Yes, I did put my feet in, but why I don't have a picture of that, I don't know. It was so beautiful! Makes me want to explore the Greek Islands for my next tour!
We then headed to Caesarea and the Reef Temple (pictures are in no particular order - sorry)
(pronounced say-za-ria)
the great Hippodrome where the chariot races were held
zooming into the water
looking back at the "lighthouse"
At Joseph's request all the men came down out of their seats, many removed their hats and sang to all the women "Ye Elder's of Israel" Remember Joseph is a Jew, and we have the same song in our Mormon (Christian) hymn book. It was so awesome to watch them do this, and you better believe the tears for me started. It was an awesome way to bring the Spirit to these ancient Roman ruins.
Ladies coming off the seats
These were ancient bathrooms. Just outside the Hippodrome
this was a glimpse of the theater
There were school children there when we got in to the theater and they were so fascinated with us! They would call down some English words and we would wave and call back. Joseph began teaching us a Jewish song and as we started trying to sing it, some of the kids joined in and sang with us. So fun, but then it got even better! We got done and then some of the kids were whispering with each other. Next thing we knew, several came down while singing the song and grabbed our hands and began teaching us a dance. My shoulder hurt, but I wasn't gonna miss this once in a lifetime, so ran over and joined the circle.
Mom was able to capture this really quick:
Praying one of these video's work.
with my left arm I am holding the hand of Juan who with this wife Sofia immigrated from Cuba and are seriously some of the kindest and most loving people I have ever met. They own a successful business and are generous to so many other people. They joined the LDS church shortly after reaching the states and have taken counsel to help others to a level that I hope to aspire to.
The guy in the green shirt is my friend Russ. He's the one that lost his footing while touring the at the Sphinx. We really are friends, it was purely an accident, not an "on purpose" and he would be mortified to know just how hurt I really am. He's a good man, and I call him friend.
that is my cute friend Michelle, not only is she so sweet, but also is a character with her husband Walt
St George - the real one.
they found an inscription with Pontius Pilate on it
Some thoughts and feelings, things learned from the Roman built Caesarea
This is where Peter met Cornelius and shared with him his experience on the road to Damascus, you can read Acts 11:2
The center for the Romans was here, not in Jerusalem. They only went to Jerusalem to collect taxes.
It was explained that in the time of Ceasarea, it could be compared to a modern day LasVegas
The ten tribes of Joseph were scattered north by the Romans so that they couldn't unite and revolt.
We drove through Tel Aviv on the way to Bet Lehem and passed the Prime Minister and his security detail. That was pretty cool. I wasn't fast enough to get pictures.
I like calling it Bet lehem (bet-lay-hem), instead of Bethlehem by the way.
Somewhere on the way today, we passed by a prison. It was ironic to me that we were headed to the birthplace of Jesus Christ who came here to bring us redemption and break us out of an eternal prison.
The next stop was Bethlehem and early an Christmas present at the Church of the Nativity
First of all, Bethleham ain't no "little town" any more
This is the original door of the church
the entry door is symbolic of the camel going through the eye of a needle
Entering under the church to the site where it was believed that Jesus Christ was born.
There is argument for both He being born in a stable like we think of a stable, and evidence to suggest it was more of a cave like this. My personal opinion after seeing how things are there is that it was more likely a cave rather than a stable/barn
To see the ancient rock was impressive
The Church of the Nativity is the oldest church in the world.
In the Church of Nativity. We sat for a few minutes with our quiet thoughts and then gathered on the steps leading to the altar as a group and sang "I am a Child of God" The Spirit was incredibly strong and J felt such an outpouring of love from Jesus for me.
On the way, as requested by a bestie, I lit a candle for her father who is Catholic.
At the time, I didn't understand the significance but she later it explained that it was symbolic. The smoke wafting upward is like our prayers going upward to Heaven. I think it's a beautiful thing, I love it.
From the courtyard
This really spoke to me. Right to my heart
We gathered here in the quiet of the hall and Michael read to us the nativity story from Luke 2. A thought that had never occurred to me but was brought up by Michael is that the apostles were not a part of the Nativity. The only way they could have known the story is if Mary had shared it. Thank goodness for Mary! We have that most precious story and the advent of His life because she was willing to tell it. Do we document the special things in our life enough? Journaling? Even using a blog or other social media medium to capture the important moments of our lives. If not, we better get on it, because memories fade. We also discussed the logistics of it all, the time frame and other details but the really sacred part was that once he was done, we began singing Christmas hymns. When telling of the Heavenly Choir singing when the Christ child was born, were we part of that choir? Regardless if you think you are a "singer" or not, we all could haven been a part of that grand choir singing with joy. And of course, music has a way of bringing the Spirit and we were a large enough group that we started to draw some curious tourists who approached and then began singing with us. We welcomed them, made room for them to sit with us and we didn't all speak English. I heard French, Russian and other languages I didn't recognize. It was so special. Christians from around the world, taking a few minutes together to sing hymns celebrating the birth of our Savior. A grand choir if you will.
It was a real highlight for me.
After we sang as a group, one member of our tour (I guess we had a few retired MoTab choir member with us), sang Mary's Lullaby. You could have heard a pin drop. Well, okay, maybe all that was heard was sniffles from the many tears we shared together feeling an overwhelming love for our Savior and His love surrounding each of us. Truly a special moment. This Christmas will be so very different for me. I'll never hear the Christmas hymns again without being transported back to the Church of the Nativity and feeling the same Spirit of love like I did this day.
Our guide on the yellow bus Machmood, that I mentioned before, has a business with handmade blankets. I realize that all my babies have been blessed but for any future grandbabies, I would love for them to be blest in this special blanket. Again, another heirloom piece.
Some final things I learned about Bet lehem:
Israel, Jordan and Egypt are all friendly to each other. That made me feel a lot better. Border crossing's were stressful enough but knowing that at least there is no hostility among them helps.
Palestinian Christians live in a different part of the city than do the Muslims or Israeli Christians.
Bethlehem is actually not controlled by Israel, they basically do their own thing.
There are more Muslims than Christians in Bet lehem - about a 70/30 ratio. However, everyone gets along and worships how they want without trouble. Kinda different than what we are led to believe in the western world.
And I learned that David wrote Psalms while here in Bet lehem.
Our last stop of the day was to Nissan brother's.
"The History of the Nissan family is traced back to the early 20th Century, when the family emigrated from Turkey. After so many years of hard work, the family managed to set foot in the Tourism Industry and was able to achieve many successes in this field and was passed on from Great Grand father to son up till now. The Nissan family religion is Assyrian Orthodox, which still uses the ancient language Spoken by our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST, the same language spoken by the Prophets Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also the same language used in the Liturgy of Jacob, the brother Of God."
They actually have worked with Fun 4 Less for so many years and it's one of the most renowned shop with a local artist who handcrafts many of their pieces. They can range anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. They closed their doors and gave us a private showing that night. They also put everything half price with no bargaining. I guess they know that if you give a discount, the Mormon's buy in bulk! Watching my old mormon folk family, they were like kids in a candy shop! They were grabbing so many pieces that we were there a couple of hours. Thankfully, Michael has become quite expert in these pieces so he was will to evaluate any thing you might have wanted to buy and show us if it was really worth that, where there may some flaws that a untrained eye would miss etc.
Again, mom and I had the mentality that we were going to purchase heirloom items and not crap so we were serious with our purchases.
this is Mom's beautiful piece - she always loves the Savior with children.
I admired this piece
but this the piece I came home with. A picture doesn't do it justice. The dark on His face in the pic, looks more significant that it is. I tried various ways of taking the picture, but no matter I how I do it, it's so much more beautiful in person.
I also picked up Christmas ornaments for each of my children and their families and one for us
As we were leaving, we looked at this piece. It's a hollowed out olive tree trunk and then hand carved inside and out are all the characters from the Nativity. It was extraordinary. Nothing I have ever seen comes close to this. We didn't even inquire how much it was selling for, but it sure was spectacular!
After everyone was done shopping and arranging for shipping for some people, we loaded the buses and headed to where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. The Dan Hotel in Jerusalem
This is built on a cliff, so the main entrance was on level 6. We would go up the stairs to our room and then down the stairs to the dining area. I got a lot of stairs logged while we stayed here. But we soon discovered the coke products were EXPENSIVE. Like 5 bucks a small bottle or can. From the first night on, we would then find a vendor that was selling them much cheaper and stock up since we had small refrigerators in the rooms.
Our travels today
Circled in red is the Sea of Galilee, where we had been, we traveled southeast to the Mediterranean Sea, Caesarea, further south to Bet Lehem and then into Jerusalem
Tomorrow starts our adventures in the Holy City!
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing. What a wonderful adventure!!
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