Holy Land- Day 3 {Capernaum}

Talk about fresh honey straight from the honeycomb for breakfast!

And the machine squeezing fresh orange juice was a perfect start to a 

another jam packed, amazing day in Israel. 

We got in early before opening hours to Capernaum.

The sign explains exactly what it is. 

No crowds, it was so peaceful here. 
This is usually a very crowded place.

 We took advantage of the quiet and deeply discussed some scriptures. 

When you first walked in you saw a weird shaped modern church that was built 

over what they believed to be Peters house, whom Jesus lived with.

It is definitely probable that it WAS his house due to other first century churches 

being built around it. I loved when they could say with more certainty if this was

actually "the place".

Inside the church in the middle was a glass floor where you could see the
remains of supposedly Peter's house. 

We moved closer to the shores of Galilee to discuss more. 

Matthew 4:13 we learn that Jesus dwelt in Capernaum. 

After being baptized Jesus returned to Nazareth, where he was rejected and

so he traveled to Capernaum. 

The time Jesus spent in Jerusalem was relatively short compared
 to the time he spent here.

Most of the chapters in the New Testament describe what happened when he was

 living in Capernaum, to the last week of his life. 

He chose his 12 disciples in this area, 5 of them came directly form Capernaum. 

MANY miracles and teachings took place here. 
One of my favorites is Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead, Mark 5.

We talk about this story at home every Holy Week. 
Jairus was a local synagogue leader.
His daughter was dying.

But he knew where to find help. 

Jesus stopped to perform another miracle on a woman (with the blood issue) before

reaching his daughter who he heard had passed away in the meantime. 
I can only imagine the feelings Jairus had at that moment.

I know how I would have felt!!

I am not so patient or kind when in frantic situations:)
I imagine words of- excuse me, I came to you first! 

Or, we are more important right now!

Jesus arrived and grabbed her hand and lifted her up. 

A humble reminder to trust in God.
He can step in and work a miracle when we think all has been lost.

 Here I am.

Seeing the location of one of my favorite miracle 

stories with my own eyes. 

 

Looking down to where Magdala is. 

After discussing scriptures we had some time to
ponder and look around on our own. 

Looking at the ancient synagogues.

Which one was Jairus'?! 

In a synagogue He clarified one of his most important miracles.

The bread of life discourse. 

John 6:35 I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger,

and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 

I wish I could have understood what he was preaching.

Spotting the Magdala symbols... a personal new favorite. 

Hi, Peter!

Underneath the church looking at "Peters" home. 

Emily Belle Freeman posted a story about the
homeless Jesus statue that I was excited to see.
I almost forgot about it, how sad if I did!
It was towards the entrance and I must have missed it on our way in.

I looked up what it was supposed to represent.
Mostly it goes along with Matthew 25:34-45.
Jesus tells his followers that they are caring for him when they tend
to the needs of those who are sick, poor, naked, hungry, thirsty, imprisoned and strangers.

But the artist said it is there to challenge you.

Emily knows him by His wounds, and how He comes to
 bind up the brokenhearted, and recognizes that He is in the wounds of her own life. 

I found it interesting that out of all the places in the Holy Land this statue could have
been placed, it is here.

Where Jesus came when he found himself wounded, rejected.
He was obeying His father.
Even though he was Jesus, he had feelings. 
 Humble people sought after him here to learn and for their "wounds" to be healed. 
He takes us with Him where we could never go alone.

 A beautiful building next to the potties:) 

In the courtyard of the
Church of Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes. 

Of course it was appropriate to discuss Matthew14:12-20

He fed more than 5,000 people with only five loaves and 2 fishes- a divine act.  

Even after all was fed, there were 12 baskets left. 

Just like Jesus filling the baskets, when we bring what we have to the table,
we are filled beyond measure, with some to spare. 

He will multiply our talents and capabilities if we faithfully give what we can. 

I couldn't help but think that this has been ringing true in my own life.

I have my own insecurities, especially in sharing messages in a public 

format at church and in recent callings that make me feel stretched thin as of late. 
I feel beyond inadequate.

I want to run the other direction, but know I have been given much, so I can do 

these hard things in return to Him.
Without fail, even if it is up to the last midnight oil burning hours, I am blessed

with things that come to mind or peace and comfort as I bring what I have to the table.  

 

Thankful for Vanessa who was always so good to capture
the candid moments. 

Inside the church under the alter are mosaics of fishes on either

sides of a basket of loaves. 

As close up as I could get to them, it was roped off.  

The whole church was basically mosaics. 

Such a tedious job!

St. Peter's Primacy

This is where Jesus told Peter to "feed my sheep". John 21: 1-24
John pointed out that the last recorded words in John are to Follow Me.

Sometimes Jesus asks us to leave our nets even when they are full.

I loved learning that Peter wasn't a poor fisherman that we have thought him to be. 

He seemed to have left a great life to follow Christ. 
Are we willing to give up good things for even greater as we follow Him?

Side story.
When we first got here John found us a perfect shaded
spot around an alter for us to sit around. 
He even said, wow its like they arranged this spot just for us!

The second we all settled, a (very) angry monk came charging out of nowhere!

He demanded who our leader was.

Every single one of us froze with a blank stare not sure what to do!

John raised his hand ( I was dying inside for him) and the monk told him to follow him.

IF there was popcorn we all would have been stuffing our faces at this point!

He took him to a sign on the pole that said something about not
 sitting here unless it is reserved for a group.

(Which to Johns defense, it was very misleading. We all read it as, reserved for groups only.

Which we were!)

He then turned to all of us and told us very sternly that we needed to leave.

You don't have to tell us twice!!
Whoa doggy, it was a tense few seconds!
Mental note, don't make the monks mad, lol!

Said alter we got in trouble at:)

Poor John.

He said it didn't shake him but will definitely be reading signs better!

After we moved to a new location.
John is in the middle.

To the right is Ben and Vanessa Rucker.

They are neighbors to John, lucky ducks!

To the left  are Ben's parents, Bruce and Marci. 

We actually had a connection to them knowing

his brother Tom Rucker and his children growing up.

Always a small world out there!

Arbel National Reserve

This reserve is the river walk between Galilee and Nazareth. 

Also known as the Jesus Trail.

It is a 40 mile journey.

John said his kids did it for youth conference when they lived in Israel.  

John told us that we only have less than 1% of the days Jesus lived recorded.

He considered us to think about the rest of his life and how
many times we think Jesus may have walked this path in his lifetime?

Too many I am sure!

Happy as a lark on the Jesus trail!

There is also a trailhead leading up to the Arbel lookout, that we were

on top of the first day in Israel, where Stephanie is standing. 

Lunch time!

John was excited to take us to St. Peters restaurant for an authentic 

fish experience. Fitting since this was the theme of the day!

You had 4 choices.

Whole fish

Fish fillet

Chicken

Lamb

plus a trip to the salad bar.

I did the fillet, and Casey the chicken, shocker!

I heard the lamb was phenomenal, wish I would have gotten that!

My fish looked like chicken tenders.

The whole fish, straight from Galilee!

We had an hour drive to 

Caesarea Philippi. 

John led an interesting discussion on the bus to pass the time about fence laws. 

Read his article HERE

Fence laws are rules, practices and guidelines put in place by parents or themselves to protect

core laws such as commandments, temple recommends, covenants and such. 

An example would be, no cell phones allowed in children's rooms at night to help

keep them from internet dangers like pornography. 
An added layer of protection to prevent possible sin.

Which can be super helpful!

But there can be challenges with fence laws as well.
One fence law could work well for you, but not so much for me. 

It can create judgement by others.
Can cause us to become self righteous.

Are we losing site of the purpose of the fence law?

We discussed some fence law stories from the New Testament 

and how Jesus handled the situation. 
John 5- Jesus healing the man on the Sabbath
Acts 15- Peter calls the extra yolk of the law. 

This was really good food for thought for me.

Made me think about my own fence laws, especially with my children.

WHY do I have these fence laws for them?
(Have I explained why we have set rules in place or do they just think I am a mean mom)
Will it help them get to their own temple covenants?

Does this allow them to have some agency in THEIR  journey along the way?
(each child is different and in need of their own personal fence laws). 

Did I set these because it is what my parents did for me
 as a teenager and I'm just following suit?

I know this discussion put me in my place as I have been one to judge and have

the wrong mind set when comparing others to my own fence laws!

It doesn't matter what others do as long as it facilitates the Holy Ghost and they 

are doing it with a sincere heart and to their best abilities. 

Almost to Caesarea Philippi.

We got a sneak peek of the Jordan River!
You could also see directly into Syria, crazy. 

To be honest, I had never really heard of this place before.

This is likely the location of the transfiguration, Matthew 17.

Also in Matthew 16 Jesus announced he would establish a church 

and gave authority over it to Peter. 

"Peter, on this rock I will build my church. I will give you keys to the kingdom of heaven"

Archeologists uncovered this shrine above the cave.

Niches still visible in the side of the cliff held statutes of the Greek God,

Pan. A mythical half man, half goat who played the panpipe.

Naturally, we had to call out to him!

I think Casey and Travis were done with us right about now.

"To the window, to the wall...get low, get low".

It was beautiful!

And really big.
We could have gone off and explored for hours, but in John fashion we

got 20 minutes:)

Carrie cooling off Josh with the water pump.

They were so fun, I miss them!

Mount of Beatitudes 

The famous Sermon on the Mount location. 

I was envisioning a rocky, sparse mountain like in the gospel art pictures!

Nope!

Should have know a church would have been on there. 
And I think a theater?

Breathtaking views from all sides.

 

Sea of Galilee boat ride was SO FUN!!

We discussed Matthew 14:28-33
He called Peter to get out of the boat and walk to Him on the water. 

Peter with his remarkable faith did just so, but then got distracted by the wind and started

to sink and cried out Lord, save me. 
Even when Peter failed, Jesus was there to save him.
Peter knew who to call out to. 

Has Jesus ever called us to get out of the boat?

Jesus always comes. 

They taught us an Israeli dance and my heart was happy dancing away

on that water!

We made it to dinner!

I think we each had 3 plates worth of food from the buffet that night.

Plus 3 dessert plates.

This baklava... I ate half of the pan.

We weren't ready to call it quits for the night so we

walked to a grocery store nearby for a few things.

Mostly for the popular chocolate bars with pop rocks inside of it!

We started running into lots of people from our group doing the same thing!

I think we bought them out of chocolate!

Even though we were stuffed, we needed more of this amazing gelato we

discovered the night before that was connected to a gas station!

Talking late into the night with these people was so so fun.

We were hitting the Jergensen's with all the questions!

They live in Bountiful and have Elder and Sis Andersen from the quorum of the

 twelve apostles in their ward!!