24 April 2022

Our family had a packed weekend, beginning with Becky traveling to Wyoming for Zina's wedding. Zina was married on Friday in the tiny town of Afton, Wyoming.

Afton is home to the Star Valley temple. It was a cold, wet weekend.

Zina married Darius Mayfield. They first met while serving in the Spokane, Washington mission. They only served in the same area for about 3 weeks and reconnected after their missions. It was raining after their wedding so they posed for photos in the covered area near the entrance.

Becky was an hour late for the wedding. She was following directions on Google maps and misdirections turned a 3 ½ hour drive into a 5 hour drive. Sarah suggested going back to the temple on Friday afternoon for initiatories so Becky got to see inside this beautiful temple, including the bride's room and the sealing room.

Zina and Darius' reception was Saturday afternoon in Lyman, Wyoming, about a 3 hour drive from Afton. The reception was held in the Heritage Barn, a great community event center.

This is the view inside the barn.

Sofi and Nate drove over from Utah for the reception.

Here's a photo of Zina and Sofi.

Darius' grandma and aunts grabbed handfuls of orbeez water beads from the centerpieces to throw at Zina and Darius as they left. The reception was a great celebration for Zina and Darius.

Back home, Brandan and Gibson helped clean up the Bear Creek Greenway for Earth Day.

The last clean up was about 6 months ago and plenty of trash had accumulated in the meantime.

Brandan found a shopping cart which helped haul all of the trash they found back to the dumpster.

Gibson taught the teachers' quorum on Sunday so he made fudge on Saturday to share.

In other news, Helen left Thursday night for ICDC, the international DECA competition in Atlanta. On Friday they went to a baseball game.

Saturday they spent at Six Flags. Mary tore her ACL and MCL just before the trip and needed to be in a wheelchair. Mary's wheelchair was an advantage to get through lines quicker at the park.

Sunday night they went to an NBA playoff game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat.

The competition began Sunday with testing. This photo of the testing center gives an idea of how big the event is.

Helen is competing with Chloe in the Business Law and Ethics team event. Helen will come home on Wednesday and we're looking forward to hearing all about her trip.

17 April 2022

Happy Easter! Helen and Gibson were good sports about taking a photo in front of the temple. They joked that when they are all grown and no longer living at home we should just take a photo of the temple with no one in front of it. This is not a bad idea. The blessings of the temple are made possible through the Savior's sacrifice. The temple unites heaven and earth. Temple work will make resurrection morning bright and beautiful.

Helen is taking an art class and her art teacher arranged for some of her students to exhibit their work at a local furniture store. This is a watercolor Helen painted of Multnomah Falls. Her painting is hanging in the display window at the front of the store. 

13 April 2022: Galilee and Caesarea

On Wednesday morning, Brandan and Becky woke up early and walked down to the shoreline to watch the sunrise.

Brandan recorded himself reading a talk he had written about the Savior a few years ago while we sat in this special setting.

Back at the hotel, we needed one more covid test in order to return home. A testing company came to the hotel and we all got in line to get our noses swabbed. Here we are waiting for our results. This time they used a rapid antigen test and we quickly learned that we were all negative. Yay! Our vigilant mask wearing had paid off.

As soon as everyone was finished testing, we drove to Nazareth and Mount Precipice.

Luke 4 records when Jesus announced His divine mission in Nazareth. Those who heard him were so offended that they led him to the brow of the hill and tried to throw him off. This is the most likely spot where that happened as its the only steep drop off near Nazareth. We had a great view of Mount Tabor and the Jezreel Valley from here. Mount Tabor is the traditional site of the Mount of Transfiguration.

Here's a view of Nazareth which is now a large city, not a sleepy village.

Michael Wilcox taught us about Jesus' 30 years preparation for His ministry that largely happened in Nazareth.

This was another beautiful location, covered in wildflowers. We must have visited in peak wildflower season.

From Nazareth we drove to Mount Carmel, famous for the showdown between Elijah and the priests of Jezebel that is written in 1 Kings 18. Carmelite monks maintain the site and have a monastery on top of the mountain.

Elijah was a powerful prophet, yet very relatable to modern people. We soaked in stories of his life.

Mount Carmel offers incredible views stretching out to the Mediterranean Sea.

This is Helen and Gibson next to the monastery.

The patio surrounding the monastery labeled the surrounding hills and mountains. The one on the right of the photo is Tel Meggido, better known by its Greek name, Armageddon. The Book of Revelation identifies Armageddon as the site of the last battle before the end of the world, This was a little hard to imagine standing on a sunny day, looking at a quiet, fertile valley. Sometimes we felt a disconnect between what we saw in Israel and what we knew was happening out of our view. The scenery was beautiful, refreshing and peaceful, yet our tour guide told us that every apartment building contained a bomb shelter. 

After Mount Carmel, we had a rare stop for lunch, this time at a restaurant owned by Druze.

Lunch was underwhelming, but it gave us a chance to learn about a religious minority we had never heard of before. The Druze split off from other Muslim groups in 1000 AD and they no longer identify as Muslim. In 1043 the Druze stopped accepting converts. You need to be born a Druze to be a Druze. There are about a million Druze in the world, mostly in Lebanon and Syria. The Druze in Israel supported the Jews in the war of 1948 and have good relations with Israel's government today. Druze are known for blending in with the communities they live in while maintaining their own culture.

Our last stop was Caesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. There were lots of towns named Caesarea in the ancient world since it was never a bad idea to flatter the Roman emperor.

We started our tour on the seats on an ancient hippodrome, the location for chariot races.

Chloe sang If You Could Hie to Kolob. This tour was unusual for the singing talents of George, Garrett and Chloe and their gifts added to the meaning of the sites we visited.

Michael Wilcox spoke about Peter and Paul and the rapid spread of Christianity across the world from this spot. He also paid tribute to Ilan, his friend and fellow tour guide for many years.

Ilan led the historical part of the tour. Caesarea was one of Herod's major building projects. He built himself a palace next to the sea with an indoor swimming pool. The palace is gone, but this is what is left of the swimming pool. Some of the mosaic floors remain, showing some of the grandeur of the palace.

The city also had a theater which has been refurbished and is used for modern shows.

Caesarea must have been an impressive site 2000 years ago. The ruins are quite beautiful.

This is an aqueduct Herod had built to bring fresh water from springs that were about 10 miles away from Caesarea.

We had a short time to enjoy the beach which was covered in seashells and sea glass, two of our favorite things to collect.

Helen couldn't resist jumping in the sea. The water was warmer than the ocean off the Oregon Coast, but still chilly.

We drove from the beach to the airport, one of the most fun drives of the trip as Garrett sang songs on the bus microphone, accompanied from the back of the bus by Helen, Gibson and Emma.

It felt too soon to leave the beach and it was! We got to the airport in Tel Aviv 6 hours before our flight left. We found ourselves in the awkward and uncomfortable spot of passing through the first security checkpoint, which was intense and involved personal interviews with an Israeli soldier for each of our tour group, and not being able to advance past the baggage check in point. Our airline didn't open their services until 4 hours before the flight was scheduled to depart. We waited in space between the security line and the airline counter for the counter to open. Helen and Gibson played cards with some tour friends. Left of Gibson are Jane, Paul, Lorin and Kelly. 

Once the airline opened we quickly got checked in and had several hours to wait for our flight. We had our last meal in Israel in the airport.  Becky, Helen and Sofi had smoothie bowls and Brandan and Gibson had crepes. We had a long day of travel and landed back home about 30 hours after we left Tel Aviv.

Egypt was great fun, but we fell in love with Israel. For Brandan this was the trip of a lifetime. Becky hopes it isn't the trip of a lifetime because she would like to go back. Helen enjoyed walking around Old Jerusalem and visiting the Mount of Olives. Gibson enjoyed seeing new places and is looking forward to new adventures.

12 April 2022: Galilee

This is a photo of the sunrise on Tuesday morning from our hotel balcony. 

We ate breakfast with a great view of the sea. We were happy to see bread again. Our hotel in Jerusalem threw out all the bread on Saturday to prepare for Passover which would begin a week later.

We began our tour at the traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount, located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The Church of the Beatitudes maintains this location. The words of the Beatitudes were written on plaques around the church, including this version written in Korean.

We appreciated that the Franciscans chose to preserve the natural setting for the area.

We learned that the driver of the red bus, Mahmoud, sold his homemade olive oil and on reflection we realized how unique his olive oil is. Mahmoud is a Bedouin and his home is near Galilee. His family owns an olive orchard where they press the olives on a stone press to extract the oil. Mahmoud has met more general authorities for our church than we have (have we met any?) and has hosted a few in his home. In return, he has visited Salt Lake City and toured Temple Square.

Our next stop was the northern border of Israel, near the countries of Lebanon and Syria. The Jordan River begins from 3 sources, all of which drain from Mount Hermon, the tallest mountain in Israel. One fork comes through Lebanon. This is a photo of the second fork, the Dan River. The water looked fresh and clear, much different from the still, brown water of the Jordan River near the Dead Sea.

Here's the lucky traveler who got to carry both tour group flags.

Tel Dan is a rich archaeological site, dating back thousands of years. Tel is the Hebrew word for a manmade mountain that was created by towns being built on top of each other. This is the remains of a temple built by Jeroboam in the 900s BC.

Tel Dan is a national park and is a neat combination of nature and history.

Jeroboam was the first king of Israel after the 10 tribes separated from the kingdom of Judah and created the kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam worried that his subjects would want to rejoin Judah if they kept going to the temple in Jerusalem (the capital of Judah) three times a year. His solution was to build two competing temples, one in Bethel and one in Dan, where the people could worship golden calves. Sadly, Jeroboam's strategy was wildly successful and most of the 10 tribes turned to worshipping idols.

Abraham Gate is a short walk from Jeroboam's temple. This gate is made of mud bricks and is almost 4000 years old. The Bible records Abraham traveling to the city of Dan to rescue his nephew Lot in Genesis 14. There's no way to tell if Abraham entered this gate, but it's the right age and in the right place. This is the site of ongoing research.

From Tel Dan we drove to the headwaters of the Banyas River, the third source of the Jordan River. In Jesus' time this was the location of the town Caesarea Philippi, the place mentioned in Matthew 16 where Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ. 

The spring water pours out from the base of Mount Hermon.

The traditional site for the Mount of Transfiguration is Mount Tabor, also located in Galilee. Michael Wilcox prefers Mount Hermon as an alternative to Mount Tabor, as the experience is recounted in Matthew 17, just 6 days after Jesus and his disciples were recorded as being in this spot. The current form of the site is peaceful and refreshing.

Next we drove to Capernaum, Jesus' hometown after he was rejected in Nazareth. Gibson took a little break in the sun.

Here are Helen, Sofi and Emma.

So many events in the New Testament took place in this site. Capernaum was the center of Jesus ministry.

This is a photo of Brandan soaking in the view, taking photos, recording the teaching and preserving the moment.

This site is maintained jointly by the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches. We're glad they made the decision to leave the shoreline of the sea in its natural state.

We wish they would have made the same decision in other spots of Capernaum. This awkward church was built in 1990.

It's built up in the air over the ruins of a house that is believed to belong to Peter. There has been a Christian church on this spot since the 1st century AD so it's a reasonable claim.

Behind the modern church are the ruins of a synagogue dating to the 300s AD. It's built on top of an older synagogue that existed in the time of Jesus.

Archaeologists can tell the building was a synagogue and not a Christian church or Roman temple because of the decorations carved into the stone. Here is a menorah, definitely a Jewish idea.

This stone shows a carving of a temple on wheels. It could represent the tabernacle or Ezekiel's vision of God's throne found in Ezekiel 1.

We had one more archaeological site to visit for the day, the remains of a synagogue in Magdala, Mary Magdalene's hometown. Coins found at the site date the synagogue to the time of Jesus.

An ornate stone was found in the synagogue. Although this looks like a altar, synagogues do not have altars. It was probably used as a table for unrolling the scrolls of the Torah in order to read from them, something Jesus did many times. Some researchers think the stone is carved to be a model of the temple in Jerusalem.

This is a photo of the red bus and the yellow bus as we loaded up to drive back to the hotel.

We had a little free time before dinner so Brandan, Becky and Emma walked to the shops in Tiberias to do some shopping. Becky likes to mail postcards as we travel and it feels like the process gets trickier as regular snail mail becomes less common around the world. With the help from strangers, we finally found a post office to mail the postcards she had been carrying since Jerusalem.

Here are Becky and Emma crossing the street.

Candy shops were common in Jerusalem and we found another one in Tiberias.

The store had lots of candy packaged for Passover gifts.

Becky realized this was our last dinner as a tour group and took a photo to remember the wonderful people we met and spent two intense weeks with.

We had one more incredible experience left for today, a nighttime boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Our boat cruised to the middle of the Lakeland turned off the lights. The city of Tiberias sparkled in the darkness.

We floated for a bit, listening to the story of Jesus walking on the water and stilling the storm before heading back to the dock.

This was a unique and special experience to end the day.