More time with the Snows

 

Our second day with the Snows was spent in Galilee. We didn't get to see a lot - it is a 2 hour drive each way and we had to be back to Jerusalem by dark. But, here is what we did.

 

First stop - Nazareth. There are 3 churches there that we visited. One is the church honoring Mary, the second is St. Joseph's church and the third is a Synagogue/church. Here are a couple of windows in the basement of one of the churches.

 

This is the church that honors Mary:

 

The next 2 were windows in the St. Joseph church. First is of the angel appearing to Joseph to tell him of Mary's pregnancy:

 

The second is of Mary and Joseph getting married:

It was already lunch time by now. The Snows had been eating "foreign" food for 3 weeks. We saw a McDonalds in a mall just outside of Nazareth. That is where we had lunch! Tasted really good! :)

After lunch we drove to the Mt. of Beatitudes. Kent pointed out key sites that we only had time to drive past: Mt. Tabor [Mt. of Transfiguration]; Nain;  & Kursi [where the pigs jumped off the cliff].

The Mt. of Beatitude is a lovely place with lots of areas in the gardens, where pilgrims can sit and worship together.

This stone mosaic is a new little side-path with beautiful flowers and a fountain. I love it!

Our last stop before leaving Galilee, was Capernaum.

Sorry I don't have any pictures. The church here is actually too modern and weird for my tastes. I prefer the Greek Orthodox church - but we didn't have time to go there so I have this picture only --

 This is the view from behind the church:

 

There is something very sweet about watching other Christians worship their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They don't have all the truth but they do have testimonies of Him and his atonement. Galilee is one of my favorite places in all Israel. There is a real peace and beauty to the place! Add to all that, the really good and wonderful people we were traveling with and - it was another amazing day.

Catching up

HALLOWEEN

Halloween fell while the students were in Jordan, so the Sunday before they left, they had a trick-or-treat hour for the kids in the branch. It was a lot of fun. On Halloween eveing, those of us still in the Center, had dinner together and then the kids decorated cookies. More fun.

Last semester, one of our student's parents came for a visit. They asked if we needed them to bring us anything. Halloween decorations was my request: Here is what I got:

 

 

This sign I printed off a website and hung outside my office door. :)

 

 



 

 

On Saturday evening, Oct. 27, Elder and Sister Snow [he is the Church Historian] and 2 of Kent's friends also in the Church's Historical office, arrived at the Jerusalem Center.

 

Part of our job here is to host General Authorities when they come so the following day we took them to sites in the Old City. Unfortunately, the temple mount was not open because it was a Muslim holiday.

 

We did visit the Western Wall. The men's side has more to see and this is a picture that Kent took inside the tunnel that runs next to the Wall.

 

 

 

 

Next we visited one of the Upper Rooms and the Dormition Abbey - I have no pics, sorry.

 

Kent and I have another site for the Upper Room, that we like better. It is in St. Mark's Church. No pictures here either. :(

 

We wandered the streets and did a little shopping and then had lunch.

 

After lunch we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre:

 

 

This is the big dome in the middle

 

This is looking into the tomb of Jesus. We didn't have time to go in - there is always a really long line to go inside:

There are dozens of small chapels throughout the building and in the basement. Each honoring a sacred event around Christs's death/burial/resurrection.

This is in the basement and is a Catholic chapel where a piece of the cross was found. The first picture is on the wall of the stairway going down to the chapel - covered with crosses that pilgrims carved there:

 This is another chapel in another part of the basement. It is Armenian. 

 

 

  Our last adventure of the day was to walk along part of the Via Dolorosa to Steven's Gate, where we were picked up.

More to come. :)