Jenn, Mitchell and Deb's Adventures in Jerusalem

Reflections on the Holy Land

2008-09-30T07:35:00.003+03:00

Since I got back from Jerusalem in June, my mind has been constantly taken back to the Holy Land. I have revisited sights in my mind over and over again and it has been wonderful. I, like many of my classmates, wrote the dates we visited different sites in my scriptures and hymnbook. It has been wonderful to be taken back at the sight of a simple notation.

I have also been reading Gerald N. Lund's series Kingdom and the Crown. I love his style of writing and his dedication to historical accuracy. Where story telling is required for the flow of the novel, he explains history in the chapter notes. It has been amazing to revisit the scripture stories through these novels.

Anyway, I begin reading them in Provo, checking them out from the BYU library. I finished the second book when I was visiting family in CA and died of anticipation waiting to get back to the library to check out the 3rd book. Finally, I checked it out and was only 50 or so pages into the book when I moved up to Logan and had to leave the book behind with instructions for my sister to return it to the library. The Friday after I got to Logan I found myself at the Institute Building once again seeking the book! Checking in with the Librarian I became eligible for check outs and eagerly took the book home. I spent the next week of late nights working through the book.

I finished a week and a half ago late at night. I just want to say that again I know my Savior lives. I didn't need to visit Bethlehem, Galilee, the Garden tomb or read these books to know it, but the Spirit I have felt all over the Holy Land and then again in my own room in Logan witnesses to me that He lives and did what He says He did. I am so grateful for that knowledge. My life will never be the same because of what I experienced in Jerusalem. I read the scriptures differently and I long to know my Savior more.

It has been over three months since we have returned from Holy Land. Sometimes it seems a dream that we were there. But every time my mind is taken back into that wonderful dream I will thank God for what I learned when I lived in the Holy Land.

Father, How do I express the songs of my heart?

I hear the prayer calls and again my heart is drawn out in gratitude towards Thee.

Why have I found favor in thy sight?

I am daily surrounded by the tokens of Thy Son's sacrifice.

Churches erected, song and stories etched in stone.

The roads where He walked, the stories He lived, the pilgrims who come.

My song is unchanged. The testimony that must be shared is there as it ever has been.

Only now the harmonies are richer, the melody more pure.

Father there is a song in my heart. Be with me yet, lest I ever forget this great symphony.

-Written 5/23/08 at Shepherd's Fields Bethlehem

Home and reflection

2008-08-15T05:46:00.003+03:00

I have now been home for almost 2 months and it feels like a dream that i was actually studying in the Holy Land. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to study in such a sacred environment, it was truly a blessing. I walked where the Savior walked and went to so many sacred sites. My life has been truly blessed. As I reflect on my experience I realize that I really had an incredible time and felt like I came closer to my Savior and gained a understanding better the love the our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. I have been asked many times what was my most favorite part of Jerusalem? This question is very difficult to answer, there were so many incredible things that I saw and experienced, I saw the Pyramids in Egypt, Petra in Jordan, I welcomed in the shabbat with the Jews, I went to many mosques, I rode a camel in Egypt, I floated down the Nile, I went to Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, the Church of the Nativity, The Dome of the Rock, many Tell's and other historic sites. Originally I would tell people that my most favorite thing was living there, in the holy land. I think though a more accurate answer would be my most favorite things while I was in the holy land were the times when I had time to reflect on all of the incredible things I was seeing and feeling. It all hit me once when I was in Gethsemane during the last week walk our class went on. We were all instructed to sit in quite reflection, I began thinking and pondering about the incredible mercy the Heavenly Father has shown me personally in my life, the trust that Heavenly Father has in each one of us, as well as the love that he has shown personally to me and has for each one of his children. I already had a testimony of the atonement and life of the Savior before I went to the Holy Land, but while there I was able to understand more of the gospel and have visual images for the scripture stories. My testimony was strengthened through the things I learned and experienced and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity I had to go to the Holy Land.

Last week walk

2008-06-17T23:22:00.002+03:00

Today was our last field trip. We loaded up the buses and went to our first site. We went to the site dedicated to the last week our the Saviors life. The first stop was a church at Bethpage where Christ began his Triumpful entry into the old city. We then went to a church dedicated the "Our Father" prayer. The prayer was on mosaics in every language imaginable. After that we walked to Dominus Flevit. This area was where the Savior said "O Jerusalem" We then went to the church of Mary Magdeline-a Russian Orthodox church. I had been there before but to go with the class was a special experience as well. We walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane. When I had gone there before I went to the area of the Church of all nations. This time we had scheduled a special garden and were able to reflect on the great sacrifice that our Savior did for us and the miracle of the Atonement. I am so very grateful for the miracle of the atonement and especially for the love that Our Heavenly Father has shown for us in the great plan that He prepared. We then had lunch in the Orson Hyde Park and went to our next site at the St. Peter Engallo Cantu (rooster sing), a church dedicated to Peter denying that he knew Christ 3 times. Shaunelle and I taught here and shared part of a talk President Hinckley gave about how even though Peter denied that he knew Christ, Peter knew when he had messed us and after he wept bitterly became once again a strong advocate for truth and righteousness. We walked to the upper room where Christ and his Apostles partook of the last supper and also where the resurrected Lord visited the apostles again. We then went to the Church of Flagellation which is dedicated to the pain that the Roman soldiers put Christ through.
We ended our field trip in the Garden tomb- there is a debate of where exactly the actual place was where Christ was buried. The Garden tomb is one of those places and is decorated with a beautiful garden. We walked in to an empty tomb. It was peaceful and the spirit was strong. He is risen. He lives and loves us. I have felt his love in so many places here in the Holy land. We will be returning home soon and upon reflecting on all of the experiences I have had here I stand all amazed at the love Jesus has for me, oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me.
We ended our day with each person sharing their testimony, we were separated in our classes so the 40 of us reflected on the miracles that we experienced and learned from. We have become a close group and have learned so much from each other. I will miss walking the streets in the Holy Land and the amazing spirit that can be felt here.

(pictures will be uploaded soon)

Third time is almost the charm

2008-06-15T15:46:00.004+03:00

After our last classes I went to the Rockefeller Museum and then to the Dome of the Rock (temple mount) for the third time. It is a really cool area and very peaceful. I was going with some people who had never been before. First you have to wait in line and then pass through security to get on the grounds. As we were walking around I noticed that one of the doors was open. The Mosque is very beautiful and is a house of prayer, very few people who are not of the Muslim faith get in. People were going inside and I told my friends- "it is open and people are getting in!" We ran to the door and looked inside. A man stopped us and asked us if we were Muslim. I said we were not and then we talked to him for a little while. He eventually told us that we could not get in because it is for Muslims only. It was the closest I have ever been to getting inside. It was an exciting day. Now we have to study for the two finals we have tomorrow. CRAZY!!!

Sandals!

2008-06-13T21:24:00.004+03:00

Just wanted to show off the awesome sandals that are here. :D

Deb

Jordan and beyond

2008-06-11T17:46:00.003+03:00

We just got back from Jordan. We saw some amazing things including Petra, many ancient ruins and today we saw the place where it is believed Jesus was baptized. In Petra there was an optional donkey ride up to the top of a mountain that had 900 steps. I walked up and down the mountain. Most people took donkeys. I had kind of a funny experience with the donkeys. I will explain later. I just wanted
to quickly say we are back from Jordan we had a wonderful time and here are some pictures to enjoy! The picture on the top is what is shown in the Indiana Jones movie and the one on the bottom is the monastery that I walked the 900 steps to see.

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up!

2008-06-07T19:51:00.007+03:00

So here's the update on the last few days home in Jerusalem. We arrived home Tuesday and it felt so good to come home! Amazing the feeling in this city. I love Jerusalem! It will forever hold a tender part of my heart. This is a home for me and I pray for peace in this homeland.
Wednesday we had class in the morning and then a full afternoon. We hit the town and got money, then shopped a little, and got a pair off shoes repaired before heading to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was not very busy which made the experience all the better. (Picture is of me right outside of the Sepulchre) After the Sepulchre we headed to Dung Gate and the Temple Institute. This is a group that are preparing for the building of the temple that will welcome the Savior when he comes. It was amazing. They are actually quite a fanatical group and considered terrorists by some. Lets hope we didn't support any terrorist actions by going there! :) I took tons of pictures because I know mom would especially be interested in all the stuff they have prepared.
Afterward we headed back into the Old City for some more shopping and then out to dinner for a birthday celebration (Ashley Andersen). went out to West Jerusalem and had aWe great time. At one point Deb and I tried our hand at being street musicians. We sang with a hat out in front but all we got were some smiles and a few people took pictures. We could remember all the songs we know how to sing together so we've decided to make a list and next time we will be prepared! It was just fun to be out with friends. We tried to make it back to Jaffa Gate for a concert that was going on but we were too late and sorely disappointed. It looked like it was a great concert. Maybe we'll catch another one before we leave!
Thursday was a full field trip day. I'll give you the run down but I'll have Deb or Mitchell write up the specifics. We started the day early at Masada in an attempt to beat the heat but it was still crazy hot. That was an amazing fortress! We then went to Ein Gedi where we swam in the Dead Sea. That was crazy. You really do just float! We also hiked up to some waterfalls before heading to our last stop at Qumran where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. That place was cool because our very own Dr. Seely was the editor of six of the scrolls! He really is an amazing man and we love it when he is on our bus because we get to ask him all kinds of questions. We got back in time for dinner at the JC.
That night we had a lecture by Ophir to prepare us to attend his synagogue on Friday. Pretty cool stuff on the Jewish traditions associated with Shabbat. I'll I've got to say is that the Jews know how to anticipate and celebrate a holy day.
Friday we went to Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) in the morning and it was incredible! One of the most amazing museums I have ever been to. We came back after that and I got some reading done and took a nap before going back into the old city to get some money for Mitchell and go to Omar's (the olive wood shop). I found a beautiful, simple nativity that I really love so I was excited about that.
But the best part of Friday was going to Synagogue to welcome in Shabbat. It was so great! We great everyone "Shabbat Shalom!" singing the songs was incredible. Music is the way to my heart and I have never felt so prepared for the Sabbath to come. The sun set and I was ready for Shabbat. It made it even more wonderful when it was Fast Sunday for us. I hope I can get some of the music for the Shabbat evening service. I really was one of the most amazing experiences I have had. We danced and we sang and I was really moved by the words of the psalms we sung. These people have a relationship with God that I really admire but in the end I have this amazing desire to help them know the Savior they are waiting for.
Anyway, today has been a wonderful Sabbath and tomorrow we head for Jordan! The sun has just set and I have some preparation to do before going to bed. We have an early start in the morning. We want to be the first buses at the boarder! We'll see what happens. Once again, you won't hear from us for a few days but just think of us in Bethany, Mt. Nebo (the real one), Petra, Amman, and several other cool sights. Maybe watch the older Indiana Jones with Petra in it and think of us! We love you! We'll be back on Wednesday night!

Going home!

2008-06-06T22:50:00.004+03:00

okay, so after 10 days in egypt and not able to eat fresh fruit and vegetables, we were pretty ready to come home. We left super early in the morning from cairo and went straight to the border. I slept pretty good. I can never sleep on busses but I was so exhausted and so even at the stops I could barely get up! it was ridiculous! But it felt amazing to sleep well. At one place we stopped for lunch and there were camels that people were feeding and taking pictures with. We finally got to the border and it took us about two and a half hours to get through. Once on the other side we went to Eilat and went snorkeling. It was SO much fun. I drank enough salt water to last I don't know how long. It was so cool, because we went out to this rock and we would dive down and look at all these beautiful bright fish and cool color corals. It was pretty much the coolest thing I've ever done in water. After Eilat we headed straight for the Jerusalem Center and arrived that night around 10pm. they had dinner ready for us, but who wanted to eat chikin and rice when we were only hungry for fruit. I think I ate a pound of watermelon. It was DELICIOSO! anyway. We slept and then got up and had class and life continued as we know it. Homework, tests and more homework. Its been great. So, there's a belated update about our last day in Egypt.

Galilee-Tuesday 6/3

2008-06-04T12:08:00.008+03:00

Galilee has been an incredible journey. We have seen so many things and have had so many unforgettable experiences. Today we drove back to the Jerusalem center making stops along the way. We left at 7:30 and our first stop was Akko, a beautiful port city on the Mediterranean Coast. We walked through renovated ruins and onto a wall on the coast. We walked and explored until we got a lighthouse-at that moment we had a while of free time were we could shop and look around. Then we drove to Haifa- another port city and a city that hold particular significance for the LDS church. We stopped at a cemetery called the Haifa Templar Cemetery, where Elise and I were asked to present about the significance of this site. Adolf Haag and John Clark were missionaries called to serve in the Turkish Mission. They were called to labor in Haifa for a season, while there Adolf contracted Typhoid and John was sick with small pox. They both passed away by 1895 and their bodies are buried in this cemetery. Also, Jacob Spori who had been given a Book of Mormon by Karl Maeser had a dream were he saw in a vision a family who he found later in Haifa. Spori was also called to serve a mission where he taught the Grau family and they joined the church in 1886. Later two other people joined named Fred and Christine Kegel. Spori later returned to the United States and founded Rick's College. The Grau and Kegel families remained active in the church and eventually died and were also buried in the same cemetery as Haag and Clark. There are multiple reasons these people are important to the LDS faith. They represent tremendous faith and devotion to God and are examples of giving your all for the work of the Lord. Also when the church was looking to acquire land to build the BYU Jerusalem Center and buy land for the church building in Tiberias one of the requirements that Israel put was that the church had to have a presence before 1948. Because of these early pioneers the Church is able to have a presence here in Jerusalem and in the Holy Land. Because of these people who where faithful and sacrificed everything they had I am able to study in the Holy Land. I am so very grateful for all of the many sacrifices so many people have made including Adolf Haag, John Clark, Jacob Spori, The Grau Family, and The Kegel family. These people lived simple lives and unknowingly left a huge impact in the future of the Church. It is incredible to see the hand of the Lord and how He provides a way for his work to be done. Although this site was a simple gravesite it was one of my most favorite things we were able to see.
Then we returned to the Jerusalem center. We were able to sleep well and in a couple of days we will go to Jordan!

Saturday 5/31 Sunday 6/1 Monday 6/2

2008-06-04T12:08:00.007+03:00

okay! So Shabat was so cool! we went over to Tiberias to go to church with the Tiberias branch. It was so cool! It was just a home, didn't have a sign or anything, just a house. I was almost left that morning, me with 7 other people. Luckily we made it on the bus just as it was pulling out. It was pretty scary. Anyway. I did my hair different. Lexie, this awesome girl here, has curly hair really similar to mine and so she showed me a new styling technique. it was pretty fun, big hair. Christine would be proud of me, and I'll show it to christine, it will look SO good on you. THe branch has this family that's from the US but has been living in Israel for 40 years. We don't quite know why they're there. But some "volunteers" not missionary couples are the District and branch presidents. Jenn, Me and two others sang an old hymn called "Each Cooing Dove" it was so beautiful. We blended so well. The church looks down over the sea of Galilee, just from the other side of where we live. We could only stay for Sacrament meeting because the other bus had to come over and we only had one bus. This pic is of Jenn and I with three of the branches members. The branch is so diverse that they have people singing songs in English, russian, Spanish and one other language. It reminded me so much of my mission.

Sunday, we just had class, and then went swimming. BUT! I had something AWEFUL happen to me. I lost my awesome silver ring! NOOOOOO!!! it was horrible. I was playing keep away and it was flung off my hand. I saw it fall down, but the waves were pretty big and the sand was twisting around and I couldn't find it. It was SO sad! I loved that ring so much! I almost

cried. the next day after our field trip I looked for it again with the Seely kids, but we couldn't find it. So sad! My first order of business once being back in Jerusalem was to find another cool ring. I did find one, but its not pure silver. I dunno, every since loosing my ring, it was a downward spiral. I lost around $35, dropped my camera 15 feet onto a mosaic floor in a synagogue in Sephoris (it still works, amazingly enough), and one of my earrings fell into a dig we were walking over. And then yesterday at the Dead sea,

I lost my sunglasses AND left my conditioner. what's next? who knows? I'm just leaving a treasure hunt all over Israel when I come back in 10 years. So sunday we just played on the beach all day.

Monday we had a half day field trip and we went to Sephoris and saw the mosaics and the synagogue where the Talmud was completed in 200AD. They also have a mosaic of

Mona Lisa (that was where dropped my camera). We went also to Qazrin, which is a talmudic village.

It showed what kinds of homes these people lived in just before the Byzantine

Era. This picture is of me and Steven (Walter) being Gothic Farmers.

I really liked Gamla. Its this crazy hill/precipice thing where there was a Jewish village. During the first jewish revolt (Vespasian, aka same time as Masada), it was the similar kind of story as Masada. They couldn't get into the city because it was on this precipice, and finally when they did, the jews were winning at first and then the Romans began to gain the upper hand and push them back to the precipice, in the end, the men threw their wives and children off, and jumped themselves. 4000 were killed by the Romans and 5000 jumped to their deaths.

We had to hike down and around and then come back up. ow! my bum/thighs hurt for a day or so. We got some cool pics. Okay! so there you go!

Galilee-Wednesday, 5/28-Water and Music

2008-06-04T12:07:00.012+03:00

In between field trip days we have whole days back at the Kibbutz. We spend the morning in three hours of New Testament and then the afternoon is free for swimming and anything else. The last few days we have been trying to study hard for our Near Eastern Studies (NES) 136 midterm. We worked hard and took it Tuesday night (5/27). It was a good test but as to how well we did on it that is another question. We were all glad to have that over with though. So, on to this field trip. I have to be honest, just because you are in the holy land, doesn't mean the rules change. I still need to make sure and get my personal study time in or I'm tired. Well this morning was one of those mornings. I just felt tired and drained by the people around me. So I had a quiet morning but things got better don't you worry. We started on the boat ride across the Sea of Galilee and it was beautiful to be out on the water. I have always loved water and I'm not quite sure why but it brings such peace. However, with the Sea 600 ft. below sea level you have lots of warm low pressure with the high pressure in the mountains that rise out of the sea and it is easy to see how this body of water could easily become a torrent. The story of Mary Ann Baker and the hymn "Master the tempest is raging" was new to me but wonderful to relate there on the Sea. Just like Mary today I felt a little "tossed" by life and discouraged as to the future. But a wonderful peace entered my heart as we sang that song and remembered the Master of Creation. Bro. Ostler had given me a copy of an older hymn that isn't in the hymn book anymore called "Each Cooing Dove" or "O Galilee" and asked us to sing it. I grabbed a few girls I knew could sight read and we sang through it. It was in the music when my heart finally begin to feel light. Just as a side note, we performed that song again on Shabbat in the Tiberias branch only this time I arranged the music and that was a highlight for me. Something about water and music.
Next stop was the mount of beatitudes. We had a wonderful lesson and then just time to think and study up there on our own. There is a beautiful church up there with an order of Catholic sisters that keep the whole area very nicely. It was a great self-evaluation time to just think about the things I can repent of and do better.
We then went to the Tabgha Church and St. Peter's Primacy church. Tabgha is where they attribute the miracle of the loaves and fishes and Peter's Primacy is where he is sent out with the commission to feed the sheep after the Savior has already risen and returned to visit His disciples. I had a little miracle happen in Peter's church. There were so many people there and sometimes at these shrines it can get loud and boisterous with all the pilgrims and tourists trying to get their kiss or picture in. Sometimes that can be so frustrating as it really makes it hard to feel the spirit. Well, at the suggestion of a friend, I begin singing a hymn after most of our group had left and only these tourist remained. A hush fell in the chapel and the mood completely changed as the talking ceased and a spirit of worship returned. I am so grateful for the gift of music in my life and for those moment when I am blessed to use it to invite the spirit in to mine and others' lives.
Our last stop was Capernaum and my favorite for the day. Lexie and I were to prepare a lesson on three miracles performed in Capernaum. First, when the Savior healed the Centurion's servant, the woman healed by touching the Saviors hem, and Jairus' daughter raised from the dead. The preparation is what really made this site wonderful for me. I should take more time to prepare for each site like that. I was reminded about God the great Gift Giver when we taught about the Centurion who was too humble to receive the Lord into his house but had faith that even though he did not deserve the blessing, the Lord was willing to bless his house just because He loved him. I told the story of Christmas in our house and how Dad taught us about the Great Gift Giver. There are examples of God's willingness to bless us all over the scriptures and I am grateful for the merciful gift-giving God that I know and worship.
I learned so much from Lexie as she taught about the woman afflicted with the issue of blood who had been suffering for 12 years before finding healing in the crowded streets of Capernaum. We may never know the struggles others are going through, some things are not easily recognized. But even when others do not see the healing that goes on through the power of the Atonement, the Savior knows us each individually and wants to make each healing a personal one-on-one experience. This miracle occurred when Jesus had been summoned to the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum. We were sitting right there and I wrote some thought in my journal that express things perfectly:
Jairus was bring the Savior back here! To the synagogue where he was the ruler. I would assume his house was near by and he had requested this miracle of the Savior with faith in His power to heal. What anxiety he must have felt when they were held up by the woman and then what disappointment and hopelessness when we receives the message that is daughter has already passed away and it is too late! Yet in that dark moment the Savior brings light, "Be not afraid, only believe!" And then in that darkest situation, when all is gone and dead, the Savior brings life and light. That is Capernaum to me. (This is a picture of the synagogue built on top of the foundations of the one at the time of Christ where He would have come and read the scriptures, just blocks from the house of Peter in Capernaum)
The last thing that really completed this day was a quick lesson by Brother Seely on the Bread of Life Sermon. Brother Seely talked about so much that got my mind really working but it really hit home days later when again, on the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee I partook of the Sacrament in the Tiberias Branch. Bread is a sacred thing in this land, it represents life and is a staple to the people's diet. In Christ's sermon on the Bread we are to 1) Seek and follow the bread, 2) Believe and then 3) Eat the bread by continuing to do all the basics (sacrament, scriptures, prayer, church, temple, sharing). Bread is becoming a sacred thing to me as well here and I hope that I will never stop partaking of the Bread of Life. I know that while I have been partaking here it has been a holy experience and I feel full, even brimming over with the Bread and Water of Life that is filling me daily.

Galilee-Friday 5/30

2008-06-04T12:07:00.011+03:00

The day before we had gone to a fish restaurant. Deb and a select few joined a group called "we ate fish eyes". I did not, i tasted some of the whole fish fried but I also ordered a pizza so that I would be full. We started early in the morning after a wonderful kosher breakfast and began our day. We went to a place called Beth Shean it is also called Scythpolis by the Greeks. This place contained tons of city ruins. We toured through the old main street and through the ancient bath house. It was a lot of fun. Here is a picture of our class in the ancient toilets. It was amazing! There was so much to see and walk through, it started to get very very hot and we went to the next area. We went to a Synagogue called Beth Alpha. This synagogue we began to see incredible mosaics that were made on the ground. We watched a movie about the history of this particular mosaic, it was very interesting and you can tell that this mosaic was a beginners attempt. We then went to a spring. We all got in our swimming suits and cooled off a little bit. We were there for about 2 hours eating and swimming and it was very refreshing.
We all dried off and loaded on the bus. I was the last one on the bus and our bus the last person on the bus has to entertain the bus for a little bit. It was fun. I sang Destiny's Child with hand motions.
We then went to a small church in Nain. This particular church was in tribute the miracle of when Christ raised the Widows son from the dead. (Luke 7:11-18) Jenn and Camille sang a sanctus. It was absolutely beautiful.
We then went to Mt. Tabor. Our bus could only get us to a certain point on the mountain and then we all loaded into smaller sherutes (little buses) and went up the switchbacks until we got to the top of the mountain.On the top of Mt. Tabor there was a gorgeous church that is in tribute to the Mt of Transfiguration. The view was beautiful. We went into the church and went to where the altar was, we sang 2 hymns with a group of catholics who were preparing for a mass.
It was an awesome day we saw and learned about so much. We returned to the Kibbutz and had a Kosher dinner. The end of a very eventful day.

(pictures are not uploading for some reason, i will try again tomorrow.... have a great day!)

Monday 5/26

2008-06-04T12:07:00.010+03:00

Okay! long time no blog! sorry. Life is amazingly crazy! but i'm going to try to bust out at least two blogs at the moment, text AND picture...ooooo, cool!

okay, so there's TONS to blog about on this day, I just looked through my pics and wow! we'll how far I get.

We started the day by going to Tel Hazor. So, if you didn't know, in archeaology a "tel or tell" is a huge mound that has layers of civilizations piled on top

of each other, the oldest on the bottom. What happens is that one group of people say, "hey! this hill is surrounded by water, it has caravan's passing by, lots of rich land is around it where we could farm, and the hill is a place of protection. So let's build a city on top of the hill, okay?" so they do, and then after awhile, another civilization comes by and destroys them

and then says, "oooh! this really IS a good place to live, we'll build on top of this

city and live here our selves!" so they cover

the old city with dirt and build on top of it their own houses with their own style, so there are these tels all over and you go and dig in

them and can find evidence of several different civilizations in just one tel. Tel Hazor has 21 strata (layers) beginning from the early bronze age, which means that they found some old stuff there. The thing that interests us the most is that there was a huge Canaanite city there with tons of "High Places" or meeting houses for their god Ba'al.

In this huge field they excavated in 8 places an i

n 5 of those places, they found Canaanite temples. Crazy! The cool thing about this place was that when the israelites took over,

they built

their city on top and in the digging they found below the israelite city a burn layer and then the

canaanite city. So they moved this israelite palace, stone by stone, to the side so they could keep digging around the canaanite palace below.

Pretty amazing. Brother Seely made sure that we took a picture of the different strata. In this pic you can see the canaanite layer and the burn/destruction layer and then you imagine the israelite palace that they moved to the side of the site.

We then went to Dan. Dan is so beautiful there is a spring that comes through it and on our walk through the nature reserve we were pretty much just walking on rocks through

the creeks that run through the land. Dan was the border city of the north part of the Northern Kingdom during the time of Jeroboam. When you hear "from Dan to Beer-Sheva" in the Bible, they're talking about the bordering cities of the land during the United Monarchy (Saul, David, Solomon) But his was where he placed the golden calf at and had a huge altar.

There is also a dig they are working at where they are uncovering a whole Canaanite Gate.

The amazing thing about the structure behind Me, Jenn and Mitchell in this picture is that it is made out of Mud bricks and so its been preserve until now and they have discovered a mud brick gateway that is till intact. Its really, really cool! (as Brother Seely would say)

After Dan we went to Caesarea Philippi. This was a really cool place to go to because it was where Matthew 16:16-19 happened. When Christ asked his apostles "whom say men that I am?" and Peter responds, "Though art the Christ, the

son of the Living God!" The Lord responds and says "thou art PETER,

and upon this ROCK will I build my church" If you look in the footnotes it says that Peter the name comes from the word rock, but that it means small rock, like a pebble and that the word used to say ROCK in the scripture refers to a foundation stone.

So in essence the Lord is saying, thou peter art a little rock, but upon this foundation rock the church will be built. In Caeserea Philippi there are small stones all over and there is also a wall of stone (Mt. Hermon's base) where Herod built temples to the greek gods. But its so amazing to see the contrast when he's talking about the two kinds of stone. We should be built up on the foundation stone of revelation. It was way cool.

It was a super tiring day, and the very last stop was this HUMONGOUS castle that they call Nimrod's Castle, after the great hunter, it really is huge and its on top of the mountain and the stones they used to build it are immense! We're not really sure how they got to be up there. A few funny stories are involved with this stop. When we got there I was so tired that I though tthat the hour and 15 minutes they gave us to explore was too

much and that I'd wait in the bus before going, but I also knew that I should go anyway because it always takes longer than I expect. well I get off the bus and snap a quick picture before realizing that my battery is dying so I get back on the bus to grab my extra battery (which was SUCH a great idea! so many people have borrowed it.) and there are Mitch and Micah. Two punks that I adore! They are SO awesome. They're sitting on the back seat of the bus and they moan to me,

"deb! we're tired! come scratch our backs for a half hour and then lets go to the castle." and me, little sucker, did just that, got sucked in. I told them that I'd only do it for 10 minutes and then we'd have to go in, well, of course Micah begins asking questions getting me to stay longer, I knew what he was doing, the

little trickster and it was so fun to talk to him, that we really did stay in the bus a half hour longer than expected. :) Mitch had fallen asleep and was really out of it as we began up the hill to the castle. So began our 45 min of adventure. we first went down this secret passage way. From below where it lead us out, you could see all the castle. it was HUGE! We saw people up on the ramparts and so we had to go there too, so we hurried as fast as we could to get up there and explore. It was really windy and so the skirt that day wasn't the best idea, but we found this broken down tower and climbed through little tunnels and had a blast! We were behind the main group and so we were leaving to go to the bus and then we wanted to go down this cistern really quick so we did. We usually have to travel in threes, but I should have just left them at that point and went to the bus,

because we were really cutting it close. In the end, they went down this other water system and I was left on top waiting for them, and finally I ditched them to run back to the bus before it left, but as I got to the bus, Sandy told the bus driver to shut the door! agh! I was late! so then I had to wait outside until Mitch and Micah also come running out behind me and they then let us into the bus, but we were punished and had to entertain the whole bus. I told some really amazingly stupid jokes. it was all pretty funny. Mitch and Micah are pretty close to being my favorites here, even though they get me in trouble.

okay! so I had a bunch of cool pics, but this silly blog thing, kept deleting them. so sorry! THis last picture is of the sunset that night. Galilee has definitely been my favorite out of JC experience. it was so relaxing and a great time to get to know the others on the trip.

Galilee-Sunday, 5/25

2008-06-04T12:06:00.004+03:00

Wow! We just finished the most amazing 10 days in the Galilee and there is so much to write about. I am going to have to do a short post because it is already 11:15pm and we leave for a field trip tomorrow AM at 6:30. The day we left for the Galilee we also left early in the morning. We slept a little on the bus before we had our first stop. I just have to say one thing about our bus/class. It is so amazing how well we have all mixed together. We all love each other and everyday on the bus people sit with different people. We have no "clicks" and love abounds. I really feel so blessed to be among this group.
Okay, our first stop was Caesarea Maritima. Herod the Great built up this city and it was the center of Roman society at the time of Christ. Pilate traveled from his home here to oversee the Passover the week Christ was crucified. It was here Paul defended himself before King Agrippa and almost persuaded Agrippa to "be a Christian." We were in the very building the trial took place and he stood bravely before the king. What bravery and faith to bear testimony before kings and judges! And I've been there!
Next stop was Megiddo or Har Megiddo (Armegedon). This overlooks the Jezreel Valley and the bread basket of Israel. It is a beautiful, far reaching valley where more battles have been fought than any other battlefield. It was interesting to be where it has been prophesied that so much would happen. From the old city tel we could see across the valley and Mr. Tabor, Nazareth and Nain.
We then crossed the valley and went to Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation. The beautiful feeling in the church was wonderful. It celebrates the humility of the young girl Mary and her willingness to be the handmaid of the Lord. I've been thinking a lot about this since Bethlehem. Upto this point in history, the announcement made by Gabriel to Mary was teh most important every made on earth. She had been chosen and a child would be born of her that would save all mankind. I think of Mary's willingness to be a mother and I am so grateful to be a woman. I hope I will always answer as Mary did when I am called to be an instrument in God's hands.
After Nazareth it was the last leg of our journey. I loved when we dropped down into the basin that is the Sea of Galilee. At the Southern end of the Sea is the head of the river Jordan. Here, although it is not the location John was baptizing, they have established a memorial and a place for people to come in pilgrimage and be baptized. It was pretty amazing to see their fervor as they were baptized several times over and then would spend the next few minutes swimming around in their baptism whites. Always an interesting thing to see the pilgrims.
At the end of the day it was so wonderful to arrive at the holiday kibbutz Ein Gev and our home for the next 10 days. Our little housing cabins were only yards from the beach. We spent our first evening looking over the Sea of Galilee and enjoying the sunset. It was the beginning of ten amazing days!

Egyptian Transportation-Egypt Day #4

2008-05-24T17:33:00.005+03:00

Okay, I'm repenting. I'm sorry I has taken so long to finish our report of Egypt. So here is day #4 which was one of the most amazing days. I feel lucky I get to talk to you about it. We woke up this morning in Luxor. I walked out onto my balcony and our hotel is right on the Nile River! It got better when after breakfast we met to head to our first site and we were being picked up by carriages! Yup, these sad little horses that pull carriages all over Luxor. I sat up front and the driver let me drive! It was really fun. Our horses name was Cindrella and I don't remember the drivers name...typical to remember the horse! It was the first of the day and so the driver let me canter the horse. I was impressed, despite the sad look of the horse, he kept a very nice gait. They train them a little different... Oh, but aside from Elana, none of you care about the horse so I will move on.
We started at the Karnak Temple with our amazing tour guide Refaat. He is AMAZING. He was educated in archeology and holds the official title of Inspector of Antiquities. That's right, when there's a dig going on, he's the one they take the stuff to and he tells them all about it! He said he did that for a while but prefers to be a tour guide! Brother Seely said he is the best in Egypt and we loved him.
The Karnak Temple is one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world and took 1700 years to build! I can't tell you all about it because I have pages of notes from this place but here are some of the highlights. I learned that the Pharaoh's had a birth name, given by their parents and then they had a coronation name, given by the priest when they were anointed to be king. We see the cartouche all over the place with both names. I learned how they put up the huge Oblisks. I'll have to take a picture of my notes to explain. Stay tuned... The coolest thing by far was seeing what they call the Gate 6 or the Holy of Holies. Here you see carvings and hieroglyphs explaining that the king is first being washed, then anointed, giving him the onyx or life and finally being presented at a barrier or veil to the gods. My favorite carving is called the sacred embrace where you see the god taking the king by a shoulder and the words carved below say, "I give you protection, eternal life, stability, power, health, inside your heart like the god Ra, forever." Pretty amazing stuff for those with eyes to see. We could understand all of this because of our amazing tour guide Refaat! We love him! (See picture below)
Next we visited the Luxor Temple 3 miles away. There was an avenue of Sphinxes that connected the two temples and there are several of the Sphinxes that have been uncovered but the rest are under the city of modern day houses so who knows if they will ever be excavated.
So much! Hopefully the pictures do it justice.
We went back to the hotel for lunch and then after lunch we had a Faluka Ride across the Nile! A Faluka is the name of the sail boats here. They are beautiful! We got to the other side and literally (for Miranda) only took a few steps before mounting a camel! Now that was an adventure! They ride very different than a horse but I got the hang of it pretty fast. Our ride back was on a simple passenger ferry of sorts. We had free time the rest of the evening so we decided to go to the Luxor Museum before dinner. It was really cool and just the right amount of stuff. Not like the Cairo Museum where you might have to spend several days in there to see it all. Here we begin the task of understanding all the different crowns you see on the kings and gods. You can identify who it is by the crown and their head sometimes (i.e. if it is a hawk) We are beginning to understand what we are looking at and that is pretty exciting! We swam a little after dinner if I remember right or maybe we swam before dinner and did the museum afterward...its all beginning to get fuzzy to me! But the long and short of it, was that we had an amazing day in Luxor, Egypt!
Oh wait! I remember what we did after dinner! The Ostlers had to be up until 11pm anyway, because that is when we all have to be back at the hotel and so they decided to go out shopping and Deb and I joined them. Really fun on one hand because we like spending time with the Ostlers. Not so fun on the other hand because when you are with adults, the vendors think you have money and won't go as low in the bartering. We went to a bazaar and just looked at things but then we went searching for another bazaar we had heard about. I think we found part of the bazaar and we bought some scarves but then these two men who were helping us out told us about this local bazaar they wanted to take us to. Craig was convinced we were going to see a local Egyptian bazaar and we followed them through the neighborhood only to find ourselves at the door of a local shop, no doubt a friend of a friend. Well we had been deceived! It was particularly funny because just that morning Brother Ostler had warned us about not falling into these traps because you may quickly find yourself miles away from the city and in a dangerous situation. Well we all gave Craig a hard time for it but it was worth the experience! We came home dead tired and the hotel beds were hard but it didn't even matter, I slept well!

Christmas in May

2008-05-24T17:26:00.006+03:00

So yesterday we went to Bethlehem. It was an amazing experience with very mixed emotions. Many of you might not know, but Bethlehem is really close to Jerusalem. Like 15 min south of the Old City by car. We left the Center at around 2pm and drove over there. The crazy thing is that as Israel and Palestine are working toward a solution to the conflict, the Israelis have built a huge retaining wall called the Separation Wall which defines the borders of the West Bank and making it close to impossible for people living in those areas to leave and come to Jerusalem. The Wall was built beginning in 2003 and there were several people who worked on the other side who lost their jobs and had to change their occupation because they can’t leave the West Bank, our Islam teacher, Adnan, works at the Bethlehem University and about two weeks ago, he couldn’t get out to come and teach our class, so it was canceled. Intense, is the only word I can think to use when I try to describe the atmosphere around the Wall.
As we approach the checkpoint, we see the huge wall: about three feet thick and 25 feet high, there are little lookouts every few hundred feet. As we enter the checkpoint, that allows us to pass into Bethlehem, we see this sign that says that it is absolutely illegal for anyone with an Israeli citizenship to enter. We continue toward the gate and are stopped as some guards check for passports and ask what we’re planning on doing in Bethlehem. On our way in they didn’t even get on the bus to check, but the way out the Israeli Military Police got on and just walked though the bus, looking at us (the girl guard smiled at us :) ). After the checkpoint, we proceed through the wall. I can’t quite describe what I felt as I passed through this wall. An immediate sense of oppression. I could instantly feel that I was entering a place where pain, passion, despair, and anger were a huge part of their lives. The wall coming from Jerusalem was clean, no graffiti, but immediately after we passed into Bethlehem you could see graffiti, statements of defiance, and pictures of faces on the wall. It made me so sorrowful for the whole situation. The municipal of Bethlehem had so many plans for the year 2000 and around the city as we drove in we could see remnants of those plans to enlarge their tourist base. But the conflict and the wall snubbed those dreams and aspirations indefinitely. I continued to feel that way for a few hours. I went into the tourist center and bought a few postcards of the wall that were very poignant in what they conveyed to me. As I was buying the cards, I asked the clerk if I could ask her a question about it. I told her how I was feeling and asked her what she felt about the wall. She said, “We feel like prisoners. It changed a lot of things for us here in Bethlehem. It makes it much more difficult to travel, even in the West Bank. It is a very hard thing.” I believe her. The more I learn about the conflict, the more I see of its complexities, the more I feel like the only possible solution is for Christ to come and establish His Kingdom. There will have to be a lot of unselfishness on both sides for any solution to work.

But we had another interesting time when we got to Nativity Square. You can see that three different churches or denominations that have contributed to the church that is over the grotto where the traditional site of the birth of Jesus is. Helena, mother of Constantine, is said to have discovered several sacred sites, including the church of the holy sepulcher when she was here in 325AD. To enter the church, the gate was once huge, but at sometime (I can't remember when) they filled in the gate and made it smaller than the height of a person so that when anyone enters, they have to bow down to do so which had cool symbolism in it. Once we got in we got in to this huge line that would lead us to the entrance into the grotto. The throng of people made it really loud and the group behind us was pushing so much. We have really learned how to "block the gap." In the church the walls are completely covered with icons and images of kings, priests, virgins, I don't even know what. When we finally walked down the 14 steps into the grotto you see on your right the star that marks the birthplace of Jesus and then down below the stone manger where he was laid. We took pictures and then left the grotto. It was interesting to see these older women behind us who had traveled far to visit this place and were crying and so emotional over it. I wished I could feel the same way, but because of all the drapes and pictures and lamps and just visual noise, it made it really hard. We left the church and once back in Nativity Square we had time to shop. We went into this Tourist museum and they had this floor that had a ton of Nativities from all over the world! mom, you would have gone nutz! We took a few pics an then left and walked around. I wasn't planning on buying anything but we went into an olive wood shop and I ended up buying a nativity for a pretty decent price too. I also got a cool bone box that is going to be one of my wiseman boxes.

We left Bethlehem the separation wall and the West Bank all at once, and went over a mile or so to the Shepherd's Fields. We had a sack dinner and then had a really cool christmas program as a class. We had Joseph, Mary, Angels, Shepherds, and Wisemen all tell us about their experiences and lots of musical numbers. It was so special. The feelings I had there were completely different from those in the church in Bethlehem. Sitting in the field, looking over Bethlehem and through rows and rows of olive trees I was able to picture a Christmas in Judea. It was so special. Every Christmas I'll be able to thing of the Christmas Eve celebration we had as a class in Shepherds Fields. The faith of all involved for all people involved is so amazing. My feelings changed from sadness to contemplation to joy just in the few hours of the field trip. Joy to the World! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! Merry Christmas from the Holy Land!

Friday exhaustion - Egypt day Six

2008-05-23T07:41:00.006+03:00

We woke up from a horrible night sleep in a sleeper train and were bussed to our hotel in Cairo. We had breakfast and about a third of the group at this time was sick. I was extremely lightheaded and had a terrible sore throat. I was dehydrated because when ever we wanted to drink water we had to purchase bottled water. I had about 3-2 liter bottles but I guess that was not enough. Most of the people had stomach problems.
When we got to the hotel we had breakfast and then had a sacrament meeting in one of the hotel meeting rooms. Jenn organized a beautiful arrangement of a hymn and a choir to sing it. We had to close the curtains of the room and not refer to the meeting as a church meeting due to Egyptian law. The spirit was very strong as we passed the sacrament in the land of our forefathers and also realizing the importance of where we were. It was the end of a very eventful week and my testimony has been strengthened by the things I saw. I will never forget the sacrament meeting I had in Egypt.
After sacrament meeting we went to the Citadel, it was a beautiful mosque that was in Cairo. We were all so very tired. We took off our shoe (I had bear feet) and walked around in this beautiful building overlooking Cairo.
Then we went to the Cairo museum. This museum has many of the treasures found in King Tuts tomb. It also had mummies some of the famous ones like King Ramses. There was also a room dedicated to the mummification of animals. Way cool! The only problem was that all of us were extremely exhausted. We were almost like the mummies walking around the museum, taking any moment we could to sit down and rest for a while.
Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Cairo for lunch. We all perked up when our hamburgers and French fries came to our table! However we had to eat them plain with just dressing no veggies or cheese because of the way their fruit is handled could get us sick- we could only eat things that were cooked. Well, after devouring the hamburger they played American music and we all danced the YMCA.
After the delicious lunch we went to a bazaar where we got to go barter a little. I was on a quest to find a University or College t-shirt. I asked around but my quest was in vain, unfortunately I left that bazaar empty handed- but don't worry I did by lots of stuff in Luxor for memories.
After the bazaar we went back to the hotel and received our new room assignments. We also received our cartuches, and then went to dinner. The hotel made us a large cake with fruit on it (meaning we couldn't eat that part). And we had an impromptu dance party in the reception and we danced the night away!!! There was a singer in the reception area that was singing in Arabic and we even got some of our teachers and some other tourists to dance with us. It was a lot of fun! We went to bed kind of early because we were so tired and also we would have to wake up at 3:30am the next morning to begin our journey back to Israel.

We love finals and our amazing teachers!

2008-05-21T19:10:00.005+03:00

Okay Blogger Fans,

I'm sorry that I haven't finished my blog for Egypt, but we have been literally bombarded (thats for you, randa) with finals and readings for classes. Its quite ridiculous what we are required to read for these two 1 credit classes we have on Judaism and Islam. They are way interesting for sure! but with our classes that have more credit weight and then field trips, the recovering from Egypt, the sleep, the wanting to go and spend time in Jerusalem...it makes it really hard to want to read hundreds of pages of reading.

Anyway, the story of my blog today is on our teacher th

at we have. I'll save the best (Craig ostler, my uncle) for last.

So, today we had our final for our J

udaism CLass. It was probably the most ridiculous test I have EVER taken. We all pretty much failed it. yah. thats about it. The lecture for that class is awesome! organized, interesting (most of the time), and applicable to our other classes, but this test had 30 questions and some of th

em were from class and some were from the reading, but he chose questions that were so random and little from the reading. It was awful

and we all failed. SO we'll see what the curve will be. But the picture is of our teacher Ophir Yarden. He is a jew, he has a skin condition and lost all his hair and so its hard for him to hold his Kippa (the little hat the jewish men wear), he has like a suede kippa and it

supposedly stays better.

After the Judaism final we had about an hour to study for our Islam/Palestinian Final. That was insane. I couldn't focus as we were trying to study for it and in the end I was just like, Okay! enough! and I went and took it. It was so much better than the Judaism test! it was actually things we had talked about in class AND it proved that we actually learned something. We'll see how it goes, because I did bomb one question.

Adnan lives in Bethlehem but he studied at the University of Michigan and then at Harvard. He was really objective in his t

eaching and I really liked his classes to a certain extent, but the day we got back from egypt and he was talking about the Sykes-Picot Agreement I completely didn't understand at all what the heck he was talking about! anyway. It all turned out

okay. we'll see what our grades will be.

I wanted to put a video of Craig, our religion teacher, online as he acted as a Daughter of Zion and the twinkling of the toes. but it was taking too long. I'll have to YouTube it I guess. :D that'll teach him for giving us hard tests.

THis last picture is for Miranda. Look! you're here with us! in a cute little orange tin can! WE LOVE YOU!

So. Life is good, we love jerusalem and we have a few more days before we head to the Galilee. We'll try to see if we can keep you a little more

in touch there. We have a final in Old Testament tomorrow and a field trip to Bethlehem and the Shepherds fields. Its going to be great. Love you all!

p.s. okay so I posted this blog and then mitchell was reading it and said, "How come there aren't any pictures of me in it?" he looked so downcast and trodden (those are words from the Old Testament, see? I'm learning something...) so I had to go and take a picture with him. we decided to take really awkward pictures like the ones of Me with my teachers where its all awkward and we cant touch. so here's mitchell and me in our awkwardness. enjoy! awkward!!

Pyramids one of the seven wonders of the world Egypt: Day Three

2008-05-19T16:51:00.005+03:00

We woke up in Cairo Egypt. Walking like Egyptians! We had a full day ahead of us and by the end of the day we would be 200 miles up the Nile river in Luxor. Because we were considered tourist due to a visa/passport thing we were required to have a tour guide. Our tour guides name was Hassin. We all loaded in the buss and went to the Giza Pyramids. We pulled up to the humongous pyramids, and our tour guide began to lecture us about these pyramids. He started his lecture by stating that the Pyramids are one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and that they were built by Pharaohs which was a title for king, and that was the extent of his lecture. I cant really explain the frustration we all had about our tour guide in Cairo (later we had a wonderful tour guide in Luxor). We all had the impression that our tour guide must have thought we had no idea where we were.
We finally got out of the bus and the pyramids were so incredible, seeing them was absolutely amazing. We stopped off at the first one just to take pictures and admire the incredible beauty. The second pyramid we went and crawled inside. Last week I had tried to crawl in some tunnels that my class went in but I felt too claustrophobic and after numerous attempts could not go in. At the entrance of the tunnel at the pyramid I almost had kind of a panic attack but I decided that I was only going to have this opportunity once so I had better do it. While I was inside the pyramid I realized that although the the Egyptians were very innovative they never really got the whole air circulation/conditioning idea. It was so stuffy and very warm inside the tunnel. Everyone was sweating so much, while inside the Pyramid was incredible to realize that I was actually inside this incredible wonder. Once we crawled of the tunnel we were so grateful to be in cool (but actually hot) Egypt. Cameras were not allowed inside any of the tunnels, but many of the other pictures that will be shown about the temples and such that we went to had similar carvings and pictures.
We then went to the Sphinx and all stopped in amazement. It was incredible to see it in real life. We walked around exploring the land and soaking it all in.
Then we went to the Saqqara- which were other pyramids, we went into temple there as well as other pyramids. The other pyramids were not as tight and a lot less congested because there were a lot fewer people who visit these ruins. Inside one of the pyramids they had etched stars representing the sky, it was painted blue with white stars. Cameras were not allowed again in this area so no pictures will be uploaded about the inside of the pyramids.
We also went to Memphis after eating lunch. Everything we saw was so incredible, these people were innovative, creative and resourceful. The most powerful thing to me about the things that we saw was the color that was added to some of the carvings in the temples and pyramids that we went into.
At the end of the day when we were extremely exhausted, dehydrated and hungry they took us to the Papyrus Factory. We walked in the store in awe and amazement (and without a clue about prices and still trying to convert from Dollars to Shekels to Egyptian pounds) and were explained about how papyrus were made. The Weiss family definitely made their claim and invested in the Egyptian economy (but not like some in our group), however Deb and Jenn were able to barter pretty well in the store and came away with two free papyrus.
We had some time to wait before the flight to Luxor, so we went to a carpet factory. We saw how these beautiful carpets were made by hand. The carpets are very expensive and absolutely beautiful. We all decided to pretend to be like Aladdin and go on a magic carpet ride. It was fun!
We then went to the airport to fly to Luxor. They separated the groups by last name one group would leave at 8 and then other at 8:10. I was in the first half of the alphabet and Deb and Jenn were in the last half so we were on different flights My plane left at 8:10.To say the security at the airport in Cairo was a joke would be an understatement. We were given tickets that did not have our names on them (My ticket was for Aubrey Larsen) and walked through security with our two liter bottles of water in hand despite all the airports warnings about not carrying 3 ounces of liquid. The short flight to Luxor was great and we checked into our hotel rooms and slept soundly preparing for a full day in Luxor.
Sorry for not posting one of all of us earlier. Here we all are at the pyramids and with tons of people!

We're baaack! Egypt Days 1-2

2008-05-19T15:24:00.016+03:00

Hello again from Jerusalem! We know you missed us and we missed blogging! But we hardly had time to think we have been so busy for the last week! We have decided to split up the last week among the three of us so you get every day outlined. However there might also be some overlap as we all had our personal experiences in Egypt that we want to make sure and share. And one more thing, as much as you like hearing from us, we like to hear back from you too! Otherwise this becomes a very long one-way conversation and WE NEED CONTACT with the outside world. SO, please comment on our blog!!!
So we got up and left early Sunday morning (5/11), following the way of the Patriarchs as we drove all the way to the Israel/Egypt border with four stops on the way. The buses were small and we tried to sleep as much as we could but we were tired at the end of the day!
Stop One was the Beer Sheba ruins. This is the traditional site of where Abraham dug a well and swore an oath with the local chieftan. Sheba or Sheva means oath and hence the name of the place. We were at the southern most border of ancient Israel land as it was often referred to as "from Dan to Beersheba." It was also here that Abraham received the commandment to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22:1-3) and begin the journey up to the land of Moriah to fulfill that command. There was a huge cistern we went into here. One of many we continue to encounter here in the holy land! It was also here they first uncovered a horned alter in Israel. It still just blows my mind sometimes to think that I am where the Patriarchs have walked!
Stop Two was the Ben-Gurion Memorial and an overlook of the Wilderness of Zin and Kadesh Barnea one of the seven deserts in which the children of Israel wondered for 40 years. It was also here that after three days travel, Lehi and his family stopped to offer thanks. It was from here he sent his sons back to Jerusalem to first obtain the plates and then invite the family of Ishmael to join them. It was a long hard, hot, journey and I begin to understand just how Laman and Lemuel might have felt!
Stop Three was the ruins of Avdat and by far the coolest ruins we have seen yet. It was founded by the desert people (Nabataeans) who were also based in Petra. They knew the secrets of the desert and were able to cross where no one else lasted a day in the hot sun. They had hidden cisterns, directions, and secrets to the desert that were guarded fiercely by their people. But once they set up the city of Avdat they settled down and begin drinking wine where before any drinking was strictly forbidden. Well as soon as they started drinking, their secrets got out and they were conquered. There's a lesson to learn from that! The ruins included two temples and an early baptistery. It was pretty amazing to be there with Brother Ostler and Brother Draper who can tell us so much about these places. The picture below is of these two great men at the veil of the temple.
Stop Four was a Jewish Kibbutz. We got a tour of the place and had an amazing dinner there including real ice cream! We were all happy for that! They had a horse farm as well and I was so happy to see and play with some of the horses. I could still get one to give me kisses--Elana will appreciate that. I am determined to find a barn to ride at this summer!
We finished the day at yet another Kibbutz (Eilot) where we slept incredibly well. Before we slept Brother Draper and Ostler took some time to talk about the things we were going to see in Egypt and the story surrounding the book of Abraham and the Facsimiles. It is so amazing to understand these things a little better now. The Egyptians had a lot of truth but it was corrupted over the ages and they still seemed to be seeking for a missing key or a missing person. It is interesting that in so many of their stories they have the echoes of a Christ figure. I am once again so grateful for the truths I know and hold dear.
Day two we got up early to be the first buses at the border only five minutes away. It was a pretty uneventful crossing into Egypt but we were there in Africa! Pretty cool! We spent the whole day crossing the Sinai Wilderness and getting into Cairo where we checked into the Oasis Hotel and had dinner. After dinner we went to a Cartouche shop where there was a lot of jewelry and we all got ripped off royally for the Cartouches we bought. It was a great welcome to Egypt and their economic bartering system! After being in Egypt for a few days we all begin to realize just how bad a deal it was. But we had to order them and get them made and in the end I got a silver chain and Cartouche for $30. Oh well, one of those lessons we learn. On Friday when we got them back, both Mitchell and Deborah were really disappointed with the end product and had new ones made that night. So in the end we were all happy. So, that is our entrance into Egypt! Stay tuned for an eventful week and make sure and read the blogs in order!

Leaving A Deep Impression - Day 5

2008-05-19T15:24:00.014+03:00

Hello all our faithful blog readers. Its been a long time! we were going through blogging withdrawl. (Bloggers Anonymous has its headquarters in Egypt, didn'tcha know?) We all chose a few days of our Egyptian Adventure and we have no idea who's going to post first, so you might have to read a little out of order.

We began the day heading to the Valley of the Kings. Its the place where the Pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty (or family) began their tombs. They would start building their tombs during their reign and employ the locals to help in the construction. It was common for the tombs to be robbed soon after the King was buried there, because those that helped in the

construction would go back once it was finished and steal the Kings treasures. In the Valley of the Kings there are more than 60 different tombs.

This really cool model shows how many tombs there were into the mountain.

The longer the tomb shaft, the greater the pharaoh or longer your reign was. They chose that particular valley because there is a mountain peak that is in the shape of the Pyramids that reminded them of the great pyramids from the 4th dynasty up in Cairo. Its a sacred symbol. It was by far the HOTTEST day of the whole trip. We got to go to 4 tombs. It was really incredible to go down the shafts and see the paintings and hieroglyphs that are STILL there after thousands of years.

hey used ground stones for the color of their paint and under ground in the dry environment of Egypt its been pres

erved. In the tombs they have writing that tells the kings what they need to do as they progress to the other world. There are symbols all over of their religion and echos of our own beliefs and ordinances. It was incredible. We couldn't take pictures, but I bought a book that had some good color pictures of what's inside the tombs. It is so fascinating! We also went into King Tut's Tomb. King Tut only reigned from when he was 9 years old to 17. He didn't do much, and he really is only famous because his tomb was the only tomb that wasn't robbed. As the grave robbers were getting into another kings tomb that was just above King Tut's shaft, they piled dirt on top of his and so no one got into it until 1922 with Howard Carver. Just in king Tut's little shaft there was SO much piled in there that it took 10 years for Carver to get everything out as he methodically recorded all that was in his tomb. The next day we went to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and saw all his treasure. Holy cow! for such a little king, a no body, they still had huge, intricate, and amazing items put into his tomb.

This is me outside the tomb, and the other picture is a diagram of king Tuts tomb. His rose granite coffin was still in the tomb, and so was his Mum

my. Pretty short guy! I guess he shrunk. The coolest thing to see inside the tombs are the pictures of how the Pharaoh, their King and god, would progress from this life, to his judgment, to his washing, to his anointing or crowning, and then finally into the presence of Osiris and Isis their Gods. Its all so amazing.

After the Valley of the Kings we went to the Funerary Temple of Ramses III. It was very large.

It also had a lot of the same things from inside the tombs as far as how to guide the King to eternal life. One of the coolest things was this cartouche (car-toosh) (the

symbol that contains the name and the new name of the king)

that Ramses had etched into the wall. It was typical that a pharaoh would carve his name (cartouche) into the wall and onto everything they made to identify it as theirs, but then a new pharaoh would come around and carve his cartouche into the wall. Ramses didn't want this to happen, so he carved his cartouche WAY deep into the wall. He left a pretty deep impression. :D Shouldn't we all?

This next picture has the pyramid shape wood structure over a pit that we fondly call Pit 33. It is the place where they found the Books of Abraham and Moses. Its pretty astonishing how many areas of excavation they have going on all over Egypt.

We went to an alabaster shop to see how they make the alabaster pots that they sell. It was pretty fun. Our tour guides get a ton of comission if we buy things at the places they take us. We also went to a carpet school aka a factory where they make silk, wool, cotton rugs. Its amazing the time they put into silk rugs.

We headed to the train station and got to sleep on the train all they way to Cairo! it was fantasticly bumpy! My roommate was Emile Savio. Her sister served in Quito Ecuador too! We had so much fun. Sleeping wasn't the best, especially for Mitchell because he was tall. He started to get a little under the weather. We all did, but we're all better now!

Happy Mother's day eve....and we are off to Egypt

2008-05-10T22:35:00.004+03:00

Happy Mother's day eve, we had church today and had a Mother's day themed sacrament meeting. A week ago I dropped my name tag down a drain that is in front of my room. The following day the branch president came up to me and told me he had found my name tag and that there was a price if I wanted it back. The price was to speak in sacrament meeting. I decided that was a worthy payment so I said that I would speak. I referred to the talk that Sister Beck gave in the October General Conference and related stories from the Old Testament of mothers to shared the attributes that Sister beck talked about. The stories that I shared had an even greater meaning because I have been to many of the places that they took place. I talked about the faith of Sarah and the birth of Isaac, the nurturing of Hannah the mother of Samuel, the leadership of Deborah, and the teachings of the mothers of the men of the army of Helaman (that is not from the Bible, I know, but I just had to share it.). I also shared how grateful I am for my mother who knows the Lord. It was a wonderful experience and then I called my family and packed and got ready for the next week. We most likely not be blogging and probably will not have access to the internet for the next week as we will be in Egypt! But next Sunday be prepared for a couple of great blogs! I am planning on "walking like and Egyptian" while I am there, if you were wondering. We will be going to Cairo and Luxor and seeing many sights from the Old Testament and the times of the Pharaohs. I am so excited! As I am traveling my thoughts will also be with my older brother Spencer who is graduating from the Willamette Law School tomorrow. I wish I could be there for his graduation, as a tribute to him I will be wearing my Willamette t-shirt tomorrow. Congrats Spencer, way to go!
Below is a picture of me at the Tower of David Museum over looking the old city, this was taken a yesterday.

Welcoming in Shabbat

2008-05-09T14:56:00.004+03:00

This blog is so good for us three here in Jerusalem. We stay on top of our Journal this way and we feel pressure to post because the others have posted and its our turn again. At least that is how I feel. Both Deb and Mitchell have posted since me and so I guess I'd better get on it again!
I just had the most amazing experience so far here in Jerusalem. But first let me catch you up on the last two days. Wednesday we did an all day field trip that Mitchell blogged about. We started in Beth Shemesh in the Sorek Valley. It was here in the land inherited by the tribe of Dan that Samson grew as a Nazerine and slew the Philistines. We saw city of Zorah, where he was born. It is so amazing to see these places! We also went to Azekah, the mountain fortress that was almost never conquered because of its defenses. Azekah also overlooks the Valley of Elah, where David and Goliath took place. Next was Maresha in the Valley of Guvrin. We also went to some amazing caves in this region where it is rumored the last Israelites hid out when they were conquered by the Romans. Finally we visited the ruined city of Lachish in the Lachish valley. This was also a mountain city that was considered a gem if conquered. Here there were some small Temple ruins. I guess Pres. Hinckley wasn't the first to think of the idea after all! All of these valleys made of the Shephelah or low country that divided Israel from the Philistines in the coastal plains and are the location of many a battle. Anyway, it was a full day and we came back dusty and tired.
Thursday we had class in the AM and then we hit the town! We visited the Tower of David and I learned so much! I discovered I am my mother's daughter. I remember going to museums with mom and dying in impatience as she had to read every sign and see every exhibit. Yesterday the tables were turned as I was so frustrated to be hurried through by other students who were too tired to appreciate the amazing historical collection that is the Tower of David. I could easily go back there for another hour or more. I guess that means I'm just going to have to come back! Maybe I can go back another day.
Okay, now to today. We had class all morning and a OT (Old Testament) midterm in the afternoon. I think I did great! I am really grateful we have stayed on top of the reading because that made the test pretty straightforward.
Tonight we went down to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Today is Friday and at sundown the Jews welcome in the Shabbat. It was the most amazing experience yet. Jews have a choice to welcome in Shabbat at local Synagogues or to come to the Western Wall where the whole community joins in celebration together. We went onto the womens side of the wall and watched the men for a while before Deb and I went up to the wall. If this is the closest thing I can get to a temple here in the Holy Land then I wanted to be there with family. There were so many people there tonight we had to wait for quite a while before we could get within reach but it was worth the wait. I wrote out a prayer for our family before the Sabbath and found a niche in the wall. It was a touching experience to be there and I felt the Spirit surrounded by so many others praying. The only thing I can relate the feeling to is being in the temple. I prayed there touching the wall and thought of all the prayers throughout the centuries that have ascended to heaven from that wall. Such faith and devotion. It is truly moving. After Deb and I backed away from the wall we gave each other a hug. It was so appropriate and I was so grateful for temples and the ordinances that have been restored through a living prophet. Christ has come! Elijah has come! The sealing power is on the earth and temples dot the earth! We have such reason to rejoice! And rejoice we did! The Jews know how to sing and dance and rejoice at the coming of the Sabbath. We joined some younger groups singing and dancing together as we together welcomed in Shabbat! As we walked back up to the Mt. of Olives I felt renewed and refreshed just as I do each time I leave the restored Temples of God. It was the best way to prepare for the Sabbath. I want to go back again while I am here since that is the closest thing I am going to get to a temple here. It has only been just over a week since we arrived here! What amazing things we have seen already. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to think I am living in Jerusalem. And on Sunday we go to Egypt! I am so blessed!

Photo Blog

2008-05-08T23:26:00.004+03:00

This will just be a blog with lots of cool pictures. Ready? Okay!

This is me on top of the gate at Fort Lachich. The one

city that the assyrians couldn't get into and that Babylon finally got into. This was a strong fort.

This is aladdin. He is so funny. Jenn handed him her check today to get some cash and had forgotten to put the date on it. He looked at it a second and then said to her, "You cannot date while you are student here in Israel, but can you date your checks?" It was so funny.

This was down a tomb in this really cool area. THey had re-done it and painted it like it might have been painted back in those days. Here are some of the girls being all cool and awesome!

This is craig! he's such a great teacher! we love having him in our class! oh wait... I mean we love having him be our teacher.

We went climbing through a really small tunnel. It was so fun! I loved it. Thanks for the headlamp mom, it was so nice NOT to have to use my hands.

This was after the little tunnel we went down. It led to a Dove Cove where doves/pigeons live. there are like 1000 caves in this area and the Romans had to smoke out the israelites that were hiding there during the time of the Bar Kochba Revolt 132ad.

We went out shopping and I started dancing. But only a little. I had this nice one leg hip action going on. It was sweet!

Independence Day!

2008-05-08T22:48:00.003+03:00

Okay! so today was the Israeli Independence day! 60 years. So we had just one class, our orientation for Egypt and then we headed out to go visit the old town. A lot of the students went to Tel Aviv and went swimming in the Mediteranean but we didn't want to go because, hello! we we came to go to Jerusalem! So, first we went to the Roman Orthodox Church of Mary Magdelene. It has these really cool gold onion spires. Its a church just east of the garden of gethsemane. We wanted to go to the garden but it closed early. So then we went up and entered Stephens gate and visited people and shopped. I got a widow's mite! it was $5.00 its the real thing too. There are all these shop keepers in the city that know the "mormons" and give us good deals. and its true. they really do! We went to the Citadel aka The Tower of David. Its this really cool area of the city with original walls, and rebuilt walls, and exhibits of the history of Jerusalem. It was way fun to walk up and down the walls. we wanted to walk the ramparts of the city, but everyone got tired so we just ended going to get our money for Egypt from Aladdin (he's such a funny guy) and then home and to study. we have our old testament mid term tomorrow and a quiz and stuff in our near eastern studies class. Lots to do before Egypt because everything is due the day we get back from Egypt. crazy! We're super busy.

The best part of today was this morning in class we talked about Deborah the Prophetess and why she was called and what she did to help restore a particular area of the land to a particular tribe. I can't remember which at the top of my head, but as we talked about it I learned so much about my name. Deborah means bee, or, a little thing tha

t stings. Hopefully someone that prods

people to c

hange and be better. i want to be like that. Also she was "a mother in israel" besides the fact that she was receiving revelation for that area and being a deliverer to them, she was a mother. She helped to plant the promises of th

e fathers into the hearts of her children. Craig said "the most important quality in a wife is for her to be a prophet

ess, and a mother in zion." I want to be like that. A little bee. I'm learning so much and loving every minute. Its amazing to look out and see the city

of Jerusalem. Incredible to say that I live here. I love you all! this last photo of me you can see the church of the

Holy sepulcher (grey domes to the left), the Holy Redeemer Chruch (the white tower), the dome of the rock (the gold dome) and behind my head is the Jerusalem Center. You might have to zoom in...see my awesome sandles! they are so great, comfortable etc. I love them!

Bible stories

2008-05-07T21:47:00.006+03:00

Today we went and saw many valleys in the Israel. We also learned about the stories of the Bible and visited the actual locations where the battles took place. It was really cool and quite surreal to realize that we were in places where battles took place, where Samson lived and where David slew Goliath. In each place we related the stories of the Bible and how they relate to us. We also went to these caves that are underneath the ground. Some they dug for dove homes, and others they dug to be cisterns.

They are incredible structures that were absolutely amazing!
We also went to the ruins of a city called Lachish. Below I am in temple ruins at the city of Lachish in what was the Holoy of Holies, the most holy part of the temple.
In the Valley of Elah We reenacted the David and Goliath story. I was the bottom half of Goliath, it was fun. Then we tried to throw a rock with a sling (very difficult!). And the cousins all made the slings into nose warmers. The nose warmers are a remembrance of a wonderful Christmas we had with our Grandpa and Grandma Weiss. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here. It is incredible to realize everyday that I am actually here, seeing where the Bible stories actually took place.
(I have edited this post and have to apologize for the incoherent blog's that I have written sometimes- usually I blog at night and I am tired so I am sorry)

Birthday in Jerusalem!

2008-05-07T06:49:00.004+03:00

Well. Today is actually the day after my birthday, but someone told me that I didn't have to blog on my birthday. I got lots of cool things yesterday for my birthday, but mostly it was that I won in every game I played, Everyone did what I said, and class was canceled. It was great! It began by listening to High School Musical 2 music as we were getting ready. Breakfast that really didn't float my boat. Its been mostly french toast, watery scrambled eggs and lost of cheese and random things. I've been striking out when it comes to food here. Its way good! but sometimes I just don't like it. But, for lunch we had Pizza which was really good, and they made for me for my birthday. I'm friends with Moti, the assistant chef. What else happened to me. Oh after classes (4 1/2 hours) we had do to homework. I was way drowsy but I got my maps done of Iraq, Israel, Afganistan, and all the middle east. AND all the reading for our Islam class, but then he wasn't able to come because the border was closed. and that was great! we had more time! After dinner we went down to get ice cream and while we were there, there was a group of boys playing soccer and they started kicking the ball around and we started playing with them and in the end it was girls vs. boys volleyball ish thing. It was so fun! they were the cutest boys ever! they could say a few english words here and there and it was just fun. one of the girls got the ball right in her nose. oops. The little boy who did it said, "sooorry." oh and another funny thing that happened was these to guys in my group were talking all day about how they had this amazing present for me and they didn't tell me anything, but when I went into my room, I saw that they had totally TP'd my room AND given me amazing american candy. It was really funny. And to finish off the night, Sandy made me a cake! she put pudding in it and it was really good, but she forgot about it and so it was a little over cooked and she tried the first bite (the little square that's cut out of it) and her response to the test taste was, "well, its not a brick..." she's hilarious! Class with craig is awesome. Well gotta go because we have a field trip today and I think we're going spelunking. I love you all!

Daughter of the Covenant

2008-05-06T17:48:00.007+03:00

Okay, so it's time for me to play a little catch up. It has been a crazy few days on the homework front. On Monday we had both our Islam and Judaism Modern Near East classes for the first time and both teachers assigned a TON of reading. We have all been scrambling to get reading done. Plus we leave for Egypt on Sunday and we are all trying to get ahead in some of the assignments so we don't have to do so much while we are away from home. Today we had a lucky break when our Islamic teacher couldn't get across the wall leaving his hometown in Bethlehem and he had to cancel class. It gave me the time I needed to catch up. It also made the conflict here very real. We really do live in this oasis here in the Jerusalem Center. Because of my experience in Taiwan and Ecuador, I feel pretty safe walking the streets of the Old City with our groups of threes and it is easy to forget the conflict at play here. Yet on the other hand, there are places where the conflict is thrown in your face as soldiers patrol the streets of the markets armed with several guns. This is an amazing experience we are having. I am slowly learning more about the area, people, conflict and politics of it all. I want to understand it even more so I can really appreciate the people of this land.
Enough of that. On to other things! On Shabbat (Saturday) after church a huge group of us went down to the Garden Tomb. It was a wonderful few hours there. We had a wonderful tour guide who taught so well from the scriptures. The Garden is actually quite large and a beautiful, quiet break from the busy streets outside the walls. It has been maintained since before the time of Christ by a huge water cistern in the center of the garden. Everything is that way here. Since it only rains about four months a year, the rain must be stored to be used throughout the rest of the year. The garden overlooks a traditional site of Golgotha and also contains a beautiful wine press. The tomb was amazing. After seeing it all my life in pictures, it was pretty amazing to be there. But it was crowded and I want to go back when it isn't so busy. Our tour guide bore the most simple testimony standing near the tomb. He explained how often people will leave flowers and prayer notes in the tomb. He powerfully explained that the tomb is not treated as a shrine because we do not worship the tomb, but He who rose from it. The Spirit was present as he spoke. There is a lot of debate about whether the historical location of the tomb is in the Garden Tomb or in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher located within the Old City. One thing I am learning here is that even though being here is really amazing, location is not important. It is my testimony that is important, and it is growing with each day here.
Yesterday was another great day. In the afternoon after some homework we went out into the city and Deb and I bought some real Jerusalem sandals! I love them! I've been wearing them ever since to break them in before Egypt and I think I'm going to be buying a few more pairs! They have them in every style for only 45 shekels (about $12). So now I am walking where the Fathers walked, and I'm doing it in style!
Yesterday we learned about Rebekah in Old Testament class and something I learned really has stuck with me. I have done some studies on the great women of the scriptures over the years and I have several pages in my study journal covering these great souls. Souls like Rachel, Rebekah, Ruth and the wife of Nephi. I've always tried to understand what made these individuals so great and to follow their faithful examples. As we studied about Rebekah I learned something. She understood and had allowed the covenants of the Fathers' to sink deep into her soul. Rebekah had the promises planted deep in her heart. When asked to leave her family to marry a man she did not even know, she was willing, because she understood the promises found within the covenant. I too am coming to understand those promises. Being here is helping me to develop my faith as a daughter of the covenant and each day understanding of those promises is sinking deeper into this humble soul. I thank God for an understanding of the promises made to the Fathers and pray I will always be identified, like Rebekah, as a Daughter of the Covenant.

Dome of the Rock

2008-05-05T21:04:00.004+03:00

Today after lunch a group of us went to the Dome of the Rock. This was built by the Muslims on the land where Solomon's Temple was. The Dome of the Rock is built where Abraham was to sacrifice his son. We tried to find our way through the city and entered by the way of the western wall. Many people were standing in line to go to the western wall to pray, we will be going to the Western Wall as a group another day so we went around to wait in the line to enter the Dome of the Rock temple grounds. The Dome of the Rock is only open for tourists a couple of hours during the day when they are not praying. We waiting in line for a long time and finally got into the temple grounds. It was absolutely beautiful! After being on the grounds for a 30 minutes we were asked to leave so that they could pray. We left and then went through the city trying to find things to buy. I have not exchanged money yet so I was just looking and realized I need to work on my bartering skills. Many of the store owners know who the BYU students are. Some of the store owners like to show where the BYU and other students have been.

Falafels are the best!

2008-05-05T20:21:00.004+03:00

I just saw all the cool comments on everyone else's blogs and I wanted to write again today to say how fun its been. This'll be a short one. But we have so much homework its insane. We've been trying to get it all done before egypt but we had our old testament mid term this friday and a few papers and assignments due, not to mention the reading. But its all good. These last few days we've had a little free time in the afternoon and so we've gone out. Today we did homework first and went out for a few hours before dinner. Our goal was to get sandals. Jenn, Brandon, Kevin, and I all went out. Brandon and I bought falafels. They were so good! i can't even tell you whats in them though. We just walked around looking at things and got a little lost, took pictures at Damascus Gate and bought sandals. I'll let jenn post the pic with the sandals. They're way cute, comfortable, and cheap! that could be an advertisement. I should go into marketing. After dinner we came back and began to study up on the 7th floor balcony and saw the sun set. It was incredible, this picture won't even be able to do it justice. Then the mosque next door began to read from the Koran on the loud speakers about 5 min before the usual call to prayer. Then they did the call to prayer and we were just looking over the city. It was so beautiful at dusk and again! (like what happens every time I look out on the city) I was just filled with this love attack feeling. What a loving Heavenly Father I have, who would make this possible for me. Its all incrediblele. Well back to studying! I love you all and miss you all! comment on my blog! we're having a competition....

p.s. we just found out that they took Sanai out of our itinerary. sad. But there's just too much to do, oh well. We'll just have to come back. oh well. :D

Shopping on Sunday...what?

2008-05-04T19:10:00.007+03:00

Hey friends! This is deb again! We've definitely had an amazing day. It was sunday so we went out and shopped! We're not sinners! we promise! we actually had church on Shabbat, that is saturday, and so today...sunday...we fondly like to call "unday" its not sunday and its not monday. so its just Unday. Sandy, my aunt who is here with her husband Craig who teaches our religion class, helps the committee who's in charge of our Hummas Hut (the snack bar for us students) so she was taking some of the committee members and invited us along. So, we went! We'd had two classes in the morning. One with a Jew and the other the Muslim who taught us about their respective culture/religion. It was quite amazing and I learned a lot, not the least being, that I really don't know anything. But after four hours of amazing lecture, we needed a break and so we went to the Jewish market. It was saweeet!! We each bought our first items in Jerusalem! i bought some candy for 4 shekels, Jenn bought 5 shekels of dried apricots and Mitchell bought chocolate candy bars. But I just wanted to blow all my 30 shekels and so I also got some granola bars to have "just in case" and some ice cream. It was great! We saw some cool Jamba imitation place and then this great store where birds were sitting on the food and eating it. Yummy! It was really fun, all of it. We also went and stopped by a Palestinian Market and met Balin, who always sells vegetables/fruit to the JC students. His shop is right on the way back from the Old City as we're walking back to the center. He's wearing the BYU Sweatshirt. He's way cool.

Now we're back in the Center and have A TON of homework to do. I don't thinkthat I've ever had this much. Its like having a finals week and then our reward is to go to Egypt next week. Life is good!

Shabbat

2008-05-03T17:55:00.005+03:00

Today Church was great. I was surprised that we filled the entire forum. There are a handful of people that work for the US who come to the Branch every Saturday which is Sunday here, the 80 of us and our teachers and their families, and a couple of tour groups and people backpacking through the middle east. I had the blessing of passing the sacrament and out the window was a gorgeous view of the Old City.

While passing the sacrament and listening to the testimonies of the people who bore them, I reflected on the significance of where the Center is on the Mount of Olives and the great sacrifice that our Savior paid for us here. I looked up from my scriptures onto the city where He ministered and my heart is so full of gratitude for the opportunity I have to study here. Every day I feel more and more blessed.
After Church everyone wanted to go out and see to the Garden Tomb, where Christ was buried and then arose on the third day. We all separated into small groups and went on our way. While walking down the hill the group I was in decided to go to the Orson Hyde Park, where Orson Hyde gave the dedicatory prayer of the gathering of Israel. The park is a gift from the Church, it is not owned by the Church, the church pays to maintain it, it is a tranquil place and leads to the Garden of Gethsemane.

We walked down the path of the Orson Hyde Park to the Garden of Gethsemane at the entrance of the Church of all Nations. This church is built where Christ suffered on the rock in the Garden. Inside the Church is a Rock where people of all faiths give thanks and pray. The Rock was part of the Byzantine Church which is the first church believed to be built in the Garden. It is a very reverent and incredible place the spirit is so strong. The Church has twelve domes- one for each nation that contributed money to build this gorgeous monument. We left the Church and walked up in the Garden and tried to get to the Russian Orthodox Church. It is closed until Tuesday so I will have to try again. We continued to walk up the Hill and ran into a couple from Puerto Rico; it was fun to use my Spanish to explain to them that the Russian Orthodox Church was closed. We continued up and saw a tremendous cemetery. Here they are buried within 24 hours after passing away and they are buried with rocks above them.

We continued up and saw the point where Christ wept upon returning to Jerusalem. It is an absolutely beautiful view.
We walked to the top of Mount of Olives and left the Garden and returned to the Jerusalem center for dinner and much needed water. My heart is full of gratitude and I was eating and heard the Prayer Call we hear so many times during the day. I have been here three days and am still in amazement that I am actually here, and walking where Christ walked. I try to fit in as much as I can into each day I am here there is so much to see and experience and I am so grateful for this incredible opportunity.

Walking the Holy Land

2008-05-02T21:26:00.003+03:00

Yesterday was amazing! After breakfast we had two hours of great class. Brother Ostler does such a great job of teaching the Old Testament. Already I feel like I have a better understanding of things. We reviewed the patriarchs and the dispensations. This is a picture of all seven of the patriarchs who led each dispensation from Adam (L to R, Brandon, Ryan, Ben, Ted, Aaron, Mike and Bruce) to Joseph Smith. We have great men in our class. They are all friendly and make a great effort to take care of us girls. We are grateful. After lunch we headed to the buses and our larger tour of the geographical area. The hope today was to really get an understanding of the outlaying area and our positioning on it.
We started at the Augusta Victoria Tower on Mt. of Olives. There are three towers on the Mt. of Olives: Hebrew University, Augusta Victoria, and Church of the Ascension Tower. Within the Augusta Victoria Church we find beautiful mosaics and an amazing pipe organ. Deb and I sang a duet in the live acoustic. It was pretty cool! We want to go back and sing more!
(this is really weird, I have my pictures up right in iPhoto but I can't figure out how to get them to rotate in this blog! So, you're going to have to deal with it until I can figure it out. If any of you know how please inform!)
From AV we could see into Jordan and the Dead Sea. We could also see down to Bethlehem and up to Jericho. Next we went to the Seven Arches Hotel Outlook. This simply allowed us a closer look of the city. We were right next to this huge Jewish cemetery that wraps around the Mt. of Olives. They believe the foretold Messiah will bring the resurrection, plus they are facing the temple mount. Pretty cool place to be buried if you ask me! I don't have time to tell you all the different parts of the city I can now identify from sight. I hope these places will solidify in my mind and never fade! These first two stops were to the East of Jerusalem. We now headed South. Our next stop was probably one of my favorites. From the Haas Promenade you can see Kings Dale (Gen. 14:17) and where Abraham paid tithes to Melchezidek. Here we rehearsed the story of Abraham and Isaac. What an amazing experience to talk about Abraham taking his only son and going to the land of Moriah, the very land we were overlooking! When it says he saw the place "afar off," it was very likely he was standing on the very hill we were (the geography of the place makes it the first place he would have seen Mt. Moriah)! They we read how he climbed the mountain and prepared the alter right there on the temple mount where three different religions reverence the outcropping of rock where they believe Abraham was that sad and yet rewarding day. The angel stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac and then proceeded to promise him all the blessings of Abraham. "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jirah" meaning In the Mount the Lord Shall be seen (Gen. 22: 14). How powerful to know that from this viewpoint we also see the traditional site of the crucification of Christ only a little to the left. First the type of Christ in Isaac and then on that very mount, our Savior was also raised to be seen by all, only a precious few recognizing Him as their Redeemer. Even in this public place, surrounded by tourists my heart expanded as my testimony grew in my Savior. I love this place!
If I don't sum things up this blog is going to take all day! Next we went to the Deir Mar Elyas or the Elias Monastery. From here you can see into Bethlehem and the inheritance of Judah. We are planning to going there later. We were standing on a hill just above shepherd's fields where the shepherd's watched their flocks. It was also riddled with trenches and barracks left over from the 1957 war. This was a high point looking over into the city where the Israeli could plot their strategies, etc.
The last place we went was also one of my favorites. It was north of Jerusalem this time and is the traditional burial place of the prophet Samuel. From here you can see south into Jerusalem, east into Jordan (including the hill Saul built his castle after Samuel anointed him) and north into the land of Ephraim and west to the sea. Facing north, right below the tower we were standing on, no more than a mile away, was the city of Gibeon where Joshua came to the rescue of the people there and caused the sun and moon to stand still. I've attached a picture of the sun sinking over the western horizon. I'm coming to understand so much more of the Bible and the stories I've heard all my life. It helps to have the visual behind the stories now.
At the end of the day I was left pondering the promises found in the Bible, especially those promises given to Abraham and his seed. In Genesis the Lord shows Abraham the land of his inheritance and then tells him to go and walk the land the Lord had given him. Yesterday I went on that walk. I've see the land given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons. We finished the day overlooking the land of my inheritance as a daughter of Ephraim. I finished this trip with a strengthened testimony of the promises of God. Indeed, I have walked the promised land given to the children of Isreal. I know God has promises for me too. Being here is helping me have greater faith in the promises made to me. I know that God will keep His promises with me, for He has kept His promises with the Fathers. I feel that, and I've seen it too. Until next time!

Today in Jerusalem!

2008-05-01T17:40:00.000+03:00

Well it's been quite the adventure today. We got up and had another orientation. Since monday i've had 4 orientations! and I'm sure that it'll continue. After that we had our Near Eastern Studies Class (NES) with Brother Seely. He's way cool. His undergrad was in greek, one masters in classics (greek/latin), another masters in NES and a Phd in Ancient Eastern Studies. He's really entertaining. I'm going to learn a LOT a lot! The way they have it set up is that we have manuals for the class, but also one for the Field Trips and the religion teachers work closely with the NES teacher so that we learn about one thing and then go and see it. Pretty cool how that works. Theoretically thats how it should always be. Learn about Jerusalem, go see Jerusalem. So today we went on a walk in Jerusalem. We couldn't bring cameras today so I don't have any good pictures BUT don't worry. We have two months.

This first picture is of the area around the airport in Vienna Austria. The yellow fields they tell me are all mustard seed. Its so beautiful there! The next picture of the hebrew w

riting is on a wall as we were heading up to the JC. I asked craig what it said and he said, "Jerusalem Welcomes Deb!" So, just for reference, if you ever want to say that to me in a letter, you just need to copy down

those words.

The weather is so great. Nice and warm with a cool breeze. The JC really does have the best view of Jerusalem. We started from the JC and walked down Mount Scopus through the Kidron Valley and up to the walls of Jerusalem. We passed Herod's gate. (they told us not to en

ter there because it just goes into the residential Moslem quarter and they don't like to have tourists there, and there really isn't a reason to be the

re. No shopping.) But we went up and met Aladdin! he's a money changer that they've used for like 25 years or more. He's really funny. There's so much to see! We walked by the entrances to the traditional site of Calvary, the Garden tomb, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The church was way busy and full of people. We didn't come in but we'll plan a trip to come back. The whole trip was just a quick test taster so that we can begin to come on our own.

I am now so tired! I'm heading to dinner and then more orientation. Imagine that! We'll be getting our Cell phones (aka GPS devices that keep track of all the students) and our head sets (to use on the field trips). We 're going out on a geography field trip tomorrow. It is so amazing being here and seeing all this first hand. Its still so surreal. I look outside the JC down the hill to Jerusalem and I just have to shake my head and laugh at the wonder of being here. Its no longer "next year in Jerusalem" its now Today in Jerusalem.

1st day

2008-05-01T09:22:00.000+03:00

I slept so well- about 3 hours in a bed! We have a full day planned, in about 7 mins we have an orientation and then we have our first class- near eastern studies. Later we will take a walking tour of the old city. I am very excited.- just wanted to tell everyone I made it here safely.

Prayers of Thanksgiving

2008-05-01T09:18:00.000+03:00

Customs were uneventful as we entered Tel Aviv and it was so fun to come out and see a group there waiting for us including Uncle Craig Ostler and Sandy! It was great to see family and get a good hug welcoming us to the Holy Land.
We loaded our stuff on a bus and started up the 2600 ft. climb in elevation to Jerusalem. Our ears were popping as Brother Ostler and Brother Draper, our religion professors, begin talking about the terrain we were passing through. The country is beautiful and the street lamps are decorated with flags in preparation for the 60 year independence celebration next week. I guess a lot of dignitaries will even be coming in town for it.As we rounded a few corners, the west side of the city came into view and I had to pinch myself! I can't believe I am here in the Holy Land! I was overwhelmed by the beautiful limestone buildings scattered among a surprisingly large amount of greenery. But when we rounded a final corner and saw the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount I was moved to tears. I can't believe I have been blessed enough to do this! To be here! My gratitude is indeed great!The Jerusalem Center is a beautiful building and boasts the most impressive view of the city. I will have to take more pictures so you can really appreciate what we have.
We had all kinds of meetings and finally got to go to bed around 9:30pm, Isreal time. We were all so tired. We unpacked our stuff, showered and got ready for bed. We have a patio outside our room and you can see the city and the Dome from our beds.
The Arabs have their calls to prayer every few hours. There is a recording broad casted from the hills in beautiful, singing Arabic. I haven't figured out the schedule yet but I'm sure I will. About 4am I couldn't sleep because of jet lag, I went out on the patio when the calls begin again and said my own prayer of gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father who is allowing me this precious experience. I am determined to offer a prayer of thanks every time I hear those prayer calls. I want to experience this place to its fullest! There is so much to do and so much to see! We are about to leave on a walk of the city. More later from a heart full of gratitude in Jerusalem!

Vienna now onto Telaviv

2008-04-30T20:40:00.000+03:00

Well while Jenn and Deb had a quick layover in Vienna I had an 11 hour layover. At first I was so excited to go and explore the city and the forty of us that had to wait left the airport and with maps in our hands we went to explore. The group of 12 people that I went with decided to take a train into the city center of Vienna and then walk around.We saw some amazing cathedrals and pretended to be part of the statues scenes. As you can tell I am pretending to be Beethoven and the girls are pretending to be children learning. After about 4 hours of walking and going on about 4 hours of sleep over the last 2 days I was ready for sleep. We went to a palace and walked up to the top and viewed an amazing garden and I fell asleep. We had to run to the train station and then figure out what train led us to the airport. Well, after much confusion we finally got back to the airport and now we are boarding. It is incredible to think that I will be going to the Holy Land. I feel it is such an amazing blessing and amazing that I am going with two cousins. I feel tremendously blessed.

(while in Vienna we got some ice cream! Yumm!!!)

2008-04-30T11:16:00.000+03:00

Right now I am in the Vienna International Airport just waiting to get back on a plane for another 3 1/2 hours. That last flight was hard. I couldn't really sleep because of my height and I was in the middle seat. But if I can last the day then I'll sleep well tonight and I should be able to adjust to the new time quickly.
I was up last night until 5am and then finally slept for an hour before I got back up at 6:15am to shower and get ready. We headed up to the airport with our new friend Spencer Wilcox and checked into our flight and waited to board.
The flight to Chicago was uneventful. In Chicago this nice man from Austrian Airlines, Mohammed, met us and made sure we got onto our next flight. O'Hara airport is HUGE and it was a good thing he was there to help us get on the train, etc. It was a 30 minute, walk/train just to get from one plane to the other!

This last flight was 10 plus hours and it was LONG! We are just about to start boarding for this last flight to TelAviv and then we are going to be there! We have already spend almost a day traveling and I am going to be glad for a bed to stretch out in tonight!
So, the adventures in Jerusalem begin! We'll keep you posted!

"In the last days, perilous times shall come..."

2008-04-23T09:53:00.000+03:00

So here I am on the eve of the last day of finals...and I'm going crazy. I can't wait for these last two tests to be done. Despite my best efforts to get things done early, this semester will be yet another mad dash to the finish. But the great thing about time is that it moves on, whether you are ready for it or not. That is a frightening and yet somehow comforting thought.

All day today I have been thinking, "a week from right now, I'll be on a plane" or "I'll be in Chicago" or "I'll be in a plane" or "I'll be in Vienna!" Pretty fun way to distract oneself from studying but I can't help it! Time is going so fast and in just a week, I will be on my way to the Holy Land! This dream seems almost surreal. I remember writing my application essay. I talked about the Jewish ancestry in my family and growing up learning about the Jewish traditions from an amazing mother who recognized the importance of knowing your roots. Now I am going to be going there and learning first hand about these people and my Savior Jesus Christ. Words cannot describe the excitement and gratitude in my heart right now.

So, I need to go to bed and get ready for this last day of finals. I'm excited to share this adventure with Deb, Mitchell and any of you faithful followers! I hope it will prove to be both informational and testimony building. That is what I am looking forward to the most!
Next post in the Holy Land! Next time in Jerusalem! (they say that at the end of Passover)

Wonders of Wonders, Miracles of Miracles!

2008-04-15T05:42:00.001+03:00

I'm going to Jerusalem to study! I'm so excited! Especially that I'll be there with my sister and my cousin! We're going to have a blast. I'm new to this whole "blogging" thing so I'm going to have to figure out an entertaining way of presenting my view of the adventures we'll have. But, at the moment I find myself completely occupied with mundane tasks, such as homework, homework, and, oh! more homework. Finals are coming up, but I'll be so glad they're over and I'm on my way to Jerusalem! It really is such a miracle to be going to the Holy Land and I'm grateful that its been working out so well. We're trying to prepare as best we can, but regardless its going to be amazing.

To be continued....

Stay tuned for another amazing entry by your favorite blogster, Deb.

Two weeks away

2008-04-14T08:47:00.000+03:00

I recently got my itinerary for my flight to Jerusalem. I will have a 12 hour layover in Vienna- so I need to come up with what to do while I am there.

When I got the itinerary I realized that I will be in Jerusalem in just about 2 weeks. Me, Jenn and Deb all decided to start a blog so that we can share our pictures with everyone and keep everyone informed about our adventures in Jerusalem and surrounding areas.

The two weeks that are ahead of me will be very busy. I have 5 finals and then I will be walking in the graduation exercises, even though I will not officially graduate until August. I have been talking to people that have been in Jerusalem and have realized I have a lot to do to prepare and I am excited!