Nazareth

---

Howdy folks. I want to first off apologize for this blog that you are about to read. The first three posts were written by a smart, english major-yours truly Blake. But, I’m sorry to inform you that this blog is written by me, a business major who scored questionably on the reading comprehension and english portions of the ACT-DJ. So sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy this below average insert.



Today, Blake and I made the voyage from our Kibbutz in Huqoq to the city of Nazareth with the group from Bethsaida. When we pulled into the city of Nazareth, we were taken back by the physical landscape that this city was built on, such huge hills! The vans dropped us off close to our first destination- The Santuario Di Nazareth. This Roman Catholic church was supposedly built on Mary’s house. We walked around this magnificent complex for about a half hour, amazed by the gigantic murals and the sanctuary. There were tunnels underneath this church which led to her home which we did not go into unfortunately, because of our tight schedule.



Our next destination was only about 200 meters away from our previous location which was a Sister’s Convent. We were met by one of the sisters here who gave us a tour and gave us a background of that place. What was super cool about this place was that their were ancient tunnels that we actually got to go in! These tunnels were right under the church, I felt like Nicholas Cage looking for a Mason treasure while being chased by bad guys. The only difference was that there was no treasure, or bad guys, but there was an tomb in the basement of the caves. There was so much that was cool about this tomb, for example, it had a unrolled stone in front of it, that signifies that this tomb housed some important individuals. The unanswered question of who lived here, and who was laid to rest in that tomb haunts every living soul who cared. Tradition (and rumor) has it that this could of been Joseph’s home. There is speculation of course.



We then walked throughout the city to Mary’s well (where the angel Gabriel appeared to her telling her that she would bear the Son of God) where there is still running water. Blake and I were able to sip some of this water! WHOOOAAAA, the actual well of Mary, the mother of Jesus, used this same water? YEA.



After we drank the Holiest of water, we then had a 2 hour lunch break, where we chowed down on some serious, authentic filafels. We then strolled on over to the city’s spice shop, where we loaded up on some freshly dried fruits and nuts, no not spices.



Following our break, we joined back up with the group to head to the Mountain of Precipice. This is “probably” the hill that the Nazarenes wanted to throw Jesus off of in the later parts of Luke chapter 4. (look it up) It is the highest point around, which was a great location for some sweet pics and panoramas.



Our last destination of the day was an ancient Nazarene makeup which gave us a visual of what this city would of looked like in the Roman Period. We were able to see how they carved wood, farmed, and made olive oil. They also had a replica of what a new testament town hall looked like, or in other words where the elders of the town met. One of the coolest things happened next....are you ready?...our tour guide went off and exclaimed the Gospel to everyone there! It was so awesome, because this was the first tour guide/person in charge who actually shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ since I’ve been here. Everyone has been so sucked up in the history of all these sites that we have been going too, without mentioning the most important news anyone can hear. This young tour guide is a stud- he was even persecuted right there. Someone told him that he needed to focus on the history and not so much on the evangelical significance of this place. RIDICULOUS. What a courageous man on mission. It was very encouraging.



ANNNDDD, that was our day in the old city of Nazareth. Give some grace on the spelling errors and overall grammar.



Thanks for reading! 😊





-DJ & Blake

---