Holy Land - Day 2 {Nazareth}

We were up extra early because Machmoud got us an early

morning reservation before normal hours at Nazareth Village. 

Once again, Machmoud going above and beyond to make sure we

had the most unforgettable experience at every stop. 

SO much more enjoyable without crowds of people. 

Nazareth Village is a restored village built on ancient agriculture land.

They tried to make it feel like an accurate re-creation of the 

hometown of Jesus. 

It reminded me of Heritage Park in UT, where they make it feel

like how the pioneers would have lived. 

We had a tour guide who took us to different stations. 

Bible scenes and parables are taught and brought to life by
 "villagers" who populate the farm and houses, living and working
with the same type of clothing,

pottery, tools and methods that Mary and Jesus would have used. 

It was really amazing!

A shepherd with his sheep and a sweet new baby lamb!

I was happy we were able to catch red poppies at the end of the season.
Poppies are a symbol of life, as they are one of the first flowers to bloom

after the long winter, and appear in some of the most unlikely places.

So appropriate for Israel!

This was pretty cool, he demonstrated how a real tomb
 and stone worked back then.

To the left of the tomb, inside the rock wall is where they would put

the bodies to decompose. After a year they would take the remaining bones

and then place them inside the tomb for good.

To make room for many people. 

This is the areas last remaining first century wine press and stone quarry.

It's really hard to visualize how it all works from these pictures.

Up above you can see the vine terraces where the grapes grew.
You can see a hole in the ground with water in it.

They would put the grapes in that hole and stomp on them.

They juice would run down into the bigger hole underneath it.

You can see the water marks on the stones where our guide put water to see

how it would work. 
Pretty crazy!

We learned how the olive press worked. 

A beautiful view from Nazareth Village out into Nazareth. 

Making tools.

I think this was a yoke?

They had exact replicas of first century houses.

I can't imagine living in something like this! 

This lady taught us how to spin wool into yarn to make

rugs and such. 

A synagogue. 

John had us look at the straw roof. 
We discussed the story about the man with palsy, Mark 2:4.

"Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed

the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the

paralytic was lying. Right in front of Jesus."

These stories... you can't help but think Jesus clearly loves it when people's faith

drive them to take drastic measures to find Him.

Just like the lady with the blood issue.

So much we can learn from these faithful people!

Another view of Nazareth. 

We drove to a spot in Nazareth where we walked around to different 

churches that honored Mary and Joseph. 

 First time walking through some street markets to get to a church. 

I was loving every little thing I saw!

Casey asked if Aladdin was filmed here, because it very much felt just 

like the movie!

Our first church stop.
It was tucked inside the markets. 

The Annunciation Synagogue.

We talked about Holy Envy- Finding God in the faith of others.
John talked to us about appreciation for the way others worship.  
We don't have to believe the way they do to appreciate
their faith and the way they worship. 

It definitely helped me to have a more open mind.

As there are so many different religions in Israel, it helped you 

see the beauty in all the different practices, buildings and cultures around you. 

Snapping a bazillion pictures as we walked to our next stop. 

John had us stop to peek inside a window into a first century home to
what archeologist believe could have been the home
 of Mary and Joseph, where Jesus lived.

Obviously it is impossible to know if this is true,
 but fun to think about none-the-less!

The Church of Annunciation.

One of my FAVORITE stops of the whole trip.

Never had heard of it before.

What a powerful spirit there.

John had such an amazing message he shared with us.

So much so, Casey and I used part of it for a lesson we knew we would be teaching

together for girls camp in the next few weeks to come.

Supposedly this is where the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she 

would be carrying God's son.

He started out with a guessing game.

His clues:

This person many years ago about the age of 14 had an experience with a divine being. 

It changed the course of the world.

Prophets saw this person in vision centuries in advance.

God chose this young person for a special mission. 

Who am I describing?

Of course we all blurted out Joseph Smith.

He was referring to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

At the age of 14.

I forget that part.

Can you imaging being 14 and caring around that kind of news?

While we often focus on the 14 year old boy who helped bring about the restoration, 

we should also celebrate the 14 year old girl who helped bring about the redemption

by giving birth to the Savior. 

He really encouraged us to get to know Mary better.

Outside in the courtyard there were hundreds of mosaics of Mary.
Each one donated by different countries. 

Inside looking at the grotto of the believed spot where angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. 

"How do you solve a problem like Mariah"
Every time I saw a nun I thought of that song, lol. 

Upstairs there was a catholic mass going on. 

Plus more mosaics of Mary.

This one was from the United States.

Yikes, a little scary looking. 

The others were unique and beautiful.

Come on, America!

A back view of the church. 

Underneath on the bottom floor. 

It seems that any first century artifact has a modern church built on top of it.

They believe this was the childhood home of Mary. 

I'll take that wall tile over wallpaper any day!

This was also a super strict dress code church.

I guess they said Stephanie's shorts were too short so she

pulled them down and marched right passed them before they could stop her, ha!

We love you, Mary!

Lunch time!

We were turned loose to eat and explore what we wanted for an hour.

John gave general directions on where to stay around,

seeing how Nazareth is sketch mostly.

He told us of a good shawarma place, so naturally the whole group

showed up there to eat!

Walking past the bazillion other tourists. 

Time to eat!

Since Machmoud and John are amazing (as we know by now), we got to lunch

before the swarms ( get it, hehe)  of people showed up.

We had extra time to wander a bit.

And get ice cream bars!

Nazareth was pretty dirty.

Actually, filthy dirty.

Stinky trash and roaming cats all over the place. 

Next stop was Megiddo.

An ancient city were many different battles happened and the future

site of prophetic Armageddon battle. 

It felt like we were in a Indiana Jones movie at Megiddo.

Lots of millipeds crawling on big boulders and the 

stone floors. 

You could see Mount Tabor and the future site of Armageddon. 

We discussed Revelations 16:16

That there is a key theme that Jesus Wins.

Lots of talk about final wars and the second coming.

We can always have peace because ultimately Jesus will conquer. 

We walked down into the water system.

It can get really low, but when there is rain it can rise way up to where

we were on the stairs. 

Jace joining us for some jumping pictures.

He was a hoot! 

He was there with his wife (Jen) and 2 youngest boys who are twins, 

(Brexton and Daxton.)
He served as a mission president in Taiwan. 

What a fun mission president to have!

They were always joking around and having fun with us.

His brother (Richard) and his wife (Lonna)  were also in our group.
This day we sat by all of them in the back of the bus. 

At first Stephanie thought Richard was Jaces' dad, ha!

They never stopped joking about that. 

To be fair, he did look like he could be his dad.
We seemed to click with the Jergensen family.

Funny how that naturally happens. 

We were surprised with Megiddo honey jars to take home!

Another couple in our group had friends living a few miles away

and brought some for everyone. 

I LOVE honey, so this was a special treat!

Our last site of the day was at Cana.
The Canaanite chapel with souvenir shops was a fun stop.

We discussed the first recorded miracle, turning water to wine and John 2. 

When in Rome...

Bottoms up!

I'm not a grape juice person, but this tasted fresh and light. 

Now on to an authentic experience we got to have.

Machmoud took our tour bus, PLUS the other bus to his personal home for DINNER!

We were wondering how this would work.

It was cool to drive off the beaten touristy path into a normal Israeli neigborhood.

We pulled up and realized he had more of a luxurious lifestyle than most.

Remember, he is a rags to riches story. 

Behind this main house was another guest type of house that his son, daughter in law and

grandbaby live in. 

I can't remember how many children he has, but they all live together. 

Chatting while we waited for the food to be ready.

Machmoud announcing it was time to eat!

His wife is on the far left and didn't speak a lick of English.

His daughter ( I think around age 14) next to her.

She knew English very well as was greeting and mostly hosting. 

It felt basically like a glorified ward party!

Machmoud answered questions and told a little bit about himself.

When they busted out the olive oil for purchase we got the feeling they
do this to make a little extra money on the side

with the travel agencies:) 

We were freezing so we got back on the bus which ended up 

being hysterical as Jace and Richard teased the selling of olive

oil like the selling of Do-Terra.

We.Were.Rolling!! 

The drive back to Magdala was a treat as John played some tunes on the radio

for us to jam to. After no music for a few days we welcomed 

Sweet Caroline and Bon Jovi like we were listening to a newly released Taylor Swift hit!

Richard in front of me. 

"You've got to hold on, to what we've got"

We picked the right people to sit by this day!

We decided tonight was the night to take the plunge into the Sea of Galilee! 

And wouldn't you know it, the Jergensens had the same idea!

And Michelle. Sweet Michelle and Craig.

It was COLD, but oh so amazing!