moves in the water and stepped on a broken shell and it dug straight into his foot and it began gushing blood. He ended up having to go to the hospital the next day. He's ok, they just gave him a tetnis shot because he came too late for stitches or staples. EW I hate blood and cuts. I was in the middle of taking a video of him spazzing out in the water when he walked out slightly concerned about his foot, then he lifted it up and it was gushing blood! He kept saying, "I'm fine! Guys it doesn't even hurt" but I yelled over at my friend who has a first aid kit for the bus and she ran to get the life guard to help him out. The life guard did literally nothing...Lexi helped Benny out way more than the life guard did.
Wednesday was absolutely incredible. We began the day by going to Capernaum. Before this field trip I had heard from many people that their favorite part about Galilee was the mount of beatitudes. After all the sites, Capernaum was by far my favorite. On these field trips I prefer the sites that look the most like they would in the saviors time. That is how Capernaum was. It was a beautiful Rocky place right on the water. At each site we got about an hour to sit and read our scriptures and to write in our journal and to pray. At this site I pulled up the song come unto Christ and wrote the lyrics down in my journal. This song was so perfect to study at this location. And talks all about Christ and the miracles he performed during his life and how he walked on water, which happened on the water right in front of me. It is so incredible to be sitting here right where the Lord was and to be learning about his life. It brings all of these stories to life. The rest of the day we went to the mount of beatitudes, (insert other sites). The mount of beatitudes was a very close second for me. It was very beautiful, just a lot more modernized. They were beautiful pink flowers everywhere and gardens all around. Me and a few other people found A spot on the rocks overlooking a part of the mountain that had not been renovated. It looked exactly like the image in my head from the story of the beatitudes. Here I was able to read my scriptures, read my patriarchal blessing, and pray. It was very spiritual. I loved having that time to sit and have time to think, read scriptures, write in my journal, or pray. I had some of the most spiritual experiences just sitting in the places where Christ has taught us or lived, reading my scriptures about the Sermon on the Mount. We were able to take a boat from Tiberius back to you Ein Gev. We really felt like fishers of men. Out in the middle of the city they stop the boat, and we had a fireside about Peter walking on water with Christ. We were able to sing master the Tempest is raging during the devotional. I don't know if any of you have actually paid attention to the words in the second verse, but apparently the woman who wrote the words was struggling with her testimony, so the words talk about a mental tempest that she is struggling with that she is calling out to the Lord to calm. It really moved me and meant a lot to me. After the devotional was over we continued toward our hotel. Our group continue to sing musical numbers. A quartet of man sang Brightly Beams. And we all sing Come Follow Me, and the EFY medley (as sisters in Zion, we will bring the world his truth). I have learned especially on this trip that I relate so much better to a story and I song then reading a story in the Scriptures. I am always able to feel the spirit so much stronger through music, so every time we get to sing about the Savior, I feel his love so strongly.
On Thursday we have more class in the morning, and then went canoeing on the Jordan River all day. There were rope swings all along the river. Brooke swung into the river a couple times, but it was overcast and pretty chilly, and so I did not get in. The second time, my hands were wet so I slipped off of the rope hallway through swinging so I face planted into water...it was smooth. Plus I got a bruise on the palm of my hand from the stick smacking my hand. Super smooth. I have a habit of embarrassing myself all the time...haha! I thought about it until several groups splashed us and I was sitting there shivering just from that. I know I'm boring. Ha ha I am always cold.
That night we went to a fish restaurant where they serve a full deep fried fish. I had heard that the fish was very fishy, so I did not order it. I like mild fish and fish in sushi, but eating meat off of the bones of a fish with the head and gills still on did not sound appealing to me. I ordered the pasta instead. I was able to try my friends fish, and was glad I did not order it. It was a very fun experience though for those who ordered it to eat a full fish right off the bones. I had a fun time dissecting one of the carcasses after eating though and feeding people the various mystery meat left on it. I am very convincing and got each piece eaten by many people around me. It was disgusting. The fish wasn't too bad actually, but I'm glad that I didn't get it either. Kelsie was so gross feeding the eye balls, eye sockets, spinal cord, fish tongue, cheek flakes, and all other gross parts of the fish. EW! The tail actually tasted like a chip. It wasn't too bad! We then spent the rest of the night walking around at a boardwalk in Tiberias. I am not sure how this qualifies as school. It feels like vacation in the summer. But really though :) Plus we have gotten really close to our professor's adorable kids, especially their youngest kids who are 5 (Addie) and 3 years old (Tommy). They are so cute and love to be carried or sit on our shoulders. I LOVE IT! Plus Tommy fell asleep in my arms at one point during one of our field trips, and then again at night at FHE.
Wednesday was absolutely incredible. We began the day by going to Capernaum. Before this field trip I had heard from many people that their favorite part about Galilee was the mount of beatitudes. After all the sites, Capernaum was by far my favorite. On these field trips I prefer the sites that look the most like they would in the saviors time. That is how Capernaum was. It was a beautiful Rocky place right on the water. At each site we got about an hour to sit and read our scriptures and to write in our journal and to pray. At this site I pulled up the song come unto Christ and wrote the lyrics down in my journal. This song was so perfect to study at this location. And talks all about Christ and the miracles he performed during his life and how he walked on water, which happened on the water right in front of me. It is so incredible to be sitting here right where the Lord was and to be learning about his life. It brings all of these stories to life. The rest of the day we went to the mount of beatitudes, (insert other sites). The mount of beatitudes was a very close second for me. It was very beautiful, just a lot more modernized. They were beautiful pink flowers everywhere and gardens all around. Me and a few other people found A spot on the rocks overlooking a part of the mountain that had not been renovated. It looked exactly like the image in my head from the story of the beatitudes. Here I was able to read my scriptures, read my patriarchal blessing, and pray. It was very spiritual. I loved having that time to sit and have time to think, read scriptures, write in my journal, or pray. I had some of the most spiritual experiences just sitting in the places where Christ has taught us or lived, reading my scriptures about the Sermon on the Mount. We were able to take a boat from Tiberius back to you Ein Gev. We really felt like fishers of men. Out in the middle of the city they stop the boat, and we had a fireside about Peter walking on water with Christ. We were able to sing master the Tempest is raging during the devotional. I don't know if any of you have actually paid attention to the words in the second verse, but apparently the woman who wrote the words was struggling with her testimony, so the words talk about a mental tempest that she is struggling with that she is calling out to the Lord to calm. It really moved me and meant a lot to me. After the devotional was over we continued toward our hotel. Our group continue to sing musical numbers. A quartet of man sang Brightly Beams. And we all sing Come Follow Me, and the EFY medley (as sisters in Zion, we will bring the world his truth). I have learned especially on this trip that I relate so much better to a story and I song then reading a story in the Scriptures. I am always able to feel the spirit so much stronger through music, so every time we get to sing about the Savior, I feel his love so strongly.
That night we went to a fish restaurant where they serve a full deep fried fish. I had heard that the fish was very fishy, so I did not order it. I like mild fish and fish in sushi, but eating meat off of the bones of a fish with the head and gills still on did not sound appealing to me. I ordered the pasta instead. I was able to try my friends fish, and was glad I did not order it. It was a very fun experience though for those who ordered it to eat a full fish right off the bones. I had a fun time dissecting one of the carcasses after eating though and feeding people the various mystery meat left on it. I am very convincing and got each piece eaten by many people around me. It was disgusting. The fish wasn't too bad actually, but I'm glad that I didn't get it either. Kelsie was so gross feeding the eye balls, eye sockets, spinal cord, fish tongue, cheek flakes, and all other gross parts of the fish. EW! The tail actually tasted like a chip. It wasn't too bad! We then spent the rest of the night walking around at a boardwalk in Tiberias. I am not sure how this qualifies as school. It feels like vacation in the summer. But really though :) Plus we have gotten really close to our professor's adorable kids, especially their youngest kids who are 5 (Addie) and 3 years old (Tommy). They are so cute and love to be carried or sit on our shoulders. I LOVE IT! Plus Tommy fell asleep in my arms at one point during one of our field trips, and then again at night at FHE.
Sabbath we got to SLEEP IN FOR ONCE THIS ENTIRE STUDY ABROAD!!! Breakfast went until 11 and so we woke up at 10:30. We then laid down and studied until 1:30 when we heard the bus was picking us up for church at 2. Brooke was not feeling well so she decided to stay. Brooke's roommate Madeline and I went to where the bus picks us up and no one was there yet so I called a couple people and found out that the bus left at 1:15. There is such a bad lack of communication here in Galilee. I can count on one hand how many times we have had actually instruction with times given to us. We just have to guess and wing it most of the time and it's really unorganized and annoying. So that was really fun to miss the bus. There were about 5 people who knew we were going too who never even bothered to come get us or call us or anything. So we went back and got Brooke and went down to the beach and went off to a quiet little beautiful corner and had took a few pictures in our Sunday clothes. I then found a 50 shekel bill (about $12.25) which was exciting. I was like "guys! It's the parable of when Jesus told them to go fishing and they would find a coin in the fish's mouth!" Then of course we made jokes about how it pays off to miss out on church... Haha (It doesn't! And we were sad about missing church, but we made the most of it, and I got money haha). So we then went and sat down on some rocks and had our own little sacrament meeting. We opened by singing the Spirit of God and then Brooke said an opening prayer. I then began by sharing my favorite part about Galilee so far and we went around talking about our favorite parts and different things that have stuck out to us and all that we have learned on this trip and also on this study abroad. We talked about getting answers to prayers and guidance in our lives because of how close we are to the spirit right now. I played the song Come Unto Christ for them and we then closed by singing I Am A Child Of God and I said a closing prayer. Even though it was very simple, it was a beautiful sacrament meeting right on the Sea of Galilee and it made me grateful for the ability to have a church meeting anywhere you are in the world. I then spent the rest of my afternoon doing my scripture study guides, writing in my journal, re-reading Dylan's letter, and spending some me time thinking about my life. I love the Sabbath and I love this beautiful place. I really enjoyed our cute little sacrament meeting just the 3 of us, and the spirit was so strong, and I really liked everything that each of us had to say.
Sunday we had class in the morning, another 3 hours, but the topic of our discussion made it so much better. We focused on the crucifixion and the atonement of Christ. It was a wonderful lesson with so much more insight on the events than I've ever known before. After class we spent the rest of the day at the beach which was super fun like always. It wasn't very windy at all, so it was perfect beach weather. I found a purple crab and our teacher's 3 year old son Tommy named it Eyes because he had some weird looking eyes. Tommy is so cute. Anytime anyone holds him he asks for me instead (including his mom!). Whenever asks him "tommy what is my name? He says "Kelsie!!" He always runs up to me with his arms open wide and a big smile on his face. He always hugs me and lays his head on my shoulder and says "I love you Kelsie" in the sweetest voice imaginable and then gives me endless kisses on each of my cheeks. He loves to hold my hand with our fingers interlocked. The other morning I was huddling with a group of students on our field trip trying to stay warm and I felt these little arms wrap around my legs and hug tightly. He had found me out of the crowd and recognized me from behind and came to give me a hug. Sunday on the beach he agreed to come home with me to Colorado and be my little brother. I love him so much. It's tender mercies from the Lord like little Tommy that makes me a little less homesick and brings me much needed joy into my life. He left to go back to Jerusalem with his mom and siblings Sunday afternoon and I've been missing him ever since. I can't wait to go back to the center and see him! That evening we went to a banana farm and toured the kibbutz around it. A kibbutz is the community around the banana farm that works on the farm. I think there's more too it, but it was kind of boring and so I forgot to listen to a lot of it and it was windy so it was really hard to hear haha. The banana farm part was fun though and we all got free fresh bananas. And I LOVE bananas.
Monday we had a field trip early in the morning. We went to Megiddo and to Mount Tabor and a couple other places. Mount Tabor was very amazing. It was up on a very high mountain top and it was the place where Christ was transfigured. There was a beautiful church at the top where the main front dome had a picture of Christ and a beautiful gold and royal blue mosaic covering the walls and ceiling of the dome. The dome to the left of it was symbolic of Heavenly Father and the one to the right was symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Both were beautiful yet simple. We also went to the well of Herod where the Gideon army was told by the Lord to decrease their numbers in order for Him to help them conquer and for them to remember to give the credit to the Lord and not themselves. The army men were tried here seeing who would lap up the water with their tongues and who would bring the water to their mouths with their hand. Those who brought the water to their mouths showed they still had their eyes up and would always be ready to fight at any moment and stayed in the army and those who lapped it up with their tongues showed they were not watching and wouldn't be ready and were sent home. I really like this story and the park where it took place was very beautiful and green and the spring was in a cool cave on the side of the mountain. Here we also made some fun Israeli friends. They were teenage girls who were trying really hard to practice their very limited English. They kept asking us if any of us had boyfriends and so I showed them a picture of Dylan and I that I had on my phone and they all screamed and said "he is so beautiful!! He is beautiful!!!" Haha I had to agree with them ;) When we went back to the hotel I totally crashed on my bed for two hours until dinner. After dinner I did my study guides for the week and took a shower and went to bed! We are supposed to be having bonfires almost every night but because of the wind they keep getting cancelled :( The only reason we got the have one the other night was because we accidentally started it ourselves when the hotel is supposed to start them haha. Oops at least Brother Huff was part of the group starting it... Haha.
Tuesday, we had a field trip visiting Dan, Caesarea Phillipi, Nimrod's Castle, and an old dug out where the Israeli army camped during on of the wars. Dan was really beautiful! We took a fun little hike around the beautiful trees and streams. There was even a tree named "Pooh's Hunny Tree". It was really cool! Then there was a dug out for the Israeli army that we walked through that they used during a war between them and Lebanon. The view was looking right out at the border of Israel and Lebanon.
A couple side notes that I found really cool today (Monday) and this week. Tonight when I went to do my study guides with Bryce and Brooke I stopped by room to get my scriptures, my study guides and a pen. I was walking out the door when I felt really strongly that I should go back and get another pen. I thought it was weird that I would need two pens, but I went back, grabbed another, and then we went to the lobby to do our work. Right as we sat down to begin, Bryce goes "oh I don't have a pen, did either of you grab an extra one?" Right then I was like "oh my gosh that is why I had that prompting." It was so small but it showed me right then that I am getting promptings here so much and so easily even if they are as little as that. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit and for my Heavenly Father who knows us and is always looking out for us. Ok second story. Many of you know this already, but when I was 14 my best friend Brad died. Ever since then, his family and I have found hearts randomly throughout our lives in nature. Whether it is a carving in a tree or the shape of a leaf or a hole in the side walk. There are hearts everywhere and we believe they are from Brad showing us that he is with us and loves us. Ever since I have been in Galilee I have found a heart rock every single time I go outside, every site I go to, everywhere. I have been collecting a few of them, but they are literally everywhere and I haven't been anywhere where I didn't find one. I know it's either Bradley or Heavenly Father or both, but I am constantly reminded that I am loved by both of them and that I am not alone. I am so grateful for this gospel and the happiness and knowledge it brings me.
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