shalom!
hey everyone! so today in the Sabbath here. since the Jewish sabbath is on saturday we have our church meetings on saturday too. actually sabbath starts for the jews at sun down friday night and goes until sun down saturday night. pretty much of jerusalem shuts down friday night and saturday. Church was really neat today. We had sacrament in the big auditorium that looks out over Jerusalem. i have to say that its kinda hard to pay attention when you can look out at the dome of the rock. It was really neat though. there is a little brach here in israel with a brach president. the students in the program make up most of the branch but there are a couple families that live here that come to the center for church. they work for like the american consulate and places like that. also the families of the people that teach here are here as well. there is also a family that is here because the husband is going to the Hebrew University. I guess the university is a very good school. i want to go over there and check out the campus. So because we are in a branch they give out callings. i got a calling to teach sunday school to the teenagers that are here. there is only like 5 i think and i think most of them are the children to the teachers that are here. there is even a nursery here. i am excited! its going to be fun!
in Relief Society the sister who taught lives in Bethlehem. for a long time she wasn't able to come to church because she is palistinian and Israel wouldn't let her into jerusalem because of that. Now that she has a UN job she is able to come in. She is a really neat lady. She is the only member in her family. i want to sit down and talk to her and find out how she became a member of the church. its really neat to learn the gospel in a place like this. Like i have said before i am excited to learn all that i can while i am here. Tomorrow i start my Hebrew class. i am excited about it. If you want to do me a favor and tell people that i do not have access to my facebook so i can't stay in contact with people that way and also either let them know about my blog or have them give me their email address. anyways love ya lots! talk to ya later !

so yesterday they took us on a tour of the old city of jerusalem. it was really neat! they have all kinds of churches and shrines everywhere. We didn't have a lot of time so we weren't allowed to take pictures so i can't share pictures of what i saw now sorry. I am really excited to be able to go back and spend some more time there! its really amazing here!

Hello everyone!

not much has happened today. today was our first day of class so that was kinda neat. i am actually very excited to learn here. Its so different learning about the bible when you are living in the place that the bible talks about. classes are different here in that they are not on the same days or the same times like regualar college classes. one of the classes that i had today i am not having again until next friday. just a little more about where i am. the jerusalem center is owned by the church but the land that it is on is not. it is owned by israel and is leased to us. They only let us build it here on the agreement that we would not prosylite. there is a group here that there sole purpose is to make sure that nobody preaches to the jews. they sometimes will go up and ask you questions to see if you will start teaching them. they aren't mean at all and they wouldn't do anything to us but if one of us were to start teaching them then they could make it so we could no longer come to the jerusalem center. we are told if someone asks just to say that we can't talk about that and just leave it to that. it is the same with political issues. the people here like the mormons and they know who we are. hard to beleive huh? :) we are white and dress way different than they do. :) the other day when we took our tour through the old city of jerusalem this guy saw us and was like " BYU! from the east to the west byu is the best!" then he walked off and said Lehi Liahoni. It was pretty funny! so one thing that i will prbably miss when i go home is that five times a day they have a call to pray. it sounds like someone is singing in isreali and its being put on a loud speaker so the entire city can hear. when ever this goes off the muslims are supposed to pray. its pretty neat! the first prayer is at 5 in the morning. they are really good at keeping us save here. there isn't anything going on in Jerusalem but they are very precautious. i feel very safe in this building. its weird but cool. the director and assisant director and the people that run the center here are not LDS. they are muslim,jewish, palestinian and i think there is a christian here to. they are all really nice and its neat that they are here and we can get to know them. well gotta go! until next time! love ya!!! Christine

So the first picture below is a picture that i took from the porch off of my apartment. I love being able to look out of my room at Jerusalem. This isn't the best view of the dome of the rock but if i walk down a little farther i have a really good shot. The second picture is one of the pictures that i took when we were coming from the airport to Jerusalem. It is beautiful!

I am in Jerusalem!!!

Hey Everybody,
so i made it over to jerusalem. it was a very long 4 flights. i first few to denver then i flew to washington DC and then to Vienna and then to Tela Viv which is a half hour from jerusalem. It is amazing over hear. The center where i am staying sits up on the hill that looks out over the old city of jerusalem. i can see the rock of the dome from my bedroom. there is an amazing auditorium that looks out over the old city. It is beautiful here. i am excited for all the things that i will be able to do and learn while i am here. Tomorrow they are going to take us on a tour of the old city of Jerusalem. i am way excited!!! this is going to be really short because i am really tired and although you will be getting this at 12:40pm it is 9:40pm here. i love all of you and i will right more when i am not suffering from jet lag.

I leave for Jerusalem in 4 days!!

The days are counting down. i leave for jerusalem in 4 days!!! my last day of work was today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was so excited about that! sunday i leave for Utah and then i fly out on tuesday the 6th. WOW!!!! i am starting to get a little stressed just because i want to make sure i get everything i need before i leave. i can only take one checked and one carry on and i have to bring everything because you can't find a lot of the stuff there and they are too expensive. Also things have gotten a little scary over there so i am afraid that they are going to keep us in lock down and we won't be able to go anywhere. that would really suck!!!!!!