New Testament: Sea of Galilee

Bethlehem - crypt where Christ was born at the Church of the Nativity
The spirit was felt as we sang Christmas hymns of Christ's birth and reflected on the important events that had taken place there so many years before. I loved the spirit we felt in Bethlehem. It was mind boggling to think that we were actually there, in the place where an event foretold of for thousands of years and where the life of the single most important person who ever walked on this earth, began.
We were in the West Bank, just over looking Bethlehem. We reinacted the Christmas scene and sand different Christmas hymns throughout the manger scene. Then Steven, a guy in our group, told a story about a Mong refugee family that had been living in refugee camps in Thailand for the past 25 years. They had been told for these 25 years that there was "no room" just like there was no room at the inn for Mary. These refugees had been lost and taken out of their homeland for so long. He told of their first Christmas as Christians and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had never before celebrated Christmas and he and his companion got to share in their first Christmas. Christ was persecuted and a refugee himself, but yet He is the greatest refuge that we all have. He told us about the joy these people now had in their lives because they had found refuge in Christ. Their lives now were full of love and light, something they hadn't experienced before. All of us have acted out the manger scene since we were little, but never before had it ever had such meaning or reality as we overlooked Bethlehem and felt the spirit of Christmas on this July evening. In the hymn "Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem" a line says " if meek souls will recieve Him still, the dear Christ enters in". We can recieve Christ in our hearts each day if we allow Him to and we have to let him in each day.
Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The boat we rode on while crossing the Sea of Galilee
Bethany and I on the boat, crossing the Sea of Galilee

We had a devotional on a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. Our thoughts were focused around a talk from President Hunter “Master The Tempest Is Raging” I’d like to share a few highlights from this talk. He says Our faith should remind us that He can calm the troubled water of our lives, just as he did the Sea of Galilee. “To those anxieties I think the Father of us all would say “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And of course that has to be faith for the whole journey, the entire experience, the fullness of our life, not simply around the bits and pieces and tempestuous moments. At the end of the journey, an end none of us can see now, we will say “Master the terror is over, Linger Oh blessed Redeemer! Leave me alone no more.” Speaking of Christ he says “His ship was tossed most of his life and at least to mortal eyes, it crashed fatally on the rocky coast of Calvary. Peace was on the lips and in the heart of the Savior no matter how fiercely the tempest was raging. May it so be with us- in our own hearts, in our own homes, in our nations of the world and even in the buffetings faced from time to time by the church. We should not expect to get through life individually or collectively without some opposition. “Whether the wrath of the strom-tossed sea or demons or men or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship where lies, the Master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey his will. Peace be still.”
These words touched my heart as we crossed the sea of Galilee. I know that Christ has the power to calm the seas of our troubled times. Those times will surely come but if we turn to Christ we can have peace and be still.
Brother and Sister Skinner and me, St. Peter's Primacy

Our teacher, Brother Skinner, Andrew Skinner taught about the compassion of Christ and bore testimony of Him. He related John chapter 21 and said that this story is the essence of Christ. The root word for compassion in Hebrew is the word womb, He learned compassion at the feet of His mother. This chapter is after the resurrection, He comes back to visit the apostles. He sees them in need, cold, hungry and wants to teach and provide for their needs. The essence of Christ’s being is to warm those who are cold, feed those who are hungry, and cares about even our economic circumstances. He told the apostles where to fish. He worries about us, even our jobs, and wants to provide for us. If we listen we will hear Him tell us where to cast our nets. We will hear him say “cast your nets on the right side and you will be blessed immensely” We were there at the spot that John 21 took place. Brother Skinner told us you will never have a greater friend than that of the Savior. He also said that his knowledge of the Savior is the most precious knowledge he has. This testimony from my professor who is a scholar of history and the scriptures, for him to say of all the knowledge he has that his knowledge of the Savior is most precious to him, deeply touched my heart.
Group shot at Capernum, where Christ performed much of his ministry and many miracles.
Synagogue at Capernum

Steven and I at Nain

One of my favorite spots in Galilee, Nain. Nain is a Galilean village and the site where Jesus raised a widow’s son. We had a little lesson about it and I learned a lot. In the time of Christ, they buried people the day they died. Christ was there, by the time the child had died, this meant that He had made the journey during the night, walked the 25 miles from Capernum, around the Sea of Galilee, to Nain. This was right after healing the centurion’s servant in Capernum, so he had to have left that very afternoon or day and walked through the night, knowing that he would be needed the next day when this widow’s only son would die. This teaches us so much about the compassion that Christ had for others, especially women and children. He knew that this widow would be left completely alone without her son, so he made the extra effort to perform this miracle for her. This also taught me that Jesus prepared to help this women, before it was even needed, just as we must always be preparing ourselves in every way to be available to provide service and be a tool in the hands of the Lord, whenever it is needed. Caesarea Philippi
Caesarea Philippi
Caesarea Philippi

This is in Mat. 16:13 where Christ asked his apostles “whom say ye that I am” and Peter answers for all of them “thou art the Christ, the son of the living God” Jesus then says “blessed art thou for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven.” The spirit revealed this to Peter and the other apostles. This was personal revelation for each of them. Christ then says “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” rock here meaning revelation and symbolic of Christ. This church is built upon revelation. Joseph Smith received personal revelation, the 1st vision which was the foundation or rock of his testimony. We have prophets who receive revelation for us a church but each member of this church is guided by a personal conviction and personal revelation which is the foundation of our testimonies. Christ is the stone of Israel, the rock, the foundation of each of our testimonies. This great passage of scripture took place here at Caesarea Phillipi where this bed rock is the foundation of Mt. Hermon. In the winter it snows and then it melts and water literally comes from the bed rock and it flows into living waters which we can see. This is symbolic of Christ being our foundation and being the living water where by we receive strength. Again, everything in the Holy Land testifies of Christ and Christ used the physical structure of the land to testify of Him.


Eric, Anne, Rachel, Mariah, me and Camille at the Mt. of Transfiguration

Mariah, me and Camille at the Mt. of Transfiguration
Mt. of Beattitudes

Where Jesus gave his sermon Herold B. Lee said “the beatitudes are a blueprint for perfection.” Christ was a master teacher.

Thoughts on the Sea of Galilee:
There is a different feeling here then any other place in the Holy Land. Here and the Garden Tomb and are places where you can just feel that Christ has been there.

Journal entry from the last night at the Sea of Galilee:
Brother Brown started off our testimony meeting with Christ’s last night in Galilee. Christ didn’t go to the pub, nor party on his last night in Galilee, but surely He spent it serving and blessing as many as He could. How must He have felt, His last night here, where He was surrounded by all who loved Him, His followers and closest friends, knowing that He would face critics and mockers in Jerusalem and knowing the task that He must perform. He was asked to leave all He loved, His home, His safe haven. He must have felt scared. But He did it. He knew He had to do it, and so He did. He faced His fears and carried on with perfect faith just as each of us must do but He always carried Galilee in His heart.
I don’t want to leave Galilee. I have felt such a peace here and have never felt closer to Christ then I do here right now. But I know that I have to leave, I have to face the world, the critics, the mockers, temptations. But I know that I can because Christ did it and knows what it is like. He faced the ultimate ridicule, mocking, pain and sorrow. Because He made it, I can too. Heavenly Father will be there to guide me and Christ has shown me the way to make it. I know that all things are possible through Jesus Christ because of the example He set. I will forever carry Galilee in my heart just as Christ did.
I am so very, very blessed to have the knowledge that I have of Him, to know of His life. I think it is a miracle that I can come to know and feel of a person’s presence so very vividly, that walked this earth 2000 years ago. It is incredible to me that I can feel so powerfully of His presence on these shores, that He did indeed walk here, on this water in front of me, that He did healed the centurion’s servant, the leper and cast out devils in Capernum just north of where I’m sitting now, that He gave the beatitudes on a mountain north west of me, that He raised a widow’s only son from the dead at Nain just south of me, that Peter bore witness that He is the Son of the Living God and Christ revealed that He is the rock of our foundation at Caesarea Phillipi, just east of me. I am literally surrounded in every direction of proof of His existence and His miracles and ministry. I felt confirmations of that as I visited these places these last ten days. He is so very real.
His lived to fulfill His mission and perform the atonement so that each of us can have peace and joy in this life and the next. His life would mean nothing to mine though, if I don’t act upon the things I have felt and have come to a knowledge of in these past ten days and throughout my life.
The greatest lesson I’ve learned in Galilee is of the compassion Christ had for others. After becoming a resurrected being, He comes back to Galilee to visit His apostles but He doesn’t just come to visit them, He makes dinner for them, there on the shore. His apostles are on the Sea fishing, coming in late, cold, hungry and exhausted, so what does he do? He has dinner prepared for them, even as a resurrected being, He is still worried about the well fare of His friends. He cared enough about a lonely widow to walk all through the night to be there at Nain when her only son passed away, He was tired from performing miracles that very day, but still did it. He led a perfect life of humility, compassion, service, charity and love. I want to be more like Him. I want to live my life so that others will know Him through me, I want to receive His image in my countenance.
I have come to know Peter better while being here too. I can not believe the faith that Petter had to even step foot out of that boat and to actually walk on water. He only started to sink when He took His focus off of Christ. We must never loose out focus, but even when we do, Christ is there to save us, to lift us up. Christ can calm the tempests and storms of my life just as He did the waves in front of me. I know that. I felt His presence last Monday as we were on a boat on the Sea of Galilee. These waters and waves obeyed His voice, He controls them still just as He does the sea of my life. I don’t ever want to forget the things I’ve learned here and will pray each day that I never do. I will always keep Gailee in my heart, just as Christ does, and just as I will always keep Christ in my heart as I face the world and face the troubles of life, I will always be able to rely on Him.

Ann Madsen, a professor at BYU gave a talk about her experience in Galilee. She said this:
"I know you cannot travel to Israel to duplicate my Galilee experience. How I wish you could! But just as surely as he walked that shore, and that I traced his footsteps there nearly two thousand years later, you must have your own sweet encounters with Jesus Christ. Your experience will differ from mine. You must find him in your own way and in your own place. "
We can each do this through the scriptures.