Galilee 6: Jezreel Valley, Mt. Tabor, Nain, Bet Alpha Synagogue, Ga Hashlosha Swimming, Jordan River Baptism, Galilee Branch!

"You Fill Up My Senses..."  This song has been constantly sung by everyone around me the past 24 hours and I'm about to shoot it. Until Bro and Sis M were telling their love story to the other class (I got to be there) and found out he sang this song by John Dever while proposing to his wife. Made me starting thinking about marriage... It's so fun to dream. Then I looked at some engagement pictures... ah, I love love. It made me so excited to be married, and I love to see people so happy. I sometimes feel like I get happier for other people than myself when it comes to Love.

Then reality hit in, and I realized where I am, what life will be like next semester, and what I want to do with my life= NOT READY FOR MARRIAGE. Not even close. Not even a wiff. I'm kinda feeling like I should steer clear of boys for the next 1 year and  9 months until my mission(That sounds like an eternity). Gosh, I don't know how people do this marriage business. It's a mystery to me, that i'm not ready to figure out.

I'm preparing now, for far in the future(regarding a family). This semester has opened my mind to so many new ideas, i'm.... living every moment. It's been a lot of ups and downs for me. It's been weird/hard for me to realize i'm growing up and things are changing dramatically. I've really and truly come to know that with Christ, all things are possible. Without him, I suffer. Enough of my personal thoughts, whew!

Ah! Galilee is SO incredible! Yesterday we had a great field trip starting with the traditional sight of the Transfiguration of Christ (Matt 17), Mt. Tabor. This mountain was an adventure in and of itself driving up it from the windiness. We got on top to long walk way with a gorgeous church at the end. We sat among the remains of the old city and attempted to have a devotional. There was a group of Pentecostal French people next to us making quite the ruckas, that we couldn't focus. I didn't know this was their way to worship. So much yelling, so much singing, screaming and crazy noises. I really do love to see the way others worship. We've had a lot of experiences here, i'll tell more in a bit.

Mt. Tabor

Rising out the JEZREEL Valley, Mt. Tabor was the site where the judge and prophetess DEBORAH and her general BARAK defeated an alliance of Canaanites led by Sisera. It was perhaps atop Mt. tabor that Jesus took PETER, JAMES AND JOHN,  where ELIAS and MOSES appeared to them. As part of its campaign to create the Christian HOLY LAND the BYZANTINE Empire built three chapels on Mt. Tabor. The modern basilica is maintained by Roman Catholic monks of the FRANSICIAN order. 

There are two church complexes, one Greek Orthodox and the other Franciscan Catholic. The catholic church is called the church of Transfiguration.
Judges 4:4-15
Matthew 17:1-13

Over the "Worhsipping" We learned the exact place we were sitting had so many important events take place here! The first mention is with Deborah and Barak with the sysera and the 900 charriots coming to attack.
- The scene of the victory of Gideon over the midianites
- the Crusaders took and lost this mount
-Napoleon defeated the Turks
- Most recently is was a part of defense for the 1948, Israels war of independence.
Many people believe that the traditional sight of transfiguration is Mt. Hormone, but I still felt the spirit here.
For my reference: East- Jordan Valley, West- Nazareth, SE Jezreel Valley

We had a fantastic devotional about the restoration of the Keys to gather Israe and the sealing keys of the temple. I love this gospel. We sang a bunch of songs and the spirit was so incredibly strong. It is really neat because this is the only way we can do missionary work in this land. Yesterday there were about 30 or 40 people gathered around where we were to listen to our hymns. The spirit was so strong. I hope these people felt a difference. As we ended our singing they yelled "hallelujah!" "God bless you!" In different languages. These are my favorite moments of our trip.

 This church was magnificent.

 Cute Ally (bobs), Myself and Lex

 Inside the church with Lisa, Chels, and I

I love nature, and had to get away for a second to enjoy the view.

 View from 1,200 ft up

 

 Our most excellent driver Abu-Carrab- He didn't speak a lick of english and I definitely don't speak Arabic. He surly liked to wiggle his handlebar mustache though!

Next was Bet She'an, also call Scythopolis, which is one of the original 10 cities of the Decapolis that Christ really might have ministered to. (1 Sam. 31, 2 Sam 1:17-25)

I adored this place. It took place in the late Canaanite period (16th-12th Centuries BCE). Saul and his sons were killed near this city. After King David took control, followed by King Solomon. Destroyed by ole' Teglat-Pilesser III. A lot more history that I won't bore you with, but it's still really interesting. It ended up as a Roman/late Bysantine, non-jewish city. This city is GORGEOUS as just remains. Just to imagine what it would look like in it's prime and beauty.

 This is the a roman amphitheater that we got to sing in! It held about 7,000 people at one time, but the upper 2/3 got destroyed. Oh I want to see what it looked like so bad.

Philadelphia/Amman Roman Theater

1. Which dynasty renamed Rabbath-Ammon?

the Greeks

1. what did they call it?

Philadelphia

2. What does this name mean?

‘Phila’ means friend and ‘delphia’ means famous oracle of Apollo

2. Rome expanded as Carthage, Greece, and the Near East were conquered.  Which General conquered the Near East?

Pompey

3. What form of government did Rome have until Octavian changed it?

A republic

1. how did it change? now an empire
2. what is Octavian’s throne name? Augustus
1. Which emperor was responsible for most roman building projects in the near east during 117-138 AD?

Hadrian

Brother Judd's personal favorite are the public latrines. Sorry mom if you think this picture is inappropriate, it was too tempting. All I have to say is that I'm SO grateful I don't have to use these. It was one big massive room with pieces of rock sticking out of the wall... Then a gutter underneath... yum huh?

 to the right with the pillars is the Cardo/Mainstreet. and the left are what we would call a mall today. The stores in and of themselves are spectacular. The mountain ahead had a temple on top, which you can see the remains.

 This is on the floor of one of the shops- this could be the Goddess of Fortune named Tyche, the floor being SO well preserved. These mosaics are spectacular.

 I love the intricate designs on everything!

 You know, just hangin' with my girls KB(Katie Bacuss) & Nasty (Whitney) in the bathtub. These bath houses are actually pretty amazing. I wouldn't mind having them today, except for the fact they hardly took baths... There was quite the system when they did, once in a blue moon. 

1. Went into the changing room, or apodyterium, where you left your clothes on a shelf, hoping nobody would take a shine to them and take them home

2. To work up a nice lather before washing it all away in the baths, you might take some sort of exercise, like wrestling or weighlifting, Why? I have no Idea. 

3. Went into the Hot room- the caldarium- and without lifting a finger you would find yourself sweating like a marathon runner. Soap hadn't been invented yet so instead you rubbed oil on your body and then scraped it off with a stick called a strigil. 

4. After the steam in the Caldrium, you relaxed in the Repidarium (warm room)

5. Then there was a cold plunge-bath or swimming, pools for a nice dip to close the pores, followed by a relzing loll by the poolside

6. Grooming and beauty treatments by barbers and hairdressers

7. Scholars would teach. 

Quite an ordeal, eh?

 Bathing, again in the hot room. This room would be similar to a turkish bath today

Next we headed to the watering hole, or so it looked like. It was GORGEOUS. Lots of Israeli and Palestinian people. They all looked at us like we were definite outsiders, which i should be used to by now, but definitely not. I actually have so much respect for the Muslim women because they will never be able to get into a swim suit. We saw ladies completely dressed head to toe swimming. I have so much respect for them.

 We had an absolute blast cooling down in this natural spring/man made spring that had a cave, water fall, and even a fat man in a colorful speedo.

 Our people, I like them. Quite a lot.

 Zane, Myself, Lexy, Tahna, Jamie, Lisa, Rachel, Joshua, Natalie, Justin and Robert!

 We pretty much had to hold our swimsuits up because this came down so hard. Kinda felt similar to what i'd think a fire hose would feel like. Myself, Raelynn, Jordan, Tahna and Meredith. 

Next we headed to the traditional spot where Christ was baptized in the Jordan River. It was pretty incredible to see all these different religions (Christians-- I actually miss being around Christians a lot) worshiping in all their different ways from all around the world. I got to talk to some people from Nigeria sacrificing so much to make it to the Jordan river and then some people from Australia. I wanted to tell them about our church so bad... maybe one day we'll be able to. 

Then, I found this:

 What treasure. Thank you Hawaiians. Made me think of my "hawaiians" Janelley, Dev, Chels, Whit, and Lex

 I got to see baptisms taking place! They sang after every baptism, and they let me record and sing along.

 Ashley, Mary, Jacqueline and I... dippin our feet in the Jordan River.

My Languages =) minus Sign Language