!الاردن

Finally, the post you've all been waiting for: My trip to Jordan.

Jordan was an exciting time in the life of the BYU-Jerusalem Students. We visited sites walked on by ancient prophets, saw churches built almost 2,000 years ago, explored one of the wonders of the ancient world,  saw the location of the beheading of the forerunner to Christ (John the Baptist), spent some time exploring downtown Amman, and stepped into the river where Christ Himself was baptized. Needless to say, joy was had by all.

This post will have a lot less writing than my post on my trip to Turkey. That one I felt I had a lot more to explain that couldn't be described with pictures. This one, however, I have quite a few pictures that are acceptable unto me. So here you go!

We started out by driving over the River Jordan. Where we drove over it, it was actually very small. It reminded me of when we went to Lake Powell when I was a youthling and Chelsey saw a puddle along the way and asked if that was the Lake. Haha. I actually thought it was going to get bigger. But where we crossed, it never did. I was slightly less impressed that Joshua led the Israelites through it on dry ground, but I'm sure it was still impressive. I mean, I definitely couldn't take an entire nation across it on dry ground. So props to Joshua.

The river:

It's crazy that this thing is the dividing line between two nations.

That day we Mt. Nebo, where Moses saw the promised land but wasn't allowed to go to it. A picture of me looking at the land of Israel from Mt. Nebo:

We visited an ancient church in Madaba, then finished the day in Machaerus, where John the Baptist was beheaded. It was actually beautiful here. Jordan is a desert country, but a beautiful desert. So here's a cute picture of my friend Becca and me at Machaerus. Look how cute we are:

Here's a picture of Machaerus with the Dead Sea in the background. So beautiful:

Then the drive to Petra was beautiful. I seriously love the desert.

Day Two, we visited PETRA. It means rock. And it's got beautiful rocks.

Petra is one of the new seven wonders of the world. And it deserves it. Petra, a city built by the ancient Nabataeans, has canyons reminiscent of those in Southern Utah and was made famous by Indiana Jones: the Last Crusade. As was requisite, I sang the Indiana Jones theme song as I went through the famed "Canyon of the Crescent Moon." It was at this point that I had my actual first view of the city of Petra through the canyon:

As we walked through the end of the canyon, we had a magnificent view of the Treasury at Petra. It was not, in fact, a treasury, but a tomb. It did not, as far as I know, have the Holy Grail or a crusader knight inside, as in Indiana Jones. It was, however, even more amazing to see than the pictures can do justice to.

The Treasury:

After spending a few minutes at the Treasury, we continued our tour of other sites of Petra before we were given the opportunity to explore on our own. As we walked, I had my headset in, listening through one earbud with the other dangling by the ground. There were many little Bedouin kids walking around, trying to sell things. Suddenly, one of these little girls walked up to me and just put the extra earbud in her ear. At first I was taken aback, but then I realized there was nothing wrong with it, so I let her listen with me! Haha. She was so cute.

After about 20 seconds, a young Bedouin boy came up to me and asked, "You listening to music?" The little girl handed him her earbud, he put it in his ear, and excitedly exclaimed, "Ah! Music of the guide!" Haha! So funny. Right afterwards, he himself put the earbud back in my ear. My friend Kayla got a picture of me with the boy, but I don't have the picture, so I'll put it up when I have it. My friend Ariel also got one of me with the Bedouin girl. So I'll put that one up when I get it, too. :)

Afterwards, we had to continue with our tour, so I didn't have a chance to stay and talk with the children. About five hours later, though, when I was back in the same area, I found the same boy! His name was Abdullah. We talked in front of the Treasury, in both English and Arabic, for about 10 minutes. Generally kids don't care that I speak Arabic, but he seemed to enjoy it. I successfully impressed a 10-year-old. It was a lot of fun, though. I've never gotten a chance to talk to a Bedouin child before, and it was really interesting to hear about his life, about what he likes to study in school, and what he likes to do in his spare time. At the end, he gave me a postcard and let me take a picture with him. So here is my favorite Bedouin child, my friend Abdullah and me:

(PS. If you pay close attention in this picture, you can see two things of note: 1. My tanline. 2. My sweat line where my backpack had been. It was easily over 100 degrees that day.)

Anyway, besides spending time at the treasury, we spent most of the day exploring Petra. We had 8 hours in the ancient city. It was unbelievable.

The hike to the Monastery in Petra was one of my favorites. The hike was great, but the heat was merciless. If you look closely at this picture, you may note that this is, in fact, not a backpack on my back. I'll give you one guess to figure out whether or not it's a sweat mark:

If you guessed that it is, good work! But now here's a cool picture of me at an overlook of the Monastary:

(Chelsey, don't worry, I've gotten my hair cut since then.)

During the rest of our day, we explored caves, tombs, and so much more.

My friend Emily and me in front of some cool-colored rocks the Siq:

LOOK. THIS ROCK COLOR IS NATURAL. Neat.

We even got to meet the woman, Margueritte van Geldermalsen, who wrote this book, "Married to a Bedouin." Apparently she came to Petra on a backpacking trip, met a Bedouin man who invited her to stay with him, and was married to him a few months later. Parents, how would you feel if I did a similar thing and came back married to a Bedouin woman? Let me know....

Also, I got to ride a camel! Since I didn't get to ride one in Egypt, I was rather grateful I still got an opportunity to ride one. :)

A picture of my friends Diedra, Kayla, and myself in front of the treasury:

Another picture in front of the treasury. That place was so cool.

The rest of my Jordan trip was amazing as well. It included exploring the remains of Shobak Castle, visiting the ancient city of Jerash, eating a non-kosher cheeseburger in Amman, and standing in the River Jordan, where Christ was baptized. But for now, I need to wrap things up. I leave for Galilee in six hours, and I couldn't be more excited. I get back on July 21, so look for some more updates after that! Until then, I will not have my computer, but know that I'm thinking of you all. This entire experience has been the most amazing experience of my life, but at the same time I still look forward to seeing you again in a little over a month. You all are the best.

For now, I'll just leave you with pictures from the rest of the Jordan trip, as well as some things I have been up to since then. I miss you all!

Me in front of the River Jordan:

Me IN the River Jordan:

(My New Testament teacher's daughter was actually baptized here. HOW COOL IS THAT?)

Me with the greatest jar of Nutella I've ever seen in my entire life. I almost bought it. I kid you not:

Emily's chart of the kings in 2 Kings, as we studied for our Old Testament Final:

In the water after snorkeling in the Red Sea at Eilat:

The cutest picture you will ever see next to the Red Sea:

Celebrating the Fourth of July on the 8th of July (holidays work in weird ways around here):

(Picture taken on my friend Meeshell's camera).
Let me breifly mention that our fourth of July celebration was amazing. We had hamburgers, CHEESEburgers (non-kosher), Hot Dogs, STEAK, potatoes, french fries, grilled chicken, and all sorts of desserts. It was a real, American barbecue, with great music and tons of fun. It was unbelievable. I can't tell you how much fun it was to just sit back and be real Americans for a night.

Anyway, that's that. I really need to go now. I'm so excited for Galilee. I'll update you all on how it was when I get back! Until then, fare thee well.

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.

UPDATE AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

Dear friends. I wrote this post the night before I went to Jordan. After spending a fair amount of time on this, about five minutes before I was about to post it, the internet at the Jerusalem Center decided to crash. It was also the time when I was going to e-mail everyone back that I hadn't e-mailed back yet. Anyway, the moral of the story is that I couldn't do that before I went to Jordan. But now I'm back from Jordan (it was amazing, by the way), and it'll take me a few days to get that blog post up. So for now I'll post what I was going to before I left! Here it is, everyone. Enjoy!

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I'm going to Jordan tomorrow but didn't want to leave you guys without an update before then, because I'll have so much to add afterwards! So here's a quick update that touches a little but on everything but doesn't do anything justice. Since I last updated, I have:

Explored (and played with long exposure) in the Tomb of the Prophets. This place was really cool because they gave us candles to explore the tombs! Best half a shekel (about 15 centers) I've ever spent. We only had a few minutes to play with long exposure because it was closing, but this was the best picture we got. (BYUJC PRIDE!)

A picture of myself with my candle in the Tomb of the Prophets:

Watched fantastic sunsets. My friend Amber had the fantastic idea to start "The Sunset Club." My favorite picture I took was of my friend Ashley. It's a simple silhouette photo but I just love it.

Visited various areas in the Shephelah. This included visiting the Valley of Elah, where David slew Goliath. It was an all-day field trip, and we visited so much more than that, as well. I just loved it all. But here is a picture of my friend Becca and me slingling stones at each other in the Valley of Elah, using the type of sling David would have used.

My friend Emily's scriptures and sling in the Valley of Elah.

Trekked through Hezekiah's Tunnel! This was one of my favorite activities so far. We sang songs like, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and "Lead Kindly, Light" while we were walking through and it sounded awesome. It was just an all-around awesome experience.

The tunnel was a little small for me (I was bending my knees quite a bit in this picture), but it was perfectly Becca-sized! (Becca is about 5'1").

Trying to get the water in the picture:

Steph, I took this picture just for you, so you had better see it. It's me doing yoga outside Hezekiah's tunnel. My friend Dallin was apparently very concerned I was going to fall. (Not that he has anything to base that fear on....*cough*....)

I don't know what I like about this picture of Meeshell and me. It's kind of a weird picture of me. BUT. I'm posting it anyway because I like it. Haha.

Gone on a field trip to the Partition Wall. It's not even particularly far away, but we took a field trip to this. I was feeling rather ill this day, but the wall had tons of graffiti on it, so I took a picture. The graffiti was in English, because English-speakers are the target audience. This was my favorite quote on the wall.

Wandered through the Tomb of the Kings. There's something about tombs in Jerusalem. They're neat. Here's a nice, heartwarming picture of me lying down in one:

So that's that! It's a quick summary of what we've done in the past few weeks. We've done so much more, but that's a general catch-up for you! I need to go to bed, because I leave for JORDAN in 5 hours! Exciting! So, while I'm gone, enjoy this last picture of me being happy, because I was exploring the Old City:

I love you guys. Have a fantastic week!

Missing My Tumblr Blog, Part II

"I know of no other practice which will make one more attractive in conversation than to be well-read in a variety of subjects. There is a great potential within each of us to go on learning. Regardless of our age, unless there be serious illness, we can read, study, drink in the writings of wonderful men and women. It is never too late to learn."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

Shalom from Israel, everybody!

(Pictured above: Me in the Mediterranean Sea.)

Sorry I haven’t updated recently – it’s been a crazy couple of weeks. So much has happened, it would bore you to hear about everything. So I will share with you some of the highlights.

One highlight was from this past Monday – a large group of us (70 of us, to be exact), took a trip to Tel Aviv, and it was fantastic. Yes, there is a lot to do in Tel Aviv, but try to guess where I spent all 8 hours of my time there. If you guessed at the beach, you would be correct.

And it. was. fantastic. I have no regrets. It was such a relaxing day, and a nice break from classes. We just went, had fun, played in the water, played on the beach, relaxed, and had a good time. It was one of my favorite days thus far.

(I didn’t have my camera with me that day, so all photo credit goes to my friend Ashley.)

But, beyond what we are doing on our own, we are going strong with Field Trips and with Service Projects, as well as so much more! A few weeks ago, we had one of my favorite Field Trips thus far, to a Bedouin Community down in the Negev Desert. The Bedouin Community we visited actually had an organization (SIDREH Lakiya Negev Weaving) that was partially supported by the LDS church, which provides opportunities for support to Bedouin Women. It was really neat to visit the organization.

Our guide for the day, a Bedouin woman herself, was very neat. Her English was fantastic. She went to college and got her degree in Middle Eastern Studies and is actually working on her Master's Degree as well. This month she gets to travel to America and fly on an airplane for the first time! She will be participating in an Arts Fair in Sante Fe. She loves working for SIDREH because she feels like she is actually making a difference for those she cares about, and I believe she truly is making a difference. This woman was inspirational.

(Our guide on the right, with another Bedouin woman in the background.)

One of the most interesting things about the community was how the houses were put together. They couldn't build lasting houses because Bedouin Communities are not recognized as legal villages by the Israeli Government, so every day their houses risk being torn down. As a result, Bedouin villages are filled with what could be better defined as shacks. It's really sad, but there is a lot of progress that can be made and is being made. Overall, it was a very eye-opening experience.

(Me in the Bedouin Community. Note the "houses" in the background).

Another one of my favorite activities from the past couple of weeks was a service project to Princess Bosma Preschool. I was particularly looking forward to this project because I have been homesick for my nieces and nephews. I’ve missed them like crazy. But the kids at this preschool were great.

For being how young they were, they were all pretty good at English! The teachers had to translate for us a lot when were trying to help them do activities (Playing leap frog was their favorite activity, by the way. Who would’ve thought?), but they knew all sorts of poems and rhymes in English and loved to show off to us.

One of my favorite children was named Hassn. Whenever we were playing a game, he was so enthusiastic about wanting to play with us. I think he and I actually ended up being pretty good pals by the end of the day. :) Before he left preschool, he came to find me just to tell me goodbye. And then, after we left the preschool to walk back to the BYUJC, he was waiting in his family’s car to leave, and he got out of the car and ran over to me to say goodbye again. I just loved him.

(A picture of me with Hassn).

Another one of my favorite kids was named Musa. He was in a wheelchair, so he couldn’t do everything that the other kids could do, but I think he was my favorite to play with. He was so happy and smiley the entire time.

When I first walked over to Musa, I knelt down to say hello. Without even talking to me he just grabbed my hands and smiled at me. He was so happy. One thing he and I did together was paint his face so that he would look like a lion. Afterwards, my friend Meeshell told him to go “rawr!” and he loved it!

(Musa and me “rawring” at the camera.)

Musa was just fantastic. So was Hassn. I absolutely loved getting to go to the preschool to play with these children.

Other highlights from the past few weeks:

The Kotel Tunnel Field Trip, a trip through the tunnels by the Western Wall. This trip was a midnight field trip, because that was the only time we could get a tour for, but it made it that much more fun. We felt like Indiana Jones, exploring the ancient ruins under the current city ground. We even got to walk on the very ground Christ walked on, as well as see the largest human-cut rock in the world. They still don’t know how the Jews moved a rock so big and put it as part of the retaining wall for Herod’s Temple. When the Romans destroyed the temple, they even tried to get rid of the rock and just couldn’t do it. They tried chipping away at it, but just gave up and ended leaving it there.

(a picture of my friend Jess and me in front of the rock. It weights 450 tons!!!!).

I have two funny anecdotes from this Field Trip.

# 1) This field trip was very unique for me on account of how badly I needed to go to the bathroom. When we went, I had been sick for a few days. So, that night, I determined I was going to flush the sickness out of me. As a result, I drank an entire 2-liter bottle of water that they gave to us. That's right, I drank 2 liters of water. The only problem was, I drank it about an hour before we left, and I didn't have time to let it go through my system, like I thought I would. As a result, it hit me during the field trip. That's right. I've never had to go to the bathroom so badly in my entire life. It got to the point where I didn't even want to move. But it's all right! I made it. As we were exiting the tunnel, I definitely led the group so I could leave first. I felt like I was going to explode, but I didn't, and am still alive.

Funny anecdote # 2)  For those of you who don't know, our teachers are in our Branch here in Jerusalem. As a result, I am the Home Teacher of my Ancient Near Eastern Studies Teacher (Brother Chadwick). The Kotel Tunnel Field trip was on the 31st of the month. My companion and I hadn't met with my teacher and his wife yet. We had tried to set up appointments, but appointments kept being rescheduled. So, that night, Brother Chadwick had given us an orientation on the Kotel Tunnel so it would be beneficial to us. Then, at about 11:45, as Brother Chadwick and I were standing outside the Western Wall, I turned to him and said, "So......Brother Chadwick....Is there anything I can do for you and your wife?" Haha. He got a kick out of it. I also gave him a short lesson on what the Western Wall was, as well as the Kotel Tunnel, just in case he didn't know about either of those things.

So those are my stories for the Kotel Tunnel field trip!

Another trip we went on recently was to Neot Kedumine, a place to learn about Biblical Landscapes. This field trip was really cool. We spent 6 hours going through this giant reserve, filled with plants and animals that are found in the Bible. I believe they said that every plant found in the Bible could be found at the reserve, as well as a good portion of the animals. I thought this field trip might end up being kind of boring, but it was so much more interactive than I expected. We got to draw water from wells, make our own Zatar, reenact Biblical stories, make our pita, shepherd sheep, see how olive oil was made in ancient times, saw how the threshing floor worked and got to thresh wheat ourselves, see an ancient cistern, see how ancient waterwheels helped to store water, AS WELL AS learning about plants and how they played into the Biblical stories.

(Shepherding Sheep)

 (A donkey! I took this picture for Chelsey. It reminded me of Small One!)

 (My friends Ashley, Jenny, and Lizzie are the epitome of style.)

(Julie and Ariel being Naomi and Ruth)

(A Torah Scribe reading from a 200-year-old handwritten Torah).

Sorry for the severe lack of pictures of myself at Neot Kedumine, but I just thought everything else was so interesting that I forgot to take pictures of me. I’m sure others did, though. But you get the point.

So that’s that! This is an update on what’s been going on since Turkey. Sorry for the lack of updating for a while. We had midterms so I thought it would be counterproductive to update my blog instead of study, and that just put me so far behind on my blog. But I will definitely try to update more often from now on! I send you all my love and hope everything is going well wherever you are!