...and the walls came a tumblin' down

Well folks, I have failed as a blog writer. I apologize to all my faithful blog followers who have been disappointed day after day! I am going to try harder from this day forward!

This blog will be about the trip that we made to a little place called Jericho. Some of you may have heard of it! We descended lots and lots of feet from Jerusalem to Jericho. As we were going below sea level, we all sang "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. It was great! By the way, if you click on the pictures, you can see them bigger!

Our first stop on this trip was Herod's winter palace. There was a great deal of excavation work done, and historians know enough about the layout of ancient structures that they know right where the throne room would have been. It was interesting to think that Herod himself was right there in the very place that we were standing! Pictures 1 and 2 are from this
palace. The first is of me diving into a structure that was one of King Herod's swimming pools, and the second is in the throne room. Kim pulls off a pretty good King Herod in this pic.

Our second stop was to Tel Jericho. Here we saw some incredible things! We saw the oldest tower in the world, dating back to 7000 BC. We were also able to see the ramp (glausi) that was created when the walls of Jericho came down after Joshua and the Israelites marched around the walls seven times on the seventh day and then blew their horns and yelled. The walls fell down to create the ramp shape that allowed the Israelites to "go up into the city" (Joshua 6:20) When I think of this story, I can't help but think of the Veggie Tales episode about Jericho. I love the part when the peas (guards to the city of Jericho) are mocking Joshua and his people for thinking something as silly as walking around a city every day for six days and then on the seventh day walking around the city seven times and then blowing their horns and screaming at the top of their lungs would actually cause a city to fall. The Israelites must have had so much faith to believe that this would actually work! Just goes to show that walls are never too big and people are never too tough to get past- if we trust in the Lord and do things his way.

After Tel Jericho, we made a quick stop at Elisha's Spring. This is the spring that Elisha healed and caused the bitter water to become sweet. We were able to see the exact place in the stream where the water come out of the ground, aka the place where Elisha cast salt into the ground to heal the waters. (2 kings 2 ) I also got to have a sip of water from the spring- it was cold and delicious!

My favorite part of the day was hiking through a portion of the Wadi Qelt. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem inspires the parable of the Good Samaratin, and marks the place of Christ's last physical journey in his life- from Jericho to Bethany to Jerusalem. At the end of this journey he would be crucified. It was nice to look over that wasteland and think about what my Savior has done for me. I realized that because Jesus Christ took that journey and suffered all along the way, he will help me survive my own journey. He suffered so I wouldn't have to, and I am forever grateful for that.

Shabbat Shalom

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of welcoming in the sabbath (which begins at sundown on Friday evening and goes through sundown on Saturday evening) with many Jewish people at the Western Wall. The lower part of the Western Wall consists of the remains of the retaining wall on the western side of the temple that was destroyed on the Temple Mount. This place is very holy and sacred to the Jews.

They go to this wall often, but there is an especially large crowd that gathers to welcome in the sabbath. They write prayers on little pieces of paper and stick them in the cracks between the bricks in the wall. They touch the wall with their hands and faces and rock back and forth uttering sincere prayers. When they come away from the wall, many of them gathered together to sing songs of rejoicing and excitement for the coming Sabbath Day. Many of us got to be a part of this experience as the Jewish girls grabbed our hands and urged us to sing and dance with them! Though I didn't know the Hebrew words that were being said, I could tell that welcoming the Sabbaht truly was a joyous occasion to them!

In just the short amount of time that I have been here, I have gained a significant amount of respect for the Jewish people. They are so devoted to their beliefs, and it shows in everything they do- the way they dress, the way they worship, the way they observe the sabbath, etc. They truly are a "peculiar" people. This ties in so well with some of the things that I'm studying in my Old Testament class as well. After their escape from Egypt, the Children of Israel were brought up to be a "peculiar people," and a "peculiar treasure unto God" (see Exodus 19: 5) The meaning of the word peculiar means to be different. I take this to mean that they were to set themselves apart from the world, by living in a way that was of God, not of the world. After seeing the devotion of these Jewish people, I have to ask myself if I am as devoted of a disciple of Christ as I would like to be. Am I somebody that could be picked out as a "peculiar" person? I hope so. If not, and even if so, that is my new goal-- to reach my full potential and stand out as a true disciple of Christ. If there is ever a time for me to achieve this goal, now is the time, when I'm here in the Holy Land, walking the pavement that Christ himself walked, living just up the hill from where he suffered individually for my shortcomings, just around the corner from where he carried his cross to the place where he would end his mortal life, and not far from the place where he rose again, and brought hope to each one on this earth. I know that setting myself apart from the world will be a life-long journey that will sometimes be difficult, but it's one that is well worth the effort! I'm grateful for the opportunity that I have to see the devotion of these Jews, so that I can re-evaluate my life, and recommit to being the true disciple of Christ that I wish to be.

Pictures are worth a thousand words

Sorry for my lack of posting this week! I feel like so much has happened, so I don't really think I can catch up completely. BUT I will share some pictures from my adentures this past week. The longer that I live here, the more blessed I feel that I have the opportunity to be here.





On one of my first days exploring out in the city, Jamie, Mi'kel, Shelby and I found some little kids playing soccer out in a little alley way. We had fun kicking the ball around for a bit!

Lindsey, me, Kimberly, and Katie inside the JC walls after spending an afternoon out in the city.

Kim and I eating our first (of many) flafel's. Flafel is fried hummice, and you eat it with cabbage and french fries and veggies and whatever else you want wrapped up in a tortilla/pita like thing. It's delicious!

This is the Jerusalem Center, my home for the next four months! I took this picture from the opposite side of the Kidron Valley. It is such a beutiful facility!

Okay, so the internet isn't working very well, so these are all the pictures I can put up for now. Also I'm sorry that the formatting is weird... I'm still figuring out this whole blogging thing.
Stay posted for better and more posts and pictures in the near future!

Saturday is a Special Day

...and not because it is the day to get ready for Sunday. Here in Jerusalem Saturday is the Sabbath Day, not Sunday. Highlights of my first Sabbath in Jerusalem:

• I was called as the teacher for the Sunbeams class in the Jerusalem Center Primary. I have three darling sunbeams. Two are children of the teachers here at the center, and the other is the child of an American family that lives in Jerusalem. I am so looking forward to having the opportunity to teach these little children about the Gospel while in Jerusalem, just as Christ did during much of his mortal ministry.


• I joined the branch choir! We sing the prelude music each week before sacrament meeting, and it's fun.


• I spent a peaceful afternoon in the Garden of Gethsemane.

What a blessing it is to be in this wonderful place! I'll add some pictures later!