Nazareth, Capernaum, Israel - Day 1

BTW I can't figure out why there is so much space in my posts but I give up on trying to fix it!

I cherish this picture. What a force for good we are.

First stop, Mt.Tibor/Transfiguration. I felt like there was so much to see in Israel that at our first stop, I felt we were moving too slow. We were a huge group (turns out I was correct but I digress). As we were walking back to the taxi I said to my friend, "Tell me I need to relax because I feel like we are moving too slow and won't get to see everything." She said, "You do need to relax because that was one of the most spiritual sites you'll see today." I felt a punch in the stomach. I rushed back to the site and embraced the warmth of the sun and reflected on what took place. Matthew 17:5"...behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Have you ever thought about the love God has for the Savior? How proud of Him He must be? I know God loves me. I want Him to be proud of me too.

Sea of Galilee - I expected to have an intense spiritual experience at each of these amazing sites. Atlas, that didn't happen nor did it need to. However, at the Sea of Galilee I did have a moment of complete peace and a heart filled with joy as I watched my girls play in the water. It wasn't so much the spirit confirming to me that yes, the Savior did walk on water here (I knew that already) it was simply that I had a wonderful family who brings me so much joy and the fact that we WERE IN ISRAEL!! That was a great moment.

I wasn't nervous taking my kids to Israel until we got there! Our guide started talking about what goes on there and what life is like for the people. So what did we do for security measures? We wrote our guides cell phone number in permanent marker on all our kids hands incase they got lost! That oddly brought me enough comfort to proceed. But actually, having my kids in Israel made me feel safer. I felt like the people saw us as a family so we must be good people :)

We stopped at the Mt. of Beatitudes and the River Jordan. The highlight of the trip for Kaiyah was the River Jordan. We sang as a group Jesus came to John the Baptist. Whenever we sang the spirit quickly followed. If it wasn't for the testimony sharing and singing at each site, it would have been a completely different experience seeing Israel.



Harley shows it all. Our last stop of the day was the Church of the Annunciation. A women broke out in song as we were walking through. Which I thought was pretty cool.