right outside our doorstep...

This week could have been the best week I have had of all my time here in Jerusalem. On Wednesday Tamarra wanted to go explore the Palestinian neighborhoods right next to the Jerusalem Center and meet the kids. So a small group of us, Tamarra and I along with 3 guys went and made our first stop at a balcony of kids who were just playing and eating candy. We tried practicing our pathetic Arabic on them and they basically laughed at us. haha...two little girls invited us onto their porch and Tamarra and I went and played clapping games with them. They kept pulling out candy from all over the place and feeding it to us. Then we decided to move on and see who else we could meet around the corner. There were a lot of kids out playing ball on the street. We ended up meeting a girl named Shu Shu who is 14 years old and she is such a sweetheart. She invited us into her home, so we went with the guys of course(don't worry Mom) and we sat in their living room and talked as much as we could(there is a definite language barrier). They actually have a nice home in comparison to the surrounding homes. Still, it is completely different and opens my eyes to how incredibly lucky I am to live where I do. Still it was a home, and if felt so good to be in a home! The Mother is so sweet and it turns out she is trying to learn English along with her daughter Shu Shu who is studying English in school right now. So really it was great for all of us. We are trying to work on our arabic and they are trying to work on their English! Anyways, Shu Shu took us into her room after a while and painted our nails...she is so cute. I think she really misses having her sister around who is now married. In Shu Shu's room she writes all over her walls. There are quotes on her walls like, " Love like war, easy to start, possible to end" and "Don't hate 4 ever LOVE" Pretty interesting huh!

It turns out a couple of students one of which is the cousin of Jeff who was with us became really good friends with this family about a year ago. The mother just seemed so grateful we had found her. She invited us to dinner on Friday night. So after we went to the Suk(Jewish) on Friday (in the pouring rain I might add) we went to their house for dinner. We didn't really know what to expect but she said she had good cooking! When we arrived the Mother told us that she had been having ear and tooth problems and was in the hospital that morning so she wasn't able to cook a lot for us. We made sure she knew we were just grateful to be in her home and to spend time with them, we didn't need food. Still she and Shu Shu went on to bring the food out into the living room on the coffee table little by little and it was most definitely a full on meal...Tamarra said I guess Mothers are the same all over the world. This woman had been in the hospital all morning and still prepared this wonderful meal. It was a large platter of Chicken and rice along with pita and dips. She also made these lemon drinks which were really strong but really good. Shu Shu has two brothers that remind me very much of Connor...little trouble-makers haha! They were pretty cute and had fun showing us all their magic tricks.

After we ate Shu Shu took me into her room and wanted to curl my hair. So she sat me down and she sure curled me hair haha...it was fun. It totally reminded me of how much I loved to do Holly's hair. I miss you Holly!!! Anyways, then I braided her hair in french braids and she LOVED it. We had so much fun...I feel like i've made a new friend and I hope it will stay like that. We are going to try and go shopping in the Old City with Shu Shu one of these days. When we left the home after dinner, the Mother expressed as best she could how much she wanted us to come and visit her whenever we walk by. I plan on visiting often and continuing to develop the friendship we've begun with these sweet people.

Each time I left these people's home I was so incredibly happy. It was so great to interact with the people we have been told to be so careful around and to see the good that lies within so many of the homes here in Israel. These people have so much good in them and a lot of them simply want peace and love more than anything in the world. The differences in culture, just in gatherings for meals was so interesting to me. I LOVE it:) The guys we were with mentioned afterwards how they felt a little bit like they were on a mission again. I think that experience opened my eyes to how incredible a mission would be. To be able to bring the Gospel, to people like Shu Shu and her family would be unbelievable. The experiences I've had this past week have truly been a highlight...unforgettable.

So I did a lot more stuff this week but that was all I wanted to write about haha...

This is me holding a 1000 year old book in the Khalidi Library in the Old City WOW!!

Me after hiking/wading through Hezekiah's tunnel...so much fun! It was pretty funny though when we got to the end there were these two Jewish Men having a ritual bath and they were in their underwear haha:) Some of the leaders were unhappy about that, I thought it was pretty funny.
This was at our Cedar dinner we had the other night...I think we spent 4 hours at that table. Good times, and good food...I was so so so full at the end of that!

and the week ends with a bang...

So it all began with our free day last Sunday when we decided to walk all day haha...not really but that is what ended up happening. We started by going to a Lutheran service at the Church next the Holy Sepulchre. That was really cool, there were people traveling from all over the world and it was really great to experience a different church service. Afterward, we went to Mea Shearim an extremely orthodox Jewish neighborhood. We were dressed in long skirts and long-sleeves--extremely modest! Still, when were about to leave, this man with the top hat and the whole orthodox get up started yelling at this man with a cane so we thought ok that's crazy but lets just keep walking. Then the man yelling stopped right in front of us and started yelling at us with his head turned and eyes closed. (They were yelling in Hebrew so we couldn't understand.) Then the man started spitting on us(thankfully just missed us) but still we were really confused, but just turned around and walked quickly the other way. We didn't do anything wrong but this area is just very unfriendly to people who look differently and dress differently than them.

We brushed that off and then made our way to a German village just outside of West Jerusalem. It was a pretty long walk and we didn't really know where we were going but we ended up stopping in a lot of really cute pastry shop, cafe type places and eating a lot of really good food--free samples!! It was a very european town. We also stopped at a park and took a little break. Then we ended up at a garden/trail just outside the Kenesset. We were walking around and Tamarra was up on a hill set above a rock wall. She was climbing down, eating a cucumber might I ad, and fell off the wall. Tamarra was laying next to this boulder and looked unconscious at first glance. I was so worried...then once we got to her we realized she had just rolled her ankle and was silent because that is how she handles pain haha. She is one lucky girl for not hitting her head on that rock...seriously it was a miracle. Anyways, that was the exciting end to that day!

Monday was an interesting adventure...I ate pigeon. We went to a small Greek Cafe because Emma really wanted Greek food. It definitely wasn't Greek food. All they had was chicken, lamb and Pigeon and pita haha. So we decided to go for it and try something different. Stuffed Pigeon is pretty good, kind of weird but tastes just like chicken. The place was pretty sketchy though I definitely wouldn't go back!

Tuesday I went to Princess Basma's Center for disabled children. Princess Basma's is a program where for about 3 weeks women and their children go through a program learning how to take care of their disabled child. They live at this center and go through different training and play sessions to help the development of their child. We just spent an hour playing with the kids. They were with their Mom's so it was a little difficult to get them to leave their Mom's and play with us but we had fun. Also, they didn't speak much English at all so there was definitely a language barrier. Still it was a really cool experience, another one that opened my eyes to how much I have been blessed with in my life. These women have 4-6 children at home and also have a disabled child. Yet, I they are still so happy, and show so much love for their child. I have found through past experiences that children with disabilities have a special something about them. I do believe they have been sent to this earth to bless the lives of those around them.


On Wednesday we went to Yad VaShem the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was unbelievable...quite an experience. I've been taught about the holocaust countless times, however, I still am in awe each time at the horrific events that took place. After a very detailed tour with testimonials from survivors, I was left with somewhat of a sick, uneasy feeling. Outside the museum is a children's memorial. The memorial is a dark room with mirrors and just four small lights that reflect each other. They read the names of the children that gave their lives along with their age over the speakers. Something I thought was interesting is Yad VaShem comes from a verse in Isaiah. It literally means a house/memorial and a name. This is an appropriate name for this memorial because it gives those who died in the Holocaust the dignity of a memorial or remembrance.

Yesterday or Thursday was a great day! We did so much and again walked for like 6 hours straight. We started at the Church of Mary Magdalene, which is maybe one of my favorite churches here. It is absolutely beautiful, and the gardens around it are as well. Tamarra especially likes the nuns there who sell old postcards for cheap haha! On our way out we stopped byt he tomb of Absalom who we are actually reading about in 2 Samuel right now. After that we went to Dormition Abbey. When we walked in the Organs were pounding, it was awesome. Right next to Dormition Abbey is the upper room, or the room of the last supper. It was full of people but we spent a few minutes there. It is a very large beautiful room...it is so hard to wrap your mind around the fact that the Last Supper most likely took place in the very place I was standing.

Then we got Falafel at my new favorite place...I really don't know what I am going to do without it! It is so so good:) Last but definitely not least we went to the Pools of Bathesba. There is a church there that has the best acoustics ever...we stayed and sang for quite a while, it was beautiful, I took videos by the way: )

So last night the biggest storm we've had started. Thunder, lightning, rain, hail, wind the whole shebang! Today was Church and I don't know if i've said this already but as we sit in church we look out huge arching windows that overlook the city. So while we were in church the storm really picked up. During one guys talk a huge lightning bolt came right in the middle of our view. Everyone kind of gasped and the speaker didn't even know what was going on haha. There was a piano violin duet of I Stand All Amazed, I believe in Christ and There is a Green Hill Faraway and throughout the song there were loud pounds of thunder. Pretty cool!

Lessons...they sure are everywhere, I can learn from each day even if I am simply sitting in the Jerusalem Center Studying Egyptian Gods...haha that's what is on my mind right now, kind of random. Quick update, last week I went to Ein Korem, a small town 30 minutes outside of Jerusalem, the home of John the Baptist. It is the favorite place I've been so far, and the church of John the Baptist is beautiful. Also, we went to the Chagall windows which are so cool, and have so much meaning behind them each one represents a son of Jacob. Everywhere I looked throughout the city I wanted to take a picture. It was very European, a little bit what I envision Italy would be like.
Then came Shabbot...it was one of the best I've had. I went with a small group of people to the Garden of Gethsemane after church. We went and sat in the Church of All Nations in front of the rock they use to commemorate where the Atonement took place. I sat and really thought about the Atonement of Christ, and what that really means to me personally and what my understanding of it is. I think for the first time, I realized how encompassing the Atonement is...something I think I have a lot to learn about. Outside the church is a garden of trees they've dated back more than 2000 years and therefore believe were there during Christ's time.
The next day we went on an all day field trip to the place where David picked the five smooth stones that he used to defeat Goliath. We went to a lot of caves where people used to live...it is unreal where these people used to live and what is left for us to see. The last stop we made on this field trip were these caves that we were told were pretty advanced to walk through. Now I thought sure ok...caves I can do the advanced how hard can it be! I was quite surprised...we were definitely cave spelunking...I didn't have a flashlight so I was crawling through these dark tunnels that were tiny and scaling this wall to get to the crawlspace that took you out. The last little tunnel I had to lay on my back and scoot myself out and the guy on the other end had to pull us out. So much fun...we were so dusty and the funny thing is I loved it. People who know me know that I hate being dirty, but I loved it this time:) After Tamarra and I made it out of the birth canal we went walking through the hills, picking flowers admittingly haha and talking...that was one of those moments where you kind of want to freeze time just for a little bit and take in the moment. Tamarra is really getting into archaeology I guess so she had her eye out and we found what must have been a small little city or something. There were pottery shards everywhere! It is amazing to be walking through the lands in which the battles took place in the Old Testament we are reading about. I am so grateful everyday that I am here.

This week school was pretty intense...therefore I have little to report adventure wise. I learned a lot about Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia! I have to say, finding the balance of studying and exploring is a challenge. Especially for me, one who obsesses about school, maybe a little too much. I'll figure it out at some point...if there is one thing I can take away from this week is, the Lord teaches us lessons in interesting ways. And one of those ways is when we write...whenever I seem to be struggling with something in my head and I write, I teach myself something. He gives us weaknesses and strengths...he knows them and he knows what we can handle and what we will learn from most. This experience is definitely one that is going to force me to learn how to strengthen my weaknesses. I don't know if that makes any sense but it does in my head haha!

Have fun in Sun Valley without me family I love you and miss you:)

EGYPT

Day 1:
Beer Sheba—the well
The Wilderness of Zin: Looking out over the Wilderness of Zin it makes you truly all the Children of Israel went through. They traveled through barren, desert land with absolutely nothing to work with—no wonder they murmured. As you look out into the Wilderness of Zin and relate this wilderness to the trials and wildernesses that we go through in our lives there is much I can learn. As I reflect on the trials in my life it makes me truly appreciate the Lord and how he has blessed me through my trials and realizing all that I have learned once I have endured them. Avdat: The Byzantine Ruins were so cool!! From sacrificial alters to dark dusty caves we had a blast!

Day 2:
We drove all day crossed the border into Egypt wohoo…drove through the Suez Canal and then arrived in Cairo at the Oasis Hotel which was very nice btw, especially after being in the bus all day. That night a group of us went through the wonderful experience of hailing a cab in Cairo, bargaining for a price—when they try and rip you off, and surviving the insane drivers! Honestly I don’t know how a 4 lane road can become an 8 lane road and the cars fit and make it without crashing….the cab drive to the pyramids was the highlight of that day not going to lie! This was my first exposure to the poverty and living conditions these people live in. Being in a 3rd world country for the first time is definitely and eye opening experience. And Egypt is even an upper 3rd world country. Driving through Cairo to our hotel truly opened my eyes to how lucky I am.

Day 3:
This day was PYRAMID day. We went to all of the pyramids, took pictures, tried to wrap our minds around the fact that we were at the pyramids…. We actually went inside one of the pyramids. That was definitely an experience as you crawl back hunched down through this hot and humid corridor—people going in both directions. It is pretty amazing to be inside these huge structures that for thousands of years were the largest structures on earth. We also saw the Sphinx as you can see, which is smaller than I thought. At the end of the day we got on a plane and flew to Luxor where the real adventures began…We arrived at the Sheraton Hotel on the Nile at about 10:00 at night and ate dinner in this beautiful dining room overlooking the Nile River.


Day 4:
Our first day in Luxor we visited the Valley of the Kings and went inside the tombs of three Kings. On the walls of these tunnels are amazing hieroglyphics all of which have so much symbolism and meaning behind them. The main focus of the Ancient Egyptian culture is eternal life. The Ankh, the symbol for eternal life is everywhere! We also went inside the tomb of King Tut Ankh Amun which was the coolest part for me. On one side of the tomb is his actual coffin only one of many (the rest are in the Egyptian Museum which we saw later), and the other side is his body. It is unreal to be able to look at the body of this King who ruled thousands of years ago. On our way back we stopped by the place where the actual pages from the Pearl of Great price were found…..???? After the valley of the Kings we went back to the Sheraton and took a sail boat ride across the Nile. On the other side we rode camels through a small village as the sun was going down. The boy who guided my camel’s name was Abraham and he was a sweet kid. Riding through this extremely poor and primitive village again opened my eyes to how lucky and blessed I really am. The Camel ride was definitely one of the highlights…so much fun and so beautiful. Although I must say riding a camel does hurt after a while…more so than a horse! Hahaha…After the camel ride I had my first encounter with shopping in Egypt—Absolutely INSANE! The men are extremely aggressive and pretty rude/offensive. They go as far as to touch you or grab your arm to get you to come into their store. It was definitely pretty scary but I learned to be very aggressive with bargaining because I didn’t care if I offended them—they were so rude and did everything they could to rip us off. They know they can rip off the Americans! I managed to get a few things for pretty good prices but it definitely wasn’t easy☺

Day 5:

The next day we went to the Karnak Temple which was my favorite of all of the temples we went too. It is absolutely unbelievable to me the types of structures these people were able to build. The Karnak Temple is actually a structure that contains parts built from multiple Pharaoh’s over a period of thousands of years. Our guide, Rafat was a small Egyptian man who was extremely sweet and very knowledgeable. He was also very aware of the LDS faith and its implications in the sites we visited. He allowed one of our professors who was with us to comment in these instances. After the Karnak Temple we took a carriage ride where I got to sit with the driver and actually drive the carriage to the Luxor temple. The Luxor temple just like Karnak was extremely grand and had amazing engravings on the wall with much symbolism. We then tried to brave the street vendors again—I managed to buy a bag and ruin it 5 minutes after I bought it but that is unimportant….See…Rachael is learning little by little not to worry so much about the stupid little things haha! Anyways, the real cultural experience began when we left the beautiful Sheraton Hotel and boarded a overnight train that would take us back to Cairo. I was prepared for the worst, and I am glad that I did because it was pretty much what I expected. A tiny little cabin with ripped and dirty velvet seats that fold into beds with rag pillows and sheets that I really couldn’t tell if they were clean or not. Oh and how could I forget the bathrooms. They were down the hall and when you flush it goes straight onto the tracks pretty “basic” as one of the leaders put it. So my roommate and I Kim had a great conversation over the train dinner(dinner wasn’t good that was sarcasm) and then tried to sleep. I must say I think the train experience may have been one of the best things for me on the whole Egypt trip. I just don’t know how I got so lucky. People live in those kind of conditions which aren’t even the worst and they don’t even know any better. I definitely take advantage of the cleanliness I have grown up with and continue to live in. Definitely an eye opening experience and one that I will remember forever!

Day 6:
Once we arrived back in Cairo, we had a Sacrament meeting in a room of the hotel and then went to the Cairo Museum. (Might I add that we didn’t to shower after that overnight train ride and I am pretty sure that was due to the fact that our schedule is pretty much run by men.) Cairo Museum was great. There is so much stuff in that museum it is hard to take it all in just a couple of hours. However, the big standout for me was the mummy room. In the mummy room were multiple bodies of influential rulers/pharaohs. One of which was the body of Rameses II who is said to have been the Pharaoh during Moses’s time, the time of the Exodus. This means that I was looking at the hand that shook the hand of Moses!!! WOW☺

Day 7:
This was a travel day, we drove all day to a Bedouin village in Morganland where we slept for just a few short hours and woke up at 2 am for the hike up Mount Sinai. It was freezing cold when we got there but the place we stayed was surprisingly nice. They were like winter cabin type places in the middle of nowhere. I thought we would be staying in some cheap motel thing but no; they really do take care of us that is for sure. Sinai was one experience I think I learned more from once I reflected on it when we got back to Jerusalem…It was so cold up there all we were worried about was surviving!

Mt. Sinai:

As we began our climb up Mt. Sinai at 3am I had on layers of clothes and was prepared for the-2 degree weather we were told to expect at the top. As I got further along I found myself getting really hot and feeling somewhat sick and winded because of the altitude change, lack of food, and lack of sleep. Still I was determined to make it to the top of Mt. Sinai and I feel the difficulty of the climb only made me realize how difficult this climb must have been for Moses who made the hike 8 times at the old age of 80. It stuns me that a man of that age could make this trip with no trail. Truly a humbling experience! About half way through the hike my small little flashlight died and I was then relying on the light of a girl named Rachael who was sharing with someone else also. Three people sharing a small light is very difficult, especially when we got to the last ¼ of the hike which is all stone stairs. I managed to make it up only falling once because the lighting was so bad. When I got to the top and saw some of my fellow students I felt this overwhelming sense of achievement. As I reached the top the temperature was much colder! I bundled back up in the clothes I had shed along the way and sat against the rocks facing the mountains which the sun would soon rise over. I bundled up next to Ryan and Emma trying to stay warm and capture the moment of the stars passing behind and the start of a new day. As the sun begins to bring multiple colors and light up from behind the mountains the stars are still behind you and slowly start to disappear. As I sat atop this huge mountain range (holy ground) and the light starts to peek over and allow you to see more clearly the landscape around you and the trail which you braved in the dark; I cannot help but think that God is the only one who could create such a spectacular sight. The hike down was interesting as me and 2 other girls took a wrong turn and ended up taking the more difficult stair route or the road less traveled haha. This route was basically juststeep stairs or rock stairs that you have to take very slowly in order to not fall. We took it slow and encouraged each other along the way in order to lessen our worries and concerns. We actually had a great time and saw some unbelievable views on the way down. Something Cate said on our way down really stuck with me in our applying this experience to the scriptures and the Exodus of the children of Israel. In the Bible it says the Children of Israel were unable to go atop Mount Sinai because they were unworthy to meet God. We are the descendents of the Children of Israel and in a sense as we climb Mt. Sinai we are declaring that we are striving to be worthy and sanctify ourselves so that one day we can be in God’s presence. This really got me thinking and especially reflecting on the Holy Ground, which I had just stood on.
After we returned from Egypt and gathered in our Old Testament Class we had a reflection period in which people shared their experiences on this mountain and the lessons they learned by traveling this difficult road to the top of the mountain. Some interesting points that stuck out to me were these: When your light goes out as mine did on the hike up in the dark and you rely on someone else's light, how hard it is to rely on someone else’s light. In life it is hard to rely on the light of those around you—it is so important to shine that light yourself. Also, as we were traveling through the dark we couldn’t see where we were going—like in our trials we are somewhat blinded as to what we should learn from them until afterwards when we see the big picture. Taking the wrong path as I did on the way down can be related to taking the wrong path in life and trying to learn from those mistakes and stay positive along the way knowing that at some point you will make it back to everyone else or in a broader sense make it back to the arms of our Savior. As we climbed in the dark I could see the lights of others in front of me and the lights of those behind me. I didn’t know exactly where I was going but by following the lights of others I believed I would make it to the top—Holy Ground. The example of others in our lives can be so helpful as they were for me as I climbed the rocks of the trail. Heavenly Father wants us to make it to him in the end. We have to go through some of the darkest times and still remember to stay faithful. Mt. Sinai means so much more to me now as I have not only climbed it, but also seen so much meaning in the journey and the experience as a whole.

THE END...yes we scaled that!