Today we went on a field trip to the park like a national reserve place. You have a guide that takes you around and teaches you about the land during the Bible times and the different practices during the Bible times. The first thing we went to was a well. We talked about how Rebekka drew water from a well and how important water and wells were in Bible times. It was really neat to really think about how much work it really was for Rebekkah to draw water for Isaacs servant as well as his camels. To get enough water for all of his camels and him she would of had to draw about 300 times from the well.

After that we went over to a place where we were able to try and herd the sheep and the goats around to different places. This was really fun. I'm not going to lie though our group didn't do good at all. That's alright though because we had a lot of fun in the process. After we that we talked about how Shephards herded their sheep and how this related to the great leaders in the Bible that were Shephards: Abraham, Moses, David, and the most important the Savior Jesus Christ. A Shephard when he heards sheep and goats he will walk beind the flock. Why does he do this? He walks behind to make sure none of them gets lost and to help those that are weak and are struggling. This is how great leaders are. Especially our Savior Jesus Christ who was the perfect example of a leader.

We also were able to make our own spices by crushing it in a hand grinder. It was really fun but i have to admit the spice we made didn't taste that good.

For lunch they took us to where we made our own pitas or unleavened bread. This is what we cooked them on. This picture is so funny of me. I look like a little kid. :)

We also were able to see a real torah scribe writing a torah scroll. Over here people have professions of writing the torah scrolls that they use in the synogogues. Its a long process to get a torah scroll written. All in all I thought today was really fun and I was able to learn a lot of things.

Shabbot

Shabbot is always one of my favorite days. We have breakfast at 8:00 which means that we get to sleep in as compared to our usually time of 6:30 or 7:00. After breakfast is choir practice at 9:00 which i usually almost always go to. After choir our church starts at 10:00. On Shabbat we only have breakfast and then dinner at 4. Shabbot dinners i think are always really good. I don't know if that is because they really are better than the other days or because I am really hungry. :) Today was a really good day. I really felt the spirit a lot today during sacrament. There was some really enriching talks and a lot of musical numbers. There was a total of 3 musical numbers during sacrament. I was involved in the last one where 5 others and I sang a duet of I know that my Redeemer lives. After the church block i went up to the 7th floor of the Jerusalem Center and sat out and wrote in my journal. The 7th floor has a wonderful view of the city. Right beind me is where we have sacrament every Shabbot. The curtains are usually open so you can look out over the city. I love going out here to just ponder on the things that i have done and the things that I have learned here. Its getting so pretty here with all the flowers blooming. We also finished our finals this past week so from now until the end of our stay here we only have 2 classes. One of them is the New Testament which I am really excited about. I get to go to the places where the Savior taught and preformed the great miracles that He did. I am so blessed to have that opportunity.

Here is another view of my favorite place to go and sit. In this picture is me and my roommate Bre. I really like spending time with Bre as well as my other roomate Emily. We have a lot of fun together.

On tuesday we went to Bethlehem. My teacher Dr. Mussallam that i have for my Palestinian class also is a teacher at Bethlehem University. We were able to go there and to have class with his students. It was really neat. We watched a movie that talked about the Palestinian side of the story and what happened to them during the 6 day war. It was really sad. I loved being at the school and being able to talk to the Palestinian students. Bethlehem university is a Catholic School that has both Christians and Muslims going to it. As you can see the campus of the University is really nice.

After going to Bethlehem University we went to eat at the Shephards field Village Restaurant. Here we all are waiting for our food.

Then after our lunch we walked through Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. This is a church that was built over the cave that the Savior Jesus Christ was born.

This is one of the statues inside the chapel part of the church. It portrays Mary as the protectorant of the baby Jesus.

Here i am in front of where the manger would have sat. The place where our Lord and Savior was placed on that blessed night. Obviously all the marble and columns weren't there when the Savior was born. They built a shrine on top of the place that the manger laid. The manger they said is somewhere is Europe. The neat thing that i learned was that the cave is shaped like an angel and where they believe the mnager was is right in the heart of the angel.

The highlight of my day in Bethlehem was when we went to the Shephards fields. It was probably on one of these hills if not on the very one that we stood on the the Shephard were watching their fields by night and an angel of the Lord pronounced the news that the Savior was born and was lying in a manger.

While we were at Shephards Field there was a little lamb there. What a perfect addition to our trip!

We had a wonderful program that night. We sat in the shepards field that looked out over the lights of Bethlehem. We sang christmas songs and were taught about the main characters in the Nativity story. We listened to musical numbers about Christ's birth and then ended with my teacher Brother Wilson telling us the Nativity story from Luke from memory. The spirit was very strong as we all pondered on what took place that night so long ago. It was amazing to like about being one of the shephards that night. I can imagine that the lights that glowed from Bethlem although smaller looked similar to the glow that we were able to see. What would it have been like to be tending your flocks and have an angel come and bare the good news that the Savior of the world had been born? What would it have been like to go and to kneel down by the babe that would be your king of kings and save you from your sins? I imagine it would have been a very wonderful, spiritual, humble thing to kneel by the Savior. I know that the Savior lives. I know that he was born on that quiet night in Bethlem so many years ago and that he live the perfect live while on this earth so that we would know how we needed to live. I know that if we follow him that we will be able to live with our Heavenly Father again someday.

This past week i have pretty much been inside except for the field trips we went on. We had our mid terms and some of our finals. Even though this past week has been kind of stressful I am just thankful that i have the opportunity to be here. I am so very blessed. I have learned so much and am excited to learn more as i continue my studies here. As you can see from this picture the flowers are starting to bloom and the days just keep getting nicer and nicer. Out here where this picture was taken is a place that a lot of us like to go to study or look down over the old city of Jerusalem. If you don't know already i love it here!

Purim

One of the Jewish holidays is the Holiday of Purim. It's when they celebrate how Esther saved the Jewish people from destruction. The way they celebrate it is dressing up in costumes and going to the synogogue and reading the esther scroll. While reading the scroll everytime the name of Hammon is read everybody uses noise makers and yells to drown out his name. For those of you who don't know he is the bad guy of the story. There are also all kinds of parties going on in the streets for the more secular jews.

For like two weeks before the actual day of Purim the little kindergarteners dress up in their cute little costumes. Here is a picture of some of them when we were in the old city one day. Aren't they so cute!! it's pretty much like Halloween that last a couple weeks for the kids. they dress up everyday for about two weeks and get lots of candy. I thinking that i might want to start celebrating this. :)

About 20 of us went to the synogogue that was near by to celebrate purim. And yes everybody was dressed up at the synogogue including us. Even Obama came to the synogogue to celebrate. :)

I thought this was so cute. This old Jewish couple with their scroll of Esther all dressed up to celebrate the holiday.



We just had to throw costumes together from the stuff that we brought from home. i am supposed to be a Hawaiian girl. Even though it kinda looks like something you would wear just as a normal outfit.

Here is a picture of all of us that went to the synogogue. It reminded me of a big ward halloween party with a program. One other thing about Purim that i found to be very interesting was that part of the holiday is getting drunk for the adults. So pretty much all adults get drunk that night. Even the ultra orthodox Jews will get drunk. There were all kinds of policemen out that night. So for the adults its like a Halloween and New Years rolled into one.

Today we took a field trip to go see the Seperation wall. This is the wall that the Israel government put up around Israel to seperate the West Bank from Israel. They started building the wall back around 2001 when there was lots of terrorist bombings in an attempt to keep them out of Jerusalem. As you can see from the graffitti on the wall that many people have expressed their feelings toward this wall. Its sad to see the people divided like this.

The wall served its purpose in helping to stop terrorists attacks but it is also seperating family members from each other. I pray for a solution to be met that can compromise both the Isreali and Palestinian problems. I have learned to love both people and pray that they will be able to live together peaceably.

For one of our field trips we went to the Jerusalem Archeological Park. This is right next to the temple mount or where the Dome of the Rock sits. The ruins here date back to the 2nd temple period which is the period of the time of Christ. The stairs that Stephanie and I are sitting on are the original stairs that led up to the temple mount during the Christ's time. The temple mount had seperate gates for the entrance and exit. So where we are sitting is where the people of the time would have walked up to enter the temple. Way up in the top left hand corner if you look very closely you can see the filled in gate that was the entrance to the temple mount. It was filled in and part of it is covered because the Muslims have a mosque that sits right up from there. These are the stairs that the Savior would have used to enter the temple. It was on these stairs that Mary Joseph and the infant Jesus would of came when they came to offer sacrifice after the Savior's birth.

Where i am now is over to the right of the other gate. These gates are the exit to the temple mount. As you can see they have been filled in too. There are many events that happened on these stairs. One day when the Savior and his twelve apostles were leaving the temple and walking down these stairs they saw a beggar that was blind from birth. One of the apostles asked the Savior if the beggar had sinned or his parents had. Back then people believed that if you had an ailment of any sort you had sinned. The Savior told him that neither had sinned. The Savior then spit in the dirt and made mud and put it on the Beggars eyes and then told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. We know that the man did go wash and he was healed. What i thought was really interesting was that in one of the accounts of this story in the Gospels of the New Testament when the Savior is putting the mud on his eyes it says that he annointed his eyes and then told him to go wash. This eludes to the concept of washings and annointings.

This is a place that the director of the Jerusalem Center said was where he thought the pinnacle of the temple was. If it is this is where the Savior stood when Satan tempted him to jump down.

This is the road that is right below the previous picture. This is the actual ruins of the main road that existed during the time of Christ. This is another reason why the director thought that the pinnacle of the temple that is talked about in the temple was right above here. Satan wanted the Savior to jump down to prove to the people that he was the Messiah. This would be the best place to do it because of this main road. This was the busiest road during the times of Christ. This is where the majority of the people would have seen the Savior. Of course the Savior did not work that way and did not give into the temptation of the Satan. There are probably so many other stories that took place in these very places thousands of years ago. Its amazing to me to think of what went on at these places. My director told us a story of the 1st man on the moon. After he had already gone to the moon he came to Jerusalem and walked along the same stairs that we walked on which are the same stairs that the Savior walked on. He said that walking on stairs that the Savior walked on meant more to him than walking on the moon.

Old Joppa in Tel Aviv

Right before we left Tel Aviv we looked out the window of the bus and saw a muslim dressed in her normal muslim attire wearing a baseball cap on her head. I thought it was very humerous.



Another place they took us was to this tree. It is just hanging there by these cords. It was pretty cool. There is some symbolism with it but i wasn't sure what it was.

In Tel Aviv they have this Wishing Bridge. Along the railing they have all the zodiak signs. You are supposed to go stand by your sign and touch while you are looking out at the sea and make your wish. I am not really angry in this picture. The sun is in my eyes. :)

In Joppa we went to the house of Simon the tanner. On the roof of that house was where Peter had his revelation that the gospel was to be shared with everybody and not just the Jews. This revelation opened up missionary work to a lot more of our Heavenly Father's childre.This revelation made it possible eventually for all of us to become members of Christ's church.

The is the port at Joppa. This was the same place the port would of been in Bible times. It was at this port that Jonah had his experience with the whale. The Lord gave Jonah a call to go somewhere and he wanted to run and hide from the Lord. We all know that you can't hide from the Lord. Jonah was then swallowed up by a whale. We all know the story. This story teaches us a couple of things. One we need to be responisible and do the things we are asked to do and that the Lord knows everything and we can't hide anything from the Lord.

This monument symbolizes the Melchezidek Priesthood.

King Abdulla's Mosque

I for some reason left out from my blog about Jordan the visit that we made to King Abdulla's Mosque. He is the King that is reigning in Jordan right now. The people love him. One really cool thing that i learned about him is that he will go out and try to disguise himself to that he can go among the people and see how they live. He also sometimes will go out a be a taxi driver. He does this to get to know the people and their concerns. I thought that was very cool. No wonder the people love him so much.

Here are me and Bre before we entered the Mosque. We had to wear scarves around our heads to cover our hair and we had to put on these black robes. They looked like choir robes with hoods. As you know for Muslims they do this to be modest. Especially when entering a place where they worship.

Here is a view of the ceiling of the mosque. I thought that it was very beautiful. You will notice in my pictures that there aren't any kind of images in the mosque. It is forbidden to have anykind of statues or anything like that inside of a mosque. Mosques are just big and wide open. They don't have any chairs because people go there to pray and they don't need chairs.

Part of the Muslim religion requires Muslims to pray 5 times aday. Inside King Abdulla's mosque it had a list of the times that the Muslims are required to pray. Because there times to pray correlates with the rising and setting of the sun the times change in accordance. Right now these are the times that they pray. You might notice that there are 6 times listed there. The second time is the time that the sun rises. It isn't a time that they pray. For those people that have to work and are unable to go pray at those times they can make them up afterwards. For example if someone is Muslim and they aren't able to do any of the prayers that day because of work than that night when they go home they have to make them all up. So instead of praying five times throughout the day they pray five seperate times that night.

I don't have a picture of this but when Muslims pray they first start standing up and then go down to there knees and then they will bend over and touch there foreheads to the floor. They have someoen that stands in front of the group that leads the prayer. The prayers are recitations except for when they have their foreheads on the ground. This couple minutes they are able to have their own personal petition to Allah. Walking around the streets of Jerusalem you can tell which Muslims are devout because they will have a callous on there foreheads from praying so much.

Here i am in the mens section. The cutout in the wall behind me points the Muslims in the direction of Mecca. They are in all mosques.

This is me in the Womens section of the Mosque. When they go to pray they have different sections. One for the Men and one for the Women. This is actually an entirely different room from the main room where the men go to pray.

Jordan and Tel Aviv

So here it goes this is really long but i am making up for a week of awesome things that i did on my trip to Jordan. The first thing that we did in Jordan was we went to Petra. Petra for those of you that are wondering is where they filmed the last part of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That made Petra really famous but there is a lot more there than just that. I have way too many pictures so i just put up a couple of them. Before you get to the treasury that is in Indiana Jones you walk through this canyon with beautiful colored rocks surrounding you. The pictures don't do it justice. They were amazing shades of red and purple and somtimes yellow and white.

Here is the moment you were waiting for. Cue Indiana Jones theme music. This is the treasury. It was awesome because you are walking through the canyon like the picture before and all of a sudden it opens up and there it is!

This picture might look like it is the same picture as up above but it isn't. We climbed 852 stairs up the mountain side to get to this. It was worth it though. The hike up was beautiful and the lookout a little ways from this was gorgeous. If you can't tell we are spelling Jordan. I am the letter d.

Here is one of the views from the look out that i talked about. I just couldn't get over how pretty it was!

Here is a picture of me in the canyon down below the mountain just to give you another look at all the different colors of rocks. I wish you could have been there. Like i said the pictures don't give it justice. It was absolutely beautiful!

After going to Petra the next big thing that we did was go to Jerash which is where the ruins of an ancient Roman city are. I loved it there. I thought it was beautiful!! To start off my Jerash picture the one below shows me in the ancient arena where the Roman citizens would come to watch chariot races and gladiator fights etc. i am standing right in the middle of the arena.

Here we are at the top of the huge amphitheater. It was actually kind of funny because while we were there they brought out these people that played the bag pipes for us. While they were playing some people started doing the congo. So here we have some American people doing the Congo to Irish bagpipes in a Roman amphitheater that is located in Jordan. As you can see though from the picture it was pretty impressive.

Around the bottom of the amphitheater they had almost like an ancient microphone system. There were these circles that went along the entire bottom of the amphitheater. someone could go whisper in one on the other end and we would still be able to here it on our end. I thought it was pretty cool. In this picture is me and Marianne.

i loved all the rocks amongst the green. It was so beautiful!

Here i am again. Its not by anthing in particular but i thought it made for a good picture.

After we toured around Jerash there was a Roman show that we went to. It was pretty cheesy but i really liked it. It was a lot of fun . Here we are sitting on the actual seats that the Roman citizens themselves sat on when watching the Chariot races and the gladiator fights. During the gladiator fights we got to determine whether or not they died. It was thumbs up if you wanted them to live and thumbs sideways if you wanted them to die. This is how it actually worked back in the roman times when they actually did have the gladiator fights.

After the show was over we got to go down and take pictures with all the people from the show. It was a lot of fun!! Here i am with one of the chariot drivers.

He we are pretending like they are killing us. Everytime i look at this picture i laugh. I think its so funny!!!

Me and my roommate Bre are by the announcer of the Roman show. He was by far the cutest guy in the show.

Right as we were walking out after taking pictures i saw a helmet sitting there so i asked if i could put it on. I was trying to look really fierce but i think i just came across as goofy. :) Don't you love how the helmet is covering up my eyes!!! LOL!!