PETRA

I figured that the best way to describe the awesome time I had in Petra would be through pictures, so I uploaded a ton! It took forever, so I hope you like them. :-)

As soon as I began the trek down to Petra, I knew that I was going to be in heaven. The rock structures were incredible, and the sky was so blue and beautiful! (yes, that is the moon you see!)

I couldn't stop snapping pictures of the beautiful scenery!

This kind of reminded me of the slot canyons in St. George

I'm sure no other tourist in the history of the world that visits Petra has taken a picture like this. Correction: I'm sure almost every tourist in the history of the world that visits Petra takes a picture like this.

I bought some camel bone necklaces from this Bedouin lady who had her shop on the side of the trail leading to the Monastery. It had to have taken a really long tome to lug all that stuff up there!

Josh and I riding camels in front of the Treasury... no big deal.

the hardest part is when they sit down... you have to lean back or else you will fall forward! I may have exaggerated a bit in my leaning back, but I really didn't want to fall off!

Jumping near the edge of a very big drop off- this is from the top of "the High Place." It was a beautiful hike, and the view was just gorgeous when we got to the top!

Kim and I from the High Place.

What a cool view! I felt like I was on top of the world!

Also at the high place, there is a sacrificial altar. We wanted to remember what we were taking a picture of, so we reenacted what would have happened back in the day. (Human sacrifices were not the norm, but Josh was the closest thing we could find to an animal).

The Kings Tombs. There were tombs carved into the face of the mountain pretty much everywhere you looked! These ones were bigger than most others though, because they were the tombs of the Kings of the Nabateans!

this is the Monastery- there was a fun little hike up to this beauty!

This was the first view we had of the Treasury- in between the rocks of the canyon. The Treasury is what most people think of when Petra is mentioned. Indiana Jones anyone?

this is it! It was so big, I couldn't even get a picture of the whole thing in one shot!

camels really like water.

Jordan- Day 1

Here I go, updating my blog for the second day IN A ROW! Well I gave you a bit of a preview yesterday about the lovely time I had in Jordan. Now I will give you some more details and pictures!

Day 1
Day one began bright and early as we departed from the Jerusalem Center at 7:00 AM. We made our way across the Israeli/Jordanian border without too much trouble and arrived at our first stop- atop Mt. Nebo. This site is most well known for the place where Moses looks out and sees all the land that his people will inherit. It is also believed by most to be the place where Moses died. (See Deuteronomy 32:48-52). This belief varies a bit from an LDS perspective, since we know that he actually didn't die, but was translated.

the view that Moses would have had of the land that would be inherited by the Israelites

Also at this site, was a memorial of a staff with a serpent wrapped around it. In Numbers 21, a story is related where the Israelites were plagued with fiery serpents. Some of them were bitten, but the Lord provided a way for them to be healed. He commanded Moses to put a fiery serpent upon a pole, and those who would look at it would be healed. It was such a simple task, yet there were many people who did not have faith enough to believe that looking would really heal them. This story made me think a lot about how simple the gospel is, yet sometimes we lack the faith to follow the simple principles that we have been given. Sometimes we must just take a leap of faith and trust in the Lord, even if we don't understand the purpose for what he is commanding us to do.  John 3:13-16 links this symbol to the atonement of Jesus Christ. The staff and serpent represent Jesus Christ, and if we will but turn and look towards the Savior, he will save us and heal us from our iniquities.

brazen serpent memorial

After Mt. Nebo, we went to Madaba. This place is very well known for it's mosaic art. In particular, a map of the holy city made of mosaic tiles was found here. A church was built on top of it, so we got to go to the church and see the remains of the map. We also got the chance to do a little shopping, and I purchased a mosaic of a sun. I have a new hobby of collecting things with suns on them, so I was very happy with that purchase!   

Holy Land map made of mosaic tiles, seen in the St. George church in Madaba

After Madaba, we headed to Machaerus. This fortress was rebuilt by Herod the Great to defend from the Nabateans of the south. The place is most well known as the place where John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipus, and eventually beheaded. Aside from being memorable for such a cruel event, this place was pretty cool! We sang "We Thank Thee o God For a Prophet" in commemoration of the life of John the Baptist.

In the background is the little mountain we hiked up to get to Machaerus

column remains

If you thought this day sounded cool, just wait until DAY 2: PETRA!!!! 

columns at Jerash

fulfilling a life long dream of riding a camel. it was incredible.

Hey folks! I am beginning my "one post a day" challenge right now! Unfortunately I don't have time to write a whole long giant post, but here's a little teaser for my Jordan post that should be coming up soon. Jordan was amazing! I had such a fun time, visited such cool places (I was in heaven at Petra), learned a ton, and enjoyed some nice spiritual experiences. Stay tuned for more! Catch ya later!

Slice love

Sorry mom- maybe this isn't the type of blog post you were hoping for- but it's something at least. :-)

So my roommates are wonderful. They basically rock my world. First of all, I should probably explain the title of this post. Somehow the term "slice" has become the nickname for me and my two roommates. The nickname has gone through many stages and has finally settled with slice. Even our Old Testament teacher calls us the "slices." It started out by calling each other "roomie." That evolved into "rooms," which evolved into "mc-rooms," which evolved into "mc-room slice," which was then shortened into "slice." For those who really care about distinguishing who is who, Kim is Kim (or K) slice, Erica is Queen (or Q) slice, and somehow I got dubbed with the name of Mom-slice. Anyway, somehow it has just stuck, and that is the story of the slices.

Kim, Erica, and I on Erica's birthday!

Erica, Kim, and I at Hezekiah's tunnel

Kim-slice: I knew Kimberly Hofman before this semester, and I have LOVED getting to know her better. She is just bursting at the seams with personality, and she makes everybody laugh so hard! I personally envy her sense of style, beat boxing skills, and dance moves. Seriously though, this girl is loads of fun- and she's a great person to just talk to if you're having one of those days where you need a good friend to listen to you. She could get any guy she wanted to, but she doesn't have an ounce of pride in her blood! Love this girl to pieces!

Twins!

Queen-slice: Erica VanSlooten is such a hoot. I love this girl to death! She is the perfect combination of sweet and spunky. She's also got some killer dance moves. Pillow talk before bed happens because of this girl, and we could probably stay up all night talking! Her righteous desire to progress in the gospel and live a christlike life is clear by her words and her actions, and she too is an inspiring sister in the Gospel whom I look up to greatly!

Erica and I in the City of David

Things in our apartment are never boring because of these two girls! Both of them inspire me to be a better person, and I am so grateful that we were lucky enough to be put together! Unfortunately pictures aren't uploading right now... but I'll add some soon enough.

On a different note, my neighbor Jeehee Cho has the cutest blog ever which she updates every single day! Even if it's just something small- that's my new goal. Something small every day. There, it is written! I am now accountable for my forthcoming actions regarding blog posting. Wish me luck.

Also a preview on what is to come in future posts which are about to become much more frequent: An update on our recent Shphelah field trip, City of David field trip, Passover meal, and "10 Reasons You Know You Live in Jerusalem!" (an idea I've had for a blog post for over a month- ;-)

Oh by the way, this whole posting every day thing can't start until after we get back from .... JORDAN! Yeah, we leave for Jordan on Monday morning and I'll be gone for four days- so sit tight and look forward to wealth of amazing blog posts in the relatively near future. See ya in the funny papers!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Caution: This is likely going to be a scatter-brained blog post with lots of pictures from the past few weeks. I don't mean to diminish the importance of each of these items by combining them all into one post, because to be honest, each of these items is worthy of their own post, but alas, time will not permit this. So here begins the report of my most recent magnificent memories made.

One fun thing that I have done recently is service as Princess Basma Preschool just down the street from the Jerusalem Center. On their last day of school, a group from the JC was able to go and do fun things like sing songs in English, dance, play games, draw, and facepaint. Those children were just darling! A week or two later, I had the chance to go back and work on a mural that we are painting in their school. Every semester, the group that's here does a mural on a different wall, and I'm excited to be a part of this semester's "artists." I put artists in quotes because those who know me well, know that I was not very gifted with artistic abilities. We had some of the real artists in the group draw a projection on the wall and my job was to paint inside the lines that were already drawn. We only got about half way finished, but I'm very excited to see the finished masterpiece!

Some of the girls at Princess Basma Preschool

the early stages of our mosaic style mural

This is how far we got. The mural is of a character in a popular middle-eastern cartoon

The next batch of pictures are from Brittany's birthday bash. Last Friday, June 3rd, one of my great friends Brittany Hobbs turned 21! We had just finished midterms the day before, so that was even more incentive to have a celebration! After class, we headed out to Ben Yehuda street in West Jerusalem from some ice cream! We enjoyed a delicious x-large family pack (8 scoops) of a variety of flavors of ice cream with whipped cream on top! After that we headed into the Old City via Jaffa Gate, and went to Nasaar's, one of our favorite shopkeepers. On our way there, we stopped by a flower vendor who was selling bouquets for only 10 shekels! We couldn't pass up such a great deal, so we got some for Brittany. Nasaar then gave Brittany a pretty scarf for her birthday too! After that, we went to Jacob's pizza and enjoyed some delectable pizza and a nice chat with a man from Ethiopia who knew a little bit about Mormons. Unfortunately we weren't able to share anything with him or answer any of his questions because of an agreement the church has with Israel. Anyway, it was a nice afternoon/evening, and I think Brittany had a good birthday. I've had the honor of getting to know Brittany really well in the past month and a half, and she is honestly one of the greatest girls I know! She is always so sweet and kind and always strives to live a Christ-like life! I love having long talks with Britt, and I just love her to death! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITT!

the beautiful birthday girl!

our delicious ice cream!

me and Britt with her pretty flowers

Next up are a bunch of pictures from Neot Kedumim, a biblical reserve that has all sorts of cool plants, animals, and artifacts that are mentioned in the Bible. I made some hyssop, herded sheep, made some shepherd's bread (pita bread), ate some plants, smelled some plants, learned about olive presses, and probably some more things that I'm forgetting to mention! (I don't know why this paragraph is underlined in blue... and I can't figure out how to change it back)!

hyssop is made by crushing a plant and adding a little bit of salt. It tastes great on pitas and is a nice little spice to have! We got to keep a little bit for ourselves.


me crushing the hyssop plant
we split the group into two teams and had a contest to see who could herd the sheep from one ring into another the fastest. We weren't given any instructions on how to get those silly little sheep and goats up and moving, but once we got them up we just had to nudge them along!
sometimes you just had to get behind them and give them a little shove to get them going
this little baby lamb was just too cute! I had to get a picture!
putting myself in the sheep's shoes


cooking our shepherd's bread (pita) over the fire. For future campouts, this will be a staple in my diet!



Josh and I with our delicious pitas!

BEACH DAY!!! For our most recent free day, we took a bunch of vans up to Tel Aviv to go to the beach! It was a beautiful day and the beach was gorgeous! I got there and played sand volleyball all morning and then spent the hot afternoon playing in the water and getting gelato at a nearby shop. What a great way to spend a free day! I think I'll be doing it again before this summer is over. The best part is, I didn't even get a sun burn! Wahooo!

Jamie and I

in front of the gelato shop: I got a scoop of berry yogurt flavored gelato and a scoop of oreo gelato and it was delicious!

Another cool activity I got to do was take a tour underneath the Jerusalem Center! It was really cool! I got to sign my name and leave my mark here at the JC!

Mi'kel, Jamie, and I signed our names on the ceiling of one of the underground tunnels

Kim, Mi'kel, Brittany, me, Angela, Jamie, Jeehee, and Erica outside of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the old city

Me in the Kotel tunnel- a tunnel that goes underground along the entire remains of the Western Wall

Erica, my lovely roommate trying to get into our apartment through the window because Kim and I locked her out... I love my slices! They're so great!