"The Bible makes the land come alive, and the land makes the Bible come alive."

(continued): "Acquaintance with the land of Israel helps one relate not only to the religion and history of ancient Biblical peoples, but also to the customs, the attire, the culture, and even the language and expressions of inhabitants of the Holy Land through the centuries. After Nephi wrote that his soul delighted in the words of Isaiah and that he understood them, he explained why: 'I came out from Jerusalem, and mine eyes hath beheld the things of the Jews, and I know that...there is none other people that understand the things which were spoken unto the Jews like unto them, save it be that they are taught after the manner of the things of the Jews...behold, I, of myself, have dwelt at Jerusalem, wherefore, I know concerning the regions round about' (2 Nephi 25:5-6)."
-Brother Chadwick.

So true. 

I will conform to the ways of the Jerusalem Center and upload pictures. Because I know that's all you really look at my blog for.

I'm breaking rules by uploading things, but everyone else is doing it, so I'll follow the crowd. Haha. Enjoy! :)

My friends Ali, Meeshell, and me at the Garden Tomb. It was such a beautiful day:

Meeshell and me outside the Garden Tomb:

My friend Becca and me in Gethsemane. I decided I don't like pictures of myself alone. I keep taking them, but none of them look good. So generally I'll probably upload pictures of me with friends:

My friends Krystalee, Meeshell, Ariel, Troy, and myself wandering the Jewish Quarter:

My roommate Troy and myself re-enacting the Battle of Gibeon(?) where Joshua told the sun to stand still:

A picture from today, from our walk over the city of Jerusalem. My face in this picture is really weird! I don't think I was quite ready for the picture yet or something. Weird. But I like that the Dome of the Rock was in the background. Haha. These are my friends Lindsay, Skylar, Jeny, Jeehee, Julie, and myself:

And, finally, a picture of the sunset from my beautiful home, the Jerusalem Center:

The Story of My Lost Wallet

Today, some of my friends and I were walking around the Old City. We met some of the shop keepers that Keri Ralls told me to meet (Sheban and George). Sheban was fantastic! He and I talked for a while. I love him. He is the nicest guy. He walked me to George's and on the way he said that all of the merchants in the Old City call the Mormon's "Sheban's children." haha! I love it. He also was telling me about how he treats the girls like sisters instead of wanting to do other things with them, like some of the merchants. Sheban is a really respectable person. In his shop, he gave us juice, told us to feel at home, and he always gives decent prices. You never have to, and never should, haggle at Sheban's, because it's disrespectful when he already offers such amazing prices. I love Sheban.

Anyways, there were eight of us in the group, and five of them wanted to go home, and the rest of us wanted to stay and try to see another site if we could. We were trying to find our way to the Armenian quarter of the City for a long time, but we kept getting lost. So the other five left to go back to the JC through Damascus gate, and we (my friends Becca, Jarrett, and myself) continued our search for the Armenian Quarter of the City. When we finally got there, Jarrett talked to one of the guys at the monastery and he gave us an entire personalized tour of the monastery and the Armenian quarter of the City. We must have been looking for over an hour. It was of the the most peaceful places I've been in the City so far. (This includes the Garden Tomb, but that's just because there were hundreds of people at the Garden Tomb.) During the tour, we saw the tree that Christ was apparently tied to. I believe they called it his first prison. But the gentlement who showed us around (his name was Robert) took us in all of these areas where it said "authorized personnel only" and it was absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have taken pictures, but they specifically said no cameras, so I didn't take any. But take my word for it - it was beautiful.

Afterwards, it was getting dark. We are supposed to be out of the Old City by 7:15 and in the Jerusalem Center by 7:30. Dinner in the JC ends at 7, and the time was 6:30. (Now that you have a timeframe for all of this, I can tell the story). We knew we wouldn't have time to get back to the JC before dinner, so we went into the Jewish Quarter to buy a falafel. The gentleman made Becca and my falafels, but had to cook more of the stuff he puts inside a falafel for Jarrett. So Jarrett spoke Hebrew to the man for a bit, while Becca and I ate our falafels. We made friends with the shopkeeper, and he was really nice, albeit he spoke almost no English. So afterwards, we knew we wouldn't make it back to the JC on time, so we got a taxi. This was about 6:50.

About five minutes into the ride, I went to get my fare for the taxi out of my wallet for the taxi. It was at this time that I realized: I didn't have my wallet anymore. Now, there aren't a lot of stories of people losing their wallets in the Old City of Jerusalem and getting them back. My heart dropped. We scoured the taxi for my wallet, but we just couldn't find it. We asked the taxi driver to turn around, but Jerusalem traffic was so heavy that it took us until 7:10 to get back. I could have run back faster.

As soon as I found out my wallet was gone, I said a prayer, hoping I could find it again. But I realized, that we are not the ones to set the conditions of the prayer. So I prayed to Heavenly Father that I could find it, if it was His will, and if I couldn't find it, I prayed that it would fall into the hands of someone who desperately needed it. After i said this prayer (and it was a constant prayer in my heart all the way back), I felt at peace. Now, for those of you who know me, it is not common for me to feel at peace when I lose something. But I really felt okay, because I trusted that if I didn't find it, that someone would find it who needed it.

As soon as we got back, Becca, Jarrett, and I sprinted towards the restaurant where we got the falafel (it's required for us to travel in groups of three). It was 7:10 and it's a rule for us to be out of the Old City by 7:15. So we sprinted back to the restaurant. Once there, the shopkeeper, who spoke very little English, was pointing vehemently at the ground. We got back and he kept saying, "No number, how I contact you?!"

He had found my wallet. I could have kissed the ground he walked on.

He showed me, essentially, how he found my wallet. He re-enacted the story for me. Haha. Apparently a customer had sat down, seen it, and pointed it out to him. He picked it up, saw my picture, and recognized it was me (one of the kids he had become friends with just about half an hour earlier). He kept the wallet behind the desk, and gave it back to me when I came back, everything still in it.

I got my wallet back, after losing it in the Old City of Jerusalem. This, my friends, was nothing short of a miracle.

Anyways, I tipped the man who found it (I should have given him more but I'm still figuring out this shekel business) and paid the extra fare of the cab, but I don't care. It's better to be able to pay that little bit than have lost my wallet altogether. I am so grateful. :)

----

The rest of things around here have been going really well. I have a reading assignment due in two hours and another homework assignment due for the morning, so I can't write much more, but I wanted to write down the story of my wallet before I forgot it. CLASSES ARE PHENOMENAL. I LOVE MY CLASSES. LOVE THEM. LOVE THEM. AND MY TEACHERS. EVERYTHING ABOUT JERUSALEM IS AMAZING AND I LOVE IT ALL.

A few people have asked what extra security measures have been taken with the Osama Bin Laden thing. Honestly: none. Ha. Not that I know of, anyways. I don't think the threat level is really significantly higher, comparatively speaking, for us. I mean the Jerusalem Post stated, "Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organizations continuet o plan terrorist attacks against US interests in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, AFrica and the Middle East. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, and bomings." I mean, what else is new? Just kidding. :) We're being particularly careful, but I think that the Osama bin Laden thing affects you in the states more than it affects us. So breathe easily and know that I am in safe hands. :)

I love you all, and know that I'm thinking about you and you're in my prayers. :) Have a fantastic day, everyone!

"You guys, even Isaac wasn't allowed to go to Egypt! We're not the only ones!"

-Mi'Kel, reading Genesis 26:2

Garden Tomb and Garden of Gethsemane. All in one day. When I thought I had nothing planned for the afternoon.

I can hardly believe how fast everything moves here. I've only been here 50 hours and I've accomplished more than I ever thought I would in the first day and a half. I just wanted to do a quick update.

This afternoon, I found out some kids were going to the Garden Tomb. I wasn't going to go because we're going to the Garden Tomb next week, and I wanted time to spiritually prepare. But my talk was on following the spirit, and the spirit was reminding me of a promise I made to someone before I came that I would never say no to an opportunity. So I accepted.

It was so good to get back in the city, and we're even starting to find out way around. We got straight to the Garden Tomb without any trouble. This is where we, as Mormons, generally believe Christ was resurrected. On our way there, a bunch of the people in the streets knew we were Mormons. Haha! It was awesome. I'm smiling just thinking about it. They will say things like, "MORMONS! JOSEPH SMITH!" hahahaha! Or, "MORMONS! We have olive wood. Come find." Or, my personal favorite of the day was as we were walking into the Garden Tomb, a man there said, "Hi Mormon. Bye Mormon." HAHA! I love it!

So we got to the Garden Tomb, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in Jerusalem so far. So gorgeous. Everything is so well preserved, there are birds singing, and it is such a peaceful place. You can definitely feel the spirit there. Another one of my favorite things about the Garden Tomb is all of the different Christians that congregate there. There were so many Christian groups singing hymns in so many languages (I think I recognized Russian, but I'm not sure). It was beautiful. I sat there with my friends, and we just pondered. Some of them went into the tomb, but I had no desire to wait in the line, so I went and looked at Golgotha instead. The entire place was really a spiritual experience. It was so beautiful there. We were only there for about 40 minutes because we had to go back for dinner, but I will go again next week. It's only about a 25-minute walk away. I might even go before next week. We, as Mormons, aren't allowed to read the Book of Mormon there, or even bring a Quadruple combination, but  it is a great place to sit and ponder.

After we got back, and after we had dinner, a group of us was going to go to the Orson Hyde Gardens. Unfortunately, it is a dangerous place to go on the weekends, so we went to the Garden of Gethsemane instead. It was really beautiful there. It's about a 20 minute walk away, and it's a lot different than I expected. It's about the size of my old apartment (really small), and just a small, fenced-off garden just on the outskirts of the city. I believe some of the trees date back to the time of Christ, so that's cool. But the olive trees are beautiful, and, like the Garden Tomb, it was one of the places in the City where I have really felt the spirit. It's just so peaceful and beautiful there. I got a lot of pictures, of both the Garden, and of people there. It was so beautiful.

I can't believe that in just one day I saw the Garden Tomb and the Garden of Gethsemane, and when I woke up this morning I wasn't even planning on it. Heck, when I woke up this morning, the biggest thing on my mind was speaking in Church. So crazy.

Tonight, they had a talent show (of sorts). It was essentially just a way for President Ohman to find out who could sing, play the piano, play the organ, etc. There are some unbelievably talented people here with me. One of my favorites was a girl who played the organ. It was amazing.

I wanted to show that I could play the piano, so I had a piece of music that was an accompaniment for a singer. I knew Michelle could sing and wanted to show that she could sing, so I actually showed it to her, said, "Can you sing this?" and two minutes later we were on the stage. Haha. She actually did amazingly. And it's a beautiful piece to begin with.

But, I feel like I'm really growing here. And, I've only been here for 50 1/2 hours. :) That's less than twice as long as I was flying. Haha. I hope that sentence made said. I'm really tired. I haven't slept since 6:00 this morning, when I woke up to finish my talk, so I'm going to bed now. You guys would be proud that I kept myself from napping so that I could sleep better at night. :) I feel like I'm getting on a good schedule. I start classes tomorrow and have to finish my reading in the morning. Wish me luck!

I Finally Have a Moment to Breathe.

Thank goodness for the Sabbath.

So much has been happening in the past couple of days, it's crazy. I don't even know where to begin.

Yesterday, we had our walk around Jerusalem. I LOVE THE CITY SO MUCH. I'M IN LOVE WITH THE CITY. I SERIOUSLY CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT. I want to be there all of the time. Well, not all of the time. But a lot. Israel is a phenomenal country because not only is it in the Middle East, but it's a first-world country, so you get all of the joys of the Middle East in a well-developed country, yet it's culturally and historically rich. The different cultures and smells in the city are phenomenal. The Old City doesn't feel like just one city - it really is essentially four. There's the Muslim Quarter of the City, the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Armenian Quarter, which is essentially Christian as well. It's jam packed full of people doing their various business deals, carrying things around, trying to transport things from one place to another, or, in one example, I saw a Jewish boy carrying a plate of bread bigger than he was on his head. People are speaking in various languages, engaging in business deals, and there are even some that don't speak English. When I tried to buy Falafel, for instance, the gentlemen who sold it to me spoke no English and I spoke no Hebrew. HA! It was a good moment. He just put in it what he thought I'd like. And, believe it or not, it was so tasty. I could eat it all summer long (and I believe I will!).

We saw so many sites yesterday, and I couldn't believe we were seeing them so soon. I felt like I hadn't had time to spiritually prepare! We saw The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is, according to the Catholic Church, where Christ was crucified, anointed, and resurrected. (of course, it is on a hill, but they built a church where they believe it happened). There was a place at the top of the church where you can reach through and touch the hill, so you can touch the hill where Christ was apparently crucified. We didn't have time to do that, though, so I plan on going back again when I feel spiritually prepared.

However, there are three(?) different churches, that try to lay claim to the land, and they all fight about who cleans what part of the church, who controls what part of the church, etc. When we walked outside the church, there was a ladder up on a ledge, leading up to the window sill. Apparently the ladder had been there 150 years because everyone claimed that it was not their responsibility to clean it up. So now one ever did! Haha. I thought Roger would get a kick out of that. Ha.

We saw so many sights, and I had a pen and paper but I can't find my notebook right now. I'll find it later. I wish I had been allowed to take my camera, though. They told us no cameras, because it would slow us down.

Brother Judd was my tour guide around the city (there was a group of six of us), and it was phenomenal! He is so brilliant and knows everything about everything. I love him. And it was so kind of him to answer all of my questions. Haha. I had a ton of them. I just want to learn everything.

Last night, we had more orientations, and played a get to know you activity. Finally, the group of 16 from New York flew in! When they arrived we all greeted them at the gate and cheered and clapped and everything. It was nice to have all of the members of our Jerusalem Family finally here. I love them all. I know the names of the 65 who have been here a few days, but I'm still getting to know the New York people. I'm here with such a phenomenal group of people.

Today, Saturday, was the Sabbath. It's kind of weird to get used to having church on Saturday, but with time, it'll be normal. I was actually asked to give a talk in Church today. It was so stressful. I was only asked about a day and a half ago, and it was on "Following the Spirit." I spent any free time I've had over the past preparing for it. Giving it in Church was so intimidating. All of the members of the Branch are so intelligent and have awesome positions in the church and amazing careers, whether it's teaching at the Hebrew University or working for the United Nations. The Relief Society President is actually a Palestinian woman who was converted in the United States, she now lives in Bethlehem, and works for the United Nations, I believe. It's just unbelievable what a bright ward we have, so it was very intimidating. Daniel Rona, someone who is essentially a famous LDS Tour Guide in the Holy Land, was there as well (my roommate was excited about that, and he even made some amazing comments in my roommate's Elder's Quorum class). Even Professor Kearl, my Economics Teacher from last semester, was in the audience. So everyone in the audience was extremely bright and brilliant.

But I feel like my talk went fairly well. Since my talk was "Following the Spirit," I tried to follow the influence of the Spirit in giving it. I had so many scribbles and notes all over my pages, trying to decide what I was going to say. But I feel like it went well. I felt the Spirit influence me to switch things around in my talk, and add some things, and cut some things out, and I felt like it was better than I had even prepared it. Someone told me I presented my talk very well. I felt good anytime I'd say something and see a bunch of people in the audience take their notebooks out to write something down. It was very encouraging. And afterwards, I got a lot of really good comments about it. I feel like I really was inspired in my writing of it, so I feel grateful that the Lord was with me in the delivery of it. I feel like it was a really good way to throw me into relying on the Lord while I'm here in Jerusalem. The topic was something I needed to learn about, and overall I am grateful for the experience.

The rest of church was good. There were some really amazing comments in Sabbath School. Everybody here is so intelligent, I can hardly believe it. I feel unworthy. But I am grateful to be among such intelligent people.

Today, some students were going to go to the Garden Tomb or the Orson Hyde Gardens, but we're going to the Garden Tomb next week, which I am grateful for because I want time to spiritually prepare for it. Also, the women in the group all have Relief Society things in the afternoon, so we're going to the Orson Hyde Gardens after dinner. Which means, for the first time, I was left with nothing to do this afternoon. Thank goodness.

When I finish this, I'll probably write a bit in my journal, read my scriptures, get ahead in my reading for my Old Testament class, and do some other things I need to do. But for now, it's nice to just have a moment to just breathe.

Even though I really would prefer to be out in the City. Maybe I'll see if I can go get some people to come with me.

I miss you all! I love you all. I hope you're having as amazing of a summer as I am. I hope people's finals are going well, I hope people are excited for their summer. I start classes this week, which I am really excited about. Wish me luck!

If Home Is Where My Heart Is, Then My Home Is Jerusalem

Hey, everybody. :) I just wanted to let you all know that after twenty-seven hours of flying, I made it here alive! Alhamdulillah! (I haven't figured out how to type in Arabic on these keyboards yet, and I'm too afraid to plug my computer into anything to use my own computer).

The flights went well! For me, anyways. My little group of ten ran into troubles in Virginia with a delayed flight by two hours, cutting our two-hour layover in Vienna short, but our gates were right next to each other, so everything (for the most part) went smoothly. In Virginia, they made us check out carry-on bags, so one girl accidentally checked her passport, creating problems in Austria. In Virginia we also had a huge delay to our flight, making us think it was cancelled. The group that is in New York is actually currently still in New York - their flight was actually cancelled. Sixteen of them are there. Ten have flight reservations for today, but six are flying standby. Keep all of them in your prayers.

But, as for me and my group (we will serve the Lord! - haha, scripture joke), we made it here safely, altogether, and with all of our baggage. (Another group had all of their checked baggage lost.) So, overall, I feel completely blessed about how smoothly my flights went. They really did go well, and I am very grateful.

I have been thrown full force into things here at the Jerusalem Center. I can't make this a super long e-mail because I have so much to do. When we finally got here, we were bussed through the hills of Judea (NOT PLAINS. JUDEA HAS NO PLAINS. THE SONG LIES.), to the Old City of Jerusalem. We sang "Israel, Israel God Is Calling" on the bus, and enjoyed every minute of the ride. It is absolutely gorgeous here. Never have I felt so at home away from home. I feel like I could live here forever.

When we got here, they had a full itinerary for us. We ate dinner (outside, with a view of the Dome of the Rock and the rest of the Old City), and then we had full orientations. We were given a tour of the Center, found out who our religion teachers are (mine is Brother Judd), met in the Chapel, and did tons of other stuff. I actually think we might have had our first classes tonight. Our teachers went over the syllabii, anyways. So I think that constitutes a class. I can't believe how fast things are moving.

I absolutely love my teachers. My Old Testament and New Testament teacher has his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies with a focus on the New Testament, and my Modern Near Eastern Studies teacher has his Ph.D. in archaeology, specifically in the Holy Land. I haven't met the others yet, but I am excited for my Modern Near Eastern Studies classes, one of which is taught from a Muslim perspective (by a Palestinian) and one of which is taught from a Jewish perspective (by an Israeli). I'm excited to learn Hebrew and learn how to sound out the letters. I am excited for everything.

However, my Old Testament class is flying at the speed of light. We have 27 chapters of reading to do for class. Essentially, the class is two semesters worth of Old Testament crammed into a term. It's going to be killer. But I know I'm going to love it.

The Center itself is gorgeous. I'll write more about it when I've gotten to know it better. I can hardly believe that it was built just to accomodate students. It is one of the most gorgeous buildings I have ever seen in my life, not to mention the fact that my room overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem. Have I mentioned that? From my room, I can see the city where Christ Himself once walked. I am so unbelievably blessed.

I have so much do, I can hardly believe it. Beyond my reading for my Old Testament class, I have readings for my other classes, and need to work in time to see the City. Beyond that (and my Mom will get a kick out of this), I have been asked to speak in church on Saturday (we have church on Saturday, the Sabbath, here). I have been asked to prepare a 10-15 minute talk on the importance of following the guidance of the spirit. My mom will find it funny because just last week in Church I was telling her that I haven't been asked to give a talk since I've been in college. HA! Never say that. You will, without fail, be asked to give one within the next week. And I just happened to be asked while I am in my jet-lagged, weary, busy state. I have one day to prepare it, and I don't want to disappoint anyone on their first Sabbath here, so keep me in your prayers, everyone. :)

Well, I'd better head out. My life is amazing. I can't believe how blessed I am. I might go roam the Center for a few minutes before I go to bed. I FORGOT TO MENTION. On my first night here, we are having a huge thunderstorm. I got a picture of lightning over the Dome of the Rock (thanks to my awesome camera!). I love thunderstorms. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is.

I love it here. I love it. Love it. I want to live here forever. And I love the people that I'm with. Already, when I see people that were on my flight or were traveling with me, I feel love towards them, and I hardly know them. I can't wait until I can feel that way about everybody here. This is such an amazing experience.

To keep this note from getting too verbose (too late!), I'm going to leave now. FAREWELL, EVERYBODY!