Speaking in Galilee

Our last day in Israel we were able to speak in the Galilee Branch.  We were the entire program.  John, Hannah, Caroline, Grace, and I spoke and we also sang I Am A Child of God.  I am not going to lie.  I was stressed beforehand.  Not that I was nervous, but that we had to prepare all of these talks while on vacation.  We were going to prepare them before we left, but of course that didn't happen and we continued to put them off until the night before.  I was feeling a bit put out and stressed about the whole thing and worried that we wouldn't take much time, but I must say it was one of if not the best experience we had on our trip.  Only a handful of members were there, but two other families were visiting.  Coincidentally, they were both visiting from Virginia, but not together.

It was such a beautiful location to give a talk in church and I loved hearing the talks my kids had prepared all on their own.  The branch president asked us to speak on goals since it was almost the new year.  It was a wonderful experience and I felt the Spirit as we spoke.  I love that anywhere in the world you can find members of the Church worshipping our Savior Jesus Christ.  Our lives, experiences and cultures can be so different, but our love of the Savior and His restored church bring us together and we truly feel like brothers and sisters.

Hannah of course my fast friends with the daughter near her age in one of the families and we visited with some of the members afterwards.  We didn't stay for the rest of the meetings since we were leaving that night.  After sacrament meeting we left for Caesar Maritime.  There were a couple of other places I would have like to have visited Nazareth, which we drove by, but didn't stop and Mount of Transfiguration, but we wanted to make it toe Caesar Maritime before it closed.

We spent a couple of hours exploring this Roman maritime city and enjoying the Mediterranean Sea.  We were truly fortunate to be able to visit Israel/Palestine.  I was so excited to share it with John and the kids as well as my parents.  They were the perfect host and hostess and we couldn't have asked for a better trip.  My heart loves Jerusalem and the surrounding area.  The people are so kind and generous, I feel bad that so much conflict rages.  Unfortunately it is the leaders that create the hate and unrest, most of the people (on both sides) are good people that want peace.

I love seeing these hymn boards all lined up.

 

These three pictures above are the view of the Sea of Galilee from the Chapel at the Tiberias Branch.  It is stunning! Between the view of the Sea of Galilee at the Tiberias Branch and the view of the Old City in the Jerusalem Branch (below) it makes church in the Holy Land that much more special.  I think every Chapel should have a gorgeous view.

 These are the hills outside of the Branch House.  They looked so beautiful.  I could imagine the Savior wandering the hills, teaching the people.

 This is the house the Church owns.  The BYU couple lives in part of the house and the rest of the house is used for church meetings.  It is in a very nice area of Tiberias.  It is a few blocks from the Sea of Gailiee, but because it is up on a hill there is an unobstructed view. They also have a bomb shelter in the house and food to feed the branch members in case of an emergency.

 Glam shoot of Hannah at the Sea of Galilee.  The wind was blowing.

Thank you to the Foxes for being such gracious hostesses.

 Dumb family photo that someone wanted to take.  It wasn't me, but I do look like a Jewish woman in my long black skirt and black sweater.  I look ridiculous to be at the beach dressed like that.

 These are all Roman ruins from the time of Caesar.

 Beautiful sunset over the Mediterranean for our fabulous trip.

 Back at the airport.  I hate to think about it, but I think that may be the favorite part of the trip for these two.  Their own TV's without mom telling them to turn it off for 12 hours straight.

 Benjamin curled up on his seat, fast asleep.  It would be nice to fit into the seat so comfortably.

 And that's a wrap.  You are one beautiful city Jerusalem!