The group members - fellow pilgrims

I can't say enough good about the people with whom we went on this trip.  Wonderful!  Each and every one had something valuable to contribute to our trip.  While in the Galilee area, we drove around for a week in two nine passenger vans.  We got very well acquainted visiting with one another as we switched seats and chatted with everyone.  There were five men in the group and thirteen women.  Here is a list of our fellow pilgrims:

Julianne and Kerry - our leaders and teachers, drivers and arrangers of everything needed, awesome people!
Jason and Shelley - also our leader/helpers who made our trip so enjoyable, love them.  Here is some of Jason's work.
Sue - my dear long-time friend and mother of Jason
Herrick and Sylvia - lovely couple, Sylvia has a beautiful singing voice and she came prepared to sing to us at several of the sites, which helped bring the Spirit and make our visits so much more special
Roger and Lori - an older couple (he is a retired dentist and a stake patriarch) who are the sweetest people and Jordan and I loved getting to know them.  Lori painted at several of the sites
Tim and Elise - Tim was a missionary in my mission in Argentina, they are great people and it was fun to get to know them better
Hannah - an employee of The Church who buys art work for our temples and is a great person
Jenedy - an artist who was sketching and drawing at most of the sites.  Here is some of her work.
Laura - a doctoral student of Hebrew history, studying at Hebrew university.  She was very knowledgable and had visited these sites many times, she was a great traveler
Marilyn - from Boise and a dear woman who added so much to our conversations and group
Leslie - a lively lady from southern CA who loves the Bible and was so easy and fun to be around
Jordan and myself

We pretty much walked our legs off while visiting the sites and everyone was so kind and thoughtful to everyone else.  We were strangers when we started and dear friends when we parted.  We even had a reunion in August to bring the group back together and share some memories.  They were all just wonderful, faith-filled people who made our adventures so much more enjoyable.

The places - 1st - Galilee area

I could give a very long description of each place we visited, along with stories, references and feelings we had as we visited all the places around the Galilee area.  I stood, more than once, at a particular site and just tried to envision ALL that had transpired at that location over centuries.  Old Testament stories, New Testament stories just came alive, as I could envision more clearly, the areas in Israel that have such significance as the story of the children of Israel unfolded before our eyes. 


Megiddo - a huge Canaanite site, which became an important trade and military city for the Israelites, with dozens of battles fought here.  We saw some fortifications built by Solomon and other biblical kings

Nazareth - Mount Precipice, Nazareth village, an open-air museum that reconstructs village life in the Galilee in the time of Jesus

The Church of the Annunciation which stands over the cave that tradition holds to be the home of the Virgin Mary.

The Jezreel Valley - a green and fruitful valley where many crops are grown, Israel's breadbasket
Magdala - the city of Mary Magdalene

Mt. Arbel - an amazing overlook of the Sea of Galilee that helps to understand the geography of the area the Savior loved so well and spent most of his ministry in.  We were able to learn about the political divisions that affected his life and where the towns he frequented are in relation to each other.

Mt. Tabor - the site of the Mount of Transfiguration

Tel Jezreel - where many Biblical stories take place, including the Spring of Gideon where Gideon and his men drank from the spring

Bay of Parables - the traditional site of the host of parables were delivered by the Savior

Capernaum - the city Jesus referred to as his "own city" and where he performed many miracles and delivered the powerful "Bread of Life" discourse.

Tabgha - the traditional site of feeding the multitude with the loaves and two fishes

Church of St. Peter's Primacy - where the Lord commissioned Peter to "Feed my Sheep"

Hippos - a city on a hill
Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee

Kursi - also called Piggy Hill

Tiberias

Chorazin

Mount of Beatitudes

Tel Hazor - an Old Testament site

Tel Dan - where one of the headwaters of the Jordan river begins

Caesarea Philippi
Bet Shean or Scythopolis - ruins from Old Testament stories

Jordan Valley Rift - visit the Jordan river