Christmas on the Fourth of July!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY! Sorry it's a little late.

Now I know that many of you may be confused, but hear me out. Yesterday, in the United States, our country's independence was being celebrated. Simultaneously, here in the Holy Land, we had a field trip planned to Bethlehem. So, in addition to celebrating the birth of our country, I celebrated Christmas. In the West Bank.

How many people can say that they celebrated The Birth of Christ and the Birth of America on the same day? In a territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority? At the very least, I can.

And yesterday really did feel like Christmas. I had been listening to Christmas music all weekend, so I was more than prepared. In the morning I woke up, filled with excitement, and went on my cheery way to breakfast. Once there, I noticed that my favorite cereal (A CEREAL FILLED WITH NUTELLA GOODNESS) was not present, so I got a cookie cereal instead. However, when I filled up my bowl with the cookie cereal, what else should come out of the cereal dispenser except for my delicious Nutella goodness cereal?! IT WAS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

On the bus on the way to Bethlehem, Brother Muhlestein made sure we appropriately celebrated the Fourth of July. We sang "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "I'm Proud to Be An American," and the ever-moving "Star-Spangled Banner." We also recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Additionally, throughout all of our lessons during the day, Brother Muhlestein would occasionally mention how grateful he is for our country. It was a really neat experience. I had never celebrated the Fourth of July outside of the country before.

During our holiday in the West Bank, we went to the Herodian (a fortress Herod built), Bethlehem University, the Church of the Nativity, and Shepherds fields.

A picture of my friend Becca and me at the Herodian.

 The Church of the Nativity and Shepherd's Fields were definitely my favorite parts. A lot of people are skeptical as to whether or not the Church of the Nativity is actually the place where Christ was born, but to me it doesn't really matter. It just matters what it represents.

A picture of me in front of the Church of the Nativity.

A picture of my friends Jess, Kayla, and myself in the grotto where they believe Christ to have been born.

My friend Becca and me in a chapel that we sang in in the Church of the Nativity.

This church is 1500 years old. THAT'S SO OLD. It was really neat to see it. A lot of people don't like it necessarily, but I really did. We sang Christmas songs there and I just loved life. I love Christmas hymns.

Shepherds Fields, though, was my favorite part. Everywhere we go is for tourists, it was nice to go somewhere where no one else was, and have a spiritual experience. A large portion of our class helped our teacher's wife, Sister Muhlstein, make a Nativity movie that she's making with her kids. They acted the angel part of the Nativity story by all dressing in white and singing parts of a song. Here's a picture of them filming it:

Shepherd's Fields was mostly just an amazing experience because it gave me a chance to ponder the birth of the Savior. We sang some hymns, had a short lesson, and then time to think. While I was sitting there, I couldn't help but think of how grateful I was for the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I couldn't help thinking that it wasn't just the angels at Shepherd's Field who were rejoicing. I think that every single one of us was rejoicing at that moment. That moment of Christ's birth is arguably the single most important event in history. Some might argue that the most important event should be the Atonement or the Resurrection, and it is indeed important that Christ suffered for our sins and that He lived again, but none of those things would have happened if it weren't for Him being born in the first place. I can't help but imagine it was an exciting moment. And today, I like to think that I'm still just as grateful for the birth of my Savior. Because He lived, and still lives today, we can each live once again, we can be forgiven for our sins, and we can all live with Him again. I'm very grateful for His birth.

Also, if you wanted to know what your feet look like when you wear sandals and you were told not to wear sandals on that particular field trip, I have an example:

So that's that! Don't you worry your little heads - I will post about Jordan soon. I'm about halfway done with that blog post, but wanted to post this one while it was still fresh on my mind. So you'll get the post about Jordan soon! Hopefully before I go to Galilee. I'll post about snorkeling in the Red Sea at Eilat too, hopefully, because that was so much fun. Basically what you need to know, though, is that life here is just great.