Week 15: The End

Well Friends, all good things must come to an end. And sadly, Jerusalem had to end as well. But what a legendary summer this has been for me. Jerusalem is a beautiful place, a place of religion, a place of worship, a sanctuary, and a place of excitement. As we drove away from the beautiful Jerusalem Center I felt as though I was leaving a piece of myself behind. But even though part of my heart is in Jerusalem, it has left an eternal print on my soul and my identity. This program has changed the way in which I see people around me. It helped me gain a deeper appreciation for churches, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques and art. It enhanced my ability to understand Christ and to better understand the life he lived on earth. I have a better understanding and respect for the sacred scriptures and how to study them better. I met so many individuals how have shaped who I am today. I find a deeper fascination in people and culture. I learned that even with a language barrier and the limitation to share the gospel in the Middle East that you can spread the light of Christ through kindness, music and just a smile. 

Because I got so busy, I wasn’t able to keep up with the events of everyday. Instead I’ll just do a bunch of pictures!

We had to be super careful going out because of everything going on here. But we are still way safe! When we got to Damascus Gate there were Israeli guards blocking off the entry to a lot of Palestinians. The women weren’t happy about this. I don’t know what was going on for sure but it looked like they weren’t allowing the women to go into the residential area…. It’s just sad sometimes how things have to be here.

Not an uncommon sight. This is how the shopkeepers would transport all the goods to their stores. 

Masada

You should see this in person… absolutely spectacular

Qumran 

This is Dr. Seeley, one of the best professors to walk the earth! haha. He is also working on the Dead Sea Scrolls which were found just behind us in this picture. 

Dead Sea

You literally float straight up to the top of the water. we look like we are standing but we are floating! The Dead Sea is made up of 30% Salt. The Great Salt Lake is about 8% salt. That's a lot of salt. 

Nothing better than being covered in mud! 

We wanted to become regulars at a restaurant so we decided on Lina's. We probably went there 15 times in the last 2 weeks. 

Testimony Meeting at the Garden Tomb. (During our meeting we heard lots of grenades going off- what an adventure) 

The Garden Tomb 

This is the chapel that is at the Garden Tomb. 

The church of the Holy Sepulcher 

The Hurva 

The Separation Wall

West Jerusalem 

Shushockmulachawisch… our favorite food ever! 

                            

Delicious sugar donuts and mangos

K but seriously… I LOVE SUMMER 

Me and Kenna with our fruit drinks

Chillin at the JC 

Spa Day! our reward for being done with finals! Masks brought to you by the Dead Sea mud. 

Our Last Goodbyes in the Old City

This is the security gate to the Dome of the Rock and this guy really wanted a picture with me haha. 

THE DOME!!!! 

Tomb of the Prophets 

This was a beautiful lookout that i thought pretty much summed up Jerusalem. You can see the Dome of the Rock, and a Cross. To me this reminded me of how Christ was once here, he suffered and was put on the cross here. Jerusalem is now filled with so many different religions and peoples. Although it may be the most contensious city in the world, it is also the holiest city in the world. Time will pass, things will change, but i believe Christ was here. That knowledge will never change.  

Goodbye to the Shopkeepers

Iman 

Shaban 

Abraham 

                         

The Guards 

Some kid who wanted our picture! 

West Jerusalem Night Games 

Goodbye JC...

And that's all… i hope i get the opportunity to visit this amazing place once again. 

Sunset in Jerusalem…

Sunrise in America

Weeks 13 & 14: Walking in the Footsteps of Christ-- Galilee

This week we walking in the Footsteps of Christ! Yay! I am in love with it here, seriously feel like I am in heaven. We live in what they call a Kibbutz, it’s pretty much a cute little beach house that holds 4 people comfortably. The floors are bright blue, the AC works like a gem, there’s a little fridge and kitchen area, we have people come make our beds and clean our bathroom everyday and most importantly our backyard is a beautiful beach to the Sea of Galilee. There are also hammocks and nice chairs at the beach. My favorite are the evenings because we get to just sit at the beach and watch the sun go down and the weather outside is pristine! The water is nice and blue during the warm days and the greenery is beautiful. It’s no wonder this was Christ’s favorite place to be.

Day 1. We had a field trip on the way to Galilee and stopped at the following places.

Bet Shean

Nazareth- where Mary lived- the Annunciation church. Portraits of Mary and Jesus were everywhere

Church of Joseph

Mary is the one who is idolized and talked abut lately which is so true but it’s so important to understand the role that righteous Joseph played as a father and role model to Joseph.

Mount Arbel

An outlook of the Sea of Galilee where we were able to contemplate what we hoped to get out of our time in Galilee. I had a very spiritual experience there.

Day 2.

A beach day. We had class for 2 hours, a 2 hour break where we would go hang out at our beach, an hour of class and then beach the rest of the day. Oh my gosh. I was living the life

Day 3.

Mount of Beatitudes

This was my favorite place ever! We had a mini testimony meeting just on the beatitudes. I bore my testimony on meekness. I love the concept of meekness. A quote that I love says, “Meekness is not weakness. Meek people are secure in who they are and yet are teachable. They don’t feel like they need to overshadow others. They are not easily provoked. Their abundant attitude enables them to put the needs of others above their own.” One of the greatest example of meekness is my Grandma Judy. She has such a confidence about her yet she is so teachable and open to the spirit.

\

Capernaum

This is the place where Peter, Andrew and Matthew were from. They even found some fishing hooks in one of the houses! So awesome! It was also really beautiful there. There are a lot of pictures of old synagogues but they mostly just look like rocks, so I only put up the pictures that are more interesting J But if anyone wants to see the other pictures I have them on my computer

Church of Mary Magdalene

This church is just barely opened. We were the first people to ever go there. They really believe that Christ walked in this place, it’s archeologically accurate as well. So of course I HAD to touch were Christ walked! How cool is that?

Ginosar

This is where the Jesus Boat is located. This is an amazing discovery. This boat was found about a couple decades ago and it is a boat from the time of Jesus. Ironically the boat had seats for 12… 12 apostles… hmmm… who knows if it’s Christ’s boat, but it’s amazing that it was found. It was also preserved for 9 years in chemicals so it’s amazing that we got to see it

To end an amazing field trip day we got to ride a boat across the Sea of Galilee. Life is too good for me!

Day 4.

Class and beach day again. Later in the day we got to canoeing too which was so sweet! We had what we call the “Jordan River Miracle”. A very awesome experience and miracle us students go to witness. If you want to know the story ask and I will tell you sometime. Otherwise, just wait for a few years until one of the amazing boys here becomes a General Authority and shares it in conference J It’s such a sweet experience. Wish I had a canoeing picture J It was beautiful though.

                                        

                             

That night we got to go to the Fish Restaurant and Ice Cream in Tiberius!  It was a unique experience. I ate the eye balls too… wow! I’m crazy

Day 5.

A Day of Hiking!! In the morning we went to Gamla and then in the afternoon we went on a cool hike with our guide from the Kibbutz, Erik.

The we hang out on the beach. I don’t think I missed a night J The best part of the beach at night is reading your scriptures with your feet in the Sea of Galilee with the beautiful sunset. I also caught a frog!!!

                                       

Day 6.

Sabbath! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak in the Tiberius branch, which consisted of only 10 people and some of us students. As I told the story of Christ walking on water, and the miracles of Peter and the apostles I looked out over the Sea of Galilee. I got to speak with some of my closest friends too: Ben, McKenna and Jacob.

Day 7.

Mt. Tabor

One of the locations of the Mt. of Transfigurations, it was a HOT day but we learn of lot of interesting things!

Megiddo/Armageddon

Here we got to talk about several historical battles that took place here as well as the prophesies of the second coming. Jenny and I reenacted some of the moments of war! 

That night we also had a bonfire :) 

Day 8.

Free day again! This time it was Jenny’s birthday so we celebrated with a lot of Magnum bars and ice cream sandwiches at the beach.

And ended the night hanging out with our good friend Brad!

Day 9.

Hazor

Can’t remember the significance right now… it was  a Canaanite ruin from the time of the Babylon captivity. Here was located the Oldest Arch and entrance to a city in Israel. Pretty sweet!

I don’t have pictures for the other places but we also went to:

Tel Dan

Banais

Caesarea Philippi 

We ate yummy fresh figs here J

Nimrods castle

THIS WAS A SWEET, OLD CASTLE that we got to run around in. I thought it was so sweet.

Day 10.

Akko

I was pretty tired this day so I can’t remember exactly what we did but it’s was just a cool place to run around in and see some old castles on the Mediterranean Sea.

That night was fun too! It’s fun hanging out with awesome people! Including Josh, he’s a funny kid

That was also our last night and we had a super fun bonfire!!! WITH SMORES J

Day 11.

Last day in Galilee. We packed up and headed out. Did our last field trips on the way home. I was super sad to leave Galilee.

Haifa

What a beautiful city this was. We got to talk about missionaries that came here a couple centuries ago which made it possible for the Jerusalem Center to be built. I’m grateful for brave individuals like those missionaries that made it possible for me to come here.

Rommies from Galilee

Caesarea

Another sweet place we went to with beautiful waters. We had a great spiritual lesson on Peter here. We’ve been talking a lot about missionary work here. I have really enjoyed it. It also had me thinking about my cute missionary brother Conn who left while I was in Galilee. Love that kid!!!!

Galilee is such an amazing place, there’s such a spirit there. No wonder Christ loved it so much. Another thought I had about Galilee is that Christ got to help create the world with God and he got to create a place where he would love to be and perform the atonement. Christ created Jerusalem and Galilee and I get to live where Christ loved to be most. It’s so wonderful!!!