Last Day, Sad Day

Sadly but truly it has come. It is my last day here in Jerusalem and it is a sobering thing. We all joked that Jerusalem was crying for us because it has been raining all morning and the fog is so thick, when you look out the window, all you see is white. I have officially had my last breakfast at the JC and soon I will be turning in my linens for the last time.
Last night we had our slide show and it was a good reminder/realization for me to see just how much we did here in the last 4 months. I have learned so much and experienced even more. It has been an incredible experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity to be here. I never dreamed this time would happen. I am super excited to see my family and to be home for Christmas. The count down is 5 days till Christmas but it doesn't feel like it here in Jerusalem. Normally it is around 50 degrees on a cold day, everything is turning green and it doesn't feel like Christmas. I can't wait to see snow. I am really hoping for a white Christmas. Things are great though.
While packing yesterday, I experienced something others talk about all the time but I had never personally experienced before. While packing I found 100 shekels (like $25). I never lose money and it was such a happy surprise. It does add a little twist because I have to spend it all today. To add to the situation it is a Muslim holiday and so half of the city is closed down. But I imagine I can spend it just fine. I can't wait to see everyone. Pray for clear run ways and then once I am home it can snow. :) Merry Christmas everyone.

Last Shabbat

Poor Shannon, a friend of mine from the JC scratched her cornea and she has an infection in her eye now. It is so sad because she has been in the hospital for the last four day. It is miserable to be in the hospital, worse to be in an Israeli hospital, and unbelievable to be in the hallway of an Israeli hospital. That is definitely the case for Shannon. We went to visit her Friday night and Carlee and I felt really bad for her. Everyone speaks Hebrew so she doesn't understand a word. She is left by herself and she can't really sleep because they wake her up every hour to put in drops. So we came up with a fantastic plan.

Carlee and I decided to spend Shabbat with her. We got special permission to take a ton of food from the cafeteria (this normally isn't allowed). We would miss both lunch and dinner and we were taking food for Shannon too because the hospital food is nasty. Then we packed the entire world with us. We took uno, my laptop and some church movies, scriptures, the ensign, food, and more food. It was great. It was nice because we kept her company and just really enjoyed ourselves. It was also nice because I came to realize that there couldn't be a better thing for me to do on my last shabbat in the Holy Land. I went out and did what the Savior would have done.

It was also really cool because we went and had sacrament meeting in the hallway. It was really a spiritual experience. Pres. Hayes presided and Karey conducted. It was really funny because he welcomed us all to this remote meeting of the Jerusalem Branch. It was really neat to see the men act using their priesthood to bless the sacrament for Shannon to partake. Then we all shared our testimonies, one of the girls sang a hymn and it was a really cool experience. I felt so privileged to be there.

It was really fun to hang out with Shannon all evening. A group of students came around 7 and visited for an hour and then we all had to go home. I am so grateful for the experiences I have had out here. I am grateful for my testimony and I am excited to come home where I can share it with others.

Funny Story

I had a restless night last night. I had a ridiculous dream and I hope you have a good laugh after reading it. First off I have to mention I haven't refereed a soccer game since I was in high school. But this dream completely stressed me out all night. I dreamt that the head man over referee's was going to observe me. It was just a terrible experience all the way around. I first off couldn't find the field so I was late. Then when I was there they made me ref a U7 game, the youngest kids. I usually refereed U10, U12, or even U14. I had a sideline person who was a certified referee and they thought they were all that. The head man pretty much had already decided I wasn't a good referee. No matter what I did, I couldn't convince him that I was a good ref. It was a miserable experience. He gave me a good report and I received parent complaints too. I was just so stressed out, because I am a good ref. Luckily my roommates got up at 5AM and so I did too and the dream was over. It is a joke that this would stress me out, but it really did. Just to set the records straight, I never received a parent complaint and all of the head ref's loved me. I hope you laughed a little because I am still cracking up that I dreamt this and that it was such a stress for me. Life is good though. There is a crazy insight into my life and dreams. :)

Galilee

Galilee was amazing and I absolutely loved it. The atmosphere there is so peaceful, relaxed, and refreshing. It was incredible because there are palm trees around the kibbutz we stayed at. The sandy beach next to the sea of Galilee with a calm breeze. It was fantastic. We had a bon fire every night and on the last night, it was a class party. We made smores, played games, and ate way too much junk food.


Our schedule consisted of classes every other day and field trips on the off days. We would have three hours of New Testament and one hour of archaeology. Then we would spend all afternoon doing our homework on the beach. It was so nice. A real break. Our field trips were by far the highlights. The first day when we drove into the Galilee we went to the most northern part of Israel. The best stop of the day was 1.5 hour we had to play at Nimrod's castle. It had no religious significance but it was so fun. Honestly who wouldn't have fun exploring an old castle.


The next field trip was a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. At first they fed the sea gulls, played music, and we hung out. Once we were in the middle they stopped the boat and we had a lesson about Christ's ministry in the Galilee. It was neat because second half of the signs like this only in Israel trip we were given time just to ponder. I suddenly realized that this was Christ's mission. It was neat to think I have visited where Jesus was born, where he died, but now I finally was seeing where he did the majority of his teaching. It was his mission, just like Spain will be my mission. It got me so excitement for chocolate goodness excited for my own mission. It will be amazing.


Funny story. I don't know what it is but I seem to tear a lot of clothes when I am on the study abroad programs. See the cute pink shirt I was wearing in the picture above. I wore that shirt all day because I wanted to dress nice, especially because that night we were going out to a restaurant. Well I had some time that afternoon and I walked along the beach. Carlee joined me and eventually we ended up skipping and throwing rocks. We were playing a hot potato sort of game and I got hot so I pulled off my jacket. She stood there staring dumb founded at me. I couldn't figure out what she was looking at. She pointed to my arm. I had ripped a whole in the middle of my sleeve along my bicep. It wasn't as long a seem either. I laughed so hard. I was somewhat sad because that was one of the few shirts I had planned on taking home. I guess not anymore. :)

Mt. Tabor was an exciting adventure. We had to leave at 7:30 because there was only 1 bus for both classes to coordinate with. We arrived at the catholic church right at 8:00 when it opened. It is atop Mt. Tabor which is the place they believe to be the Mt. of Transfiguration. I guess another tour group had scheduled the church and so we went to a tent like area next to the church. It was freezing outside, especially with the wind blowing. We were out there for at least an hour as Bro. Draper lectured. Then towards the end of his lesson, the storm suddenly picked up out of no where. The rain came pouring down and was leaking throughout the tent. People started screaming, jumping up to move to new spots, etc. Essentially bro. Draper decided it was hopeless to try and continue his lecture. Once the taxi's arrived, we had to make a run for it. We were soaked as you can see in the picture. I was wearing my khaki pants and the entire front side of me was completely see through. Thank goodness it wasn't the back side, right? It was so fun.

It was no amazing to spend so much time where the savior taught the people. I loved the time to ponder, study his teachings, and to read Jesus the Christ. It was amazing to learn how Jesus' mission was so much to get the people to understand how much he loved them and was reaching out to them. He just wanted them to repent and to accept him as the Messiah. Here is an example of the beautiful sunsets we were privileged with every evening. It was fantastic and of course as always I learned so much in the formal and informal teaching moments.
The last day, before driving home, we stopped at a cemetery in Haifa. It was where the first two converts to the church from the Palestine mission were berried. They were Germans living in Haifa. I guess the missionaries had a lot of success with the German people in Palestine. There were also two graves there for missionaries who passed away while serving their missions. It is interesting that often we may not understand what the Lord's mission is for us. For these young men it was to be buried here in the Holy Land. Israel decided they would allow the established churches, like the Jews, Muslims, and Christians to have a presence in the Holy Land, but they would not allow any new churches. When they were building the Jerusalem Center, people tried to claim that we were a new religion trying to make our presence here. The church used those two graves to show that our church had a presence here in the Holy Land before Israel was even a state. How cool is that. The Lord really is watching out for his church. It is amazing.
I am sorry this is so long and I haven't even written a quarter of what I was able to experience in the Galilee. It was incredible and if I were to come back to Israel, I would definitely stop at Jerusalem, but I would want to spend some time in the Galilee.

Thanksgiving

I began thanksgiving in a sobering way. We visited Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum, here in Israel. It gives you a lot to think about and a lot to be grateful for. Then I spent the afternoon doing a little homework and napping. I missed the usual Briggs basketball fest. My committee was in charge of the Thanksgiving program after the meal so I spent the last hours before the feast working on that. Surprisingly things went well, better than I could have planned and they last longer than I ever expected.
We had our feast at 6:15 and it was great. The turkey was good, they had American gravy. The stuffing was homemade and delicious, the mashed potatoes well at least we had them right. The desserts were presented in such an artistic way, it was so cool. I just tried a little of them all. they were a little more out there type things, not your traditional pie and ice cream. It was delicious all the way around.
Our program was so fun. We started off with a Jeopardy game that everyone got really into. Then there was a turkey noise making game. It was my favorite. I could not believe how into the guys were. Then we had the teachers do it. It was fun to see them all embarrassed and much more reserve then the students. We did a thankful game where there was little papers people had written what they were thankful for. One by one we took out what we could live without until you have one paper left. We decided we couldn't live without laughter. Then Craig finished it off by singing a song about gratitude. It was a pleasant evening.
Sadly it didn't last. We had to take care of business afterwards with a Galilee orientation and then homework for our classes the next day.
I will be in Galilee starting Sunday for like 9 days so if you don't hear from me, that is why. It should be great. It is hard core New Testament all the way. We have two two hour classes each day with field trips in between. It should be a unique opportunity to get to study the New Testament in the Galilee. Things are great and I am loving life.

Walking where Christ Walked

Today I walked where Jesus walked and it was AWESOME! We first went to the Kotel Tunnel which runs under/along the western wall. It was cool because we learned about the building of the walls, how to recognize the original walls, and the destruction of the temple and the wall. They do have many original stones and a cool fact, each is slightly smaller than the one above so it slowly gets skinnier. It was a freezing cold morning because the wind was blowing and it was sprinkling off and on all morning. I didn't pack very many warm clothes either. We also went to the Temple Mount Excavations- the Ophel Archaeological Garden and that was so cool. They dug down to Christ's time. We explored the west wall and the south wall which is actually where the entrance was during Christ's time. I am standing on the original rock ground at the exit of the temple mount during Christ's time. This is where he spat in the ground to make clay and placed it on the blind man's eyes and told him to wash in the pool of Salom (which I have been to) and he would be healed. Crazy cool isn't it? I love being here and not only learning about Christ but getting glimpses into his life. The grounds here were so peaceful and I absolutely loved it.

After our Herodian Field Trip we had a free day and it was incredible. We went meandering through the Old City. I did a ton of shopping but my high light was buying a sweatshirt which I so desperately need. I am super excited to wear all of my sweaters and coats when I get home. Don't worry, it is not nearly that cold here but it will be in Idaho and I am excited for it. So I played in the Old City all day and had a blast. We went up to the top of the tower in the Lutheran Church and it gave an awesome view of the city. I can actually identify buildings now. It was a fun 170 steps up one continuous spiral limestone staircase. We like to call those unintentional workouts and I love them. Plus you didn't get all sweaty because it is cold outside. :)

After we did our shopping, we pulled out a guide book and would randomly flip to a page to find something to see and we kept picking by chance sights we have already seen. It surprised us at how many places we have actually seen. It was a stupendous day!!!!

Floating Fun!!!

We went on our Herodian Essene FT and it was way cool. First we stopped at Masada which was a Jewish community built at the top of a mountain. It is about a two hour hike up the mountain but thanks to modern technology, we rode a tram up :). The Zealots lived there and were the last hold out when the Roman's invaded Jerusalem. It was a large city and it has a sad story. The people were extremists and rather than become slaves to the Romans, they killed off the entire community.

We also went to Qumran where the dead sea scrolls were found. There wasn't really much to see but it is cool to say I've been there. We also went to Ein Gedi nature reserve which was really cool. In both the nature reserve and Qumran, it was the area that David fled and hid in the caves to escape Saul. Ein Gedi was a fun hike with cool waterfalls.

My favorite stop of the day was the Dead Sea. All the rocks along the shore have salt crystals all over because the water is composed of 30% salt. It was awesome to climb in and when you lift up your feet, you don't have to tread water. You just float. You can't actually put your feet down either, they just pop up. The salinity caused my leg to sting the whole time but it was an awesome experience anyways. So I floated around the sea and it was incredible. I love our field trips and all the things I get to see and do.

Arabic Fun

We finished our arabic final a week ago but our teacher Ayman was kind enough to invite us over to his house. He invited both classes (40 people). It was so fun because he lives in Southwest Jerusalem which is traditionally the Israeli side of town but I guess there is a Palestinian settlement there. I never quite know what is going on over here. His house was like somewhat an apartment style, like most houses are here but once inside it was a real house. I didn't realize how much I missed a home. His wife is an excelent decorator so it has a real modern feel, something like Becky Philips style of modern but it was yellows so it felt warm and homely. His wife must have been slaving away all day because she fixed an incredible meal for us to eat. Don't forget there are forty of us. They had a salad that was essentially like the spinach, cranberries, nuts, and poppy seed dressing but instead of cranberries they used palmagranite seeds. It was so good and it felt so American. We also had grape leaves with rice inside, a very mediterranean type food. It was so nice to get away from the center too. We have two finals in the next two days so we had been studying literally all day.

I really enjoyed getting to meet and talk with Ayman's kids. They are really tall for their age, made me think of my own family, and very athletic. His daughter plays soccer, she is thirteen and she went to canada this summer to play. His twin boys are eleven. One plays baseball and the other plays basketball. He went to Vermont for a camp this summer. It was so neat to spend some time in a Palestinian's home and to hear a little more about their normal life. In the home they only speak Arabic. When they watch TV it is usually in Hebrew. The children speak Hebrew so well, they don't even have an accent. They will speak Hebrew in the home if someone has an Israeli guest over. They get a private teacher for English. It is such a different life. I don't remember what the name of the settlement is but it is very close to Bethlehem. I was so grateful for the night out and for such a hospitable teacher. It is amazing what I have been able to experience here.

Early Christmas Celebration

We traveled to Bethlehem today and my poor seat buddy could tell you about all of the twists, turns, stops, and goes. We actually went to Ein Karem first. This is where Elizabeth, Zachariah, and John the Baptist lived. It was such a peaceful place especially compared to the busy city of Jerusalem. We went to a couple of churches but the spirit was just really strong in the whole area.
It was a sharp transition when we crossed the separation wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. On the West Bank side there was graffiti completely covering the walls and it was really good in the respect that it looked like are but it was very graphic and it said very harsh things. It is just an interesting situation because on the Israeli side of the wall they have a huge poster that says "Peace be unto you." It was really sad to see how rough Bethlehem was. The kids were all over in the streets trying to sell you gum for a shekel. Just anything to get any money. The kids were also much more violent. In general in the Middle East they have been more violent but in Bethlehem it was worse. It just had a sad feeling there and you could tell the people lived a harsh life.
I was really glad to end the day by going out to a shepherds field. It gets dark here really early, like 4:30 PM and so we hiked out there and it was pitch black. It felt like it was 10PM and it wasn't even 5 yet. We ate sack lunches while sitting on the rocky hill. It was how I had pictured the geography of Jerusalem. We then read about Christ's birth and did a Christmas type program. The spirit was so so strong as I my thoughts were drawn to the Savior. It was great because now when I think of Bethlehem, I will remember what it looked like a couple of hill tops away, seeing the lights glowing across the hill. I feel so blessed to understand the plan of salvation and to know that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Son of God and he really came down here to the earth because he loved each and everyone of us. He lived a rough life, things weren't easy for him, and yet he grew up and learned grace by grace. He is my example and he taught us the true gospel. He suffered for my sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and then was crucified at Golgotha to make it possible for me to repent, to try harder, and to improve and be a better person. I know if I rely on Christ and his atonement that he will make up the difference for me at judgement day and I will be able to live with my Father in Heaven again. How comforting this knowledge is for me. It helps me with my daily living and has given me a purpose in life. Life is just amazing!

Garden Tomb

I went to the Garden Tomb today. It is in the middle of East Jerusalem but it is a very peaceful place. It is the supposed place where Christ was crucified and where his tomb is. I really liked it because a Christian group has planted all sorts of trees and flowers around. It is very pretty and you can even hear the birds there. I loved having time just to sit and read the scriptures it was great. The rocks behind are Golgotha. You can somewhat see the skull in the rock if you look at the two holes as the eyes.

Temple Mount!!!

We were finally able to make in onto the temple mount today. This is a difficult task because no one knows what time of day it will be open as it changes daily and it is only open for an hour. They guards don't even know what time it will be open the day of. It was so cool. It is a very peaceful place. We saw the Al Asqa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. It is really cool because the outside is covered in bright tiles. The Arabic writing on it looks like art more than words. It was really cool and I am so glad we made it on there. It was my number one thing to do while in Jerusalem on my free time. Hopefully if things work out, we will be able to have a tour inside the buildings also as a school. Keep your fingers crossed.

We took our Old Testament final today. It is crazy to think OT is over. I am extremely excited for New Testament. We have to do so much reading each night because we have such a short time period to get through it all. Overall things are great and I am loving it. I had a chicken salad for dinner two nights in a row and I am loving it.

JORDAN

I've been in Jordan for the last four days and it was incredible. Luckily the border crossing went well both times. Sadly I didn't get a Jordanian stamp either :( but life goes on right. It was really cool. One of our first stops was at Mt. Nebo. This is where Moses had the opportunity to look out over the promised land even though he knew he would never be allowed to enter it. It was an amazing view and it was cool because you could see the Jordan (Me on Mt. Nebo) River and the Dead Sea as seen in the picture to the right.

Our first night we stayed in Petra and we went exploring for ice cream. (climbing up by the We happened to run into the teachers and followed them because they had Monastery) been there before and they love ice cream more than I do. We found the ice cream shop but it had closed at 7 PM. We didn't give up and we went into a fancy hotel restaurant. They had ice cream there and it was like $4 for a scoop. We debated and then Carlee spoke up saying she would treat the birthday boy to ice cream. Of course a number of us jumped on that one too. So we stayed and it was great. We had fun chatting and sitting in a nice hotel. We decided that we would just have to make it the best ice cream ever. It did turn out to be really really good. The great thing about field trips is that I tend to get lots of sleep because so many (Me in Petra) things close down early.

This trip was really neat because it was a very spiritual growing time for me. The sights weren't exceptionally spiritual by any means but the Lord blessed me to have many spiritual experience. I have to attribute many to the fact that I love to serve (Me, Carlee, and Kerri and I feel the spirit so much more when I am focused on others. Carlee playing by the caves) and Sarah both happened to get really sick on this trip so I spent a lot of my time, thoughts, and prayers focused on them. It was incredible.

My favorite stop was Petra. We hiked down the canyon and it was a lot like hiking in Southern Utah. We saw the treasury from the Indiana Jones movie. It was really cool. One of the goddesses carved on the temple is Nike. We had tons of fun taking pictures and goofying around with pictures, hats, and whips. Then I hiked up to the monastery, part of the class took donkeys (caves in Petra) up. It was really cool once up there because it was about a 6-7 foot climb. The boys would each grab a hand and they would pull you up and it felt like you were flying. It was so much fun. Then we sang songs in a large cave like room. It was way cool.

When ever we are on a field trip we always eat the same thing. Plain pasta, a potato dish (usually a little weird), rice (plain), beef or funny colored chicken (bright yellow or purple), pitas, and hummus. In Petra it was fun because they had falafel. We ate faster than they had predicted so we had an extra hour to hike out of (Kerri and I in canyon) of the canyon. It was my favorite part because we went and climbed around in the caves and holes in the rocks. The rock there has incredible colors. Their are caves everywhere because the Bedouins used to live there until recently when Petra was named one of the modern 7 wonders of the world. Then they kicked the Bedouins out. We just goofed around and I loved it.

The bathroom there was definitely built in a Bedouin cave. It was pretty sweet. On the last part of the way out from Petra we rode horses. It was so fun. I want to go real horse back riding some time because I never had. This was my first time I can remember when I was on a horse by myself. It was so fun because I honestly laughed the entire time. We trotted and the little Bedouin man ran (I got shot in front of the temple treasury) the whole time to try and keep up. My horse was white with long and curly hair. Her name was Suzanna. It was so fun though.

For the first two days of the field trip I wasn't able to sit with my seat buddy, Carlee, because she gets really car sick and the tourist (Brother and Sister Draper) police took my seat one day and Bro. Huntington took it the next day. I was really excited when finally on the third day I could sit with her. It was such a blessing though. We had a long drive to Amman after Petra. I was selected as the designated note taker for anyone who was sick or gets car sick. Bro. Draper gave like an hour and half lecture and almost all of the bus fell asleep. It was really funny. I was definitely awake and had dreams about not taking good enough notes the night after. It was pretty funny. The first night in the hotel in Amman, I had fun just hanging out and talking with some friends. I was able to get to bed early and that is always nice.

The spiritual experiences came full (Me on my horse Susannah)force in Amman. Carlee got really sick and I was able to sit by her. I have always had friends with health problems since middle school and I feel like it is something the Lord has blessed me with, that is to be able to recognize it and I try to help and comfort them. We went to Jerash and Carlee (Trevor the Hercules) was miserable. I took pictures for her because she is really into photography but couldn't hold her camera steady. Toward the end of the tour after we had seen plenty I got permission for us to head back. It was fun to be there to help her and the Lord blessed me with some unique insights.

I also had my first bargaining (Trev man and I in Jerash) experience. Luckily it was a soft merchant. I finally found a bag I like. I was able to get it for $8 which is the cheapest anyone has purchased a bag for yet. It was fun though. I just find it incredible how powerful it can be when all of your prayers and thoughts are focused on turning to the Lord for one person. Poor Carlee was sick for the rest of the trip though. We had fun doing things together though, and we still saw all of the sights. It was amazing to see how happy she was once we made it back to the JC.

I felt like Jordan was the perfect length for a field trip. Egypt was a little long. Jordan was really nice because it is very modern and clean still. We still couldn't drink the water and had to be careful about what we ate but the environment was clean. Oh yeah, in Amman on Halloween we went with (Me against a pillar at the professors and got ice cream from Hercules temple) Mc Donald's. It was amazing because it tasted like real ice cream and I had two cones for less than a dollar (they were small cones). Then we went to the super market and I had so much fun just walking around because it was set up like a normal store. It was so comforting and they had more American foods. Overall it was a

(Carlee and I at the Jabbok River) trip and I loved it.

Recovery Day

The professors were so nice when they planned the schedule because they gave us a free day the day after we got back from Jordan. I slept in and stayed in my PJ's all day. I did homework and pictures in the morning. Then we had a group (30 people) who took a taxi to west Jerusalem to play ultimate frisbee. It was so much fun to be outside, running around, and to be in shorts. We had to hurry back afterwards because I was going with a group to a Jewish synagauge for shabbat worship. The shabbat starts for them on friday night when the sun goes down. It was so cool because our Judiasm professor met us there, explained a little about what would happen and answered questions afterwards. It was a small group and Jewish synagaoges aren't things you could identify when driving down the street. It was cool because the spirit was there and almost the entire service was singing (it was all in Hebrew of course). Luckily we sat next to a friendly girl from the Hebrew U and so she would help us to know where we were as they went through the prayer book. It was neat to see how much truth they had and also to realize that they worship Jehovah. Their religion is essentially still stuck in Old Testament times and they worship the Old Testament God. It was a cool realization for me.

That night we had the Shalom Shack Spook Festival, or in other words our halloween party. Everyone was so creative with their costumes. There were 5 virgins, 4 egyptian costumes, and a lot of people that dressed like other people at the center. It was really fun. Carlee and I were gangsters and we wore big sweatshirts, pants, shoes, she wore a bandana, and I wore a hat. It was really fun. We danced to fast songs and played card games. It was such a good break to have before we jump back into school with a final every week for the next three weeks. Things are great here and I feel so blessed to be having the many expereiences I have had.

FREE DAY Excitement

Today was an amazing and incredible day. After class was finally over (the end of our last mid-term), the JC felt like it took a breath of fresh air. Lunch was the celebration. I ate 2.5 bananas and that never happens but I love bananas so so much. Then after lunch we went to the Rockafellor Museum, ate ice cream, got James a falafel (a pita, with fried chick peas, pickels, cucumbers, sometimes lettuce, hummus or another dressing, and french fries ontop. It is great and delicious. Then we went shopping in the old city. I purchased a couple of shirts so I don't have to wear an EFY shirt every other day. I have decided I am sick of them. :) I found Harry Potter in Arabic!!!Pretty much everyone went out into the city. It was great because we weren’t in a hurry and we didn’t have anything to stress about. it was really fun because we didn't have to hurry back to the center and we didn't have to worry about studying. We had tons of fun walking home because we played football/catch with a tied bags with our shirts inside. I was the photographer for the day because Carlee didn't bring her camera. It was a new and fun experience. I didn't get any great shots but I had fun trying. It was amazing. On the way back to the center we stopped at a couple of stores. I had the find of the century. I bought a box of honey nut cheerios for 10 shekles or $2.50. I needed and loved this break and Jordan will be such a great get away from school.

Sedar Meal

We had a Sedar Meal and it was incredible. It started at 5:30 Pm and didn’t finish until 9:30. It didn’t seem like it took forever though. It was cool because Ophir, our Jewish professor, led the sedar. We each had a sedar book to follow along with. It definitely opened on the opposite side of books in America. We sang the table of contents through before we did each step of the sedar meal. There were a number of people that sang or read certain portions of the presentation. The funniest was when Sam and Archi made a rap about the questions and answers with numbers.
I sat with Trevor and Christiane and enjoyed getting to know them. Trevor is actually looking into optometry. Christianne is still trying to decide what to study. Right now she is an exercise science, Health and wellness, major. Trevor is a biology major so we talked alot about the different classes and professors to take. My highlight of the night was Trevor teaching me how to pray in Spanish. It has been so fun to practice that. I definitely need to learn more nouns though so I can pray for more things.
The meal was huge and I was stuffed by the end of the night. We had fish for appetizer. Trevor was nice and ate mine. Then we had a really hot soup. It was actually some really good broth with a little bit of carrots and celery. It would have been amazing if it had chicken, noodles, and crackers. Then we had a salad. Then it was the main course with chicken, a little cheesy broccoli, carrots, and fried mashed potatoes. I’m sure they weren’t very good for me, but I did enjoy them. We had a fruit cup and various chocolates for desert. Oh yeah and you can’t forget the four glasses of grape juice you drink through out the night. It was a really neat experience.
It did make studying extend to really late. But it was a great break. We were all dressed up in church clothes so you didn't actually feel like you were in the JC. It was so nice.

Bananas

I ate a banana for the first time since I left the states and it was heavenly. I freaked out at lunch when I saw them and I couldn't stop smiling for the entire hour. I went and found a fruit stand that afternoon and purchase five more. I love bananas and miss them so much. I wonder if they have bananas in Spain?

Hezekiah's Tunnel

We went on a field trip to David's city. It was the first city in the Jerusalem area. Everything else has expanded off of the city of David. We hiked through Hezekiah's tunnel. It was built by the people to connect the Gihon spring to flow into the city, under the wall to the pool of Silaom. It was fun because we were climbing through this small tunnel, I spent most of the time bent half way over with water at some points up to my thighs. Hense our lines in the picture. It was so fun. After you get through the tunnel it comes out at the pool. The Byzantine Chrisitans built a church over what they thought to be the pool but it is just a small portion of the pool. They have since excavated the rest of the pool. I got in a water fight with my roommates afterwards hence I am completely wet in the picture with Carlee. It was super fun. We might go through it again. It was awesome.

Olive Crushing

A few days ago we took the olives we picked from the center and crushed them like the ancient people would have. First you throw them in a pit and push a HUGE circular rock around. It mashes the olives to a mush and then you transport them to the juicers as I like to call them. There were two different types we used. You put the olive mush in baskets and then through a system of pulleys and weights the baskets have pressure applied and the oil runs out. It has to sit for a couple of days so the water and oil seperate. I guess if it is really pure it comes out in a red color.

Spain

I'm going to Bilbao, Spain. I report to Provo MTC on Feb 27th. I will be in Provo for three weeks and then will head to the Spain MTC. I am so excited!!!!!

Olive Picking

In ancient days they would beat the trees to get the olives to fall off. Our professors talked about this so much, we were all psyched to go beat the olive trees. It was slightly disappointing when we found out we were just going to pick the olives. We harvested the olives outside the JC but on its property one day and then next day we worked on the trees withing the center. It was really fun though to go out with all my friends, get dirty, and have fun chatting for a couple of hours. Missions have been the talk around the center because Sarah Johnson sent her papers in the same day as I did. She opened her call last night. She is serving in Paris, France and leaves Jan. 16th. I will open my call tonight and I am super excited about it.

There is a funny story about my mission call. I thought it would come sat. afternoon to my home in Boise. I tried to call my parents Fri. afternoon (my Friday night before I went to bed) but couldn't get a hold of anyone. During my night I get about 5 e-mails from my family saying my call has come and I should call them. This is about 10 PM their time but 6 AM our time. We don't have breakfast until 8 on Shabbat. Because I had not been able to get a hold of them the night before I woke up early 6 to call them. The entire JC was completely dead because no one would get up for another hour. When I called my family thought I was calling to open the call with them (because of all the e-mails they had sent telling me that was the plan). I think they forgot that I wasn't checking my e-mail at 5:30 AM. Funny side note, I didn't see those e-mails until 4 PM that afternoon.

When I called, they were so excited, they called both Matt and Amy on the cell phones before I could even find out what was going on. I had no idea that my call had already come. I know it broke all of their hearts that I was going to wait to open it. But I am excited to open it now. Well you got to love the time differences. It makes for funny stories and exciting events. I love that my family is so enthusiastic about me serving a mission. They are great and I can't wait to see them at Christmas.

Tel Aviv

After our Judism mid term twenty of a took taxis to Tel Aviv where we spent four hours playing in the Medeterranean Sea. It was awesome. The water wasn't cold and the weather was perfect. We had tons of fun playing silly games in the water. The best was when we played missionary tag for over an hour. It just got better as we played. It was really funny because slowly the circle would migrate and it would get to the point where the shorter girls would try and run across the circle but it would be so deep they couldn't touch anymore. It was a quite a work out and I am sure we looked hilarious. You feel like you are putting forth so much effort to run but you are hardly moving. It was great.

I went into my first grocery store since I was in the states and it was such a comforting feeling. We stopped at a place called Gelatos. They have the best ice cream ever. I think the states definately need to learn about chocolate. They had so many options and all these ice cream flavors of different candy bars here. It was heavenly. Also a great way to forget about a disaterous test.

We also had tons of fun burrying people in the sand. We burried twelve of the girls in a row. One guy, Craig dug a vertical hole to be burried in. It was so funny because once he was completely covered it looked like a head just popped out of the ground. It was really funny. We drew alot of attention as people would come over and take pictures of us. It was quite the adventure. We became more creative and when we burried the boys we made one a pbaraoh, one a mermaid, and another a strong man. It was a fun adventure.

Short Galilee Trip

We went to Galilee for a quick two day trip. It was so fun. We went to Meggido which is also the place of Armegedon. It was a key place to hold and thus a place of many battles. It switched hands frequently and thus was really cool to see from an archaelogical point of view. Pretty much all of our stops consist of old rocks or mountains/overlooks. Funny how that works. Nazareth was a fun stop. There are two churches to commemorate Mary the mother when she grew up and Christ and his family. It is interesting that Nazareth was not the ideal place to live and the people who lived there were all poor. One of our prophesors pointed out that Heavenly Father wasn't sending Christ into ideal conditions but was making him experience and overcome difficulties all the time. One of my favorite things about the a church there was it was covered in artwork from various countries. All I could think about was the excitement of knowing I could be called to serve in any of those countries.

There was a funny situation when Carlee accidentally ripped a little hole in the back of her pants. At the top of Mt. Arbel she fell off a rock and completely ripped the whole back side of her pants. I luckily had another pair of pants on the bus that she borrowed for the rest of the trip.

The culminating event of the trip was swimming in the Sea of Galilee. It is actually a lake and it was so warm. They received special permission to open it for us because it closed at the beginning of October. I have no idea why it closed because it was so warm I would have swam there in the middle of the winter. It was really fun. That night we had one of the professors who lectured about Revelations. It was pretty sweet. There is so much in the scriptures I wish I understood.

On the way back we stopped at Acco and Cesarea and they were really cool because they were so largely influenced by Rome and Greek that it has a strong European feel. There is tons of remains fully intact and it is an active dig site. I am really looking forward to when we go to Galilee for a week. It will be when we are studying the New Testament and we will have class two times a day. I am really excited for it.