Galilee Sweet Galilee.... (John Alexander Clark's Grave!)

...Where Jesus loved so much to be.

I loved Galilee. I cannot describe it. I have no idea how to cover it all, except to say that I'm not going to attempt it while I am in the Holy Land.

We had 11 days of incredible experiences. It was great! I may do an experience here and there. Maybe I'll even get the first couple days down, but I have a feeling I'm going to be in over my head just trying to keep up on these next final weeks. So bear with me folks!

One thing I did want to write about while the feeling was fresh in my mind, and at the request of our wonderful Mother, was about visiting the grave of my ancestor, John Alexander Clark, on the last day of our trip, last stop. He is buried in a cemetary in Haifa, The Templar Cemetary.

For those Clarks out there that don't know about this amazing young man, I recommend reading his Missionary Letters. They are incredible, and provide such a great insight to who he was.

He was called on a mission to Turkey at the end of 1893 and left in February 1894. His dad, Ezra T. Clark, had two wives. He was a son by the second wife. The first wife, Mary, and Ezra had a son who had died on a mission returning from England. He died of heat stroke on a train in New York, and Ezra had a really hard time with it. When John asked to be allowed to go on a mission when he was around 24 years-old, his father was very hesitant about it. Ezra was a good Latter-day Saint, and had proven very faithful and generous in the church in years past. Kali Clark, who is a girl on this program, who is also related to John A. Clark (she is a decendent through the first wife, we are decendents through the second wife, by John's younger brother Nathan), told me that once Joseph Smith was trying to raise money for the Church and begged members at a meeting to donate of their scarce funds. After the meeting Ezra T. Clark walked up to him and gave him everything he had. Everything. Joseph Smith told him he would be blessed in his life for it, and he was. He was a very prosperous man. So you can see that the reason for Ezra's hesitancy to let his son go on a mission was not a question of faith, but more a fear of losing another son on a mission. John wanted to go so badly that he told his father he would give up his inheritance to be able to go on a mission. His father was a wealthy man. That's how badly he felt the need to serve the Lord.

When he was called to Turkey, he left in February 1894, and first went to London, and then traveled through Europe to get to Syria. He stayed there for several months and learned both German and Arabic there, waiting until he could go into the Holy Land. He mastered German, and moved to Haifa, where he continued learning Arabic. His daily routine was to wake up, study Arabic, go for a swim in the mediterranean, take lessons in Arabic, and then go out into the city to be with the Arabs and to pass out "tracts" with a message about the Church. He had no companion, and was very faithful in his studying and proselyting.

In January 1895 a plague of black smallpox broke out in the area. Sister Hilt (whom John was staying with) begged him not to go out among the Arabs, but to protect himself and stay inside. His reply was always, "Sister Hilt, I am not a child. I have the priesthood and a work to do, and I know the Lord will protect me." And off he would go, to preach the Gospel.

On January 30, 1895 he contracted Black Smallpox and was sick for 8 days, when he died on February 8, 1895. Because of the incredible contagiousness of the disease, he was buried within hours, and his body was not permitted to be brought back home to his Father. His parents and Family had a really hard time with it. They didn't learn he was sick until three and a half weeks after his death, and then learned of his death after that.

His sister, Alice, was very close with him and she took it very hard. She had mourned his death for weeks when she heard his voice in her head, very clearly, repeating the last words he had ever said to her: "Alice, you said you were happy I was going on a mission. Why now are you so sad?" After that she was comforted and knew that he had a purpose in life and had fulfilled it.

He didn't know he would die when he went on his mission, nor did his family. They may have not understood the reason for his death at the time, but now, over 100 years later, it is very clear what his mission was, and what Heavenly Father had planned for him. Because of his grave, and because of a tombstone that was paid for with money raised by a college class at the school he graduated from (which is another miraculous and wonderful story), the Church was able to prove their history in the Holy Land prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, and was able, because of that, to build the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Easter Studies, where I currently call home.

If not for my ancestor (as well as another missionary that died 2 1/2 years before John and was related to the man responsible for starting the fundraiser for their tombstones) there couldn't be a Jerusalem Center. I feel so blessed to have read his letters, and visited his tombstone. I feel very grateful that he died doing the Lord's will, to fulfill a greater purpose, and has since blessed the lives of many students who have walked these halls and lived in this gorgeous building.

I talked to my class while we were there, and I testified, as I do now, that the Lord has a plan for us. He knows our missions, He knows our lives, and He has something greater planned for each of us than we could ever imagine. We can only fulfill that potential if we let Him into our lives and hearts, to shape us like clay, and make us into those people. I know that there is a purpose for everything we go through and experience.

I love you all. I hope you all get a chance to learn more about your ancestors. They did so much for us, it is only right for us to learn about them so we can know them when we see them someday.

Me at the grave with my Missionary Letters book and my hymnal! It was so great to finally be there! I had been reading all week about John's mission, and was so excited to get there. All day I was looking forward to it!

This is me and Kali Clark, who is the one related to John also. We figured it out. He would be my great, great uncle, and her great, great half-uncle. So we are cousins...somehow. We didn't get as far as to determine our exact relation.....maybe that's a job for our moms... :)

Just a close up :) When it was me and Kali, everyone was taking pictures of us. It was really funny, actually. But it's crazy that we had two girls related to him on the program, and that there was one in each class so we could talk to our classes about him. It was perfect!

In fond remembrance of John A. Clark, Son of Ezra and Susan Clark.
Born Feb. 28, 1871 at Farmington, Utah, U.S.A.
Died Feb. 8, 1895 at Haifa, Palestine.
A missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

My Great, Great Uncle!

Eilat 11-15-09

This was the day before we went to Galilee....

You know, we just bussed down to the Red Sea for the day and went Snorkeling...just another day in the life of a BYU JC student :).

It seriously was awesome, though. The day was a little overcast and slightly cooler than it had been, but it was still really awesome. The fish were out and active. We saw a ton of cool stuff.

Let me back up. First of all, we woke up and were on the buses at 5:30 a.m. Early! It is a three and a half hour drive down to Eilat, which is the very southern tip of Israel, right by the border to Egypt. So we all got on the bus, and tons of people slept, which I did....after I watched the glorious sunrise!

This is the Sunrise over the Judean Highlands..

The progression...you can just barely see the Dead Sea now..

Sunrise over the Dead Sea!

I just couldn't help it. This one is slightly blurred, but so so beautiful!

After I took these pictures, I went to sleep. I bet I got about 2 hours of sleep....thank you ipod and the fact that I was on the bus with 30 people instead of the bus with 50 people... yay! So I spread out in an empty row in the back. Hallelujah!

When we got there we had a meeting with a guide there, who told us that we could go to "the north bridge" (aka the north dock) and swim until "the south bridge." I was skeptical because it was maybe 50 yards in between the two, and I there were only certain areas that we could swim in, and we couldn't go over the coral (cause it was only about a foot deep over the coral), and etc. But....we got in the water, and there were fish galore! It was so cool! I saw an eel, a tiger fish, puffer fish, and tons and tons more. I bet Pat would know the name of them. Oh Pat, I was looking for the little fish that you love that has a little hole and sticks it's head out and then goes back in when you scare it, but I didn't see it. And THEN I was talking to one of my friends and he saw it! I was jealous. But, just so you know. They have those fishes in the Red Sea. Check and check.

This is me, Marissa, Kathryn, and Kyra with the Red Sea behind us! You can also see "the north bridge."

Just a fun picture of me....Happy!

And there is "the South Bridge."

Me, Marissa, and Kyra :)

Anyway, after about two hours of snorkeling, because it was a little chilly on the beach with the breeze, we decided to go into the city center and just look around. We went into a mall there, and I actually bought a really cute Red Coat.....I've always wanted one, and always talk myself out of it, but this time I went for it. I'm really glad I did, too. I love it! You can see pictures of it later, on the Separation Barrier field trip, which was the day after Galilee.

Love you all! Happy Snorkeling!

Oh I'd also just like to point out one small, cool fact. We snorkeled in the Red Sea, drove past the Dead Sea, Went to the Mediterranean Sea (at Caesarea Maritima), and then were at the Sea of Galilee. Awesome, awesomness. I love my life!

Galilee Day 11 - November 26, 2009

This was our last day in Galilee. We all loaded into the bus and went to a few nearby historical sites, including a Tel with a mosaic where there is a Mosaic of a lady that they call The Mona Lisa of the Middle East.

We then went to Mt. Carmel, which is where Elijah killed the priests of Baal.
Gotta love Biblical History!

Then we went to an overlook of Haifa and the gardens of Baha'i, which is a shoot-off religion of the Re-Shiite Muslims.
It was a very, very expansive temple-like garden overlook, and the view of the city was beautiful. But I was mostly anxious for the next stop.

The next stop was to a cemetery in Haifa, where John Alexander Clark, my great, great Uncle was buried. I read his letters home in a book my mom gave me before we left, and really learned about his story. He was called on a mission to Palestine in 1894, where he left his family and went. He paid his own way there, and found his own lodgings. He learned the language on his own, and preached among Muslims there, where he caught the Bubonic Plague and died because of it. They had to bury him immediately because of how contagious the disease was, and his family was not allowed to bring his body home. A year later, his college class raised money to have a gravestone placed on his grave, and the grave of another missionary that died there in 1894, that reads "A missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Because of this, when the Church was trying to get authorization to build the BYU Jerusalem Center on Mount Scopus in the 1970's, they were able to prove that they had a presence in the Holy Land prior to the organization of the State of Israel, which made it possible for them to build the Center. Without my great, great Uncle, and the other missionary buried there, the Church would be unable to operate in the Holy Land. Needless to say, it was a very special experience to get to visit his gravesite and have a chance to tell my classmates all about the center.

Here are some pictures:

Me at John Clark's grave. The broken column represents a life that ended early.

This is Kali Clark, my cousin (second cousin?) who was on my study abroad with me, and also related to John Alexander Clark.


This is Adolf Haag, the other missionary who died before John Alexander Clark.

After visiting John Clark's grave, we made the long drive back to Jerusalem to return to the Center for our last few weeks in Israel.

Galilee Day 10 - November 25, 2009

On this day we went to a Crusader city called Akko. I'm disappointed that I had never heard of this, or had a chance to research more about it before we went, because the place was huge! A lot of what we visited was a huge Crusader Castle that had lots of dark stone passageways and cool history... but, compared to everything else in the Holy Land, it gets kind of a "Class B" reputation, you can imagine. The only reason we were able to visit is because we had so much time there (and because we packed it in, especially in Galilee).

This is the entrance to Akko.

Some of the inside stonework was incredible!

I guess Marco Polo was held there for a while in a "Khan," which is a kind of inn or market that are enclosed squares, which could have been the kind of "inn" that Mary and Joseph went.
This is the Khan they showed us first.... love what they make of historical areas, right? If you prefer....
This is probably a better picture to allow you to imagine how it was a market/inn-type area.

It's right on the coast, so we got to go out to the Marina and saw some fishermen and had some free time before we had to get back on the bus.

This is proof that I was there :)

After that we went to Tabneh, or Bet She-erim, to see see some graves. We were supposed to look for four symbols on the tombs and turn them in for homework.


It was pretty cool, cause all the graves were in caves, and we got to go explore to find symbols.

This is significant because of the time period these graves were created, and a menorah is a symbol that developed over the years.

The BEST part of the day was definitely that night, when we got back to the Kibbutz. They held a Thanksgiving dinner for us there, complete with turkeys that had sparklers coming out of them, red, white, and blue streamers, and American flags. It seems they had gotten their American holidays a little mixed up, but we had a very lovely Fourth of July Thanksgiving in Galilee that year.


I guess I forgot to mention the balloons :)

(I told you there were fireworks in the turkey. They were really bright, and really....flammable.)

It was a magical Thanksgiving, in a very, very different way.

Galilee Day Nine 11-24-09

On this day, in the amazing Galilean hills, I woke up at 5:45 a.m. to "a tempest raging." It was unbelievable. It was incredibly windy, and I got out of bed and headed to the beach to walk along the shore. The Sea of Galilee was not the peaceful bowl of water that it normally was, but it was almost frightening. The wind blew me along as I walked along the beach, and I thought about the Savior, walking on water to His disciples, and calming the raging storm. This morning gave me perpective to see what an awe-inspiring event this would have been to behold. Like any sea or body of water, when a storm hits it can be dangerous. I understand the fear of the disciples, in their small fishing vessel on the Sea of Galilee, wondering if they would be okay. I can see the Savior, walking out to them, and rescuing them from the storm, asking them where their faith was. As a human, I can understand their position. Having faith in the Lord is hard amid some of life's storms, but it is truly the answer to our worries and fears.

It was my class' day to stay at the kibbutz and go to class, so I studied and made goals for my scripture studying. I spent the evening reading in the book that Mom gave me of John Alexander Clark's letters. We are scheduled to visit his grave in two days, and I am very excited.

Oh to be, near the Sea, the Sea of Galilee. 

i don't think the pictures do the storm justice, and these were taken after it was dying down.

*Please keep in mind that it was 5 o'clock in the morning.... 

"Master the Tempest is Raging" - A view of Tiberias, Israel, across the sea of Galilee

Galilee Day Eight 11-23-2009

We had a huge field trip this day.

First we went to Nain, which is where Christ healed the widow's son. It was so simple and unexpected. Just a small, little church, with excellent acoustics, which Sarah Ingalls, Emily Andersen and I sang in. I didn't really want to leave, which was surprising.

It was gorgeous!

After that we went to Mt. Tabor, which is the place that is believed to be the site of the Mount of Transfiguration. It was so amazing to sit on top of the mountain and talk about Christ, Peter, James, and John, and think of them receiving the endowment. Surreal, actually.

Mt. Tabor (A Mountain set apart)

There's always a church at the top, on top, nearby. Always.

Another great hair day and cheesy smile picture!

The view from Mt. Tabor

Inside!

After Tabor we went to a place called Bet Alpha, which is an ancient synagogue with a beautiful mosaic floor. It is both ancient and complete, that is. The actual mosaic is pretty un-beautiful as far as mosaics go, but it's beautiful because it's completely intact. It shows paganism reconciled with Christianity.

You can see that the actual artwork is not very sophisticated, but the fact that it's intact tells us so much about that time period and the reconciliation between Christianity and Paganism. Brother Hamblin got all excited about it, anyway.

After Bet Alpha we went to a natural spring pool to swim in. I loved it. It was huge! A small pond, and probably 12-15 feet deep. It also has little fish that suck on your feet and toes, and sharp rocks all along the bottom and edges. Unfortunately I got injured here... Sarah and I went to explore a cave where the spring came from, a fish sucked on her toes so she screamed, which scared me, and I kicked out to go back out of the cave and gashed the top of my foot open on a rock. I nearly didn't make it back to the side of the pool to climb out because it hurt so bad and I couldn't swim. The nursing students took a look and said it was really deep. Brother Emmett had told us a story about a girl diving in a cutting her head open and needing stitches, which meant a 4 hour trip to the hospital for the entire bus....and I didn't want that girl to be me. So, no hospital trip for me, just some band aids. Now I have a friendly little scar on my foot for a souvenir. No problem.

Can you say Paradise?

I love this pool! It is so beautiful! Cut foot and all, I had an amazing time

and would go back in a heartbeat.

After the swim we had one more stop, at a place called Bet-Shean, which is where Saul and Jonathan's bodies were hung on the wall after they were killed. It was a sweet ruin, though. I forgot to grab my camera from my swim bag, so no pictures, and I didn't hike the tel because my foot hurt really badly, but it was awesome to see the columns and all the roman-style marble...ruins. It really was sweet.

After that we went home to the Kibbutz, had dinner, and then a bonfire. It was spiritual and great. Several students were asked to stand a give a short message about Christ. Ally spoke, and was crying because of the spirit she felt, and I heard Brother Emmett's youngest son, Will, who is about 4 years-old, ask his dad, "Why is she crying?" and Brother Emmett responded, "That's the Holy Ghost making her cry, because she is so happy." It was such a sweet moment.

We made s'mores and were a little crazy with our singing and dancing around the fire, and then we settled down and got to spend another wonderful night on the shores of the Galilee.

Fireside :)

Galilee Days Seven 11-22-2009

Day Seven was a classes day, so we had New Testament in the morning, and then we studied and took a test, which went really well. And then we went river rafting!

Okay so we river rafted on the Jordan River. Yes, it was more like floating, and yes, it had the potential to be really lame....but I spiced things up a bit. They only gave us one paddle, with two oars on either end. So I sat on the nose of the raft and paddled. We passed up boat after boat and engaged in boat-on-boat water combat (initiated by yours truly). We wasted every boat and passed them up one after the other until we got to the Emmetts. They had real oars, so they totally schooled us. But then the Emmett children and I teamed up and started a massive water fight at the end, at the stopping point. All in all, a successful river-rafting trip. Unfortunately there are no pictures, because water activities are not camera-friendly.

After that we had dinner, showered, and I talked to my roommate for a long time. On a completely unrelated note: Kali had the shower on for 30 minutes waiting for it to get warm, and it was still ice cold...when she realized that she had the nozzle turned the wrong direction the entire time. She was hanging out in a towel until it got warm. So funny.

Galilee Day Six 11-21-2009

Today was the Sabbath at the Tiberius Branch. We had an awesome day, aside from the fact that everyone started getting sick and I had cramps and thought I was starting to get sick too...

Anyway. We went to sacrament at the Tiberius branch and got to sit and look over the Sea of Galilee and think about the Savior's life while we had sacrament. They have four different languages spoken in that Branch. I think it's Hebrew, English, Russian, and Spanish. So they have four different hymn number plates on the wall because the hymn numbers are different for all the same hymn, just in different languages. It was sweet.

These first three are the view from the Tiberius Branch balcony. How beautiful!

The Sacrament room. You can see the four hymn-plates on the wall.

It was a beautiful building. Apparently they converted an apartment for the Senior Missionary Couple in the Tiberius branch to be able to have sacrament there when they got approval. It's really great!

Brother Manscill and me, Megan Richards, Lauren Magleby, Jane Nelson, Michele Christensen, Adri Browning, Kelsey Barrett, and Hailey McKee on the balcony just outside the Sacrament room.

After sacrament we went to a Jordan River Baptismal Site, and watched people baptize themselves. They wore these long white gowns...some with nothing underneath. And they were very see-through. Some of us were scarred because we looked at the wrong place, at the wrong time haha. It was cool to see people baptising themselves and the faith shown. They had these big writings from the scriptures on the walls, in tons and tons of different languages.

Behold the Jordan River. This is probably more close to the spot where they took the picture for the Scriptures than the other Jordan River site we visited, where the water was brown.

People in white. Don't worry, this is pre-dunk, so they aren't see-through yet.

Spanish :)

Then we had lunch back at the Kibbutz, and free time. I took a nap. We were getting up at 6 or earlier every morning trying to squeeze everything in, so I was exhausted.

That night we had an amazing fireside that was centered on Christ. I couldn't believe how wonderful it was. Sister Madsen, Truman G. Madsen's wife, spoke for a little while, then testimonies and President Madsen, from the Tiberius Branch spoke. It was super charged with the spirit. Lizzie Jenson also sang an amazing song called "His Hands" or something like that. I've never forgotten how it made me feel.

One person's testimony stuck out to me. He talked about how developing a testimony, for him, wasn't like turning on a bright light, but more like lighting individual candles, one at a time, until his testimony was a bright, shining light. I feel like that with my testimony, and I know that it takes work, not only to keep lighting candles, but to keep the candles from going out. Testimonies don't keep. Shelf life is short, so we have to keep working on them.

After the fireside we went down and sat on the shores of Galilee, in the dark, and looked across the lake at Tiberius, and looked for shooting stars. I love Galilee.