JRu 14: Gobble, Gobble

So, remember that one time when I am a blogging slacker? Oh, wait, that was now. Anyway, to continue the updates...

Sunday, September 18th

I spent all of Saturday working on my paper (besides going to church) because today we left for TURKEY!!!! I got up did some last minute packing and at about 11:00 am we left for the airport. It takes about an hour to drive to Tel Aviv and then they figured it would take a while for all 90ish of us to get through security, so....We were there SUPER early. The funny thing was that Danielle and I got through security and passport control (by the way, Israeli security is way more intense for leaving the country than any other country I have been in.) and we went and checked the flight board. Our gate had changed, so we headed to our new gate and we were literally the only ones there for an hour or more. It was kind of eerie.

Everyone got there eventually and we waited to board our flight on Turkish Air. And then we waited some more. And then we waited a little more. For some reason our flight was delayed but they never made any announcement about it. Finally we boarded and had a fantastic flight to turkey. They served us a delicious meal and their seats were covered in a nice teal fabric.

When we landed we spent some quality time in the airport waiting for luggage before heading to our hotel to drop our luggage. We walked to dinner at a restaurant. We left my sister and a bunch of other students at the hotel on accident. Luckily, we found them and all headed to bed.

JRu 13: Sometimes I really want to be Jewish.

Thursday, September 15th

As a group we went to the Garden Tomb this morning. This was the third time I have taken a tour at the Garden Tomb. In fact this was the second time I had our tour guide, Tim. I like the tour but it was just one time too many. After the tour we had a little devotional and talked about Jesus as our Savoir. And then we sang. That is my favorite part of being a pilgrim here in Jerusalem is all the singing. We sang a lot of hymns and the spirit was so strong. I love that other people in the garden enjoyed our music as well.

We walked home through the city and bought some snacks (Israeli goldfish, Pringles and candy bars) for Turkey before heading back for the best lunch of our lives. We had Bell Peppers stuffed with rice and seasonings, and latkas. It made me really want to be Jewish. It's starting to be a real issue that I want to be Jewish all the time. Then back to my study doom.

Friday, September 16th

After classes, we went into the city. We stopped at the Pool of Bethesda first. They let us in for free and we went down into the pool. After we went into the Church of St. Anne. After looking through it, we were the only ones there, so Eliza, Lottie, my sister and I sang a few hymns. The acoustics were fantastic! Then we went to the church of Flagellation which we had been to before. It is one of the stations of the cross, so while we were there, the weekly procession of the stations of the cross. So, we joined the massive crowds and followed the stations of the cross through the city.

After reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we left and headed to the Jewish quarter to find some Challah bread. Challah bread is the Jewish bread that they make and eat for Shabbat. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the Jewish quarter it was too close to sundown and all the bread was gone. We took some pictures at the western wall before heading home.

(Oh, and we saw a guy packing heat at the western wall. It reminded us of the Secret Agent Man, Sam, that we had in Egypt.)

I spent the rest of the night working on my Ephesus paper.

JRu 12: What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

Wednesday, September 14st

When classes start I become a JC prisoner. Seriously, I don't leave the JC except on weekends because I have so much homework and so many things scheduled in my day. That's how Tuesday and today were.

We had an under center tour today. The JC is super cool because it is built on Pylons (I don't really know what that means, except it means that there is space under the center.) And you can walk underneath all the levels which is great for upkeep of the building. Because it is unfinished and a slightly dangerous, they take us on a tour to satisfy our curiosity. We got to wear hard hats and write our names on the walls there. It was really cool.

The interesting thing about Wednesday is that we have a forum address where someone from the local community comes in to address us about the current situation in the middle east. Last week it was an Israeli.

This week, it was a Palestinian named Dr. Bernard Sabella. Personality wise, he was a huge contrast to the last speaker. He was more informal and had a very different message for us. His dream for the future involved both groups of people to build a state together. They would not have walls and all this division but would live together in harmony.

The likelihood of that happening is fairly small since neither political entity wants to even consider that option. Personally, I feel this would be the best option because right now no one is getting what they want. The last speaker metioned each side needing to compromise and this solution would be the greatest compromise of all. However, it is pride and fear holding everyone back.

I do understand the fear that Israelis have especially after all the fighting that has happened. But the current situation is not a solution to this problem. One of my favorite quotes is by Benjamin Franklin, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I feel like this is a problem with most people around the world. It takes a lot of faith to not sacrifice our liberty for safety.

JRu 11: Joshua fit the battle...

Monday, September 12th

Today we went to Jericho. Yep, that historic site where Joshua and the children of Israel blew their trumpets and clapped and those walls came a tumbling down. Well, Joshua did a good job because it is pretty much just a pile of dirt now. Actually, it's a tel. For those who don't know, a tel (or tell) is an historic site where many cities were built, one on top of another. Archaeologists have excavated parts of it which we were able to see, but not a lot.

Jericho

We also saw the spring of Elisha, Herod the Great's winter palace and the Judean wilderness. Bonus points for whoever can comment with the story of Elisha and the spring.

Me at the spring of Elisha

It was really fun and SUPER hot. Especially the Judean wilderness. Let me paint a picture for

you. Close your eyes and picture a desert, sand as far as you can reach. Now imagine that all this sand forms 150-200 foot high mountains. Now add the sun beating down on you and no food or water. Yeah, you wouldn't want to get lost in the Judean wilderness. It amazes me that anyone could survive fasting for 40 days in that weather. Obviously, only the Son of God would be able to do that.

The Judean wilderness and I

It was fun. At the end of our field trip I bought Sycamore nuts. YUM. Seriously, I could eat my way through any country.

JRu 10: If everybody had an ocean....

Saturday, September 10th

It is Sabbath again. It always throws me a little off guard because having church on saturday, a day after classes is not normal. It was district conference today!!! There are three branches in Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Galilee. Since it was District conference, we all met together for church. The Auditorium was so full!!! Plus, all the students were here, so it was especially full.

I attended branch choir in the morning and JC (Jerusalem center) choir in the evening. Being here and singing in all these different venues has reminded me how much I love to sing. My relationship with singing has changed over time and due to some situations in High school, I stopped singing for a while. However, on my mission and here in Israel I have come to realize how important music is to me and how much I love to sing.

Sunday, September 11th

WELCOME TO TEL AVIV!!! A few days ago, we heard that there was a group going to Tel Aviv on Sunday. We heard they were going to the beach and we were not really interested in going to the beach and we were planning on just staying in Jerusalem. However, one of our friends, Lottie, convinced us to go to because she didn't want to hang out at the beach the whole time and wanted to explore the city. So, we signed up to go.

We left at 10 am, gear and sack lunch in hand. After we arrived in Tel Aviv, we wanted to explore the city before we went and got wet and sandy. Everyone else wanted to go to the beach. We headed down to the beach to eat our lunch and we were starting to be really disappointed because no one wanted to go into the city anymore. Finally, my sister and I decided to go without everyone else. Kelly decided to come with us and we began our trek.

First we walked down the beach. Then we walked up the beach. Then we

walked into the city. We weren't finding Jaffa, which is the historic part of the city. After eating some really expensive ice cream, we walked back the way we came and met up with some of the guys in our group. They had just found a market and they gave us directions. It was the a authentic market. There was everything from fruit to VERY fresh fish to souvenirs. We bought a few things before heading back to the beach.

We went swimming and played in the sand a little bit. The beach was fantastic. White sand and warm blue water. I was glad I came to the beach and I really enjoyed my time in the water and in the sand. Half the group, including us, headed back to the JC at about 5 and got dinner there.

It was a GREAT day!

JRu 9: Shabbat Shalom

Thursday, September 8th

Not much to say.

Had classes.

Did homework.

Passes cleaning checks and got a candy bar.

Friday, September 9th

Today was great. We had old testament in the morning and then a group of ten of us left for the Israel Museum. We had already been there so we were mostly going back to get more information on what to write about for one of our assignments and to explore some other wings. We hung out with Jeff most of the time. We saw the kid's section and learned how to tango and we saw the modern art section which had a cool display with sand. They set up people like they were at a Jewish wedding and then they threw red sand everywhere after they carefully removed everyone, so you can see the foot prints of what happened. We also toured the gardens.

We were hungry after the museum so we walked into the city (western Jerusalem). We found a few bakeries and bought bread before going to a nearby park to eat and wait for our taxi. We got back with enough time to work on a little homework before going to our western wall orientation.

Tonight was exciting because we got to be at the western wall as shabbat started. There was lots of singing and dancing and praying which we got to participate in. It was a very unique experience and every time I participate in something like that it makes me want to be Jewish. They sang one song that we learned in our hebrew class so we were able to sing along. It was a great night!

JRu 8: Welcome to the Circus!

Wednesday, September 7th

After classes today, a group of us (Jeff, Shalyn, Annaleah, my sister and I) went into the old city. We didn't really have plans so we just walked around. We entered through the lions gate which is on the east side of the city. We stumbled onto this quaint little church called the church of condemnation. It has this tiny little chapel with 14 pews about three people wide. The pastor was singing and we just sat there for a few minutes. I have come to appreciate the spirit that is felt in other churches. I know that God respects all who worship him with true purpose of heart.

After that we ended up in front of the Austrian Hospice. It was there we decided that we wanted to try to go visit the Dome of the Rock. So, we took a left and headed for the Jewish Quarter. We came to the Western Wall and looked at it for a few minutes. There were a ton of soldiers there and we weren't sure what was going on. We left to head to the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock. Well, we were denied. It was closed. So, then we thought we might visit the archaeological gardens that are right there. After trying to get in, we decided it cost too much.

Finally, we just walked around the Jewish quarter. We had some gelato, which was really good. Then we found some cool ruins. Then we started to head back. Just as we were going back, we discovered that something was happening by the western wall. There was some military procession going on. We happened to be in a higher part of the city and there was a great overlook where we watched the procession for a while. We learned that there are three of these programs that happen during training and one of them happens here. It was really cool.

Then we walked back and we decided to exit out of the Damascus gate. Good choice. Actually, BEST choice. As we exited the gate, we were surprised to see that all the shop booths were gone. Instead we found some people dressed up and setting up some circus equipment. They started performing and it was SO cool! These acrobats did all these cool tricks inside and outside the wheel while it was rolling. (Picture of the wheel not of what we saw.)

We hurried back for dinner and then we had a forum. Every Wednesday night they invite someone to come speak to us about the current political situation in Israel. Today it was Paul Hirscherson who is an Israeli. I am very easily swayed and he brought up some really good points about how The Israeli government doesn't know if they can trust the Palestinian government. He also mentioned how both states were not going to get everything they want, so they will have to learn to compromise. It was a very interesting discussion and a lot to thing about.