Tuesday, January 3, 2012

End of Galilee Trip:Tiberias

On Saturday, December 31, we got up early at left Acre (Akko) to drive to Tiberias to go to church. The branch there are normally about 8-10 people in the branch but the 6 of us alone almost doubled the size and then there was a small tour group there as well so this small little room that used to be a living room of a villa that was converted for Church was just bursting at the seams! It was a lovely service though, and the interesting thing is that a number of the people in the branch speak Spanish so the Branch President translated everything he said in to Spanish as well. The first speaker spoke in Spanish and had a translator so that made it slightly difficult for me to pay attention to her plus the view of the Sea of Galilee was also very distracting. Then, Eric sang a lovely rendition of the hymn, "Arise, O God and Shine". The second speaker, the Branch President's wife Sister Graham, spoke about the Book of Mormon and gave a touching testimony which made me feel the need and a sense of urgency to read the Book of Mormon this year. I have not read it for awhile, but after her talk and even this amazing trip, I feel like it is something I need to be doing. After the service, we gook a few pictures of the amazing view of the Sea of Galilee and then got back in the car and drove down on Israeli controlled roads through the West Bank to Jerusalem. 

The course of our trip Saturday





And a few pictures of the view from the converted villa...



Can you imagine living somewhere where you look out your back window and this is your view???

This little vacation within our vacation was so wonderful and I had such a great time that I am sad to be living Israel at all in a few days, but school must  continue I guess.