Lockdown

So the past couple of days have been pretty boring, because we've been on security lockdown. It's not a big deal - just some people making trouble in the city because of "Nakba Day." It's the day that Palestinians mourn the establishment of the state of Israel. (Luckily Nakba Day falls on a different day than the Israeli Independence Day for 18/19 years at a time.) Anyways, it's not a big deal, just minor rioting and stuff. (As my friend Becca put it, "Unrest in the Middle East?! Who would've thought?!")

I really feel perfectly safe here. Like really. The Security personnel are amazing, and have even been eating their meals with us. They've all been working around the clock to make sure everything is okay. We have huge gates all around the center, one of the best security systems in the country, and we leave for Turkey tomorrow, so we won't even be in the country to be here for the worst part of the conflict. So I promise you - we're safe. :)

(Featured in this picture is this new hoodie that I bought! Only 60 shekels! [about $18]. I bought it in the OLD CITY of Jerusalem! And it's a BYU hoodie! How cool is that?!)

Anyways, everything is good. It's been an uneventful couple of days, but a good couple of days. :) I'm really excited to go to Turkey and get out of the Center for a bit. It'll be really nice. Not to mention the fact that I'll be in Turkey. I mean, how much cooler can life get?

Now. There's not much else to say. I'll update you on things when I get back from Turkey next week, but until then, I'll be off. So I'll leave you with gratuitous pictures that I like so you can look at them for the rest of the week. Enjoy!

My friend Meeshell and me:

  

My friend Jeehee and myself above the valley of Gibeon where Joshua told the sun to stand still:

My friend Becca and me outside the Dome of the Rock:

A group of us in front of the Dome of the Rock:

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PAST FEW DAYS.

There are a lot of things I haven't posted about. Behold:

The Dome of the Rock. I went there on Sunday and it was so peaceful. There were way fewer people there than I expected. It's right next to the Western Wall (because the Western Wall used to be the retaining wall for Herod's temple, which was where the Dome of the Rock currently stands). Yet, despite the fact of the close proximity of the sites, there is a warning from the State of Israel telling Jewish people not to visit the site of the Dome of the Rock, as well as for Muslims to not visit the Western Wall (which is technically an outdoor synagogue). So, somehow, traffic was kept pretty low between the two places. But I love them both. To the right you can see a picture of me at the Dome of the Rock.


Israeli Independence Day. Israeli Independence day started on Monday night at sundown, and we went and celebrated in the city! We had a huge dance party on the corner of Ben Yehuda and King George street, before the party even really started, and all of these Israeli people were taking pictures of the Americans dancing at their Independence Day party. Haha. It was fun, though. Also, we walked all around the city, eating, buying treats, buying souvenirs, and, at the end, the entire Jerusalem Center crew got together in Independence Park to watch fireworks. Since we don't get to celebrate our own independence day while we are here, we made the most of the Israeli Independence Day. To the left is a picture of my friends Lizzie, Krystalee, Amber (creeping in the background), and myself on Ben Yehuda Street.


Playing the YMCA Bell Tower in the middle of Jerusalem. Our branch President, President Ohman, plays a belltower in the middle of Jerusalem on Sunday mornings, and he invited us to come and watch. So we went. And he let some of us play it!!! I got to play "Abide With Me" on a huge bell tower in the middle of Jerusalem. It is probably the biggest crowd I have ever performed for. Haha. But it was so cool! I got a video, but it's way to huge for me to post it. So, for now, this picture of me standing triumphantly in front of the bell tower will have to suffice.

Visit from Elder Pieper

Elder Pieper of the Quorum of the 70 stopped by for dinner at the Jerusalem Center tonight. He was here on church business, and wanted to have dinner with the students tonight. Needless to say, we gathered around him like moths to the flame. And the things he said to us around the dinner table were definitely things worth remembering. It started out very casual, about forty-five minutes of just talking. But then he really started teaching us. Sitting around one of the dinner tables in the Oasis, he opened it up for questions. It was amazing, and probably the strongest I've felt the spirit since I've been here. Some things he mentioned were:

• To pray for the Arab nations. He talked a lot about the turmoil facing the Arab world today, and continually urged us to pray for them.
• The need for continually strengthening your testimony. In our Old Testament class today we talked about the need to continually strengthen your testimony on what it is based on. We talked about how a testimony based on miracles cannot last, because it cannot be continually reinforced by miracles. We talked about how you need to build your testimony on faith, because you can strengthen your faith. Miracles cannot produce faith; faith produces miracles.
• Pray for the gospel to be opened in areas of the world where the gospel cannot be taught. This was particularly applicable to us, here in Israel, because we cannot spread the gospel here. He mentioned President Monson's talk from October 2009, where he urged us to pray for areas of the world where the gospel has not yet been opened. He quoted President Monson and said, "I would ask that your faith and prayers continue to be offered in behalf of those areas where our influence is limited and where we are not allowed to share the gospel freely at this time. Miracles can occur as we do so." He emphasized the "miracles can occur as we do so," which brings me to the next point.

(A picture I took of Elder Pieper as he taught us tonight.)

• It will take a bigger miracle for the gospel to be opened in Arab nations than it took for the gospel to be opened behind the Iron Curtain. Right now, people simply cannot convert from Islam to Christianity. It's near impossible. But he said to continue praying.
• Temples can make us feel like we can become greater than we are. He told us about someone in Ukraine(?) and their experience going through the open house in the temple. The person talked about how he loves Catholic cathedrals, but said that they are dark and made to make people feel small. He continued that as he went through the open house in the temple, with each room he went through he got the stronger feeling that he had so much more potential than he understood.
• Cheerfully do all that is within our power, and then stand back and see the salvation of the Lord. This was a response to someone's question, and it was based on D&C 123:16-17. They asked him for advice as to what we should be doing right now to help the Arab world. I thought it was a good response. :)
• Keep balance in our lives. Someone asked him what his favorite scripture was. He didn't want to respond with a specific scripture, saying it changed depending on the day. But he did say that today he was reading in Jacob about the olive trees because he is in Israel, and he said that it struck him to make sure we have balance in our lives: don't let the branches get ahead of the roots and don't let the roots get in the way of the branches. It was a good concept.  (By the way, my personal favorite scripture is Moroni 7:45-47 for anyone who is wondering). 
• Collect the stories of the people we meet. Such good advice.
• We need the power of the Priesthood to sustain us more than ever. He emphasized power, although the authority is important as well. He told us it is important to have strength in the Priesthood, and that having that strength across the world is what will sustain us in the last days.

I learned so much tonight. I felt the spirit so strongly. I was inspired to be a better person. It was a pretty good dinner conversation, overall, I would say.

And the walls come tumbling down...

Well, hello, family and friends! A lot has happened since I last posted. Seriously. Haha. I don't have a lot of time right now, but I'll post a bit about the Jericho field trip we had yesterday.

Jericho is in the West Bank, which is technically controlled by the Palestinian Authority, so we made it a half-day field trip. This means the bus left at 7:00 AM and we got back at 1:00 PM. It was a good field trip, but very hot, regardless of the fact that we went early in the day. Haha.

We started off by overlooking Wadi Qelt from a lookout place called Saint George. (No, we were not in Utah. That I know of. My friend and I were joking that they really didn't bring us to Israel, but they're just convincing us that we're here). Anyways, this place was one of my favorites that we went to for the day, because it was the location of the parable of the Good Samaritan. We read the parable here, and it really brought the story to life. We saw a path similar to the one Christ would have walked on in His time (which is also the path of the Good Samaritan). It's different than I expected, but it was neat. And there was absolutely no shade anywhere. Here's a picture of that path:

After that, we finished traveling to Jericho. Once there, we saw THE ZACHARIAS TREE spoken of in Luke 19. THE VERY ONE. Except probably not. But it's the one that represents the one Zacaharias climbed in Luke 19. Neat. My friend Becca loves this story because she's small.

Here's a picture of me in front of it:

Then we got to Jericho: THE LOWEST CITY ON EARTH. And claimed to be the Oldest City on Earth. It's 850 feet below Sea Level, and it's got the oldest man-made tower ever found: it dates back to the Neolithic Period and is TEN THOUSAND YEARS OLD. I'm not even kidding. Here's a picture of me and some pals in Jericho:

After that I saw the wall that fell down when Joshua conquered the city for the Israelites. It's cool how when the walls fell, they kind of built a ramp right up to the city. SO NEAT. Here's my friend Becca and me in front of that wall:

Finally, we visited King Herod's winter palace. This place was super cool. We could just wander through it! My favorite was his bathroom. The bathtub reminded me of the bathtub in the Prefect's Bathroom in Harry Potter. I'll leave you with a picture of that:

Explore. Dream. Discover.

The Western Wall

This is the second of two blog posts in a half hour's time. So be sure to go and read the other one I posted, too. I just posted this one separately so as not to overwhelm you with a plethora of information.

Tonight, as a class, we went to the Western Wall to welcome in the Sabbath. (For Jews, Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday night and ends at sundown on Saturday night). This was an amazing experience for me. I'm so tired, so I will probably keep this really short, even though this was probably my favorite night so far.

The Western Wall really was a spiritual experience. While I was there, I felt the spirit so strongly. The scripture kept popping into my head from Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." I realize that's Christ speaking, and the Jewish people don't worship Christ, but they worship the Lord, and the Messiah in whom they trust shall come, so I believe it still counts. I could feel the spirit of the Lord. And that was really neat to me.

I took the opportunity to place a prayer in the wall. Afterwards, I placed my hands and my head up against the wall, and it was warm, which was neat because it was dark out. I said a prayer, and it felt like everything except my prayer wasn't even there. It was really neat.

After my prayer, I joined in the festivities of the welcoming in of the Sabbath. There were tons of people there tonight because it's the last Sabbath before the Israeli independence day. That also meant there were tons of Israeli soldiers there celebrating, which was really neat, because, as soldiers, they only get to go there twice a year. There were all sorts of people there, whether they were diligently studying scriptures, singing at the top of their lungs, dancing, praying, or just observing. It was so fun. I definitely joined in the singing and dancing. There was this circle of people singing a song, that went, "La la la la la" and I was like, "I KNOW THOSE WORDS!" so I included myself in the circle and joined in. It was so much fun! Hahaha. I loved it. I feel like we, as Latter-day Saints, could learn a lot from the Jewish people about worship. Besides learning from their devotion, we could learn about how to usher in the Sabbath. If we started church by singing and dancing like they did at the Western Wall, it would be much easier to stay awake. I'm just saying.

Later, Brother Muhlstein (my future New Testament teacher) read a few of us sections from the prayer book in Hebrew, and I got the opportunity to read an English portion of it, which was neat. Some of the prayers are really beautiful. I think the prayer for the children was my favorite.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from tonight, because cameras weren't allowed. Extreme Orthodox Jews do not use electricity on the Sabbath, so it would have been offensive for us to have cameras. But I kind of enjoyed it more: it let me enjoy the experience without worrying about documenting it. But here's a picture of the Western Wall that I took a few days ago:

Note the Dome of the Rock in the background. Isn't that cool?! I love how sacred this land is to three major religions. It was the site of where Abraham (almost) sacrificed Isaac, it was the site of the Temple of Solomon, the site of the Temple of Herod, it has the Western Wall, it has the Dome of the Rock, it was the site of where Muhammad ascended into Heaven, and so much more. It is a sacred site to three of the world's largest religions, and I was there worshiping tonight. It was amazing.

After we got back, a group of us were still excited from the partying at the Western Wall, so we had a dance party in the Student Lounge. It started with us simulating a Jewish dance party, then playing Ride that Pony, then having an all-out dance party. Haha. It was a blast.

I love the people here. I love everything. Everyone. The cultures. The people. The languages. Everything.

Everyone should come here. Right now.

Sleep time. Happy Sabbath, everyone!

Oh So Many Things Happening in the Holy Land

WELL, HI! I feel like it's been forever since I blogged (not counting the quote). Not because it has actually been forever, but because so much has happened.

I never blogged about this, but this past Monday I went all around Jerusalem and looked at it from a bunch of different angles. It was amazing.

Our first stop was the 7 Arches Hotel. You could see the entire Old City of Jerusalem from it. Behold:

I was, however, disappointed that I didn't get a picture of a camel kissing me. We were in too much of a rush. But I will survive. *le sigh*

Stop # 2 was the Augusta Victoria Church! AH! I loved it here! We sang "Be Still, My Soul" inside it, and it had an 8-second reverberation. We are not the best singers. But inside this church, it sounded amazing. My friend Becca and myself are trying to get a group to go there to sing hymns on our own time. We will probably do that soon, because it was amazing.

My friend Jess and me in the Augusta Victoria Church:

Stop # 3: The ancient site of Gibeah! Don't tell me that that sentence doesn't strike excitement into your soul. This was where Jonathan fought the Filistines. And it is right between the ancient lands of Benjamin and Judah. Yeah... Additionally, it was the site of the ancient temple of Saul. Unfortunately, King Hussein of Jordan wanted to build a palace there, so he destroyed the ancient ruins. *moment of silence* But we still found a rock from the originial temple! *cue excitement*

The rock:

That picture of a rock took me ten minutes to upload. Totally worth it.

Next spot was Nabi Samuel. نابي سامول. ّIt's apparently the ancient burial site of the prophet Samuel. Except they got it wrong. But it was a valiant effort!

This spot was neat because the Muslims built a mosque here when the Ottoman Empire conquered the area (Muslims, Christians, and Jews all believe in the prophet Samuel), but the Jews turned parts of it into a synagogue. So it's a Mosque on top and a synagogue on the bottom. I actually got to go into both, and there were Jews studying in the synagogue (which was super small)! My friend Sharla laughs all the time because of how Jewish she thinks I look, and to verify her point, the Jews in the synagogue thought I was Jewish. They kept speaking Hebrew to me and were confused when I told them I never had a Bar-Mitzfah. Haha. They eventually got the point, and then talked to me in English. But it was funny.

Outside Nabi Samuel was a view of the ancient city of GibeoN (different than GibeaH). This place is cool for two reasons: 1) it was the site where Joshua told the sun to stand still so he could protect the people of Gibeon. Also, in 1 Kings 3, it is the site where Solomon asks for wisdom. Here's a picture of my friend Jess and me outside of Nabi Samuel. I just like it because it's super adorable of both of us:

I already uploaded a picture of my friend Troy and me battling outside this area, so I won't upload it again. But pretend I posted that picture here.

2 MORE STOPS AND THEN I'M DONE!

The next stop was the Haas Promenade look-out point. From here we could see the UN building (built, ironically, on the Mount of Evil Counsel), and a bunch of other stuff. This was mostly just a lookout point. Picture of myself on this one. I hate pictures where I'm not with other people, but it gives a better view of the city:

And here's one with my friend Becca:

The FINAL stop: Mount Eljas, a place to commemorate Elijah when he fled from Jezebelle. Roger would be interested to know that from here you could see trenches from the Jordanian side of the 1967 War. So crazy that it was so recently. (this place literally is living history).

On the other side, though, you could see the City of Bethlehem (which is considered to be in the West Bank). We were in what was traditionally considered the Shepherd's Fields, so here we sang "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful." It was fun. :)

Brother Judd also pointed out that this could easily be the way that Abraham, David, Ruth the gleaner, Joseph and Mary, as well as the way Jesus Christ walked. He also said that it could be the way Nephi and Lehi came. It was a cool thing to note. :)

I'm not uploading any pictures from here because I don't have any particularly good pictures, and it takes a long time to upload. And I'm tired. But pretend like I did because it would be neat.

(/end blog post).