The Garden Tomb

I went there again today. It was a peaceful, spiritual experience. It was one of those experiences where the spirit was almost palpable. The first time I went it was super crowded and busy, with people all over. This time, I went with a group right before it closed on a Thursday evening, so the crowds weren't nearly as large, and it was very peaceful.

We attached ourselves onto a tour group that was going through, and it was really interesting to hear things from a non-LDS perspective. One of my favorite things that the tour guide spoke about was actually the story of Abraham and Isaac. When Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord commanded him to go to Mount Moriah, which is traditionally the Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock stands today. But what I learned in my tour today is that the Dome of the Rock is just the south end of Mount Moriah. The whole of what Mount Moriah once was actually extends all the way to Golgotha, which is on the North end. The guide told us that sacrifices were typically completed in the North, meaning that when Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, it was more likely to have happened near Golgotha and the Garden Tomb than at the Dome of the Rock. This was neat to me, because not only is Isaac a type for Christ, but he was a type for Christ in the very place where Christ Himself completed the sacrifice and rose again. It was just a neat gospel insight for me to make.

Anyways, I'll leave you this video of Gordon B. Hinckley bearing testimony of Christ. I love President Hinckley. And I love Christ. So this video is just all-around good. :)

The text from the video:

"Just outside the walls of Jerusalem, in this place or somewhere nearby, was the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where the body of the Lord was interred. On the third day following His burial 'came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

'And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it…

'And the angel … said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

'He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay' (Matt. 28:1–2, 5–6).

These are the most reassuring words in all of human history. Death—universal and final—had now been conquered. 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?' (1 Cor. 15:55).

To Mary, the Risen Lord first appeared. He spoke to her, and she replied. He was real. He was alive, He whose body had been laid in death. Small wonder that when Thomas later saw Him with His wounded hands and side, he exclaimed in wonder, 'My Lord and my God' (John 20:28).

Never had this occurred before. There had been only death without hope. Now there was life eternal. Only a God could have done this. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the great crowning event of His life and mission. It was the capstone of the Atonement. The sacrifice of His life for all mankind was not complete without His coming forth from the grave, with the certainty of the Resurrection for all who have walked the earth.

Of all the victories in the chronicles of humanity, none is so great, none so universal in its effects, none so everlasting in its consequences as the victory of the crucified Lord, who came forth from the tomb that first Easter morning.

Those who were witnesses of that event, all who saw and heard and spoke with the Risen Lord, testified of the reality of this greatest of all miracles. His followers through the centuries lived and died in proclamation of the truth of this supernal act.

To all of these we add our testimony that He who died on Calvary’s cross arose again in wondrous splendor as the Son of God, the Master of life and death."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

TURKEY.

Okay, as promised: my blog post on Turkey. There's no way I can remember everything that happened, and honestly, some of my favorite things that happened just couldn't be captured on camera. But I will try to describe those in detail, so there's no need to worry. And I took pictures of just about everything else.

I learned some amazing lessons this trip. I made some amazing friends. I feel like my class and I got so close. At first I was upset that my group was going to Turkey instead of Egypt. But then I talked to my friend Keri who went to BYU-Jerusalem last semester, and when I told her I wished I had gone with her, she looked me in the eye and said, "Jefferson. You weren't supposed to go to Egypt. Heavenly Father knew you'd be going to Jerusalem, and He knew you'd be going this semester. If you were supposed to go to Egypt, you would have gone." I knew she was right.

And truly, I had some amazing experiences. I saw an ancient theater and library at Ephasus, I  experienced an earthquake in Hierapolis, I went inside the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophya, I tried all sorts of food I never thought I'd try, I took various boat rides, I rode a boat between two continents, I had a gladiator duel in Troy, I watched the sunset over the Aegean Sea, I felt like Indiana Jones in an underground Roman cistern, I saw the "cotton castle," Pamukkale, I spent four hours in natural hot springs, I saw the most beautiful views and countryside in the world, I went swimming in the ocean, I went swimming in pools, I had a dance party on the beach, I met some amazing people, and so much more. Honestly, it was amazing. But here were my three favorite parts that WEREN'T captured on camera:

3) The bus rides. Goodness, these were so much fun. I can't even describe. If you want to know the behind-the-scene details you have to ask me personally, because I refuse to reveal them on my public blog. But it was a blast. My teacher, Brother Judd, is hilarious, and he started a competition on the bus, saying that whoever could get the best picture of themselves with me while I am asleep on the bus gets a prize. So the constant joke on the bus was, "Jefferson....go to sleep...." It's hard to explain over the computer. But it was hilarious. Trust me. Also, dance parties, getting to know people, playing games with the entire bus, singing Disney, karaoke, Bulent (our tourguide), class lectures, making friends, and so much more made the bus rides fantastic. And seeing as we spent a good 8 hours each day on the busses, it was good that I had so much fun on them.

2) The people. Not only did I grow close to the people who were in my group - I gained a love for the Turkish people in the mere week that I was there. The people in Assos had so much experience and wisdom. There were also people who didn't speak English at a carpet-making factory that we went to, and we got to help them, and it was such a neat experience. Our tourguide, Bulent, was one of the funniest people I have ever met. Other people were fantastic as well.

One of the neatest experiences I had was our only night in Ephesus. It was my friend Becca's birthday, and I gave her a phone card so she could call her family. The only problem was that we had to find our way into the city so that she could find a pay phone to use it. After some problems communicating with the man at the front desk, an 18-year-old bellhop, who spoke very little English, offered to take us into the city. He walked us all the way there, for 5-10 minutes. I believe his name was Aytuk. I wish I'd gotten a picture with him. He was 18, just finishing up high school, and working at the hotel for a summer job. With his broken English, we talked a lot about ourselves. It was his first week at the job, and he was so kind and considerate. He had a light in his eyes that just took me by surprise.
While we were trying to figure out Becca's phone card, we met yet another man who, once again in broken English, tried to help us to the best of his ability. He was so nice, and did it so selflessly.

A third person that was met that night was a restaurant owner named Deniz. He. Was. Hilarious. My friend Kerri Allyson and I talked to him for a good twenty minutes while Becca was on the phone with her family. He was so.funny. He had other customers to attend to, of course, but something in him made him want to just talk to us. He likes techno music, running his restaurant chain, and meeting people. And he loved talking to us. He did some break dancing for a bit, tried to teach us how to break dance, taught us some Turkish phrases like, "I miss you so much," "I love you so much," and "kiss my a**." HAHAHA.
Why do I tell you about all of these people?

Because I was sad that I couldn't share the gospel with each one of them. Honestly, I was. But in a way, it strengthened my testimony. Hear me out. With each one of these people, I could see a light in their eyes. I wanted them to receive the gospel. But, Turkey is 99% Muslim (there are more mosques there than churches in Utah Valley), so not only was I not allowed to teach them the gospel, but in a sense they weren't ready. This was so hard for me. Later that night I was talking to my roommate about it, and he helped me realize something that strengthened my faith. He told me to channel my love for these people, and my desire for them to receive the gospel, into faith in prayer. When Elder Pieper was here, he told us that it would take a bigger miracle for the countries that are predominantly Muslim to receive the gospel than the miracle that it took for the gospel to be taken behind the iron curtain. I want so badly for these people to receive the gospel. But I know they can't. So I will strengthen my prayers. I know that one day they will be able to receive it, for the gospel will be preached to all people in their own tongue. I know that one day, each of these people will have the opportunity that I want so badly for them to have. But for now, all I can do is pray for them. I really did have a love for each of the people I met while I was there. I just want for them to be able to receive the gospel.


 1) Sacrament Meeting. We had Sacrament Meeting in a bar. Seriously. And let me tell you, this was one of my very favorite parts of the Turkey experience. The guys preparing the sacrament actually prepared it on the bar. Haha. We had Sacrament Meeting on a Friday night, because we wouldn't have a break on Saturday (our regular Sabbath) to do Sacrament meeting, and Sunday was our travel day. So we had it on Friday night. The only problem was that we had to find a place in our hotel to do it. Our hotel was rather small, and the two biggest rooms were the restaurant and the bar. The restaurant was already serving customers so we went to our only option - the bar.

At the time, the bar was closed. We received permission from the hotel owners to have a church meeting in there. Brother Judd and Brother Chadwick stood guard at the door while Brother Muhlestein conducted and Brother Jackson presided. It was amazing. It was taking them a while to find bread to use for the sacrament, so we just sang hymns until everyone got there. It invited the spirit so strongly.

After the men preparing the sacrament finally came, we had our meeting. We started with yet another song, an opening hymn, had our announcements, then did the sacrament. For our sacrament hymn we sang hymn # 169, "As Now We Take the Sacrament," which is actually my favorite hymn. Not just my favorite sacrament hymn, but my favorite hymn.

As I was sitting on the floor of the bar (there weren't enough seats), preparing to take the sacrament, I just had such an amazing, spiritual experience. I wanted to make myself better than I was. I wanted to be a better person, and I wanted the gospel to be spread to all people. I felt closer to my Savior, something I never thought could happen in a bar. And I felt closer to the people around me. I felt the spirit so strongly in the bar that evening.

After the Sacrament, Brother Muhlestein had asked three people to bear their testimonies. It was so spiritual. Everyone seemed to bear testimony about something they had learned on the Turkey trip, and it seemed as though other people had had the same feelings about wanting the gospel to go to everyone. As they were bearing their testimonies, people were passing in the crowded streets behind us. Everyone was moving at a rushed pace. And in 2-3 minutes time, about 100 people would pass the window, which was more than the number of people sitting in the room. Turkey is a country of over 70,000,000 people, and I was just thinking about how badly I wanted each and every one of them to at least be able to hear the gospel, and feel the joy that I felt in that room that day.

At the end of Sacrament Meeting, we sang "I Am a Child of God" as our closing hymn. It was beautiful. During the closing prayer, you could hear so many people crying. Everyone had felt the spirit that day. None of us except for the men preparing the sacrament were dressed in Sunday dress, we had spent 8 hours on the bus that day, and we were in a bar, but it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. It just goes to show that, in a very real way, Christ holds to His promise when He tells us, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." His presence really was felt that day, even in the most unorthodox of places and situations. It was amazing.

Anyways, those were probably three of my favorite experiences that I had while I was in Turkey. Also a favorite was singing "All Creatures of our God and King," in front of a crowd of 200 or so people in Ephasus. It was really neat.

For the last part of my blog, I will post pictures that I took! I didn't have my camera during Sacrament, which was a shame. But I had my camera almost all the rest of the time. Thank goodness. So enjoy the pictures of some things I saw and some places I went! Everything really was so amazing. Sorry if this post was a bit long - I just wanted to share the experiences I had. I love you all!

 Me in front of the Blue Mosque.

A fish that I ate on the first night. You can see its teeth!

My first bite of Turkish Delight. On a moonlit night.

Me with some random sheep we found on one of our eight-hour bus rides. There was a cool shepherd who spoke no English who let us pet his sheep. I sanitized thoroughly afterwards, but it was super neat. I'm sure there's a gospel lesson in there somewhere.

My friend Amber and me after battling things out in a gladiator stadium in Troy.

My friend Sara Siddoway and me watching the sunset from a pier in Troy.

My friend Amber and me in front of the same sunset. I'm sorry. I couldn't help it.

Some people spelling Turkey in front of the sunset.

A woman in Assos.

One of the amazing views of the Aegean Sea from Assos. I could have spent all day in that tiny village.

Me overlooking the theatre in Pergammon. 

Me at the Asklepion.

Me in front of the Ephesus library.

Me in Pamukkale.

The mineral deposits at Pamukkale, whose name's literal translation is "cotton castle."

Amber and me with our tickets in our mouths....Bulent told us to....

My friend Becca and me inside the Hagia Sofya. It was so big you could fit the Statue of Liberty inside and it wouldn't even touch the ceiling!

I'm back!

Hello, blogging world! I'm back. I've returned from Turkey, and it was one of the best weeks of my life. I'll write an entire blog post about it later, but for now I'll leave you with this: I survived a 5.9 earthquake, slept in five different hotels, spent nights on two continents, followed the missions of Paul, saw about 4 ancient theatres, read the scriptures, performed hymns in front of crowds of people, had Sacrament Meeting in a bar, made friends with Turkish people, and so much more.

But, for right now, I have FHE and tons of homework tonight, so I'll leave you with this. Our Rabbi swears it's legit. This is sometimes how I feel I want to be after learning so much about other religions. I really love Islam and Judaism. But I also love being a Mormon, so I'll probably stick with that. :)

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: