Field trips full of Rain!

Happy Thanksgiving! How grateful I am for all of my many blessings, especially to be here! This past week, we got rewarded for surviving finals by having 3 straight days of field trips! What a treat! It was very fun. They were all day trips around the Jerusalem area. Tuesday we drove down to the area around the Dead Sea. We started off at the city of Masada, which is known for its Herodian history as well as its Jewish Zealot history. It's up on top of this mountain, and the ruins are very well preserved. Here I am chillin on the ruins--you can see the Dead Sea in the background!

After Masada, we went swimming in the Dead Sea! It was quite an experience! Its shores are the lowest dry land on earth! Because of that, it is a lot warmer there than in Jerusalem. The water is so salty that you completely float, and it's hard to flip and turn and stuff. And, if you get water in your eyes, it burns so badly! It was really fun! Here is a rock on the shore covered in salt. Crazy, huh? Then here's Brita, Lauren, Amie, Caitlin and I showering off after our salty swim!

After our swim, we headed just a few minutes north to Ein Gedi Natural Reserve, which was a beautiful oasis with trees, rivers, and waterfalls. We hiked to David's Waterfall at the top, which was really beautiful. We saw a group of Orthodox Jews on a hike--I've never seen an orthodox Jew with kippah and all and a tank top!

On Wednesday we went to some more local sites in the Old City. It was pouring rain this day, which added an extra adventurous element, but it was still fun (hence the hood in every pic). We started off the day at the Kotel Tunnel, which is a 'tunnel' that goes right along the Western Wall underneath today's ground. So, we walked beneath houses and buildings to where they have excavated down to Roman/Herod time. It was way cool to see Herod's special building stones, the original roads and arches, and see women praying at the closest place they can get to the previous Holy of Holies. It was fun, and nice to be inside out of the rain!

While inside the tunnel, and while walking around outside in the city, we saw a lot of Hasidic Jews with their protective rain gear. I thought how devoted these people are to their sects! Not the heat of the summer here, or the rain or snow here will keep these orthodox Jews from wearing their religious apparel. Here, this man has a sort of 'shower cap' over his fuzzy black hat. Talk about a good idea!

After the tunnel, we went to the Davidson Archaeological Garden which is an area outside the Old City Walls which has been partially excavated. It's cool to walk around in the ancient stones and arches and stuff. Here's a group of girls facing the rain to learn more about the wonderful hisotry of this city! Then, Amie and I are standing on the original Roman steps that used to lead to the temple mount. The arches have since been filled in, but the stairs have been excavated.

Today we spent our Thanksgiving at the Yad Vashem Museum, which remembers the 6 million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust. It was a beautiful museum and the perfect Thanksgiving activity. It was so humbling, on this day full of feast and happiness, to remember those who have suffered so much, or do not have anything. It made me grateful for those things which we take for granted everyday--being warm, having food, not fearing death everyday, not having to part with family members, and so many other horrors that these innocent people dealt with on a daily basis. I'm so grateful for all of the many blessings in my life.

Bethlehem!

Today we spent the day in the WEST BANK! It's funny that we live 7 miles from it, and it's supposed to be such a feared place, but our day today was probably one of my favorite days since we've been here. You can definitely tell a difference, though, going through the Separation Wall from Israel into Palestine. It's an interesting concept going on here. Palestine is definitely dirtier, not as nice, and the people don't have as much of an income or government income. It's sad because they're people who want work, a home, and a family just like the rest of us. Anyways. So we started off our day in Ein Kerem, which is the supposed birth place of John the Baptist. This was a change in the itinerary, but I'm so glad that we went because it is probably one of my favorite places in Jerusalem! (This place was in Jerusalem, and then we went to Bethlehem) It is down in a valley, so you look up and see the hills covered in trees and the tops of churches. It was beautiful. Ein Kerem itself is very European, so maybe that's why I loved it. It reminded me of the windy, narrow streets of Southern France.


The city is very charming with little homes covered with beautiful bougainvilleas taking over the walls. They grow like crazy here. Mom--I thought of you when I took this picture. Anyways, at the bottom of the windy streets are little bistros and restaurants and fruit stands. The city is quieter and more calm and just romantic! I loved it!












So then we got the treat of eating lunch in a Bedouin tent. It was pretty cool. We were a little sad, though, because we filled up on pitas and hummus, thinking that it was the main course. So we weren't hungry when the bbq skewers came out, which have been amazing in all 3 countries I've been in since I've been here. Anyways... It was fun, though. After that, we walked the streets of Bethlehem. It was fun to see the craziness and compare these streets to the ones I see everyday. People are definitely poorer here, which is really sad. As we walked past one little shop, the man sat outside on a small stool and next to him were chickens and doves in cages, wanting to be sold. It was back to
like Medieval times or something. On the doors of closed shops were posters like this one--a man with a huge machine gun. Sweet. I have no idea what it said, but I didn't really care because basically it was scary. Imagine your children walking down those streets everyday learning that those images are normal for them. It's a different world here. Wow. We went to Manger Square and then the Church of the Nativity. They were both cool to see, but the real highlight of the day was our next place, Shepherds' Field.




After a whole day in urban Bethlehem, it was awesome to be in these sacred fields where the angels came to proclaim the birth of Christ. How humbling it was to look out over the fields and picture what it might have been that night. I love the Christmas story and all that comes along with it. I love picturing Mary and Joseph and tried to think about what they must have felt like that Christmas Eve when they were about to bring the Son of God into this earth so that He could save mankind. It was awesome to think about His ministry and all of the miracles He performed while He was here, and how blessed we are that we have the scriptures which recorded these awesome events. Then to think about His death, for without which we would have no Christmas. It was so great to feel the Spirit as we sat in this sacred place. It was awesome. Here's a pic of me and Amie at the field, but you can't really get a good feel for it, since it was night time when we were there. Just trust me on how neat it was. I loved it!

So I come home 5 weeks from tomorrow. I truly can't believe it. This time is going faster each day, and each day I grow more grateful for this wonderful experience when I'm having here. I love it!

Jeru fun

I love Jerusalem! It's so awesome here, and I can't believe how quickly the time is going! It's almost getting sad that I'll be leaving my good friends in just a matter of weeks! We're staying really busy with field trips and time in the city. On Sunday we have 2 finals, which wrap up the bulk of our classes, so now we only have New Testament and our Ancient Near Eastern Studies class. It's a wonderful life with only 6 credits! But we fill the time with field trips from here on out. New Testament is already amazing. It's just so great that we can heavily focus on it and spend hours a day studying 4 chapters in Matthew. I'm learning so much and loving the New Testament and our Savior more each day.

A couple of weeks ago, a small group of us spent the day in West Jerusalem, which is the Jewish side; the Eastern part, where the center is, is Palestinian. We went to the Islamic Art Musem, got lunch at our favorite schwarma stand on Ben Yehuda street, went to the ultra-orthodox quarter of Me'a Sherim, and here we are at the Great Synagogue.


So it's getting colder here, and we all just want to wear sweats everyday because it's cold outside as well as inside the building. When Lauren and I were at West Jerusalem, we bought these cute slipper/sock things which keep us warm all day. We love them! Here's Lauren, Amie, and me showing them off! (And, yes, of course, I was the one who planned the pose for this picture...they're such good sports to go along with my ideas...)

Halloween

Halloween! Amie and I were mermaids! Here we are with our Branch President and his wife, and then us being Ariel. It was a really fun time!

Jordan!

Welcome to Jordan! What a fun trip this was! It was a great trip because we got to see lots of things, experience a different country, but also it was a little shorter, so we didn't experience as much 'wear and tear'. Our first day, we stopped at Mount Nebo, which is where the Lord told Moses that he would not be able to go into the Promised Land because of his disobedience! I can't imagine looking out over the Jordan River Valley (like we did) into the Promised Land, being so close to the final destination of 40 years, and realizing that because of sin, blessings were revoked. Wow. The 3rd picture is in Petra, and the believed spring where Moses struck the rock for water. That was cool.

Day 2: Petra!

I've seen Indiana Jones, but I had no idea how amazing this site would be! It was so cool! We spent most of a day here, which was much needed for such a grandeous site! So you start at the top of this gorge and walk through it, which is beautiful. It looks a lot like Lake Powell or other parts of Southern Utah. It's so cool. On the sides of the canyon are mini carvings out of rock, gutters, and other things mounting up the the beauty ahead. So we're walking through this gorge and all of the sudden you see through a little crack the more beautiful of the buildings of all of Petra. It's amazing. The edifice is so Roman and their attention to detail is exquisite! Indiana Jones led me astray, though, because the room behind the door isn't too big, and definitely doesn't lead to the Holy Grail... Probably everyone else knew this about Petra, but there is more to the place than just this one edifice! I had no idea! It's a huge complex of tombs and other buildings carved out of rock. Amie and I are doing the classic "back to back" in front of a big set of tombs. It was so cool. We hiked up to what they call the "Monastery" (which isn't a monastery, they just call it that b/c of the size), which is the largest of the buildings. It was quite a hike, but definitely worth it. I loved Petra!

Here I am with King Hussein and King Abdullah II. Their pictures are everywhere. They put the current king, Abdullah, next to pictures of his deceased father, Hussein, because everyone loved Hussein and they want the people to affiliate Abdullah with Hussein, even though Abdullah grew up in England and went to college in California. So their pics are everywhere. On our way back to the JC, we stopped at the Jordan River, which was one of my favorite places. It was peaceful and hot, but so humbling to be there. You can see behind Amie and I that it's not a very clean river, but maybe it was in Biblical times, I'm not sure. It was so cool.

So Jordan was really fun, but of course it's always fun to come home to Jerusalem. This week we have the first of our finals, and we get to start New Testament, which I'm excited about. Things are good over here! Shabbat Shalom!