What a great week. It was a week for field trips and excursions! So this week will be best represented in pictures!
So, remember how when I decided to come here I was super excited but it wasn't my plan at first because I wanted to do an international development internship and I wanted to get dietetics hours? And then here I met the awesome lady changing the lives of Bedouin women (thus educating me on international development). Well this week I got to volunteer in a hospital kitchen. What! So there's some Dietetics hours. I just feel like Heavenly Father is blessing me so much while I've been here. And I feel like I'm not even doing anything super crazy to deserve all these blessings, Heavenly Father just knows the desires of my heart is blessing me with them right now. It's a special time!
So, would this hospital kitchen pass a state inspection in the U.S? Probably most definitely not. But they get a special award for having the kindest chef who answered all my questions about how they serve diabetic patients here and how they feed people during the month of Ramadan (when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk). And Fatuma, who taught me an awesome song. We practiced English and Arabic as we prepared raw chicken with her bare hands. Also, they didn't have a sink with soap so yeah...It was so fun though! I love them. Hopefully I 'll get to go back.
Also on the free day we went to the Grotto which is a cave underneath the Garden of Gethsemene. Some people believe that is where the Atonement was actually performed because it would make sense to keep watch in front of the mouth of a cave instead of in a garden. The Grotto is cool because that is where they kept the olive presses. There is so much symbolism with olive pressing and the Atonement. When you begin the smash the olives they release a reddish liquid. After being pummeled and ground they are used to make the sweet product of olive oil. During the Atonement Christ had to drink the bitter cup but He made it into something sweet for all of us.
The next day we went on a field trip to a Biblical Nature Preserve! It was so awesome. The point was to help us get a feel for what daily life was like of the people living in Biblical times. We were challenged with shepherding and making unleavened bread over a fire.
Speaking of shepherding, someone had a great comment in Sunday school today. We were talking about rescuing. They said that the question wasn't who the 99 were and who the 1 was that we should rescue. It's when we are the 1. There are moments when we are all just having one of those days, you know? So the person we reach out to doesn't have to be in obvious physical need. It could be our friend who seems like they've got it all together, but maybe just not today.
At the preserve we also got to ground hyssop with a pestle and mortar. Hyssop is referred to in the Bible like in Exodus 12:22. By learning about the plant we learned some of it's symbolism. Hyssop has cleansing and antibacterial properties. It gives so much yet requires little rain or care. It becomes a symbol of humility. We crushed the hyssop and put it on our leavened bread. Yum.
We also got to explore the City of David and King Hezekiah's tunnel. King Hezekiah built this underground tunnel as they were getting close to being attacked by the Assyrians. He didn't want to give them any help so he hid all of the city's water in these tunnels. We got to explore through the tunnels. It was a party in there!
Also, this video is pretty bad. And it's obvious I don't know the words to the song. #embarrassing! But it'll give you a feel for what the tunnel was like.
Also, on a sad note, my friend Mary hasn't recovered fully from her concussion she got in Egypt and has to go back home :( We went to dinner with her and explored West Jerusalem as a last little hurrah.
Today we went to the Garden Tomb again which is always a special experience. I was reading Elder McConkie's final Conference talk there. He was talking about how an angel came to Christ while He was performing the Atonement to help Him. Elder McConkie was saying how maybe that angel was Michael. I imagined what Adam must have felt like encouraging Christ in that moment. And then I thought about what I would feel like if I had been in that moment. What would I have said? Would I have been able to say anything? I'm not sure. All I know is that I know my Savior lives. I know that He lived and died for me. Heavenly Father loves us!
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