Change of Plans

Our plan for Wednesday was to go on a tour of the northern part of Israel... Unfortunately, the tour decided to leave without us and we became our own tour guides. It was quite an adventure, to say the least! We waited for a while for the bus to come. While we were waiting, we found this wonderful sign right by a tunnel that goes under the highway...

We finally arrived in our destination: Nazareth! We met some guys from Utah (what are the odds?) as we stepped off the bus. One of them spoke Hebrew and had been to Nazareth 3 or 4 times before. We decided to spend some time with them. It was wonderful! We went first to the Church of the Annunciation. This is where, supposedly, Mary first learned that she would be the mother of the Savior. 

It was a beautiful church. However, mom and I both had our knees showing (risqué, don't you think?) and so we had to go rent (for a deposit, only) sheets to wrap around our waists... It was an interesting experience, to say the least! It was worth it, though. The church was beautiful! There were mosaics from many countries all around the church, as well.  Each mosaic was of Mary and the baby Jesus. It was pretty neat!

Our next stop was Mary's well. This is the only well in Nazareth, and so is believed to be the well talked of in the bible. 

This is looking into the back of the church, where the well is located. It was a small church, but beautifully decorated.

The 3rd church visit for the day was the Synagogue Church. This was the most amazing experience all day. This is where Christ first declared himself the Messiah! (Luke 4: 16-21). It was very small, but had some interesting arches inside. The coolest thing, though, was to open up the New Testament and read about what happened there. It was amazing how the spirit flooded the room! 

We walked until we found a bus stop out of the city. Nazareth really is built on a hill. It is so interesting. We took a bus around hairpin turns to get in and out of the city! It was a crowded city, as well, but very beautiful. And it was amazing to think that we were walking in the city where Jesus was from! What an incredible opportunity it was to be there!