Catch UP!

I am going to say that I am so sorry that I haven't posted in a while, where has the time gone? I feel like October came and went, and I have no idea what happened :(

My last general post (before General COnference) talked a little about our field trip that week, but didn't have any pictures, so here they are:

This is a overlook to the south from the top of the City of David, right by the entrance. The valley in the middle is the Kidron valley that is between the Mount of Olives and the Old City. The tarp is over part of the City wall from Nehemiah's time I believe, and the rock wall next to it was built to help support David's palace.

Had to get a picture with the Harp:) this is in the entrence to the City of David and they had harp music playing in the background.

This is the city wall right next to the entrance to the Ghion Spring, the water source for the City of David. This is also where Isaiah prophesied a few times, including his prophecy of Christ being born of Mary (Although at the time, in the context, it also was in reference to his own children who would be born as a sign that the City of David would be saved from the Assyrians.)

Kind of all over today, but this is another picture (close up) of the "Stepped Stone Structure" that was built as a support for David's Palace.

This was in Hezekiah's Tunnel, this was at the end... I don't currently have any of the photos from inside because they were taken on someone else's camera. I will get them in the end though.

Not sure what this really was, but it could have been King David's Tomb at one point, the top is obviously a quarry, but there were two long shafts that they don't know for sure what they were, but suspect that they might have been tombs. The quarry part of it was from the Hellenistic time (Alexander the Great), and it looked close to the granite quarries in Little Cottonwood Canyon, only in Limestone.

On Monday I went to the Israel Museum, it was cool for a museum. I only have a few picts now, but here they are:

This is the Shrine over where the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept. Inside are the Dead Sea Scrolls, writings from Isaiah, and other old important documents that are like that.

This relief (sorry it is kind of hard to see) was in Sennacherib's palace and tells the story of the destruction of Lachish. It is hard to see, but it shows the siege ramp being built, and the destruction of the place. 

This is the last picture that I will post about from the Museum, but this is a wonderful, very detailed model of Jerusalem at the time of Herod's Temple (2nd Temple Period), WAY cool.

Tuesday, we had lots of class hours, but we did get out for lunch because it was my roommate, Ashley's birthday. It was fun to get out, and was the first Pizza that we had that seemed semi-normal. I think we decided that the cheese on the pizza in the center is Feta cheese. Not normal. Anyway, we were late getting back, and so we got in a little bit of trouble (Not much, we just had to meet with the President of the school and get told not to be late again.) The sun was still setting when we got in, but it was far enough after Sunset that by the time we got up to the 8th floor it was dark outside. Anyway, here is a picture of the Birthday Girl and her Armenian Pizza:

The rest of the week was pretty much studying. We did get to help make dinner on Friday, that was really fun. I didn't get any pictures, but again, I will get some from other people, and maybe the video that Rosy made of our experience:)

Sunday we went to Elat, a Harbor off the Red Sea, and went Snorkeling  It was so fun, there were lots of different fish, and we even saw a Octopus. Pretty fun, not as fun as scuba diving, but still cool to see from the top. Visibility was great. I don't have many pictures because I was in the water the WHOLE time. It was way fun, I did get these two picts though:

This is Ashley, Me, and Rachel (Left to Right) after we finally got out of the Sea, and were redressed for the 4 hour bus ride back to Jerusalem.

Not the best picture, but you get the Idea, the water was really blue, and you can see Jordan on the other side. The dock thing was the south border on where we could swim, and where we got in/out of the water.

As I mentioned earlier, it is a 4 hour drive to Elat.... Lehi's family was somewhere near here when the sons were asked to go back and get the plates from Laban, and again to go and get Ishmael and his family. That is about a 22 day camel ride round trip. A long time on a camel...

Another part of it being 4 hours away, we had 2 long bus rides (there and back), and a long day on the beach... we were all tired when we got back. To make matters even more interesting, we went to Yad Vashem the next day, a Holocaust Memorial here in Jerusalem. Hard to do anytime, but even worse when you are tired... My favorite exhibit was the Children' Memorial. We couldn't take pictures inside, so but there were some memorials on the outside that I have pics of, and will tell you about them in a minute. 

First, I want to tell you a little bit about the Israeli's perspective on the Holocaust, because it isn't really like you would think. The Holocaust was in the late 30's early 40's, and in 1948, Israel became a state, after a big Independence war (The war of '48). Because of this, the Jews that were here didn't always like, or welcome with open arms the Holocaust Survivors. When you here their stories, many didn't fight back, but rather went as a "lamb to the slaughter." They didn't fight for their liberty, and the Jews here couldn't understand that. As a result, many didn't tell their story, but simply came as any other immigrant, and when they did tell their story, they were judged harshly for not fighting back. When Yad Vashem was first built it was called something like "A Memorial for the holocaust AND THE GREAT FIGHTERS" With the "Holocaust" said in a whisper, and the Great Fights, the ones who fought back, shouted and looked up to. It took three major events that brought the people of Israel to the state of hopelessness for a little while to change their mind. However, usually, the Israeli's won the battle, or recovered, and then they would just go back to judging the Holocaust survivors again. 

In this light, the highest monument on the land was for the righters in the GReat Revolt in Warsaw, the people who fought instead of submitted.

These was outside the Children's monument that I said that I would tell you about. both show something unfinished. The pillars only grew for a little while, and then they were torn apart. The Rebar sticking out of the ground shows a project that was started, but not finished. Just like these, and many more in this area (there were chisel marks in the rocks that hadn't been smoothed out), The children that were killed in the Holocaust were killed before their lives were finished. They had great potential, but they were cut short. Over 1.5 Million children were killed in the Holocaust. In the monument itself, the room was dark, and there were 1.5 Million stars, numbering the children (18 and younger) that had been killed. just as Abraham was promised that his posterity would be like the stars in the sky, that is what it felt like in this room. The noise in the rom was only a recording, reading out names, where they were from, and how old they were. So touching, yet hard.

There were lots of things inside the museum that were touching as well, but this was the best for me. Also on this field trip, we went to Mount Hertzl, a memorial for the Zionist Movement. I won't say much about it, but one thing that I did find interesting was that to the non-religious Jews, the more Secular Jews who wanted places that weren't religious, Hertzl's tomb (Below) is considered to be the Third Temple. I thought that it was really interesting. I hadn't heard that before...Interesting.

To top the day off, the center brought in a Holocaust survivor to tell us his story. He went to Guatemala after he survived the Holocaust, and didn't really know English, so two of the guys here that knew spanish (Neil and Shawn Reid) translated for us. It was really cool to hear his story, amazing how much he survived. In the time of the Holocaust, he survived 9 Extermination or Work camps (I think it was 4 Extermination and 5 Work). And yet, he had no lasting effects from it, and was a very happy man. we asked him what his secret to his happiness is, and he said that he was happy as a revenge for the Nazi's showing that they couldn't keep him down.

The rest of the week passed to fast. We had a major Midterm in ANES on Wednesday, that we studied for all day Tuesday, and most of that night as well. Then the rest of the week I was kind of lazy, not wanting to do much. I was studied out and just wanted to relax for a minute. We still had a Primary Program practice on Friday, which meant that I had to practice myself so I could play ALL of the songs, and the actual program on Saturday. Even thought that was only a week ago, it feels like it was forever ago. 

The program went good, and was a big success. Yay! afterword, we had a fireside by a lady in the Branch who was Palestinian and had suffered a lotto be part of this church, including being shot at, convicted by solders, and more just to get to church because she lives in Bethlehem which is in the West Bank, and had to sneak across the borders without being caught to get to Church every week, often a 3 hour journey of worry. She put her papers in as a senior single sister, and is going to London on her mission. Such a strong example...

Monday we went to a place called Neot Kedumim, which is a Biblical Landscape Reserve for our field trip. It was really cool. It is located about half way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and has the Plants that are mentioned in the Bible (Not all of the grow naturally here). We got to start with herding sheep and goats, then made a spice from the Hyssop Plant, a small and modest plant that gives not only the most popular spice in Israel, but also heals, and is a symbol of humility. We also got to make a Biblical meal (Peta's and a type of stew) over a open fire, watch a Torah Scribe and learn what he does, Play in a well-like cistern, and work a Olive Crusher/Screw Press. Pictures are below:

Sheep Herding - To many people for the amount of sheep....

Almond Tree (Aaron's Rod)

Hyssop Twig (This is just a little piece) and the red paint symbolizing the blood on Passover in Egypt - They used a Branch of Hyssop to put the Lamb's blood on their door posts.

Hyssop Powder. Made from the Hyssop leaves, but used in everything here in Israel

Our Peta's on the Fire

Torah Scribe at work

The Olive Crusher, and a Screw Press in the back

The rest of this week was spent studying and taking tests - Finals and Midterms. We finished Israel, Palestine, Old Testament, and Hebrew, and had a Midterm for field Trips. I still have 2 papers to write, and I need to correct my ANES Midterm from last week to get back 50% of the points that I missed, it won't be much help, but it will get me to an A.

Our friend George the Baby Gecko that we found outside Rachel's door last night! So little.

General Conference in Jerusalem

What a great Conference. Here in Jerusalem, the 10 AM session in Utah started at 6 PM in Jerusalem, and the 2 PM session started at 10 PM. So we did get to see it, it was just through the night instead of through the day.

The whole thing was supper great, but the best was the announcement moving times for missionaries leaving up. They movied Young Men from 19 to leaving at 18, or when they graduate from High school and are ready. Young Women moved from 21, to 19. I am so excited.

When President Monson was talking, I was so excited leading up to it, and then when he said “19” I was so shocked, I have no Idea what else he said. All I know it that I am serving a mission. I am so excited, and will put my papers in as soon as I can. I turn 19 in May, so I can put in my papers in January.

It is amazing how much of my life makes sense now. I have had tons of opportunities that although I have taken them, I haven’t really understood why I needed them at that time. A big one is being here in Jerusalem. I knew that I was supposed to come, and everything worked out to well to not come, but now I know that it was another step in preparing me to serve a Mission. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who knows where I am, and what I need to make my life the best experience possible. That doesn’t always mean that it is easy, but it is worth it, and every part helps me grow and learn and be that much closer to returning to live with Him.

One of the many witnesses that I had that I was to serve was that night I opened my Book of Mormon, - which because I have been reading my Old Testament I haven’t read as much as I should – and it opened up to Mosiah chapter 28, which is where the Sons of Mosiah are begging their dad to let them go on a mission. Verse 3 really stuck out to me, which says “Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any Human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” I am so grateful for the chance that I am going to have to serve a mission. I still can’t believe that it is happening, and it is still a few months out before I can even submit my papers, but I am so excited to go!

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints is the true church here on earth. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ that spring day in 1820, and that just like he got his answer, The Lord hears and answers my prayers as well. I know that the Atonement is real, and that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, and because of what He did in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the Cross, I can be forgiven and return to like with Him one day. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the word of God to our day, and that we have Later-day Prophets who lead and guide His church today. I am so grateful to know that I can receive personal revelation for me, and that Through the Prophet, we can receive God’s word to us today. I love my Savior, and I know that He knows where I am, and what I need. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Shephela And Following

What a week, there has been so much going on this week, I don’t know where to start. I think that my last post ended with last Sunday, so I will start on Monday.

Monday was our Shephela Field trip. It covered the low hills – between the coastal plains (by the Mediterranean, and the Judean Hills (Where Jerusalem is). We went to lots of sights, and they were all really cool. Our first stop was Beth Shema, were we talked about Sampson since it happened in that area (Story of his life takes place in that valley). There we talked about Sampson, and then there was a pottery dump there as well. It was really cool, this huge pile of pottery that was just sitting there.

The next stop was Azekah, which overlooks the valley where David and Goliath fought. That  was pretty cool. We just looked out there, but I will tell more about the valley in a sec

Next we went to anther place, I don’t remember what it was called, but there were a lot of cool places in it. First we went to the Bell caves – when they harvested the Lime stone, they shaped them into caves. The Limestone here was really soft, so it would collapse from times to time. The acoustics were really cool, we sang a few hymns, and then took lots of pictures. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like many of my pictures. I will get them from other people later.

Our next stop within that part was the Dove Coutes where they raised doves and pigeons for sacrifice and eating. I wasn’t really expecting it to be cool, but when we went in (Underground) it was really neat. There were more than 2,000 niches for the doves to stay, and it was all open as shown in the picture above. It was really cool.

After a little hike, we came to the olive press. It was also really cool. Also underground, it had the crusher, and then the beam press as shown above. The crusher was a big round stone that was in a bigger dish-like thing, and would roll in a circle. They would have a donkey or mule hooked up to a stick that would turn the stone, and would have the donkey/mule walk in circles around it. Then they would take it to the beam press, which rocks connected to the beams that would put the pressure on it to squeeze the juice out of the crushed up olives, every once in a while, they would have to tighten the rocks to so that they could get every drop out of their olives. It was cool to see and learn about.

Next we went through the cisterns. Every house had a cistern underneath it to get water from, then there were also tunnels to get around town underground. It was cool to see, I think we walked around for 45 min – 1 hour coming out just a little ways away. However, this cisterns were really cool. Because it was dark, I didn’t get very many pictures, and most of the ones that I did take were fuzzy :(

Our last thing at this sight was the tombs. There were two of them, one was simple, and white-washed, the other was painted in the main corridor.  It was really cool, but packed with people, and my one good picture, with people from our group also turned out blurry…

Lachish was pretty cool as well. After a while, all the Tells start to look the same, but when you find something different it is cool. This was the first tell that I looked for pottery as we were walking, and when I started, I noticed it EVERYWHERE. It was crazy, there were pieces like every other rock. Lachish also has a siege ramp, which was cool to see, I hadn’t seen one of them before.

Our last stop on the way back to the center was the Valley of Elah. This is where David killed Goliath with a stone, way cool. We saw the brook that he would have picked his stones from, (and picked up some stones.) and the teachers brought a box full of Slingshots so that we could sling a stone in the Valley of Elah. Way cool.

Tuesday, we had classes for like 6 hours straight, and then prepared for the midterm in Israel. Between class and homework I went out to the city. That was fun, we went to Domitian Abby, (I have been there a few times now), the room of the Last Supper, King David’s tomb (although his real tomb is in the City of David, outside the Old City walls), and then came back to the center. That night I tried out for the in-center volleyball teams, It should be fun

Wednesday, again we had 6 hours of class, and then I went out to the city again, just for a little while. We went to Omar’s, an amazing olivewood carving shop, and then walked to Jaffa gate to see the Parade that we missed. However, we did come back through the Old City, and it was so fun to wind our way through the crowds.

Thursday was just class. I think I went out again, but I don’t really remember where I went… I know that is bad, but they all seem to blend together. That night I studied for our Palestine test the next morning. It is amazing how much stress can flow around the center when one person starts it, then everyone freaks out and starts stressing. Not fun.

Friday we had our test; it was not one that we should have worried about. I got 20/20, and the one question that I did miss (Perfect score would have been 21/20) was something stupid that I knew, but was second-guessing myself on. Oh well. We were locked in the center Friday due to the happenings on Dome of the Rock, but I because I was signed up to go to Synagogue, and we could still go to west Jerusalem, we would just have to get a cab, and we were already being taken by van to the Synagogue, I got to go. It was cool, basically just a prayer session to start the Sabbath, but good atmosphere. They pray together, and it was all in Hebrew, so I could be getting stuff wrong. But most of the prayers are sung. Shows how music brings the Spirit when you are praising God.

Saturday was General Conference. That was the main thing that happened. I did go to the Orson Hyde gardens, and then to the Tomb of the Prophets (Hagai, Zachari, and Malachi) which was way cool. Because it was underground and dark, we got candles to light our way, and we got to sing the second and third verse of “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet.” General conference was big, but I will write that in the next post.

Sunday we went to the city of David. Basically it was Jerusalem in the time of Abraham, through the Roman’s I believe, so we saw a lot of sights within that, I will just post pictures from it. The coolest part was Hezekiah’s Tunnel which brought the water from the East side to the West side of the city where it was expanding.

Monday, we went to Israel Museum. That was cool, we walked there, and it ended up taking almost 2 hours by the time we actually found it. People kept giving us wrong directions and laughing at us for walking along the way. But it was cool. There were a lot of artifacts, and it took a long time to make it through, but it was good to see.

Overall, it was a great week, and I am still floating on air from President Monson’s announcement about Missionary work. So excited.

Here are some extra Pics from the week:)

This picture is the Jewish graves, They are on the Mount of Olives, and we passed them on our way to the Tomb of the Prophets.

Another great sunset in Jerusalem:) Gorgous, it had about 3 different phases, this was one of the first phase that I saw it in, After this, it went gradually pink. It was way pretty:)

Jericho, Yom Kipper, and Seder Meal

Jericho, Yom Kipper, and the Seder Meal.

So we got back from Turkey on Sunday, and I uploaded a ton of pictures. We had one recuperation day, (That would have normally been Sunday, a free day anyway, but we had it as the Sabbath because we weren’t here on Saturday).

On Monday we went to Jericho for a field trip. It was pretty cool, we were back by 1, so it wasn’t to long. We started at the tel. At the bottom, there is a fountain for Elisha’s Spring. It is a really pretty fountain, and the Spring is the life-line of the city. Because Jericho is on the edge of the inhabitable part of the Judean Wilderness (because of the lack of water) the spring is what keeps the city alive, and has been flowing 1000 gal/hour for thousands of years.

Inside the Tel, there is a few famous things that are still there. Jericho is the oldest known city in the world, and the oldest structure is the tower that dated back to 8 or 9 thousand BC. It is a watchtower, and because of the sun, we didn’t really get any good pictures, but we did get some shadow pics J I don’t have the big one where we spelled out “JERICHO,” but I will later.

Kathleen Kenyon was an Archeologist in 1952 that dug at this site. She dug a big trench out of the side, and although she found a lot of other stuff, she is famous for Stratigraphy. She found 23 Strata, or occupation layers. I took some pictures, but I can’t even see it, so I won’t put them on here. The other thing that she found was the remains of a melted mud-brick wall that dates to the Middle Bronze Age (about 2200 BC, close to Abraham’s time), and that Jericho was barley inhabited at the time of Joshua’s conquest. However, there seems to be an ongoing discussion of the timing.

There was a group of Italians that dug there in the last 15 years, and uncovered part of a old city wall from the Early Bronze Age. Because they dug there more recently, it is easier to see outlines of structures and what not.

We went to the springhouse next, where the underground spring comes to the surface, it was pretty cool, and there was waterfalls and fountains that made the place even more pretty. We talked about it for a while, as it was one of Elisha’s first miracles after becoming the next prophet.

After The Spring house we stopped for just a moment at Zacceasus' tree for pictures. This man was a wealthy promiant man, but he had a good heart, and the Lord knew it. 

Next we stopped at Herod’s winter palace, which was the place he died. We talked about the legacy of Cruelty and death that he left, and what our legacy was going to be. The quote “What you are to be, you are now becoming” comes to mind. What is your legacy going to be?

Our last stop was the Wadi Qlit. This is the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, and the setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We got to sit, and talk about the story, and the fact to remember is that everyone is our neighbor, and we should look out for them all. Then we walked along the top for a little while, back to the bus. It was cool to be able to walk that road and think about “What can I do to be the god Samaritan today?”

The rest of Monday, I just did homework, getting ready for Tuesday’s classes. We had a response paper and double reading for Old Testament, and Israel, and Palestine. It was good though.

Tuesday was Yom Kipper Eve, so we talked a lot about it in Israel, and in Palestine, we also talked about it a little, but more about the Muslim version, where that night was the night that the Skies opened to take all our sins. It was a really cool day, although I didn’t really recognize it until that night when I watched the sunset over the city while I read my scriptures and thought about/prayed to God. I know that My Redeemer Lives, and that He loves me. Because He loves me, He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for my sins. Then He died, so that I could be resurrected, and return to my Father in Heaven someday. It was amazing that even though the Jews and Muslims don’t believe that Jesus was the Christ, they see Him as a great prophet, or a great example, but they do believe in an Atonement, the don’t let the goat go out of the city with the people’s sins on it anymore, but the do still celebrate that day, as a day of repentance and repenting of their sins.

So Wednesday was the actual day of Yom Kipper. We had Old Testament and ANES, and then I went out to the city with a few people. All the Muslim and Jewish shops, and sights were closed. We had started out seeing if we could go to the Dome of the Rock/Temple Mount, but it was closed, so we wondered around the Christian quarter of the Old City because it was open. It was fun. We ended up at Domitian Abby, the traditional place of Mary’s death/burial. I am always amazed that every traditional place, or church, it may not be the right place all the time, but not matter what, the Spirit is there as the people reverence a sacred event that happened.

Thursday, our only class was a midterm for Old Testament. After that, I got to help make Charoset and set up for the Seder Meal that night. Passover is really in the Spring, but because we are here in the Holy Land, they do a Seder Meal every semester. It was so cool, our Israel teacher, who is a Jew came and lead the Passover, and did some of the Hebrew passages, as well as explaining everything along the way. He also helped a few groups learn the songs that are sung before hand so that they could perform it to us during the dinner. The program itself wasn’t that much different than the ones that I have done with my family, except for they don’t really set an extra seat for Elijah, but instead pour him one glass of grape juice/wine towards the end of the program. It was a special night.

Friday I got up and went on a run – the first way to long. It is very hilly here, as we headed out, I kept thinking that since it was uphill on the way out, it had to be downhill on the way back. Not so, there was a stretch of relative flat as we ran down part of the Kidron Valley, and one short downhill, but other than that it was mostly up. It was good to get out though.  After that we had 6 hours of class, and then a group of us went out to find the grocery store. It was kind of funny, as we were trying to get directions from security, they didn’t really know what we were talking about, Mr. Hayett could see that we were confused (after we were just trying to decided where to go, and that is when he saw us), and gave us a ride there. He made sure to tell us that it wasn’t going to happen again though:) After we got back, there was a group playing Basketball, so I went and played that until dinner, then we watched part of Sampson and Deliah because we are going to be talking about them on our field trip on Monday, then we went and rented Finding Nemo from the library and had a roommate party. Sadly, I didn’t make it to far into the movie…

All in all, it has been a great week, and I can’t wait to see what next week will bring!

(Bonus pic of the Camel at the Gas station!)