We started our day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. This is where Jesus walked on water, Peter tried to walk on water, and Jesus calmed a storm.
They hoisted the American flag and played the national anthem! It was such a special moment for us all to sing together.
This is the the hill where the demon possessed swine ran into the sea.
Mason read John 6:16-24 where Jesus walked on the water.
They tried to catch some fish in a net to show us how the disciples fished. No luck.
This is the church at the Mount of the Beatitudes.
Here you can see the area where the crowds likely gathered to hear Jesus preach the sermon on the mount.
That is the Sea of Galilee in the background.
As a family we read some of the sermon on the mount and prayed. It was so neat!
Next we visited Caesarea Philippi. This is probably the farthest point north that Jesus traveled. It was the central place for the worship of the Greek god Pan. In the past few years this site has been excavated extensively and some of the excavators have been from ACU.
The idols were placed in these carved out areas.
We had St. Peter’s fish (tilapia) for lunch. You had several options, but Tim, Mason and I decided to go with the local fare. Mal had chicken. It was pretty good - just quite a bit of work to get the meat out.
In all the churches we went in girls had to have their knees covered. It was too hot to wear jeans everyday, so most girls just put on a scarf to go in. Faith and Hannah shared theirs with us, but they were still in the lost suitcase at this point.
Olive trees are everywhere. This is an olive press that was used to extract the olive oil.
It is said that Jesus prayed on this rock for God to multiply the loves and fish. Of course, no one knows for sure. It was nice to just be in that area.
Mal in the Sea of Galilee.
In Capernaum a church was built over the supposed home of Peter’s mother-in-law. This is also believed to be the house where the lame man was lowered through the roof to be healed by Jesus.
This shows the homes from Jesus’ times. The homes were tiny and many people lived in the same house.
This temple was built after the time of Jesus over the site where the temple Jesus went to was located.
This picture of the side of the temple shows the foundation of the temple that was there during Jesus’ time. The dark stones on the bottom were from the temple that Jesus went to. The lighter ones were the new temple.
You can see the Ark of the Covenant on wheels carved into this stone. The intricate stone work is truly amazing.
We ended the day with some baptisms and baptism affirmations in the Jordan River. This is not the site where Jesus was baptized, although we will be visiting that site. It is too contaminated to be in now.
Mallory decided to affirm her baptism, and we were so blessed to watch it. What a wonderful memory for her!
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