The Simple Life

Ten days in Galilee did us all some good. We spent half of our days visiting bible sites around the area, and the other half in New Testament class or swimming in the sea.
My nights and mornings involved a lot of beach-sitting, life-contemplating, and frog-avoiding. I miss the sunsets. Apartment 309! We were a little nervous to leave for 10 days because Delilah (our pet dove that lives in our light fixture outside our door) is going to have hatching eggs any day. Luckily, we didn't miss the squabs being born (yep, that's what baby doves are called. Google it if you don't believe me, because that's how I learned it too). Sometimes Delilah doesn't move for long periods of time...but I now know that it's ok. And I also know that she doesn't want to be poked if she isn't moving for a while because she flies at your head and doesn't come back the rest of the day, leaving you feeling responsible for her abandoned eggs.

Bonfires. My summer needed to have more of those, but no regrets. It needed more concerts too, but Alison went to more than enough for the both of us. Luckily Israel's delicious strawberry marshmallows inside of my S'more slightly eased my jealous feelings toward her.
I caught one a couple of times just to prove I wasn't too scared. But then I would scream, and (unintentionally) throw them when I felt how squishy they were...which sort of just confirmed how scared I was after all. Dang it. This is obviously not my hand because I couldn't hold one that calmly long enough for a picture.
President Brown's knowledge never ceases to amaze me. Here he is telling us all about the ruins of Bet She'an.One morning we took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee and had a devotional. We sang Master the Tempest is Raging and I tried to imagine witnessing all the miracles we are studying in the New Testament.Caesarea Maritima...apart from the bats in a cave and the guard who really hated Americans that climb on aqueducts, it was a good time.We ate fish in Tiberias that looked way too alive. My waitress had to come over and take its head off for me after she witnessed many failed attempts. I think I could have enjoyed it at least a little more if Tyler wasn't examining the anatomy of its brain next to me, and Nick wasn't eating the eyeball across from me. Guess I had to have the experience?Church at the Galilee Branch was amazing. The view of the sea was beautiful, even though I'm still kind of partial to the Dome of the Rock out my window. The hymns are posted in English, Spanish, Hebrew, and Russian.We checked out a Syrian bunker site (Israeli controlled now) in the Golan Heights. No explosions occurred.The few hours we spent in Nazareth on the drive up to Galilee was awesome, Bro. Emmet used to live there so he gave us an expert tour. I love his understanding of all sides of the conflict here, and the stories he tells about when he was a student in Jerusalem.The Mt. of Beatitudes was one of my favorite sites we visited. Go read Mathew 5-7.
Adam crashed our girl's picture. He has a knack for that. We took a break in our field trip day to swim at Gan Ha-Shelosha, which would have been more fun without the biting fish. I kept moving the whole time so they never touched me...way too stressful. And I hit a wall in the process, but I'm glad because now I have a Jerusalem scar. Free souvenir.
Gamla -- cool hike, sad story. And this post has not left me with enough patience to give you details. Find me in two weeks for a live description.

Overall, Galilee was unlike any other 10 days I'll ever have. No technology, no distractions, no worries (besides stepping on the frogs). All free time went to scriptures or laying on a banana chair/hammock/genius chair thing, or talking to my friends that I love more every day. Abby was my roommate, and she just got her mission call to the Belgium, Netherlands mission! And Erin is going to the Russia, Moscow mission. Life has been exciting here at the JC...now if only it would slow down a little.