I thought
that might get your attention. Turns out the most dangerous room is actually
the gym in the Jerusalem Center.
CUATRO CUADRO IS BACK. Actually, not yet.We just played volleyball. But bringing back cuatro
cuadro is a genious idea that I just had.
Well hey! I
am at the Jerusalem Center! You may be wondering why Elise went back to the Jerusalem Center, but it's actually me, Emma! Elise was kind enough to let me carry on her blog! so here we go!
I’ve slowly but surely been overcoming jet lag,
which turns out is a real thing. Especially when you skip like ten time zones.
But each day I make it a little longer before
I have to fight to stay awake.
Everyone
here is super nice and I can tell I will make some great friends here. Also, I
love the people that live here. On the plane ride I sat by an Israeli woman
from Tel Aviv who spent the first ten minutes or so just telling me how much I
would love Israel. People around here know who we are even if we don’t know
them, which is fun. Today after visiting the garden of Gethsemane some latinos
walked by and I heard them talking about “los mormones”. Thankfully I remember
not to jump into missionary mode right then (the Church has an agreement with
the Israeli government that we will not proselytyze while we are here).
I also love
the teachers. Dr. Muhlstein, who Elise loves is my Old Testament teacher. He is
such a good teacher and I already love the Old Testament. One of the reasons I
wanted to come was to improve my understanding and appreciation for the Old
Testament because let’s be real. It’s a little hard to love sometimes. But
things are already making more sense about it. Plus the Abrahamic Covenant is
the coolest thing ever! And we are a part of it! The list of blessings so
outweighs the list of obligations. God wants us all to receive so many
blessings!
Dr. Skinner
is my near eastern studies teacher and he is hilarious and awesome.
Dr. Bashir
Bashir is my modern near eastern studies teacher. He is Palestinian and Muslim
and super cool too. It is so interesting to hear more of the Palestinian side
of things. I am learning so much! I can tell I am going to really love that
class a lot.
And then I
have other classes too but I haven’t been to those yet.
Also there
at CATS. Cats cats cats I love every kind of cat. But I restrain myself from
petting them because I don’t want to get a disease. They know that I am weak
though because they come sit by me while I eat outside. Yesterday one came up
next to me and just stared at me for like three minutes without blinking. Do
cats ever blink? This one didn’t. Poor little kitty cat. It wanted food but we
aren’t allowed to feed them. Also today I saw a cat on the way home from the
Garden that was crying. I want to hold them!! Must remain strong.
Today was
the Sabbath because the Sabbath is held
on Saturdays here. Good explanation. Church
was amazing. The Jerusalem Branch consists of about 20 members (not counting
all the Jerusalem Center people) that are mainly ex-patriots working for the
government and Russians who migrated to Israel. An interesting law is that it
is illegal here for non-members to attend church. It’s amazing that we have the
branch that we do.
After church a group of us went to the Orson
Hyde Park which is a site dedicated to the memory of Elder Hyde, who taught in
Jersualem and went to the Mount of Olives and prayed there for the return of
the descendants of Abraham to that land. We then went to an area that may have
been the Garden of Getsemane. Surprisingly, my favorite part was when we walked
into a Catholic church built next to the garden called the Church of all
Nations. I’ve been in a lot of Catholic churches in Peru but this one was
different. There weren’t any paintings of saints on the walls just three huge
panel painting of Christ in the garden. There were people inside but they were
all silent and very reverent. I felt the spirit very strongly in there and I realized
that I don’t have to be in a LDS church to feel the Spirit because the thoughts
of everyone in that room were still focused on Jesus Christ. That’s what really
matters, and that’s something we can do no matter where we are.
It is still
just so unreal that I get to be here. Every time I look out the window at the
dome of the rock or hear the call to prayer from our Muslim neighbors it just
makes me so jazzed! I’m so happy to be here.
I love you
all!
Emma
P.S. Also. Technology and I don't see eye to eye and I can't place the pics where I want. But there they are!
