Day Nine (Friday): Nazareth, Haifa, Caesarea, Joppa

Back on the bus at 7:14 am with our luggage since we would be winding our way down the west side of the country and headed up back in our same Jerusalem hotel.

Sunrise at the hotel

Nazareth was our first stop.  But this isn't the quiet place of Jesus's time.  It is a large modern city.

I loved this plant with its puffy flowers and green buds.

Sister Winn enjoying the view to Mt. Tabor (I think).

Our group--listening and picture taking at a view area in Nazareth.

We headed to a local grocery store for a bathroom and treat break.

bathroom sign

We then headed to the portside town of Haifa--

Jena posing for someone else..

A sailing school in the bay at Haifa

Interesting Churches of all kind throughout the cities in Israel.

Baha i Gardens is one of the famous areas with a big church and lush gardens in Haifa.

Next we drove down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Caesarea 

Megan, Jena and Landi and the Sea

Jena copying others with this pose

When the wind is blowing off the ocean, you don't have to worry about your hair!

This whole aqueduct was built by Herod the Great when he founded the city of Caesarea because there was no source of fresh water nearby.  It is about 5 kilometers long (3.1 miles) and about 1.5 meters across.  It transported water to the city for over 1200 years.

It ended up covered with mountains of beach sand and was uncovered and preserved in a national park.

We had yummy pizza in an outdoor plaza and then headed to a Roman amphitheater.

They do outside concerts and things in this place.  I think they said it was set up for a fashion show in the evening.  This place was built in such a way on the coast that it captured the breezes off the coast and through the tunnels around and under the seats to provide cooling during events.

Elder Rona talking about the aspects of this place and others like it that were built by the Romans.

The view out of the bus as we drove along the coast through Tel Avia to Joppa (Jaffa).

Driving through the modern part of Tel Avia with the city on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other.

Lots of cranes and building along the whole area---reminded us of Salt Lake City

Mostly hotels along the coastline

But always a mix of the old (or made to look old) and the new

The houses seemed mostly the same colors but sometimes the shutters and doors were painted with bright colors.

Coming to the old port city of Joppa (Jaffa) where Jonah came to catch a ship and flee to Tarshish (modern-day Spain).

An odd collection of "beasts" in this fountain area in Joppa

We walked out to a small look out area.....

to see the area of the ancient seaport of Joppa

A bell tower of a nearby Church

Here we spent some time sitting in the plaza and talking about the story of Peter and his vision of the clean and unclean beast and the story of Cornelius's conversion recorded in Acts 10.  I have always loved this scripture story because I know that the gospel is meant for all of God's children.  And Peter has long been one of my favorite ancient Apostles.  You have to love a person who reached out to walk on the water to Jesus and then wanted to wash the Lord's feet during the Last Supper!

This place is near where Peter was staying "with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea side" when he received the vision and then the servants of Cornelius found him and took him up to Caesarea about 35 miles north on the coast.

I think it is called the St. Andrew's Church with the St. Peters Monastery as part of the complex.  This is a "working" church and was not open to the public for many many years.

For some reason after reading the scriptures together and thinking about the Apostle Peter, I began to weep the moment I stepped into this place and as long as I stayed there. (For some reason, it seemed appropriate to say weep rather than cry--must be an Israeli thing!)  It was very very quiet which was nice compared to most other sites. Perhaps because I am serving currently as a called missionary and part of the force that is seeking for all of God's children throughout the world even though that is not my current assignment and in fact we couldn't wear our tags while on this trip.  But whatever the reason this was the place of all of the sites we saw that I felt my testimony of Peter and the ancient Apostles grew.  They faced so much as well as they sought to spread the gospel.

Valerie

How blessed to be in this place for a brief time and to be able to reflect back on the things that we have seen and learned for the rest of our lives and into eternity.

A Rock

Actually a rock sitting on the side of the hill below the Sermon on the Mount Church.

As I mentioned, we had some time listening to the music and pondering on the hillside.  As you can see, it was an area with boulders and trees.  I was sitting on the little chair in a flat area below where most of our group was sitting--right next to some big stones.

While sitting there, I had some "ponderings."  Is that even a word?

Elder Rona had told me once while we were deciding to come on a trip to Israel that "even the rocks testify of Christ."  As I mentioned, I didn't feel many earth shaking moments of "enlightment" on this trip.  I loved seeing these places and learning (and forgetting) so many interesting things, but I didn't feel that my testimony was stronger because of being in Israel.

So, I had a conversation with this rock--how long had he been on this hill?  Was he here when Christ walked the nearby hills?  Did a weary follower sit on him to listen to Jesus talking?  Did he witness a miracle from his spot on the hill?

In probably good news to all of you, the rock did not talk back to me.  However, I was reminded of my belief that all nature testifies that there is a God and that the earth and all things in it were created by Him through Jesus Christ and they are "Good."  This rock and the whole earth are strictly obedient to God and remained organized as directed by eternal laws of science which are perfect and unchanging (unlike man's science which changes as more truth is discovered.)  We are so blessed to live in this beautiful world with its varied landscapes.  And we have been blessed to see a portion of it including this rock on a hill west of the Sea of Galilee.  For that moment and all of the others I have experienced--I am so grateful!

Good job, Rock!  Hold steady for the next 1000 years.  There will be a lot to see!

A Side Note About Agriculture

As we were touring around the countryside, Elder Rona talked a lot about the variety of innovations which the Israelis have invented to allow them to grow crops in this climate year around.  They have worked out ways to manage the soil, garbage, water supplies, and temperature to allow them to grow most things year around.  Most of the fruits and vegetables that we ate during our stay were probably only a day or two from being picked at a local farm.

I tried to get pictures of the tenting of fields but it wasn't until we were on the Sermon on the Mount location that I was able to get one not from a moving bus.

Taken through the fencing at the Mount

If you look carefully, you can see the tan tarp like fabric over the crop growing below.  They use this to control insects, temperatures, and provide targeted irrigation.  The fabric is biodegradable so when they have harvested the crop, it is pulled into the soil to add nutrients to the soil.  You see these covered fields everywhere.

Elder Rona told a story that the Muslims in the West Bank wanted to copy this method, but didn't want

 to pay the Israeli the cost for the tarps.  They found a cheaper source from another country.  Unfortunately, they were typical traps made of plastic which DIDN"T biodegrade and left a mess over the land for years.

Seeing and hearing about the Israeli agriculture success made me want to learn more about it in the future.  So much to learn and so little time!