turkey day in the middle east

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We got back home from Galilee today and were greeted by Christmas decorations and a beautiful Thanksgiving feast. I was a little sad that I was not home for Thanksgiving this year, but when I got back to the JC I realized that I was home. I can’t believe that I only have 3 more weeks here! Time needs to SLOW DOWN!



Galilee was so busy and wonderful! It was full of girl talk and bonfires and football games and long classes and of course, amazing field trips!
Here’s the rundown on our last few field trips:

Jezreel Valley field trip (11/21): First we went to the church in Nain where Jesus raised a boy from the dead. There we had a fabulous lesson about the compassionate Christ by Brother Harper.

Our next stop was Megiddo or as most people know it, Armageddon. We had the final battle there so we’re ready for Jesus now!

Then we went to Mount Tabor which is one of the sites thought to be where Jesus was transfigured. It was sooooo beautiful! I loved it!

We ended the day right by going to a swimming lake/pool in Gan Ha-Shelosha. It was so good!

Upper Galilee field trip (11/22): We started the day by going to Hazor… I honestly don’t know what was significant about it, but there were some ruins… ha. Our next stop was the city of Dan. Can you say beautiful?!? I had been missing fall so much, but Galilee cured that for me. We hiked around Dan for about two hours and I loved every minute of it! Then we went to Caesarea Philippi, which is where Peter gave his testimony of Christ and Christ then pronounced, “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” Right next to that site was the Banias waterfall. This is where I really got homesick for Oregon. It was absolutely gorgeous! After that we went to Nimrod’s castle. This was a sweet Muslim fortress t the foot of Mount Hermon. I was thinking about buying the lot except for the rodent infestation… Our last stop of the day was at a lookout point that used to be an Israeli army bunker. We were able to see Syria from the lookout and earlier in the day we were able to see Lebanon!

Western Galilee field trip (11/23): First we went to Chorazin. This was a Jewish community on the west of the Sea of Galilee that Christ compared to Tyre and Sidon in Luke 10. The next place we went was Sepphoris. This city was the Roman capital of Galilee before it was moved to Tiberias. There was a beautiful mosaic there that they call the Mona Lisa of the Galilee. A group of middle school Palestinian students were there too and they thought we were some sort of American celebrities and couldn’t take enough pictures of us. It was really funny. Our last stop was Akko. This was an adorable port city on the Mediterranean Sea. I loved it!



Mediterranean field trip (11/24): On our way back from Galilee today we made several stops. The first was in Haifa. We stopped in the Templer cemetery where we learned about a few LDS missionaries that went to Palestine in the late 19th century. We learned some really neat things about those early missionaries and what they did there. Next we stopped at Mount Carmel where the prophet Elijh had the show-down with the priests of Ba’al. We did an awesome re-enactment of the story and I was of course cast as the fire. My only claim to fame is my hair… Next we stopped at Caesarea. This city was built by Herod right on the Mediterranean Sea. We even got our own Christian concert when we went to the amphitheater!



I miss Galilee already, but it’s good to be home. I don’t think I’ve ever been this grateful for so many things on Thanksgiving before. I am so blessed!