{"id":62622,"date":"2025-12-16T20:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/62622\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T20:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:15:10","slug":"rancho-bernardo-church-offers-a-bethlehem-village-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/62622\/","title":{"rendered":"Rancho Bernardo church offers a Bethlehem village experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rancho Bernardo hosted a free \u201cWalk Through Bethlehem\u201d for the community.<\/p>\n<p>The event, held in four evening sessions from last Friday through Monday, was designed to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, according to organizers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Victor and Adriana Puente admiring the nativity scenes. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\" width=\"4193\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-2.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9553343\" \/>Victor and Adriana Puente admiring the nativity scenes. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)<\/p>\n<p>Inside, hundreds of nativity scenes (creches) from around the world were displayed. They ranged from deeply reverent and religious to humorous pop-culture versions featuring the Peanuts characters and rubber duckies. They also varied greatly in size and materials, including porcelain, wood carvings, gourds and fabric.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Among the hundreds of nativity scenes from around the world were these from the Philippines, San Diego beach art, Switzerland, France and Peru. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\" width=\"3886\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-9.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9553344\" \/>Among the hundreds of nativity scenes from around the world were these from the Philippines, San Diego beach art, Switzerland, France and Peru. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)<\/p>\n<p>The scenes came from Jerusalem, France, Alaska, Africa, Chile, Ukraine, the Vatican, the Philippines, Switzerland, Spain, Peru and San Diego.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"A Native American-themed nativity scene. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\" width=\"3040\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-10.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9553345\" \/>A Native American-themed nativity scene. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)<\/p>\n<p>Outside, attendees could go on a self-guided tour of a Bethlehem Village display, with church members portraying villagers and Biblical figures, including the three Wise Men, shepherds, Angel Gabriel, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph in the live nativity scene. There were also live animals throughout, including chickens, donkeys and goats.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Kim Rodriguez and her daughter, Clara, portraying sellers in the Bethlehem Village fish market. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\" width=\"4177\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-3.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9553346\" \/>Kim Rodriguez and her daughter, Clara, portraying sellers in the Bethlehem Village fish market. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)<\/p>\n<p>Organizers said they were prepared to welcome up to 10,000 visitors over the four nights.<\/p>\n<p>See more photos at PomeradoNews.com.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Elisa Marrone, Valerie Stander and Elon Mangelson looking at some...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Elisa Marrone, Valerie Stander and Elon Mangelson looking at some of the nativity scenes from around the world. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Steve Sharp as a Bethlehem Village basket seller. (Elizabeth Marie...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-5.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-5.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Steve Sharp as a Bethlehem Village basket seller. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Among those portraying centurions in the Bethlehem Village were Zander...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-4.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-4.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Among those portraying centurions in the Bethlehem Village were Zander Andrew and Monson Smith. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fred Leavitt, a Bethlehem Village vegetable seller, trying to sell...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-6.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-6.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Fred Leavitt, a Bethlehem Village vegetable seller, trying to sell his produce to attendees Maridean and Grant Mines. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lisa Leavitt as a Bethlehem Village spice seller. (Elizabeth Marie...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-7.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRN-L-Bethlehem-2025-7.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Lisa Leavitt as a Bethlehem Village spice seller. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\n<\/p>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 5<\/p>\n<p>Elisa Marrone, Valerie Stander and Elon Mangelson looking at some of the nativity scenes from around the world. (Elizabeth Marie Himchak)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rancho Bernardo hosted a free \u201cWalk Through Bethlehem\u201d for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,33635,33636,33634],"class_list":{"0":"post-62622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-bethlehem-village","12":"tag-christmas-events-in-san-diego","13":"tag-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-in-rancho-bernardo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}