Sea of Galilee

On Tuesday, my class had our free day.  In the morning we had New Testament class for two hours then the rest of the day was ours.  We are right on the beach so that is where I spent the majority of my day.  I am trying to catch up on the three months my skin hasn’t seen the sun!  Wednesday was our field trip around the Sea of Galilee.  The first stop was at the boat dock.  We were able to take a boat across the Sea of Galilee.  This was such a cool experience to be out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and to read the accounts of Peter walking on water, Christ calming the water and to sing Master the Tempest is Raging.  After our boat ride we stopped by a museum to see the Ginosar Boat.  Not to be confused with the Dinosaur boat.  This is a boat that was found on the shore of the Sea after a drought.  It is the type of fishing boat that was used on the lake between the 1^st century BC and the 1^st century AD.  It is a type of boat that Christ’s apostles would have used.  So that was very cool to see.

Ginosar Boat.  The man behind was doing some measuring to figure out how this boat was made.  He looked like the husband off of Sister Wives with his long mangy hair.  

The next site was the Mt. of Beatitudes.  This site contains a Roman Catholic Church of the Beatitudes.  It is octagonal shape to represent each beatitude.  The grounds around the church were beautiful.  A lot of trees, flowers, and benches to sit and ponder on.  There was a nun there who one of my friends talked to that gave her good advice.  She said to read one beatitude a day and apply it to your life for that day.  To try to work on being meek, humble, charitable, and so forth.  It was great advice I think because Brother Schade has said that the beatitudes are a Constitution of a perfect life and I love to think of them in that light.  We had about 45 minutes to sit and read the accounts of the Sermon on the Mount on our own and contemplate what they meant to us.

Inside the Church of the Beatitudes

Shanelle and I

After Mt. of Beatitudes we went to the Church of St. Peters Primacy.  This is a church that commemorates when Christ came back to His apostles, after he had been resurrected, for the third time and told Peter that if he loved him, he would feed his sheep.  What a powerful message.  We discussed that as a class and then had a few minutes of free time to take pictures and wander around.  This church was right on the water so a lot of us stuck of feet into the water to cool off because it was so hot!  It felt so nice! 

Just next-door was the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes.  It commemorates when Jesus miraculously fed the 5000 from a few loaves and fishes.  This chapel and courtyard were beautiful as well. 

Church of St. Peters Primacy

Karlie and I

Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes

Our last stop of the day was Capernaum.  This is hometown of Peter and where Jesus moved to at the beginning of His ministry.  Many of the Saviors miracles were performed in or around Capernaum.  This is where the bread of life sermon was given as well at the area of the synagogue.  Though the synagogue there today is from the 5^th century AD, it is on a basalt foundation that is debatable whether that was from the 1^st century AD.  We were given some personal time here as well to read the multiple different accounts of what happened in Capernaum during Christ’s time. 

Statue of Peter

Hailee and I

The synagogue from the 5th century AD