Coming to a Close

Well, my friends, my time at the Jerusalem Center is coming to an end. I don't think this will be my last post, so don't expect it that way. I might not even talk that much. The past few days we had our last field trips, retracing Christ's steps from the last week in His life. We have had almost all of our last free days (we have one more tomorrow before people leave for the airport at 7 PM). We have had our closing socials, watching our semester slide show, had our final fireside, and have started packing. But it still hasn't registered to me how close it is to over. So for now I will just post pictures of some things I have done since Galilee. I will post more over the next couple of days, or next week or so, so don't expect this to be the end. It's been an awesome adventure, and I have way more to write about it before I conclude everything.

So here's a bit of what I've been up to! I hope you enjoy it!

I went to the Israeli Museum and saw the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I visited Terra Sancta church and had a really cool spiritual experience about the reality of the Atonement.

Who will move the ladder at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Maybe I will! ("Oh no you won't!" -Brother Judd)

LOOK WE GOT TO WEAR SHORTS IN MASADA LOOK HOW EXCITED I AM. Except this was in Qumran. So we can pretend that I was excited that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Except really I was excited about the shorts.

LOOK MY FRIEND ROBERT GAVE ME A BANDANA TO KEEP MY NECK FROM GETTING SUNBURNED. It worked. Unfortunately I didn't have that same bandana today and I'm going to go back to the states as a redneck. BUT. In Masada, I didn't get burned! Look at me as a boy scout with my friend Becca.

THE WILDERNESS OF MASADA. It was 110 degrees that day. Many died from heat exhausted. Well, maybe they didn't die. But they came close.

Brother Judd in all his glory.

Floating in the Dead Sea is one of the weirdest sensations ever.

My DELICIOUS LAMB SCHWARMA. And Becca and Amber's burger. With Shelby and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the background.

Jacob's pizza excites Amber a little too much sometimes.

Walking on Roman roads that Christ would have walked on.

Went to the Western Wall one last time.

I secretly love all the graffiti in the Old City.

Went to St. Peter's En Gallacantu (one of my favorite places in the city).

VISITED THE POOLS OF BETHESDA. Finally. A picture of me in front of them.

Me at the Garden Tomb for the last time.

Visited Gethsemane for the last time.

Visited the Temple Mount for the last time. Le sigh. I hate all of these "last times." But. To cheer you up, here is a picture of a Muslim man on the Temple Mount sleeping because it's Ramadan.

Kerri Allyson, Becca, and me in front of the Dome of the Rock.

Visited Hezekiah's Tunnel (which I affectionately refer to as Hezzy's Tunnel), again, for the last time....

My second-to-last JC Sunset.

It's crazy to think we have only one day left. (One day, one day....Matisyahu reference.) But seriously. One day. I'll try to make the most of it as I spend my day packing, paying fees, getting last-minute souvenirs, and saying goodbye. Le sigh. Expect a lengthy post or two in the near future. At least one about what I learned while here, one about my favorite sites in the city, and one that is advice for future students coming to the BYU Jerusalem Center. Keep an eye out for them. They're gonna be huge. (In a huge as in popular way. Not meaning length. Although they could be huge in that way, too. But don't let that deter you from reading them.)

MLIA Moment.

A few minutes ago, I was sitting on the seventh floor of the Jerusalem Center studying for my Ancient Near Eastern Studies final (tomorrow at 10 AM - pray for me), and I was all alone. Suddenly, I saw Brother Judd, my Old Testament teacher, at the end of the hallway. He's a small-looking man, and kind of reminds me of what Professor Flitwick from Harry Potter should look like. All of a sudden he looked at me and started running towards me at full-speed down the hallway. When he got to me, he pulled out a fairy wand, tapped it on my head, and said, "A+!" and then promptly ran away.

Best moment of my life. Hahaha. I love living with my teachers.

A picture of me with Brother Judd:

It's hard to believe that this semester is really coming to a close. Today we had our very last classes. From this point on, we only have finals. Here's a picture of my New Testament class with Brother Muhlestein on our last day:

Our New Testament class in our natural state:

(Class pictures from Jeehee Cho).

"Oh, Galilee..."

"And when I read the thrilling lore of Him who walked across the Sea, I long, oh how, I long once more, to follow Him in Galilee."
-Each Cooing Dove, old LDS Hymnbook

Well, my friends, I'm back, and it's time for an update. It's hard to describe how amazing Galilee was to me. We spent 11 days there. 11 days studying the Savior, in the place where He spent His public ministry. Some nights I sat down by the beach, looked up at the stars, and realized that Christ would have spent time looking at those same stars from that same place 2,000 years ago. I found myself wondering - what would Christ have thought of as He looked up at those stars that He created?

Also, I thought of how the place where I stayed for 11 days was the very place where, in all of Christ's creation, He decided to stay for His public ministry. He could have chosen anywhere in the universe for Himself to go. But He chose that very spot. It was unbelievable to me.

The field trip experiences were amazing. We visited so many places, there's no way I can talk about them all in one blog post. We had six all-day field trips and one half-day field trip as well. On days when we didn't have field trips, we had long 3-hour classes studying the New Testament, and when we weren't on field trips or in class, we had time to study the New Testament on our own, swim in the Sea of Galilee, or just spend time with friends. It was an unbelievable experience that I'm pretty sure I will never have again in my life, and I am so grateful for it.

It's hard for me to explain what Galilee meant to me. Hopefully I'll get a chance over the next few months to talk to any of you who want to hear about it, and if I do, I will be able to share with each of you how my testimony of the Savior grew while I was there. But I do want you all to know that my testimony did grow, and that I know that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ lived, that He lives, and that as we look to Him for direction in our lives, He will not abandon us.

I do want to share a scripture that came to mean something to me while I was there.

One day, while we were in Capernaum, we were reading the "Bread of Life" sermon that the Savior gave in John 6. It was given in the very synagogue where we were sitting. In it, Christ taught some hard doctrines that many of his followers couldn't understand. He taught them things such as, "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him" (John 6:56), "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh..." (John 6:51), and "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him" (John 6:54). Of course, this all makes sense to us in context of the sacrament, but to them it made absolutely no sense.

John 6:66 shows us the response of those who were bothered by the sermon because they did not understand it. It states, "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." The ensuing conversation is what meant the most to me: "Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life" (John 6:67-68).

One of these days, I'll share the reason that this scripture means so much to me with any of you who want to know it. It is actually very powerful. But, in short, at the time that we read it, I made a firm commitment to base the foundation of my testimony on my Savior. I thought to myself that there will be many times in my life when I won't understand a doctrine or teaching, and I will want to go away because of that teaching. I know that there are many people who probably will go away because of it. Even people who are close to me might go away. But I thought to myself about how hard it would be to have the Savior look at me with sadness in his eyes, saying, "Will ye also go away?"

At that moment, in the synagogue in Capernaum, I made a deal with myself that if the time came for me to make a decision about whether or not I will go away from the Savior, I will respond, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

Me at the synagogue at Capernaum:

Anyway, the time has come for me to share pictures. Thanks for reading, guys. If you have any questions about anything, just ask. I'm happy to talk more about any of my experiences in Galilee if you want to know them. It was just amazing. Here are the pictures:

My friends Kayla, Megan, and myself overlooking the Sea of Galilee from Mt. Arbel (the cliffs of insanity!).

Emily, Troy, Becca, Becca, and myself overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the Evangelical Triangle:

Me on the Sea of Galilee:

A good picture of me on the Sea of Galilee. :)

Me on the Mt. of Beattitudes. [One day, while riding in the bus, our teacher was telling us how to follow along on the map with where we were going. He said, "Then we're going to turn right at the Mt. of Beattitudes -" and then he paused to add, "How often can you say that? 'Oh, you know, just turn right at the Mount of Beattitudes....'" It was hilarious.]

 Me after hiking to the top of the mountain in Gamla:

My friend Becca and me after church in Tiberius. I got to play the piano and Little Becca got to lead the music for Sacrament Meeting during church in Tiberius at the Branch House. How neat is that? Brother Muhlestein mentioned that in the dedicatory service for the building, Elder Holland had said that if Christ had a home branch, the Tiberius Branch would be it. Kind of cool to think about.

The tower of chocolate milk bottles built by my roommates and myself. Ein Gev, the Kibbutz we stayed at, had amazing chocolate milk. Chelsey told me that if we didn't drink the chocolate milk every day that we would be an ungrateful swine. So here, Chelsey, is our chocolate milk tower after only 3 days. (I wish I'd gotten a picture of all the bottles at the end. We even have a bottle missing in this picture which we had accidentally thrown out. So sad.)

The word epic is an interesting word. To me, it is overused, and I try not to use it lightly. But I decided that one of the few stories in all of history that can be seen as epic is the story of Elijah challenging the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18:17-39. It is one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament. So, even though I'm not as epic as he is, this is a depiction of me trying to look as epic as Elijah on top of Mt. Carmel.

Another attempt at looking epic. I just really love that story.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took of the Sea of Galilee. I actually took this from a bus. The sun was reflecting off the Sea in such an amazing way that I couldn't miss the opportunity to take a picture. Three seconds later, we turned a corner, and I never saw Galilee look this beautiful again. I'm so glad I got a picture. It was a perfect example of the line in "Master, the Tempest is Raging" that says, "Earth's sun in the calm lake is mirrored."

My friend Amber and myself at the church on Mt. Tabor, traditionally the Mount of Transfiguration:

A picture my friend Kayla took on Mt. Tabor. I kind of liked it.

My friend Little Becca lying in a water trough, or manger, similar to the one that Christ would have lain in on the night He was born. (We all know the manger wasn't made of wood...Thank you, Chadwick...) (Also, "Do not sit on the antiquities!" -Brother Muhlestein)

Dan's "golden calf" being worshiped at Tel Dan:

The road to Damascus!

 

Me "Waiting on the Road to Damascus..." I guess I should stop that....

Me at Chorazine. The geography made me think of a scripture: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined" (Isaiah 9:2). (Eliza, this one is for you.)

Me at a cemetery where the first convert to the gospel in the Holy Land in modern days was buried, as well as where some of the first missionaries to the Holy Land since the restoration were buried. It was a very spiritual experience to be there.

My good bud Caleb and myself in a theater in Caesarea. He's my teacher's son, and clearly very cool.

Anyway. I am really going to miss the Sea of Galilee so much. So much. It is such an amazing place. On our last night there, four of my favorite people and myself decided to take some pictures by the Sea of Galilee. It was a good way to end the trip, and I am glad that I have these pictures from the final night. I love these four. (Robert, Emily, Kayla, Becca, and myself.)

The five of us again. I have many other friends here as well, some of whom I would have loved to have had pictures with on our last night there, but I don't know what I'd do without these guys. I'm glad I got these pictures with them.

I'd like to end by sharing the words of a hymn that has become more and more meaningful to me as I've spent more time here in the Holy Land. I don't remember ever even singing it before I came here. But it has come to have special meaning to me now, and a lot of that came from my time in Galilee. So I would like to share these words:

"Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into thy haven guide;
Oh, receive my soul at last.

"Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, oh, leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing."
-Jesus, Lover of my Soul

The Sea of Galilee