Tests . . .

I've just finished the first half of my Old Testament take home test. I think I did well on that portion but I can't think anymore so I'm off to bed.

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I've seen the Dead Sea Scrolls!

You see that white "jar lid" looking building in the background? Well inside that little building are some of the Dead Sea Scrolls out on display and I GOT TO SEE THEM! How awesome is that! Also the Aleppo Codex is there too! I didn't know that was its name until today but its the oldest Hebrew recording of the Old Testament that we have (aside from the dead sea scrolls) and the Kings James version is based off of it. My mind was blown. Actually having a perpetually blown mind has been the theme of today. I spent the day in the Israel Museum looking at artifacts that are unfathomably old. It wasn't just the oldness of them that always was so overwhelming though, it was who's  they were. I a seal of Hezekiah's, Roman statues that I'd only seen copies of in Turkey, pottery from the neolithic age, idols from all ages, WOVEN FABRIC that is thousands of years old and so much more it hurts my mind to think about. I saw a lot of famous archaeological finds today, things that I've been looking at pictures of for forever and was suddenly stunned to turn around and realize I was looking at it in real life. For instance we've been learning about the relation of the characters in the Bible and their appearance in other historical records and there's this stone that is written in an old Cuneiform style of writing (I believe) that records that David was anointed King! Wow that's a pretty awesome find if you ask me! Archaeological evidence of these individual characters in the Bible is naturally very difficult to come by so when something is found it really impressive. Well I turned around the corner and suddenly was standing in front of this stone and I recognized it because I've been starring at slide show lectures of it since the beginning of my college career. That was a fun experience :D Over and over my mind was blown with what this museum held in its rooms, its a definite must-come-back-with-future-family destination that's for sure! 

The whole experience was overwhelming, I had to literally pause and get my bearings again because I was so overloaded with the awesomness of it all. I learned a lot to, it helps a ton to actually see all the things we've been studding so hard to learn. So speaking of studying and overloading the mind, I've been preparing for my Old Testament test due on Tuesday and I don't think I can fit a single thing more in my head tonight. Oh the things we do when we're tired and overloaded but still need to get stuff done. Spending so much time with these awesome students here and seeing them when they're just as tired and determined to study as you are even though we're all wiped out is an experience you don't really get anywhere else. Thank goodness for smart people. The JC students are all pretty sharp and have more than once saved me when I was struggling to understand the pile of rocks I was staring at behind a panel of glass or searching in vain to learn the meaning of a specific term found somewhere in the depths of the Old Testament. I owe a lot of my learning here to my fellow students. This is a good place to be.

...evidence that its possible to study till your brain melts

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Jon Schmidt in Jerusalem!

I've decided that if you ever want to 'happen' to run into any Mormon celebrities in you life, come live at the Jerusalem Center for a few months. Cause everybody wants to visit the holy land and the JC is the only LDS church meeting around. So I was sitting in a lovely fast and testimony meeting only to discover that Jon Schmidt was sitting there with us! Who knew! So I'm not exactly sure how it came about but he had a concert in the Augustus Victoria church for free:D Well I certainly wasn't going to pass that one up so we got permission to leave after dark and all the JC students walked over to hear the infamous Jon Schmidt play the piano. I found it ironic that all this most beautiful and elaborate church had by way of pianos was a dusty little upright, but when you play like this guy apparently it doesn't matter what kind of piano your using because it was spectacular! The acoustics in that church are amazing and added a whole level of awesomeness to the performance. I love his music. He's pretty much a hero in my eyes, gives me something to aspire to :D Mostly what’s inspirational about his playing is that you can tell that he just absolutely loves doing it. His joy and passion are contagious!

 

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Shabbat Shalom

        The very best part of today was going to the synagogue to start of Shabbat this weekend. Ophir, my Jewish Professor and two of his young children accompanied us. I loved seeing my professor outside of the classroom, acting as a father to his kids and showing us his place of worship. It was an evening that I thoroughly enjoyed and wouldn't have minded a bit if it had lasted a little longer. I love Jewish traditions, they have such beauty to them.

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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

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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 ;)

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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.

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