St. Peter Church

I got to spend a good chunk of my day in the city today. Thank goodness for it too, I've been in the center for a couple days in a row and I begin to feel like a hermit in its shell if I don't go out. We went to see the Tomb of King David (which really isn't what the name suggests) and to the Church of Peter. I really enjoyed the St. Peter Church, it was so well kept and beautifully designed. They tell the stories of Peter's life in mosaics and statues. They've incorporated the old church with the new one in a very clean and nice way and the place was just packed with symbolism. Overall it just had a good peaceful feeling about it that not all of the sites we visit do. 

This wall...is from the 1st Temple Period. We were just walking randomly in the streets and we found stairs that led to it! Awesome.

hehehe, 7 to eleven. Gotta love this place, best ice cream ever after hiking back up the Kidron Valley

...86

Introducing...The Oasis

       I thought that today might be an appropriate day to show you where we eat every day. This is what we call the Oasis. The food here is certainly not your typical college student's PB&J for lunch with a bowl of Top Ramen for dinner. It’s about as far from food on a budget as you can get, let me explain a little better. Our head chef, when he is not cooking for JC students is the cook for... the King of Jordan. That’s correct, you read the words right...the King of Jordan! haha pretty awesome I'll admit :D ok but a bit of a disclaimer, we've never had a meal quite as fancy as the pictures you see here, today a film crew came in to remake the Jerusalem Center video and I suspect that this may have influenced the elaborateness of the meals that we had today. Whatever the reason, I was impressed.

          So the Oasis itself is pretty spectacular. We often eat outside with the view of the Old City just over the JC rose bushes. You couldn't ask for a better view! Oh and the best part...we don't have to wash our own dishes ;)

...87

The Book of Samuel

The Old Testament is really quite remarkable! I've never read so much of it all at once. The assignment for today is to read all of first Samuel and halfway through the second book of Samuel too. Needless to say, it's a lot. But I'm really enjoying it, I'm beginning to get a feel of the continuity of the Israelite story not just a conglomeration of cool stories stacked in a book. It's a lot of work and so therefore I'm learning tons :) I love learning.


Sorry about the boring pictures, I don't really know what else to post because this really is what I've been staring at all day.

...88

Shephelah

I love field trips. Today we spent the entire day stomping around The Shephelah, where many of the Biblical stories took place. For example the picture directly beneath this paragraph is in the valley of Sorek, where Samson was born and raised. Pretty awesome to be there :)

This picture overlooks the Elah Valley, the very one where David slew Goliath!

Practicing up on our sling shot skills in David's infamous valley.

This is our fellow JC student David conquering Goliath (aka the tallest JC student in our class)

These limestone caves were just awesome. Not a whole lot to do with the Biblical stories...but they had fantastic acoustics :D

Like I said, these caves inspired awesomness ;)

...89

The day of holidays

Today I and about 98% of all the JC students got up at four in the morning so that we could see the sun rise on the western wall on Shavuot. It was a simple experience, there wasn't any organized celebration as far as I was aware of but the place was absolutely packed! Everyone there was quietly reading or reciting personal prayers to heaven. It was beautiful and awe inspiring. After our early morning adventures I went with a group to Mass. Seeing as today is also the day of Pentecost I thought it a rather fitting time for me attend one for the first time. I really enjoyed it! At first it was surprising to be participating in a form of Christian worship again. I mean we have services as Latter day Saints bit I've been to so many Islamic and Jewish places of worship recently that I was genuinely surprised to be singing praises to Jesus Christ. I loved it, of corse it was different from what I'm used to but I loved to sing and worship with other Christians together in Jerusalem on the day if Pentecost. There is something remarkable about the people of faith that live here in Jerusalem, there is a certain... humility about them I guess, every person of faith that I have met shows a quiet awe and respect for this place the holy land. What happened here is bigger than all of us, and it seems to me that many people
understand that.

...90

The Sabbath

        I love the Sabbath. No week is complete without it and no day makes me feel more at home than our wonderful day of worship. We got to sing in Sacrament meeting today. The ward choir is excellent, such a talented group of students here. I have nothing but good things to say about everybody, I love them. Its slightly hilarious though because when it was time for the choir to go up and sing about 70% of the whole congregation stood up and walked on stage. The student body makes up a huge amount of the branch and of the students almost all of them are in the ward choir. Sounds really great too, we've got a lot of talent and a choir director with a lot of knowledge so it’s a good combination. We sight read an arrangement of "Master the Tempest is Raging" today. It’s pretty hard, but it sounds AMAZING. I can't wait to learn it and then sing it from a boat on the waters of Galilee. Life here is so full of different activities that provide for such an enriching experience. Life is good :)

...91

A Walk Through Jerusalem

‘tis a lovely thing to spend the afternoon in Jerusalem. We just went out for a walk, we didn’t have any destination in mind but simply went out to enjoy the city. It was a nice way to spend our time after hours of class on end today. Hmm so much homework and so many classes, its hard to find the balance between fun time spent in the city and time spent with a text book at home. Well I enjoy what I’m learning and I enjoy time in the city so I suppose it’s a win win either way. On Sunday my friends and I are planning to spend the entire day out and I'm stoked. We're headed to the Western Wall at 4:30 in the morning to see the dawn of a Jewish holiday and then we'll go to the temple mount and after that spend the rest of the time in the Israel museum (which I hear is really awesome). So I'm getting excited about that. In the mean time I am really looking forward to Shabbat. It got cut short last week because we were flying back from Turkey, but tomorrow we have all three hours of church and a whole day that I can't do any homework :D I love Shabbat, it brings happiness to my soul :D Hehe ok it must be getting late or something, goodnight.

...92

The Promised Pictures

As promised these are the pictures from yesterday's Arab Culture Night. It was a really good time, not gonna lie I thought it was awesome. I didn't expect it to be so elaborate when I heard about it, but they really made it into something great. A lot of the students went out and bought clothing for the event but quite a few others just borrowed from Shabbon (the Merchant friend of the JC who offered to let me take a product he was selling and pay for it later) He's quite the favorite around here:) So yep, that was last night. Today has consisted of doing homework and ...yeah homework some more. So unless you want another picture of my papers and laptop I'll be content to leave you with these stories and pictures from last night :D

...93 

wow, time is moving fast!

Arab Culture Night

        Hmmm my laptop died as I was posting pictures of this wonderful evening of fun. Too bad, I'll just have to tag them on to tomorrow's post. 

        Today has been such a jolly day:D I think I did really well on my test this morning, or at least I feel like I knew all the answers and put every effort into it that I had so, I hope I get a good grade. Plus I had a skype date with my man today that always makes for a wonderful day! :D and we had a really sweet Arab Culture night, with tasty local food, Arab folk dancing and even the men who say the call to prayer in the major masque in Jerusalem came to the center! T'was really quite remarkable. 

    ok off to bed, I really should have gone hours ago but I'm having far too much fun designing wedding invitations :D

...94

Old Testament Midterm

Yay for hour long study groups...! Oh man, I've been studying for my Old Testament midterm for FOREVER. I'm really hoping to do an excellent job on it, the class is organized such that I know exactly what is expected of me so that's wonderful, its just A LOT of material to cover and be very familiar with. I'm learning so much, I've never had so much fun with the Old Testament.  I am genuinely enjoying it despite all the work. Well I guess real learning comes with a price right? STRRREETCH well... its my bed time, I've gotta get up early again to continue studying. Wish me luck :)

        ...95!

The Walls of Jericho ...or whats left of them

JERICHO!!!

I loved this place. Ok so there's not much left of it but what IS there is really awesome. You see that tower there, the second picture down? Well its not really a tower its more like a cylindrical mound of rocks in a ditch.. yeah, THAT is very likely the OLDEST man made structure on earth! Its a tower from the Neolithic Era (see this here school be teachin me 'dem big fancy words;) its hollow on the inside and is down in a ditch because of all the cities that have been built up on top of the old cities over time. So any guesses as to how old it is? hmm so certainly before Christ so its more than 2000 years old, alsooooo when were the Pyramids built... like uhhh 3000 BCE ish? Roughly? Well guess what, its older than the Pyramids, by a long shot! This little tower you see here in this picture was built in approximately 8500 BCE!! WHAT! THATS CRAZYNESS! I cannot comprehend that, that is about 10,000 years old! Before this trip I had no idea that people had been around that long! Thanks to handy dandy carbon dating techniques (that aren't impervious to error but are certainly the most widely accepted form of dating among archaeologists) we've found evidences of  non-nomadic civilization here in Jericho that surpasses in oldness anything we've ever imagined! Ok so perhaps only a nerd like me could get so worked up over a pile of rocks but THINK ABOUT THAT! People, like you and I made a social agreement in order to have security. They organized a city and they built this tower to protect themselves from whatever threat they thought was out there. That tower has watched every single page of history turn; from Abraham the Patriarch to Abraham the President that tower has stood, quietly taking note of all the secrets we history nerds wish could be understood. If only walls could talk...

More on my trip to Turkey coming up! (its still compiling ;) tee hee ) 

...96

Istanbul was once Constantinople :D

I can't believe it, I'm in ISTANBUL! This the old capital of the great Byzantine Empire! This place it not like any other we've been , its such a crazy combination of the modernized west and the ancient buildings that make this place so famous. So turns out that part of cost of coming on this trip is that while we're here we get to go eat at  fancy restaurant  that they've reserved for us. Way fun! Its something that I wouldn't have chosen to spend money on  if I'd come on my own just cause its so expensive but I'm so glad this is a part of my experience here. All the food here is quite an adventure in itself. I think I'm really going to like Turkey.

... 104

Mothers Day!

Ok I realize that this picture doesn't look at all like it has anything to do with mothers day in any way shape or form, However! This is the picture I took while calling home to wish Mom a jolly day ( even though mothers day is tomorrow for her) So this is the little system I have charge every electronic gadgets I have. Including iPods that make it possible to call loved ones:) its been so nice to be able to talk with you, it makes a world of difference to me:) thank you


...105

Location:Coveted Piano-less classroom

My home away from home

Sooooo this is where I should have been tonight; at the computer lab getting all my homework done before we leave for Turkey on Sunday. But instead I stayed up and talked with friends, watched a movie and had a really jolly time with my fellow classmates. I'm starting to really get to know the other students here and they are so wonderful! Our Friday night fun was worth every bit of glassy eyed reading I have to do now. I'm beginning to feel like I have a family here, like I have a place in our unique community. I am looking forward to an uplifting semester with these remarkable people.



...106

Location:The computer lab

A beautiful Mosque

We had the chance to visit a local mosque and I was super impressed. This wasn't a large scale place of worship, it wasn't big or elaborate and I loved it. This place wasn't a tourist site intent in impressing, it was simply a place for faithful people to come to pray. I love the honest faith and heartfelt humility of the Muslims that I have met.

Oh something kinda neat, I told you about Shabon yesterday that I met in the old city right? Well the man who showed us around the mosque got chatting with us and it turns out that they are brothers-in-law! Ok, I thought that was awesome! Of the ten or so locals I know personally, three of them are related and I met them independently:) turns out they married into a family with eight daughters and they all live here in town! So now I've just got to go find the other five:)

It's been a jolly good day.





Damascus Gate



...107

Location:East Jerusalem

So much to explore

We had a fantastic time in the Old City today after our classes. The more time I spend in the city the
more I realize how little of it I actually know. We found this place in the Jewish quarter and I thought the painting on the wall was simply beautiful. We also spent a good bit of time with the merchants today. I like them, at least most the ones that are in Jerusalem. Almost all of them know the "mormons" when they see us, I don't know how they recognize us but no matter if we're in small groups or not, the merchants call us out and all know us really well. We know a lot of them by name and the previous students have left a very good reputation. They say all the time how much they love the Mormons, it's really neat. Shabon, one of the guys who sells products catered towards Mormons even told me today that if I didn't have enough money with me to by the leather bag I was admiring that I could take it and bring the money back later. Yes, they make a lot of profit off of the students and its certainly in their best interest to be friendly to us, but its also in our best interest as well because we are then given the opportunity to get to know people. The relationship that has been developed between the students and merchants is unique and very enjoyable. They have things we are interested in buying and they make a lively hood by selling on the streets so we're happy to help each other out. I have the best times hanging out in the shops, because that's where we have the most interaction with the locals. The people here are so much fun:)






...108

Location:Old City

Israel Class

Today we had a super interesting Israeli class, it's been really enjoyable to have a Jewish professor instead of just learning about Judaism through American lenses. He always has to many interesting lectures I love his class. One really awesome thing about the Jerusalem Center is that we get to interact with our professors outside of the classroom. Today my Israeli teacher came with his tray of food and sat with us at lunch and let us interrogate him with all our curiosity. What kind of school of learning has the opportunity to spend time learning from our teachers on such a personal level? This is a good place to be.


...109

Location:Jerusalem center

... Homework

Sigh... Homework homework homework, all interesting stuff It just takes me forever! I hope I can get everything out of these classes that I want, earn the grades I need and still have the time to experience this place as fully as possible. Ok, time to go back to the books.



...110 :) almost to the single digits

Location:The computer lab

A Day on the Mediterranean Coast

The "out of Jerusalem committee" planned a trip to Tel Aviv today, by planned I mean they got us transportation and permission to leave the city, other then that we were free to wander the streets of Tel Aviv as we pleased so ling as we had a group of three. So me and two other girls went off to explore the place. It was a new experience to be in such a big Mediterranean city without a guide, but it helped us become more aware of where we were and where we were going. We set off to find the highly recommended art museum and discovered ( by walking into a really posh hotel to ask for a map and directions) that it was too far to walk, so, I learned how to catch a taxi:D t'was quite awesome:) the cab driver didn't speak a lot of English but we were able to negotiate a price and tell him where we wanted to go. So, he droops us off and we walk over to the museum only to discover that it's closed on Sunday! Haha we'd forgotten it was Sunday, go figure. But there was still all kinds of awesome trims to look at and do there, for example; play at the park that is depicted in the picture below. Super fun:) so we got a cab back and went to the merchants in Joffa. Now that was an experience! I've never had to barter before and the concept is completely foreign to me. They can be quite insistent that's for sure! After we had our fill with the shops we went to spend the rest of the day in the beach. Ohhhh I really love the Mediterranean Sea, so fun to swim in! The sand is so soft and the water is quite warm compared to northern California standards. I wanted to stay out there forever, I'm not sure i've ever enjoyed swimming in an ocean so much:) it's been a lovely day, and I'm super wiped out. I just had to make sure that such an enjoyable day got recorded and reported as well as it deserves.

Goodnight






...111

Location:Tel Aviv

The Garden Tomb

The Garden tomb may very well be my most favorite place in Jerusalem so far. The people that run it are here because they love Christ. It's really quite remarkable, they have such firm faith and enthusiasm it's inspiring! The volunteer tour guides clearly love to tell people about Christ and do what they do to proclaim that Christ lives! They don't charge for their tours and they don't get caught up in the "did it really happen RIGHT here" business. Their goal is to show the people of the world an EMPTY tomb. People can't come here to Jerusalem to find the burial grounds of Jesus Christ. Because "He is not here, for He is risen."






...112

Location:Outside the Old City walls

A Splendid Day

This is the entrance to the Jerusalem center. I actually took this the first day that we arrived but I thought it would be neat to show you the architecture. This whole place is built with arches and I love it! Well today we went to the Western Wall and it was probably my most favorite .... Well.... Actually that's really hard to say, but I REALY loved it! We weren't allowed to bring cameras because we were going for the beginning of Shabbat in Friday night. I wish we celebrated the arrival of the sabbath like they do, singing, and some dancing, and a lot of heartfelt prayers. They let us join in with their celebrating and we were even able to sing some of the Hebrew songs because we had learned them in class. I love it here, every day is packet full of new experiences. But what makes it so much easier to be out here so far away is due to the support that I have from home. Thank you. I love you.


...113

Location:Jerusalem Center

Under the JC

   The excitement of today is that President Hiyat took us on a tour under the Jerusalem Center! I thought that was pretty awesome, hardhats and all :) He guided us down and told us all the technical workings of the buildings and explained how incredible the architecture and systems of this place is. It certainly made me appreciate what goes into the building more AND he let us each write our names on the walls and pipes within a "memorial" room, soooo my new goal is to inspire a younger sibling to come study here and then find my name among all the others :)

...114

The LIBRARY!

I found the most spectacular library ever today! It's filled with books on Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, Near Eastern History, biblical commentaries of the prophets, and everything one could possibly hope for on related subjects (not to mention that the books themselves are pieces of art and our housed within the stunning architecture of the Jerusalem Center. Well, it's a good thing I like it there so much because I certainly spend enough time in it. I'm looking forward to all the homework assignments that will help me learn all those things I've been dying to know.

Location:Jerusalem Center