We visited so many historical sites in Galilee that I have a hard time keeping track of them. I think I'll just go through some photos for this post and give you a brief story of what we did at the various sites and why they are significant. If I tried to do it the usual way, I would be writing forever.
On the day that we went to Mt. Tabor and Nain, we drove to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee to the ruins of the ancient city of Beit Shemesh. It was the former Roman capital of Decopolis or the 10 Roman cities that stretched from Amman to Jerash to Beit Shemesh. The ruins at this place included an ancient market, well preserved baths, a big outdoor theater, and many mosaics. It was really hot the day we went and I forgot to bring my hat, so I decided to use my towel instead. It was nice because I could wipe the sweat off of my face as well...
Thankfully we were able to take a break from the hot sun at one of the coolest (literally) water parks ever called Gan Hashelosha. It is a natural hot springs with three huge pools and rivers connecting them.
Nearby Caesarea Philippi, on yet another hot field trip day, we visited some beautiful falls on the Jordan River running out of Dan. Though I have never been to Havesupai, I would imagine it would look something like this place. I thought I had gone to Hawaii.
We continued up the Jordan River to another source in the far north where the ancient city of Dan is located. It was the northern extent of the Israelite Kingdom and today is the same for the modern one. Lebanon can be seen from Dan. The coolest part of our visit was seeing the ancient Caananite gate where Abraham would have walked through on his way to the Promised Land.
Many of our trips included visits to Crusader period castles and fortresses. The best was Nimrod's Castle, Israel's largest. It is close to the Syrian border, protecting the passes through the Golan Heights. Nimrod's Castle (though it has a funny name) is an awesome place to visit with high walls, turrets, and bats hiding in dark rooms.
To finish off that trip, we went to the Syrian-Israeli version of the DMZ at the edge of the Golan. It is the place where some of the largest tank battles in history have been fought. At the location there is a large field with a UN compound in the middle, watching over both sides. The border crossing between the two countries is guarded by machine gun posts, pointed straight at each other. There is a huge Syrian flag flying above the border crossing that is reminiscent to the huge North Korean flag in the DMZ in Korea. It was funny to see Israeli soldiers pull up beside us at the lookout point in an American Humvee, with American weapons, to survey the field.
Another Crusader site that we visited was the city of Acre (called Akko by the Israelis). It was the former capital of the Crusader kingdom when Salahdin captured Jerusalem in the 1100s. Acre is one of the best preserved Crusader cities in the world, complete with vaulted ceiling halls, a town square and market, and huge city walls on the sea. The Muslims took it over in the end and built a magnificent mosque in the middle of it all. The Mediterranean sea was beautiful at Acre.
There were even some crazy kids that were doing backflips off the sea walls for entertainment. To finish off that day a group of us had to run back through the city to look for some people we thought had been left behind and then we visited a burial place for famous Jewish Rabbis at Beit Sharim. It was our last day in Galilee, so that evening we had a fireside with a testimony meeting. It was very spiritual. After it was all done, a group of us stayed outside looking up at the brilliant stars, hearing the crash of the waves from the Sea of Galilee just a few feet away, singing hymns. As we did so, I felt so close to my Father in Heaven and grateful for the wonderful experiences I had while staying in Galilee.
The next morning we set off for Jerusalem once more by way of the Jezreel Valley, Haifa, and then south. Our first stop was an old Hellenistic city called Sepphoris, a place with brilliant mosaic floors left over from the houses of rich merchants. The most famous being the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee," a spectacular mosaic that basically looks like a painting.
Then we moved on to Mt. Carmel to the place where the prophet Elijah had the showdown with the 400 priests of Ba'al. The story just amazes me and the view from the top of the mountain range was breathtaking. Sitting on top of a church that commemorates Elijah, our class sang "We thank thee oh God for a Prophet". It was a wonderful reminder that the prophet who lives today has the same power that Elijah did in his day.
Our last stops for the day were in Haifa, a beautiful coastal city built on the side of a mountain. I've never been to a European Mediterranean city before, but I think Haifa wouldn't be too far from that.
One interesting thing that we learned about Haifa was that at one time it had a thriving German population. The church called missionaries to the Holy Land back in the 1800's and two men were sent from the European mission to Haifa to preach the gospel. They taught in German and had two converts, the first converts in Israel. Sadly, both of the missionaries died of disease while serving and are buried in the German Hospitaller Cemetery in Haifa. We visited their grave sites as well as those of their two German converts. One of the converts had a depiction of an angel on her stone with the scripture from Revelation 14:6 (written in German of course) "I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on earth." When the church came to the Israeli government in the 90's and asked if they could build the Jerusalem Center, they were rejected because there have been no new religions introduced into Israel since the formation of the country. But through these gravestones in Haifa, the Church was able to prove that we had missionaries in the country before the state was formed (both of the missionaries gravestones say they were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They were John Clark from Farmington, Utah and Adolf Haag from Payson, Utah. Elder Haag died in 1892, Elder Clark in 1895.). It was one of the reasons we got permission to build the center. A miracle if you ask me! We stood above their gravestones and sang "I'll go where you want me to go." As we sang, I was reminded of the last night of my mission about a year ago, when I sang the same song with all my heart in an effort to let the Lord know how grateful I was to have served Him for two years. It brought tears to my eyes to think of the sacrifices those missionaries made, but also how happy they must be that they made them. I know that I am happy I did.
On the day that we went to Mt. Tabor and Nain, we drove to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee to the ruins of the ancient city of Beit Shemesh. It was the former Roman capital of Decopolis or the 10 Roman cities that stretched from Amman to Jerash to Beit Shemesh. The ruins at this place included an ancient market, well preserved baths, a big outdoor theater, and many mosaics. It was really hot the day we went and I forgot to bring my hat, so I decided to use my towel instead. It was nice because I could wipe the sweat off of my face as well...
Thankfully we were able to take a break from the hot sun at one of the coolest (literally) water parks ever called Gan Hashelosha. It is a natural hot springs with three huge pools and rivers connecting them.
Nearby Caesarea Philippi, on yet another hot field trip day, we visited some beautiful falls on the Jordan River running out of Dan. Though I have never been to Havesupai, I would imagine it would look something like this place. I thought I had gone to Hawaii.
We continued up the Jordan River to another source in the far north where the ancient city of Dan is located. It was the northern extent of the Israelite Kingdom and today is the same for the modern one. Lebanon can be seen from Dan. The coolest part of our visit was seeing the ancient Caananite gate where Abraham would have walked through on his way to the Promised Land.
Many of our trips included visits to Crusader period castles and fortresses. The best was Nimrod's Castle, Israel's largest. It is close to the Syrian border, protecting the passes through the Golan Heights. Nimrod's Castle (though it has a funny name) is an awesome place to visit with high walls, turrets, and bats hiding in dark rooms. 
To finish off that trip, we went to the Syrian-Israeli version of the DMZ at the edge of the Golan. It is the place where some of the largest tank battles in history have been fought. At the location there is a large field with a UN compound in the middle, watching over both sides. The border crossing between the two countries is guarded by machine gun posts, pointed straight at each other. There is a huge Syrian flag flying above the border crossing that is reminiscent to the huge North Korean flag in the DMZ in Korea. It was funny to see Israeli soldiers pull up beside us at the lookout point in an American Humvee, with American weapons, to survey the field. 
Another Crusader site that we visited was the city of Acre (called Akko by the Israelis). It was the former capital of the Crusader kingdom when Salahdin captured Jerusalem in the 1100s. Acre is one of the best preserved Crusader cities in the world, complete with vaulted ceiling halls, a town square and market, and huge city walls on the sea. The Muslims took it over in the end and built a magnificent mosque in the middle of it all. The Mediterranean sea was beautiful at Acre.
There were even some crazy kids that were doing backflips off the sea walls for entertainment. To finish off that day a group of us had to run back through the city to look for some people we thought had been left behind and then we visited a burial place for famous Jewish Rabbis at Beit Sharim. It was our last day in Galilee, so that evening we had a fireside with a testimony meeting. It was very spiritual. After it was all done, a group of us stayed outside looking up at the brilliant stars, hearing the crash of the waves from the Sea of Galilee just a few feet away, singing hymns. As we did so, I felt so close to my Father in Heaven and grateful for the wonderful experiences I had while staying in Galilee. 
The next morning we set off for Jerusalem once more by way of the Jezreel Valley, Haifa, and then south. Our first stop was an old Hellenistic city called Sepphoris, a place with brilliant mosaic floors left over from the houses of rich merchants. The most famous being the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee," a spectacular mosaic that basically looks like a painting.
Then we moved on to Mt. Carmel to the place where the prophet Elijah had the showdown with the 400 priests of Ba'al. The story just amazes me and the view from the top of the mountain range was breathtaking. Sitting on top of a church that commemorates Elijah, our class sang "We thank thee oh God for a Prophet". It was a wonderful reminder that the prophet who lives today has the same power that Elijah did in his day. 
Our last stops for the day were in Haifa, a beautiful coastal city built on the side of a mountain. I've never been to a European Mediterranean city before, but I think Haifa wouldn't be too far from that. 
One interesting thing that we learned about Haifa was that at one time it had a thriving German population. The church called missionaries to the Holy Land back in the 1800's and two men were sent from the European mission to Haifa to preach the gospel. They taught in German and had two converts, the first converts in Israel. Sadly, both of the missionaries died of disease while serving and are buried in the German Hospitaller Cemetery in Haifa. We visited their grave sites as well as those of their two German converts. One of the converts had a depiction of an angel on her stone with the scripture from Revelation 14:6 (written in German of course) "I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on earth." When the church came to the Israeli government in the 90's and asked if they could build the Jerusalem Center, they were rejected because there have been no new religions introduced into Israel since the formation of the country. But through these gravestones in Haifa, the Church was able to prove that we had missionaries in the country before the state was formed (both of the missionaries gravestones say they were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They were John Clark from Farmington, Utah and Adolf Haag from Payson, Utah. Elder Haag died in 1892, Elder Clark in 1895.). It was one of the reasons we got permission to build the center. A miracle if you ask me! We stood above their gravestones and sang "I'll go where you want me to go." As we sang, I was reminded of the last night of my mission about a year ago, when I sang the same song with all my heart in an effort to let the Lord know how grateful I was to have served Him for two years. It brought tears to my eyes to think of the sacrifices those missionaries made, but also how happy they must be that they made them. I know that I am happy I did.
Wow... Amazing post, Jones. I especially loved the story about the two missionaries. It illustrates so well how the Lord provides a way for His work to be accomplished. Sounds like you're really packing it in during your last few weeks there. Enjoy it while it lasts, Jones! Oh, and I'm glad to see you're making a little time for the ladies in the midst of all your intense studies.
ReplyDeleteOops. That wasn't from Lain, if you couldn't tell...
ReplyDeleteSorry, that this comment is so late, but I have to concur with "Lain"-- All that brushing of elbows and shoulders is certainly going to be reported to the honor club...
ReplyDelete