tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959342016051582522024-03-12T21:00:13.405-07:00.Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-87280039442758240022010-05-04T21:16:00.000-07:002010-05-06T16:16:10.553-07:00wedding bells for cousin sara.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRmRwtRYI3PpaIazmhoRRpeqiJFKqX7e9kbSjUGx7jkosCXPKSHVP2nXRsWG9WPds4cy4e2vT-QVCjTakUbk_awvgp6dkQx6Tq0shkOxPTLtabXn0qoFcuCeuIwGh1qC0hdHBYRh0r41w/s1600/DSC_2280.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRmRwtRYI3PpaIazmhoRRpeqiJFKqX7e9kbSjUGx7jkosCXPKSHVP2nXRsWG9WPds4cy4e2vT-QVCjTakUbk_awvgp6dkQx6Tq0shkOxPTLtabXn0qoFcuCeuIwGh1qC0hdHBYRh0r41w/s320/DSC_2280.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468299241144760882" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQKKK-LB0V2EZ7MA8_ZaY-KhoTl6-YMUwsk3xd3SY5VtBub3VOROm3KaCl6GRYB4mEUyRUc9Gnduy9DSficd3xncPdaFpHVu87sl2LmuYgNNdK5YeW6vajLwD3DFjPoRMLjlTyyaoqDq8/s1600/DSC_2267_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; 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display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmSXmvpAvqtVzQqbMJq_C7D6tN279ejz6_VjDsWnA5_6e55KCNEV3x38e6BzuJcIJCkeo1HzPvWmJRFWrHeeBK6atUakN81uLhvnoI82QP9uoNYlP_W_qqQubvQ3PeUDMzyIA2QK3w-_o/s320/DSC_2324.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468297411279469442" border="0" /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-76349932349998351272009-10-18T14:46:00.001-07:002009-10-18T14:50:11.870-07:00lately.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhN56iAaxUbOBYSeCRhs_tdKTWO_oGP_5K_2XcSu2IFXeUG-rs9EvKxSI2JqfYquNk_ky4rmDpZhVhpFlv3jFx_vfzvWTEBz0qq1LTpEBxowEarffXOSFF_gUKJRMhz6yZ6M37JYh1jZ0/s1600-h/DSC_1985.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhN56iAaxUbOBYSeCRhs_tdKTWO_oGP_5K_2XcSu2IFXeUG-rs9EvKxSI2JqfYquNk_ky4rmDpZhVhpFlv3jFx_vfzvWTEBz0qq1LTpEBxowEarffXOSFF_gUKJRMhz6yZ6M37JYh1jZ0/s320/DSC_1985.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394060406283414722" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvh8cscDKyGHMb0WFKtWgPlEWBIS75ML-3Tv4cJ1k4OKhpxjORDmet4YUPCYQtIo0DtNHbcw3pYt3wbZmOcdYDHK8gxG_v4QPqwblfq1XjE0_wKaoQJ7WeWA3KaNvK8rYpnNV_7u4jteQ/s1600-h/DSC_1963.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; 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display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBxMvk51HQQET6qQcRi66A579QtBLBjMd2Zzvosg_eG3kPnHB5GoFPGjJvGIF4qATCJHSv6f94DNZPFk-jmGXyNv0a_5f8qEXiL6VgJK1YGHA83YBDRy_-pjHmrOqmGgVmqUzZPRtiAJY/s320/DSC_2004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394059918132585074" border="0" /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-15211822612553238072009-09-14T20:16:00.000-07:002009-09-16T22:08:34.111-07:00i love this day.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHnR9iKJc0GeyAcA0D5ZGnMLN-ICNXMvz7Gu5yOJQkgkgLPYkzsXN_wyp7weDF5unvhFmLkMSm92mXBmo5X6chyphenhyphenOg2mOhiftpha27QwYfMad_1UwiD5eKxLv1HFXHHcvOrgQr4ARedeoQ/s1600-h/DSC_1604.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; 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display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OvIo60BYkJ0GKnHwXUTUBer0jsLI31cX-ftQohscHSqtZ7mnvBa-LX9HT02Yjwbp1GU4XDheD_q_sdytCgHMG9kOl83FdNTJN6tRJQXicUOaAFl4g2eLse05p2Z22YCtSeB-QHaGRJE/s320/DSC_1688.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381529963287215394" border="0" /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-35646193591997014212009-09-14T20:02:00.000-07:002009-09-14T20:13:54.673-07:00europe.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6WKCjHb4ze57Zal5qcO0ub-UrAm6iCB3QniqowxvZREg2baqw5w77jCzMGVRVcRz5oYUVohJeGbVV36nbEKxLdkuKwZNPssycVZuc3jo0OqmqDqkmVDEgVgYHH4fHvXRSbQG7raYyLPw/s1600-h/DSC_0636.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6WKCjHb4ze57Zal5qcO0ub-UrAm6iCB3QniqowxvZREg2baqw5w77jCzMGVRVcRz5oYUVohJeGbVV36nbEKxLdkuKwZNPssycVZuc3jo0OqmqDqkmVDEgVgYHH4fHvXRSbQG7raYyLPw/s320/DSC_0636.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381527111518536994" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmpVXPHsfuvebETeRZAd1PM9S9rA2B5Jv_QC-ch6nFI21SKA55tuQ-jszHmbn9G4dLwj_PbkN7ogMQ-RcIbc93HYy8jbexgO-igRQnbgyPngVtWjJqXxk5GUC7gA21N6TpYPGiZRNbjnc/s1600-h/DSC_1070.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; 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display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 361px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRtIlfe2Fg-R230mLtKcYfgfMBtTSoicVd6jLOgSv9ZObhaHUqz_ABbfR6dXMljyJ_XwALSHDi3pTvlzxuYJDqGQLrSual93gZVq4hyqptSNHuHP5Jw0KfbA6zQC5z9iP-xkqSFeHP30/s320/Recently+Updated.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367098764113946786" border="0" /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-52709012739659531062009-07-30T22:04:00.000-07:002009-07-30T22:44:44.471-07:00santa cruz baby.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2tqXM6Rq1hDucEP8tI9UGx34qsuUOZUqQrtqfFpluJZumDdbNcw42A3-_nDNuzT4iGQqVhtlqna8drDGcD9nfytS6u1XdtD7bbxxLVotUVB_Hwr0_Dhjbso_e5K3js-TEfAvAibuLP8/s1600-h/Noah+and+the+beach1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy2tqXM6Rq1hDucEP8tI9UGx34qsuUOZUqQrtqfFpluJZumDdbNcw42A3-_nDNuzT4iGQqVhtlqna8drDGcD9nfytS6u1XdtD7bbxxLVotUVB_Hwr0_Dhjbso_e5K3js-TEfAvAibuLP8/s320/Noah+and+the+beach1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364496085945433666" border="0" /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-7570752672102302832009-07-28T22:56:00.000-07:002009-07-28T23:01:41.252-07:00summer times.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cMKFWKWeT_Xd3Lh1EK_CAAJvNZzuQb_pVXfyqDX8BZj94bOnCmzsfED9NaJXJ7lAdEgvVsZiBPprS4m0HERZDO6e3VUpemXWMo7AD7N6z6h5k6KOj3BnqJ0DJoJdtGhVRyUFWfnV5mU/s1600-h/Desktop.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 354px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4cMKFWKWeT_Xd3Lh1EK_CAAJvNZzuQb_pVXfyqDX8BZj94bOnCmzsfED9NaJXJ7lAdEgvVsZiBPprS4m0HERZDO6e3VUpemXWMo7AD7N6z6h5k6KOj3BnqJ0DJoJdtGhVRyUFWfnV5mU/s320/Desktop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363757432607651458" border="0" /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-44904677080268898712009-07-16T22:22:00.000-07:002009-07-16T22:42:00.220-07:00flowers.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYi8KTlMxwyccECvhTBcGXsmADGOGgUttCstyt9gimX1_zUMBc7CUsEzECy3LbSI42kYZs87UbWHa8eHQaw8_R_w7G7HQNwmXpSEnTiZoDo8zfCupS1TVz4JFAsIJ_AL3lAMKUdonHks/s1600-h/DSC_0041.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYi8KTlMxwyccECvhTBcGXsmADGOGgUttCstyt9gimX1_zUMBc7CUsEzECy3LbSI42kYZs87UbWHa8eHQaw8_R_w7G7HQNwmXpSEnTiZoDo8zfCupS1TVz4JFAsIJ_AL3lAMKUdonHks/s320/DSC_0041.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359299751372706978" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzX_SjYYncQmN4PV-OAHYzfDmSXnwlDiXIiXRLaF06lPM5DbGMzExbJGM0I0W62SUFznk2m9Q9D1blZrktVvCUlp0ksHissycRa42hwVV-ClN_oD4oHrkry3ESiWGyVH4rt48eMSEC52I/s1600-h/DSC_0074_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 302px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzX_SjYYncQmN4PV-OAHYzfDmSXnwlDiXIiXRLaF06lPM5DbGMzExbJGM0I0W62SUFznk2m9Q9D1blZrktVvCUlp0ksHissycRa42hwVV-ClN_oD4oHrkry3ESiWGyVH4rt48eMSEC52I/s320/DSC_0074_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359299462312025666" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5DiYgByytfNlOCYojNVvl2UWJVIunvuGLyYakoV2RcE0Wrhyphenhyphen1L_EGlLMXuydTHgPvHnWUKK1-kXIYtQ8BcwH33Nq8HenFGf37TwyWdHbR9_FH9h1X2TGZgA3TbjHJoDarKZDotQec-Q/s1600-h/DSC_0047.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5DiYgByytfNlOCYojNVvl2UWJVIunvuGLyYakoV2RcE0Wrhyphenhyphen1L_EGlLMXuydTHgPvHnWUKK1-kXIYtQ8BcwH33Nq8HenFGf37TwyWdHbR9_FH9h1X2TGZgA3TbjHJoDarKZDotQec-Q/s320/DSC_0047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359299151601457922" border="0" /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-34861221180980450922009-07-10T22:29:00.000-07:002009-07-12T16:47:27.621-07:00sunday walk on the beach.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWEeeqhgZH1aXc7AGZnoIJ-luA3UMFdWMHNSbf5zOy8AnLEkYjYhUqiPKrxry0k08uSYWmDZY2ApSLUWztaSiPprwlvmDBq7M7XIvJ3StnalHSojCOxv_qBkKHpJeqJMFqhGeZjVj94YU/s1600-h/DSC_0055.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWEeeqhgZH1aXc7AGZnoIJ-luA3UMFdWMHNSbf5zOy8AnLEkYjYhUqiPKrxry0k08uSYWmDZY2ApSLUWztaSiPprwlvmDBq7M7XIvJ3StnalHSojCOxv_qBkKHpJeqJMFqhGeZjVj94YU/s320/DSC_0055.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357715296909632034" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yOozkEnboJlt7zzQK8phF5t6f0UNvHLZokHYQ8D5x7COZLVu0awHQhIuvfw5JJunwGTn2aVfKFs6oQ7jF8IyMDx1KnZiNul5e74bYZc90ZFRoP-9wzj3y9ktsZCWpPbWLzblfNeZg-8/s1600-h/DSC_0158_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yOozkEnboJlt7zzQK8phF5t6f0UNvHLZokHYQ8D5x7COZLVu0awHQhIuvfw5JJunwGTn2aVfKFs6oQ7jF8IyMDx1KnZiNul5e74bYZc90ZFRoP-9wzj3y9ktsZCWpPbWLzblfNeZg-8/s320/DSC_0158_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357724302786004210" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjHJmzph7nJX6MmAEkQsBtUsQ-nt34UPNWfRJKd9TjUUcf7K1NHOqd8Dte4rZIz0NF6Ex8TvD7_z2sOvrBwgESn5utf5_EvNTEX-DAI5T9LyNqQt1eDNRnO_3CNtnPU1FV46UnGdHghw/s1600-h/DSC_0040.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOjHJmzph7nJX6MmAEkQsBtUsQ-nt34UPNWfRJKd9TjUUcf7K1NHOqd8Dte4rZIz0NF6Ex8TvD7_z2sOvrBwgESn5utf5_EvNTEX-DAI5T9LyNqQt1eDNRnO_3CNtnPU1FV46UnGdHghw/s320/DSC_0040.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357719746862056162" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaMZRvI1P9dlHIgiQLYiUi00nIa5mMTAUVqDio5aFmv8gGiccf-e5u63xJaXpMkqE617IToBCWy9QiyED-XRRb4P5n-lvdjylekCrBjIhrx5SKtA4TqWXxHKYWuX09qQybx-WWrcfnBc/s1600-h/DSC_0005.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJaMZRvI1P9dlHIgiQLYiUi00nIa5mMTAUVqDio5aFmv8gGiccf-e5u63xJaXpMkqE617IToBCWy9QiyED-XRRb4P5n-lvdjylekCrBjIhrx5SKtA4TqWXxHKYWuX09qQybx-WWrcfnBc/s320/DSC_0005.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357714433235081506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCGxYjAU_NpOIRV0dHORA1Qxg9gMlsAE7N9hTlr-ustAe46NC2WTh5iU8HPd0KylNG72SbahH8JJamxU6bUN7tWiMIEb02seSKyusQd_NHT3-Ch7Gvi4vhhyaf7vyBgjkzvqztt7seFHE/s1600-h/DSC_0105.JPG"><br /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-3016310935905674132009-07-10T21:52:00.000-07:002009-07-11T17:45:17.423-07:00my swing.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraSZbIZQbiHeN3rZDuldKQfeECSWdeRnrkj8BzEhFcSs2QG9_N1OgJS-ZfcbMqIr1yH0wSgE6lspcJvKQ4S0HomZKVOWmj_KJUbHNvDf2ebcaszrhcYbjSyq9fZ_iFeI9cu9LVSKFxaU/s1600-h/DSC_0082.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 244px; height: 366px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiraSZbIZQbiHeN3rZDuldKQfeECSWdeRnrkj8BzEhFcSs2QG9_N1OgJS-ZfcbMqIr1yH0wSgE6lspcJvKQ4S0HomZKVOWmj_KJUbHNvDf2ebcaszrhcYbjSyq9fZ_iFeI9cu9LVSKFxaU/s320/DSC_0082.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357063114859686930" border="0" /></a><br />I would like to call it my swing, but over the years it has become our swing(meaning I had to share). The swing came to be all because 15+ years ago, we went to visit my Grandparents in Camarillo, CA and I said to my Grandpa, something like, "There is nothing to do here." He took that to heart and built me a swing. The swing still stands, and the grandchildren enjoy it to this day. My Grandpa who has since passed, was one who treated his grandchildren like kings and Queens. I know he loved and still loves us very much and this swing will forever remind me of him, and the many memories I remember with one of the coolest guys i've ever known.Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-83313934927716036152009-07-06T17:49:00.001-07:002009-07-10T22:26:07.453-07:00my family and the 4th.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfeiwv-KUDhUEYlHrt3YdM6SOxPEXfE6twGkZuJufCw7luWpsxKj0IkW7KO8pWd_mjvkRwl5N9rmALiVJq0pq0zkNseTiqiLTDHjg9hR3kzCczDd0cwPcnx8vTit0H4euLV4IjvgeYj68/s1600-h/DSC_0325.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfeiwv-KUDhUEYlHrt3YdM6SOxPEXfE6twGkZuJufCw7luWpsxKj0IkW7KO8pWd_mjvkRwl5N9rmALiVJq0pq0zkNseTiqiLTDHjg9hR3kzCczDd0cwPcnx8vTit0H4euLV4IjvgeYj68/s320/DSC_0325.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355788153625361554" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj527v5GQmK5pqA_KLEVHlN5oJRanSa66WEyxvv5OY1hBxGioofMvSwTnwrgKcC03InEGHfzyDvyEjbHVqIFLmZiHBCmeNNwpbIMAxS49D54xF8esqTKrn2ooV9kErB7Lv1GKSxLanvYvs/s1600-h/DSC_0335.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj527v5GQmK5pqA_KLEVHlN5oJRanSa66WEyxvv5OY1hBxGioofMvSwTnwrgKcC03InEGHfzyDvyEjbHVqIFLmZiHBCmeNNwpbIMAxS49D54xF8esqTKrn2ooV9kErB7Lv1GKSxLanvYvs/s320/DSC_0335.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355788009741438626" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRtjNhLvFUFJLqQu99HjP-Eckf0qpREmb0-CB-VUP9WXde_GJI1t1YpKSGmXiRTTpC7tUPj4ze1Nk5uJnBPsMsWWBZZB2kDZ62T6I9c-n8taXyl9NOMvQ1pdZ_Cr-sodkrEhQyNOvF1bE/s1600-h/DSC_0107.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRtjNhLvFUFJLqQu99HjP-Eckf0qpREmb0-CB-VUP9WXde_GJI1t1YpKSGmXiRTTpC7tUPj4ze1Nk5uJnBPsMsWWBZZB2kDZ62T6I9c-n8taXyl9NOMvQ1pdZ_Cr-sodkrEhQyNOvF1bE/s320/DSC_0107.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355787564518516114" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZnFibliXLQyU9ko-Oq5WKXNMmTZFv0AmSSnd9QBQJ9gmt7_G6Slp0jcBGYu0nm7lSlMU0xQHnSocEYIrC7cYy3Wnc7oguz4T8r3RzZg448G1UUJKtzB2OFeObnrjT9LwPArxKAV6IaQ/s1600-h/CSC_0038.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZnFibliXLQyU9ko-Oq5WKXNMmTZFv0AmSSnd9QBQJ9gmt7_G6Slp0jcBGYu0nm7lSlMU0xQHnSocEYIrC7cYy3Wnc7oguz4T8r3RzZg448G1UUJKtzB2OFeObnrjT9LwPArxKAV6IaQ/s320/CSC_0038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355787192714558834" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJx460cZT2Y7l2g2clKj0EBSTzE_HcxHjhEX0aeLaRenOep3v60NCMnG4ZG7TetfQkMsMiZ-qN7gqhDQyvMq9xtvsiBD6UwxfdiW1RGHHuVeW7SJMwQrckKdvgWkV66t5Y1Bvq2Poybc/s1600-h/CSC_0042.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJx460cZT2Y7l2g2clKj0EBSTzE_HcxHjhEX0aeLaRenOep3v60NCMnG4ZG7TetfQkMsMiZ-qN7gqhDQyvMq9xtvsiBD6UwxfdiW1RGHHuVeW7SJMwQrckKdvgWkV66t5Y1Bvq2Poybc/s320/CSC_0042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355787071049979106" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9uLUI6AY-6wWtaN8mibkD2HT2y5xRBetcUaqgv4vDNlIRidbRFZjm93YS23EywwI0pv6IOmy1AO766GU1OnQgouuCXCNejlPZTih5dwza82MRx5Ees-EVnhoIM875tT7xbwAPoRFAFJk/s1600-h/CSC_0142.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9uLUI6AY-6wWtaN8mibkD2HT2y5xRBetcUaqgv4vDNlIRidbRFZjm93YS23EywwI0pv6IOmy1AO766GU1OnQgouuCXCNejlPZTih5dwza82MRx5Ees-EVnhoIM875tT7xbwAPoRFAFJk/s320/CSC_0142.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355786966580643874" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi39weMM0sZK9gwm_0gJi_bGhReLlva3Tl8OcEDYOKV3sy4fcaOllbOPQWnORGo0_S29f4_3PD3Iy9bFuSTKDs-WhQyG2xgG3x56QoyQihGH2NIM9FGn-gyPWScElugZS408_HUCLcjVrM/s1600-h/CSC_0038.JPG"><br /></a>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-57889623708343993022009-04-18T11:45:00.000-07:002009-04-20T12:40:06.723-07:00Love<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdMHusnnbLzJoyGIlNnb0RlMuJmjeE7y4cQjSL3DGQmvuuuGxaJJ30XsaUSK4HJa6DUW-DAAlCc-IhqDA1xf5zGb3x_-YmCZMfIFoRO-goA_Tg18ymAYX0o55uFihvzyxBK1OmoVmo6Mw/s1600-h/DSC03038.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdMHusnnbLzJoyGIlNnb0RlMuJmjeE7y4cQjSL3DGQmvuuuGxaJJ30XsaUSK4HJa6DUW-DAAlCc-IhqDA1xf5zGb3x_-YmCZMfIFoRO-goA_Tg18ymAYX0o55uFihvzyxBK1OmoVmo6Mw/s320/DSC03038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326860660919023170" border="0" /></a><br />As my time here in the Holy Land wraps up the one word that rings in my mind is Love. The love i've found in both the people of the Holy Land, the people I live with and the one who I love most, my Savior Jesus Christ. The Palestinian people never cease to amaze me. They will forever serve as an example to me of caring and loving people with an incredible love for family. Last week on Easter Sunday, I met the most incredible women. When I met her outside the Garden Tomb I knew there was something special about her. She is an artist from Sweden and she showed us her book. She has had a very interesting life, one that will forever serve as an example to me. After being abandoned by her husband she lived a life always looking out for those around her. Giving aid to those in need that she didn't even know. She was once a Chrsitian, came to Israel and converted to Judaism and is now Christian again. She invited us to her home and I think I found the house I want to live in later in life. It is perfect, and also serves as a bread and breakfast. There is so much I could say about this incredible woman's life. I will never forget her and the light she shines through her self-less life and beautiful art. She will forever be an inspiration to me.<br /><br />Tonight we participated in a program simulating the Triclinium Last Supper dinner. It was set out in front of us as we read through John's Gospel. After the program I was thinking as I looked out over the Old City at night and tried to picture Christ's journey from Galilee here to Jerusalem. Even in the midst of betrayal, he showed love. On my way to the Garden of Gethsemane one of the little girls i've gotten to know recognized me and came running toward me, I turned around and she ran right into my arms. I picture the children doing just that to the Savior.<br /><br />My time here has most definitely been well spent. I've learned some of the most important lessons here in Jerusalem- political, social and religous. I will never forget the time I've spent here and the impression Jerusalem has made on me. I believe this program and Jerusalem itself has given me a foundation stronger than I ever though I could have on which I am so excited to build my future on. Thank you Mom and Dad for allowing me to have this unforgettable experience.Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-9075336996512006682009-04-11T11:00:00.000-07:002009-04-12T06:32:21.721-07:00Jerusalem on Good FridayI woke up Friday morning like any other day and it didn't really sink in that it was Good Friday until...I sat in New Testament class reading the end of Luke which talks about Jesus's trial before Pilate and the last days of his life. Tamarra raised her hand and said something like, "...wait, wasn't this happening right now." We all stopped and looked at the clock. It was almost 9:00am the time at which Jesus would have stood before Pilate. At 12:00pm he would have been put upon the cross and at 6:00pm taken down. We stopped our class and sang a few hymns in remembrance of Christ. As we sang I looked out the window imagining Christ carrying his cross through those streets, it became more real and even more heartbreaking.<br /><br />After class we arrived at the gate of the Old City in hopes of seeing some of the processions taking place. We missed most of it, but as I was walking toward the main street in the Christian corridor I couldn't help but think these are the streets he walked carrying his cross around this time many years ago. It is unbelievable to think about...as we stopped at the main road the Women's Procession was taking place and a small group of women were carrying a big wooden cross that must have been heavy as it seemed to weigh them down. That has so much meaning alone...sometimes our crosses are too heavy to carry but because the Savior carried his cross and suffered we have him to count on when our crosses become too heavy. We made our way to the Holy Seplechure and that was where the masses of people were. People of many different faiths all gathering to commemerate the saddest moments in the history of the world.<br /><br />Never before have I learned and focused so much on the crucifixion as I have always been taught to focus on the fact that he is RISEN. And I do believe that is incredibly important. However, never has all that he suffered been so real to me before. I think the understanding of what he went through has helped me to have even more love for my Savior. I did not know this before but Christ did not only suffer for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane but again on the cross. He reached the lowest of lows as the Father withdrew from him and he experienced what it was truly like to be alone. He did that for us so he would know what it felt like to be completely alone, to not only suffer physical death but spiritual as well. This makes me even more grateful for the Savior of the world and all that he did for me and for everyone. Tomorrow is Easter sunday and I am so grateful to be able to attend sunrise service and services throughout the Holy Land commemorating the fact that He is Risen and He Lives.Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-68112015184113794662009-04-04T07:43:00.000-07:002009-04-04T11:49:45.419-07:00Along the Shores of Galilee<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4N_bEXuvYOQwFXBRm5ToS3ad2ho2R5wm2UaIxiOO0UWihSak1nz-Z3zr2SS0GLwYfH5AfdOuinFCKCNVBMgitDkcr3p1Mmjs3OR2drnZR8m_W8Ym8hfrsV07yn1V6sjufVCOO90PlZ3A/s1600-h/DSC02069_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4N_bEXuvYOQwFXBRm5ToS3ad2ho2R5wm2UaIxiOO0UWihSak1nz-Z3zr2SS0GLwYfH5AfdOuinFCKCNVBMgitDkcr3p1Mmjs3OR2drnZR8m_W8Ym8hfrsV07yn1V6sjufVCOO90PlZ3A/s320/DSC02069_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320851062452107026" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWfVU-raoS2pi6YD0isLQOZZv-FntAPqsPGq8l03XYNgZapS6LRgNNno6ARkJQKIBx5Gex6xb-LjcxLV2jZuKW8tdvFa57adP6ZbdtmO0aKfAxSIFci79yvdauYVtXe8XRc13Mr2hiFI/s1600-h/IMG_8327.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWfVU-raoS2pi6YD0isLQOZZv-FntAPqsPGq8l03XYNgZapS6LRgNNno6ARkJQKIBx5Gex6xb-LjcxLV2jZuKW8tdvFa57adP6ZbdtmO0aKfAxSIFci79yvdauYVtXe8XRc13Mr2hiFI/s320/IMG_8327.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320906055144764146" border="0" /></a><br />The 10 days I spent on the shores of Galilee, I will remember forever. I have never learned so much about myself and about the Savior of the world before. We had New Testament class while we were there and many of our classes were held on the beach. Let me tell you, it doesn't get much better school wise than having class on the beach, let alone the beaches of Galilee. Every other day we would go on a field trip. We went to Capernaum where Matthew is from and where the Savior performed many of the his miracles. We stood in the Synagogue where Christ raised Jairus's daughter from the dead and also in front of the house they believe was once Peter's. In Nazareth we also visited a synagogue and read about the Savior's life there. Mt. Tibor was inredibly beautiful. President Kimball believed that Mt. Tibor is the place where the Mt. of Transfiguration took place but Mt. Hermon is where teh Bible Dicionary says it happened. We went to a fish restaurant where they serve you a whole fish with the eyes and bones...everything. I thought it was pretty good fish not the best i've had but i've never eaten a fish whole like that before.<br /><br />We went to church at the branch in Tiberias. They have a small little house overlooking the sea that is beautiful, words don't quite describe the view. We held our church serivce there and I think that might be one of my favorite Sacrament meetings I have ever had. When you have church with about 40 people who you are so close to it is a really amazing. I think i've had Sacramet meeting in two of the most beautiful and important places in the world--Overlooking Galilee where the Savior grew up and overlooking Jerusalem where he finished his ministry and suffered and died for each one of us.<br /><br />I visited many significant places throughout the Old and New Testament but the highlight of my Galilee experience was the time I spent on the beach by myself with my scriptures and my Journal. This was the first time in my life when I allowed myself the time to put aside everything that busies my life and read/write. I learned so much about the Savior as well as myself. I have never felt so much love for the Savior. His life is full of lessons I need to learn from and continue to apply to my life. His compassion, his selflessness his unwavering love. I think the most incredible thing I realized and have a hard time wrapping my mind around is the fact that the Savior gave everything and was given very little in return. He is the son of the creator of the world yet there was no room for him in the Inn-there is so much Irony in the Savior's life. This makes me want to serve him in every way that I can knowing that I am forever in debt. I hope to remember these crucial attributes throughout my life when I become immersed in normal life again. It is hard to keep this perspective when you are not constantly reminded of what is most important and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope that I will be able to reflect on these experiences and things I've learned as I live my life. I know Christ lives and he knows me better than anyone in the world; and he is the reason I am here and can live my life in such a way as to return to him someday.<br /><br />An observation I had while I was in Galilee was the sense of peace that is there. It is a different feeling than here in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a land in the center of so much conflict and for that reason there is more stress and tension here. Galilee is incredibly peaceful. I believe Jesus's heart was tied to Galilee, the land in which he grew up and after spending time there, I see why. The beauty and peace that is there is unlike anywhere I've every been before. I will be forever grateful for the time I spent at the Sea of Galilee, Jesus's home. I hope that I can return there someday.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsZNucaJ-MtrgxB7KlKEKM_tpgpMBDzQMlyB4UKuWUerAEBOmdVJ3Jdu7Ngc07zxKKWH0vMk1pbRF9RxEUirKR_tUOVTCzJ0AQiwsfkAAtv2OVll5G4BTL3UZdtl2dVlz25lVJLoUWyI/s1600-h/DSC02298.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtsZNucaJ-MtrgxB7KlKEKM_tpgpMBDzQMlyB4UKuWUerAEBOmdVJ3Jdu7Ngc07zxKKWH0vMk1pbRF9RxEUirKR_tUOVTCzJ0AQiwsfkAAtv2OVll5G4BTL3UZdtl2dVlz25lVJLoUWyI/s320/DSC02298.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320849988230261298" border="0" /></a>This is at the Church on top of Mount Tibor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxM_Lrdo75wrMNaJ2Ko6rbu7tiAHYonoGYI5FZuxTVJyMv4mt1XiDoRWQA2DG2Bq1tgf1Ei_z-WzZQOCpBAHkryr3kJqz9px_pz0Biclix8e_VhghXMq_7_RKvNPg3By3QbxHC9yXEsRs/s1600-h/DSC02300.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxM_Lrdo75wrMNaJ2Ko6rbu7tiAHYonoGYI5FZuxTVJyMv4mt1XiDoRWQA2DG2Bq1tgf1Ei_z-WzZQOCpBAHkryr3kJqz9px_pz0Biclix8e_VhghXMq_7_RKvNPg3By3QbxHC9yXEsRs/s320/DSC02300.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320908269408300050" border="0" /></a>Me on top of Mt. Tibor<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGZi06oI8UqltYi3Je98BPsbKx48ZosyufTusU7wxs4v1dX9FvtM5XQFlXYTRHIGKo2IBYdTdm8cpLGvS9f0moLWmj36LWEja1N_91MA18h9HTuvBE_oyZk341wd8P3R5WQt_g02CPtQ/s1600-h/DSC02022.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGZi06oI8UqltYi3Je98BPsbKx48ZosyufTusU7wxs4v1dX9FvtM5XQFlXYTRHIGKo2IBYdTdm8cpLGvS9f0moLWmj36LWEja1N_91MA18h9HTuvBE_oyZk341wd8P3R5WQt_g02CPtQ/s320/DSC02022.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320851977310868930" border="0" /></a>Lauren, Chelsea and I at Capernaum a town where Jesus spent much of his ministry and performed miracles.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPd7PKJ-Z0A1LUT7onHkDOfB_tAYe_qGPTy_pyDsk_tvxnYWhRNBXW-e9bYT1u5dRGaUSthf7IrK660aC6rTdw45A28YE9AmhVKQ0FHeV6WS41hOGVoktmCYtZWVXYi7PGHmr7HJFH7pU/s1600-h/DSC02196.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPd7PKJ-Z0A1LUT7onHkDOfB_tAYe_qGPTy_pyDsk_tvxnYWhRNBXW-e9bYT1u5dRGaUSthf7IrK660aC6rTdw45A28YE9AmhVKQ0FHeV6WS41hOGVoktmCYtZWVXYi7PGHmr7HJFH7pU/s320/DSC02196.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320899545738314722" border="0" /></a>This was the view off the balcony of the church in Tiberias...Tamarra and Lauren, I love them so much:)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SfdwWr-LlNtlcP8KTIs-x9Ny0CzfYHkPRyxZNFP7NSlQRQntOUXoHJJyn-Ql1WzIRjTkmsWYQPqWs9slw71N-vCQOCIjly-s5EXcgxEe06Wp6955NVISIHaOANxcSbXMTyDkI0oJUxQ/s1600-h/IMG_8415.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SfdwWr-LlNtlcP8KTIs-x9Ny0CzfYHkPRyxZNFP7NSlQRQntOUXoHJJyn-Ql1WzIRjTkmsWYQPqWs9slw71N-vCQOCIjly-s5EXcgxEe06Wp6955NVISIHaOANxcSbXMTyDkI0oJUxQ/s320/IMG_8415.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320907046207424306" border="0" /></a>We went to a fish restaurant that serves you the entire fish--eyeballs included. I thought it was pretty good though!<br /></div>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-13626760398134619552009-03-20T10:05:00.000-07:002009-03-21T13:17:37.749-07:00I am back!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGl3bbroFRIRKvqL2_R4_TDOK4eswEBkvWGK9FDjclgEzBU_4STCnraTkOac7DaE2k6rutmAMqP27bPtjcoHOyuW2mvOE14fvbun9VVh2UyFDLhjfzoNf8_pAQKbjB4xyVi4zoR5dctVc/s1600-h/DSC01298_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGl3bbroFRIRKvqL2_R4_TDOK4eswEBkvWGK9FDjclgEzBU_4STCnraTkOac7DaE2k6rutmAMqP27bPtjcoHOyuW2mvOE14fvbun9VVh2UyFDLhjfzoNf8_pAQKbjB4xyVi4zoR5dctVc/s320/DSC01298_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315736863785518290" border="0" /></a>So it has been a marathon of finals and I have been insanely busy studying and playing...lots to catch up on! This is on the beaches of Tel-Aviv! I love Tel-Aviv so much, it is very much like a European resort beach town. It felt so good to be on the beach:)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCj3cex66vMk40AavWx4lwyOz9vg4nDegJjct9gaQTjoRqDUQsvwbmLWgfSaQoSZbiNZfDsgzBT6ueW9fTnAFMj9O8PF23-0yvabfZjaqboJEnelKGIgQ61LfERWH4Fykyxd25THBjrS0/s1600-h/DSC01484.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCj3cex66vMk40AavWx4lwyOz9vg4nDegJjct9gaQTjoRqDUQsvwbmLWgfSaQoSZbiNZfDsgzBT6ueW9fTnAFMj9O8PF23-0yvabfZjaqboJEnelKGIgQ61LfERWH4Fykyxd25THBjrS0/s320/DSC01484.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315726218708902210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Purim Festivities~A night to Remember<br /><br />Last week was a major Jewish holiday and the last night is an all out party! We dressed up- went and I think that is one of the first times when we actually fit in! Purim on Benehuda Street is quite the sight to see. Silly string, poppers, horns, drunk people, men with Kippas dancing everywhere haha! Anyways it was definitely a highlight:)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGotpOQZsKigDqEn-RlC5Zv2k-vzRwQl2l9UOBHHbRwQLPzO-HdiXQy44aU_UN7YIDdEusfcSCOJT6sxLs8WN_IJizAMyqMvgx3b7Ou5TWpmHBjS1OHw-6ToEYUmT02h8oHZmqwyX8UCo/s1600-h/DSC01648.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGotpOQZsKigDqEn-RlC5Zv2k-vzRwQl2l9UOBHHbRwQLPzO-HdiXQy44aU_UN7YIDdEusfcSCOJT6sxLs8WN_IJizAMyqMvgx3b7Ou5TWpmHBjS1OHw-6ToEYUmT02h8oHZmqwyX8UCo/s320/DSC01648.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315733378474448914" border="0" /></a><br />Bethlehem~Shepherd's Field<br /><br />I loved Bethlehem. We went to the Church of the Nativity to the place which is believed to be where Christ was born. Apparently, this is the one place believed to be the true spot where the event happened. As the atonement and the Resurrection are somewhat guesses....they say this is the most accurate. We also visited Bethlehem University where we received a lecture and mingled with the students a little bit. Bethlehem University is Christian and Muslim. It felt a lot like a High School to be honest because it was pretty small. But it is a really nice school and it is cool to see two very different groups of people working and learning together. Shepherd's field was a great experience. At Sunset we went to Shepherd's field and read through the story of Christ's birth in the book of Luke. As we were sitting on the hill looking out over Bethlehem there was a twinkling star directly over the Church of the Nativity...quite poetic as our New Testament teacher put it:) I think sometimes it is hard for my mind to comprehend how unbelievable these experiences are. Sometimes it hits me and sometimes it doesn't.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6G35MZGtsTa851e3q2uvkfSvYxKl-Tmr8RTUvhlq7fCk6NbwpQfNlJQfdZ_fkGwt448R4NOAtCySupQmcuWmsMvHJYCLbcisQGm1np7aYF7bsM8hq19pxT8yK3uw0GWI3AKck-45sMXU/s1600-h/DSC01528.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6G35MZGtsTa851e3q2uvkfSvYxKl-Tmr8RTUvhlq7fCk6NbwpQfNlJQfdZ_fkGwt448R4NOAtCySupQmcuWmsMvHJYCLbcisQGm1np7aYF7bsM8hq19pxT8yK3uw0GWI3AKck-45sMXU/s320/DSC01528.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315724145852088498" border="0" /></a><br />Lately the Palestinian Israeli conflict has dominated much of our conversation and comes up in almost every aspect of our lives here. We visited the Separation wall with a journalist and it was really interesting. Visiting the wall opened my eyes to how devastating the situation is here in Israel. People's lives are incredibly impaired and it is hard to believe how much Palestinians go through just to get to work, if they work in Israel. All the checkpoints and searches they have to deal with make their drive to work sometimes 2-3 hours. Our Modern Near East Professor who teaches us Palestinian history is from Bethlehem and we have had multiple classes canceled due to his inability to get through the checkpoints. There is really no lesson better on the Palestinian conflict than that. Also, a woman who comes to church here from Bethlehem was not able to come across the border for about 6 months and therefore was unable to go to church. She is an amazing woman with an unbelievable attitude in her situation. With a family who completely disapproves of her religion and a separation wall with checkpoints that prohibit her from going to church it would be very difficult to stay faithful and not give up. This woman is an unbelievable example to me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sA7fRKGuYerswJvb-xDW6mmkftPhfL58iCn2Ff3oNK4fm9zhQS0Z-l3eJ3exYtl3DQ-AD13dof36E-Gp3p4qTJ5deJx4JepixC91Bz46v2p9vBPvMMv61NTaXB3tSjWmWyYldRSct1s/s1600-h/DSC01683_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sA7fRKGuYerswJvb-xDW6mmkftPhfL58iCn2Ff3oNK4fm9zhQS0Z-l3eJ3exYtl3DQ-AD13dof36E-Gp3p4qTJ5deJx4JepixC91Bz46v2p9vBPvMMv61NTaXB3tSjWmWyYldRSct1s/s320/DSC01683_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315734994996222498" border="0" /></a>In these past few weeks studying has been so overwhelming I found myself during my study breaks visiting the Palestinian friends i've made in the past few weeks...and making more. I love these people so much. It is going to be hard to leave for many reasons, but I think one of the hardest things will be leaving these people i've developed such a special connection with. The kids are so sweet and so helpful in their homes. One of the woman I've currently gotten to know and speaks pretty good english. It was so great to be able to communicate and have a full discussion. I mentioned how sad I was that I hadn't reached out to the people sooner in the program. She agreed with me and we talked about how incredibly distorted people from the outside world have of the Palestinians in general, when in fact the people all around here are incredibly sweet and loving. This woman actually had a friend at the Jerusalem Center 10 years ago when she was young and they would go out at night together and go do things in the Old City. She lost contact wiht her after 4 years and she was really excited to meet some more people from the Center. Today we went and cooked lunch with one of our friends and let me tell you homemade Arabic food is go-hood!<br /><br />I am doing great and heading off to Galilee for about 2 weeks, so I will have lots to tell when I get back. Miss you all and hope all is well:)Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-52156026936536384982009-03-05T10:49:00.000-08:002009-03-06T11:15:00.469-08:00Walking the streets of JordanI went to Jordan this past week and experienced yet another gem of the middle east. It is really amazing to me how Egypt, Israel and Jordan all have a very different feel to them. The Jordanian people are great people. I really enjoyed talking to them and seeing the type of lifestyles these people lead. Jordan was surprisingly very westernized...we went to Mecca Mall. It was pretty cool, HUGE but sort of felt like any other mall.<br /><br />On our way to Petra we stopped at Mount Nebo where Moses is said to have stood an<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYedMjU-dtAydI6-f6nJEcLIS4-KUZPUBsZx8OBMqlfpNvMMQcTH5dOddUMqgHqZY20HacxJhbPELwGeMwBcAI-mkIf4GreUxpq53pDanS1DWIQjjISXaue9YTl1XyPf6D8-mHbgg-AH4/s1600-h/DSC00895.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYedMjU-dtAydI6-f6nJEcLIS4-KUZPUBsZx8OBMqlfpNvMMQcTH5dOddUMqgHqZY20HacxJhbPELwGeMwBcAI-mkIf4GreUxpq53pDanS1DWIQjjISXaue9YTl1XyPf6D8-mHbgg-AH4/s320/DSC00895.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310139757755568818" border="0" /></a>d pointed out the promised land to the Children of Israel. Also, it is where they said Moses was buried or possibly 'translated.' After Mount Nebo we went to Maddaba and visited the St. Georges Mosaic Map Church. Only parts of the mosaic were left, nevertheless it was beautiful.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXWBmb2KICMJXGTX0qEeJAU2NtjiIlseCZ8l7hME6e7IvKpmHANuRMsV9pQhWhw6qlQDtqoLpFCWhbIRFiUH89AwMRll0c1MlQXuQ_tHwN6UhvCePdY_C3rZL7b4t8B9Emb0xpQhyphenhyphenhDk/s1600-h/DSC01042.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXWBmb2KICMJXGTX0qEeJAU2NtjiIlseCZ8l7hME6e7IvKpmHANuRMsV9pQhWhw6qlQDtqoLpFCWhbIRFiUH89AwMRll0c1MlQXuQ_tHwN6UhvCePdY_C3rZL7b4t8B9Emb0xpQhyphenhyphenhDk/s320/DSC01042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309780918089442386" border="0" /></a>The first highlight was Petra...Indiana Jones Baby! It was so amazing...walking the trail with rocks in orange and red shades towering above your head with a small glimmer of light shinning in through the top is such a cool feeling. The fact that it is all natural is so mind boggling to me. Also, the fact that these people just looked at the rocks and said, lets build a monastery in that thing..seriously so cool! Anyways, it was also really interesting to see how the bedouins live, and try to sell you their dirtied up jewelry! There is a beautiful monastery with a great lookout point to you have to either hike up to or you can ride the donkeys. These donkeys are pretty crazy, but Tamarra and I decided to go for it. It was so much fun haha! We made it to the top except Jack(my donkey) had a little bit of trouble with his footing, I was worried a few ti<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNWiIi9EHsIm10lJNVAlDHSdKHdo700m8PcWGCpjrkWyudjvHv-LIuj1sMAgkRdYm7BZhSmJnoKlMgyV2tFr7uPRC6H7Nb7LYgjOlmz_WI95yYMa6Ts5EIk9sQ_o7pNipbJXcYkqELjA/s1600-h/DSC01022.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNWiIi9EHsIm10lJNVAlDHSdKHdo700m8PcWGCpjrkWyudjvHv-LIuj1sMAgkRdYm7BZhSmJnoKlMgyV2tFr7uPRC6H7Nb7LYgjOlmz_WI95yYMa6Ts5EIk9sQ_o7pNipbJXcYkqELjA/s320/DSC01022.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310151429349818978" border="0" /></a>mes but we made it.<br /><br />After Petra we made our way to Ammon, this was a more westernized area. We went to Jarash, the Jabbok River and the River Jordan. Jabbok is the river where in Genesis it talks about Jacob wrestling with God...where he sees him face to face, and his name is changed to Israel. It was the most beautiful and peaceful overlook. Jarash was awesome as well...the Roman ruins are unbelievable. We sat in the one of the theaters that seat hundreds of people and enjoyed a band of retired Army Generals on drums and bag pipes. In Ammon we were able to visit the Branch building in Jordan. The Branch president spoke to us for a bit and it was really interesting. He works in the intelligence sector of the army and has some sweet stories. The one thing that stuck with me about the whol<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xigmUvpf7V254DojuWw0dOaVAdmLf2MSWB0UWRUhtEzz8wGw4oa-By6MXPPJU7ipsasLkpjPj8gSpF7Rtrpac4U5i7zNMIq9A_swDgb2N5hyphenhyphen4XrbbOc5Zn0yN_qJrqIwxQzNqV9wc1o/s1600-h/DSC01149.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xigmUvpf7V254DojuWw0dOaVAdmLf2MSWB0UWRUhtEzz8wGw4oa-By6MXPPJU7ipsasLkpjPj8gSpF7Rtrpac4U5i7zNMIq9A_swDgb2N5hyphenhyphen4XrbbOc5Zn0yN_qJrqIwxQzNqV9wc1o/s320/DSC01149.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310147762874983682" border="0" /></a>e thing is how much he stressed is how the middle east needs the Gospel. They don't know it yet, but they do and someday they will accept it. People here are curious. He had some really interesting stories. Even though there is such a small representation of the church there today and they aren't even recognized as a church I do believe that someday the church in Jordan will have quite a presence.<br /><br />Our last day in Ammon we visited the Mosque of the Martyr King Abdullah Bin Al-Hussein where all the girls had to wear black cloaks. It was pretty creepy I must say, I felt a little like we were in Harry Potter haha. In the mosque our guide talked a lot about the Muslim faith and gave us a demonstration on how they pray. Some things really stuck out to me regarding the Islamc faith I was unaware of before. First of all there were a lot of similarities to the LDS faith that were highlighted. Most of all the focus Muslims have on family. Also, the fact they do not drink alchohol and keep the Sabbath Day Holy. Another fact that I found interesting was a question that was raised about what a Jihad is. It is a Holy War, however I have been taught or under the impression of in the US that a Holy War is militant. However, the true definition of a Jihad is the inner struggle between oneself and Satan.<br /><br />After visiting hte mosque we went to the Citadel which had a museum that contained original portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls(copper). I wasn't aware of this but one of our professors Dr. Skinner was on the international team for translating protions of the Dead Sea Scrolls.(Leviticus) Something he said that stuck with me is the Joseph Smith Tranlsation of the Bible is actually closer to the actual translation of portionos of the Dead Sea Scrolls than our actual King James version of the Bible.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMPeaNw54y5MCEBWlSTw9TxLJ7sOQn1gyJ4tiUJGc1OWeR4engQjCc5Hsq6p_V0FW1x9zEwkLJBmFYU7Im1QIpUtzm2kKfhAEn0Q-C4zGrm6UozSBHf1BbkPLv341ea3NCPxzZtL3OCVw/s1600-h/DSC01254.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMPeaNw54y5MCEBWlSTw9TxLJ7sOQn1gyJ4tiUJGc1OWeR4engQjCc5Hsq6p_V0FW1x9zEwkLJBmFYU7Im1QIpUtzm2kKfhAEn0Q-C4zGrm6UozSBHf1BbkPLv341ea3NCPxzZtL3OCVw/s320/DSC01254.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310148339973999458" border="0" /></a><br />I would say a highlight of the trip was our visit to the River Jordan. We walked a long beautiful path to the spot believed to be where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Today it is only a small pond of water because the river has changed its course over the years. We continued walking and ended up at the banks fo the River Jordan. Peaceful, simple, beautiful is what the River Jordan is to me. One of our professors talked to us about John the Baptist and his important role in Christ's life as we were sitting on the banks of the Jordan River. Something I never realized before was that John the Baptist was so highly thought of among the people he knew that He must decrease and Jesus must Increase. It must have taken great humility on his part to present Jesus to the people and baptize him in the River Jordan. How willing are we to lay the groundwork and then step back. I think John the Baptist can serve as an excellent example to us. I had never realized this before but I feel my understanding of John the Baptist's important role in Christ's life is so much more real to me.Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-61881359230487250622009-02-28T07:46:00.000-08:002009-02-28T10:08:32.257-08:00right outside our doorstep...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-noFKyV9s4bqH-UXVrOOL8guUKbfaDhpzJtwG9oNjAqQwsUiEGvXCdrUKsIf7y1PoM2pNr-O8rbHaDH3r0jZ8rDRMMShTxA8fZqG2KhjALT_QbwfqGelC2NxB1R0BthkKPfCJoKHk3H0/s1600-h/DSC00805_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-noFKyV9s4bqH-UXVrOOL8guUKbfaDhpzJtwG9oNjAqQwsUiEGvXCdrUKsIf7y1PoM2pNr-O8rbHaDH3r0jZ8rDRMMShTxA8fZqG2KhjALT_QbwfqGelC2NxB1R0BthkKPfCJoKHk3H0/s320/DSC00805_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307901614805118754" border="0" /></a><br />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!<br /><br />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.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqfvQDU7lcFX0aEZi7Ld6zhbUwMKzCzkxi-ytZrgt5S92eq_nVjNzXQh8uH5MARxI3ktjiBApeY9_bED2vgBJz-riK_kFGprrtsQsIDJoNhd5ScT7LoRbg_I7rLDD3FtRfTHbHCqtMyeg/s1600-h/DSC00864.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqfvQDU7lcFX0aEZi7Ld6zhbUwMKzCzkxi-ytZrgt5S92eq_nVjNzXQh8uH5MARxI3ktjiBApeY9_bED2vgBJz-riK_kFGprrtsQsIDJoNhd5ScT7LoRbg_I7rLDD3FtRfTHbHCqtMyeg/s320/DSC00864.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307902391603097058" border="0" /></a><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />So I did a lot more stuff this week but that was all I wanted to write about haha...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB0CVRnK_xZUN2GITb8CwNMax-3TcKEPud9On9FXUsS57egi45uTo4hyphenhyphena05Q2iaL9YNl5MNKAOUe-k_kffHl3_SsvAaCQ3OHG6V4OOD6V97Xi7HOK7tturWBrBvXdtHyeHzQcutJ-38U/s1600-h/DSC00733.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB0CVRnK_xZUN2GITb8CwNMax-3TcKEPud9On9FXUsS57egi45uTo4hyphenhyphena05Q2iaL9YNl5MNKAOUe-k_kffHl3_SsvAaCQ3OHG6V4OOD6V97Xi7HOK7tturWBrBvXdtHyeHzQcutJ-38U/s320/DSC00733.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307908463927997394" border="0" /></a>This is me holding a 1000 year old book in the Khalidi Library in the Old City WOW!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNEipdPEfJ3PSKUB6DGqeyNkckpG-soUvtmIfEsZcZTXXbBQHruQLPtjphyphenhyphenTgoyw2SeBo-DBKfVZkXKN4SyzTR_qc1PKDYk-HqPZb7iyuBAquyTnEMpXRkap-JQfbBun8gdKa8Q0KGA4/s1600-h/DSC00794.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNEipdPEfJ3PSKUB6DGqeyNkckpG-soUvtmIfEsZcZTXXbBQHruQLPtjphyphenhyphenTgoyw2SeBo-DBKfVZkXKN4SyzTR_qc1PKDYk-HqPZb7iyuBAquyTnEMpXRkap-JQfbBun8gdKa8Q0KGA4/s320/DSC00794.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307909485712316546" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAbeiH3pfl8MRO-zpS2LtWnhQgYHmZviDF-puHx7t5gs1xwaKadNLQDeRgyF6LuKO4pFMgMuRd5azJYmpZQdvJwAu-78xVYqT1hUteo3piwpGsSXVrkzmb-rdhkGd7hhPoMtsLZgy9IU/s1600-h/DSC00830.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAbeiH3pfl8MRO-zpS2LtWnhQgYHmZviDF-puHx7t5gs1xwaKadNLQDeRgyF6LuKO4pFMgMuRd5azJYmpZQdvJwAu-78xVYqT1hUteo3piwpGsSXVrkzmb-rdhkGd7hhPoMtsLZgy9IU/s320/DSC00830.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307909967978323778" border="0" /></a>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!Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-72629254698815678782009-02-21T08:11:00.000-08:002009-02-21T10:33:09.649-08:00and the week ends with a bang...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1S0GldOVh_sfaNjJ1QB1ysJThxScJSts8_rY7KBpDuxPkin_q7wjDWJ8Fg7nJhg5MFh5-ak1TSIXYoD18k3rBHwFzBfF3x8Vl9ltA46bZCmB1obcP2nRLzRKcGykRYvBtTbE7EmHqIow/s1600-h/From+Gethsemane+to+Gethsemane+170.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 311px; height: 233px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1S0GldOVh_sfaNjJ1QB1ysJThxScJSts8_rY7KBpDuxPkin_q7wjDWJ8Fg7nJhg5MFh5-ak1TSIXYoD18k3rBHwFzBfF3x8Vl9ltA46bZCmB1obcP2nRLzRKcGykRYvBtTbE7EmHqIow/s320/From+Gethsemane+to+Gethsemane+170.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305314660721358098" border="0" /></a>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.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh964xa191YIfDF980Vd4WAdaUHSw30m5F24RliD1TF7yHvxtkghnOS-QJDjUUQ4SrEfhkm6swTl2yHLtuyyiZC0v2qbPRe__Wt5JqY_1opzhSGWoPw4SS-AG9zhh-PV5RwtuSWtxnGUjc/s1600-h/DSC00346_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 221px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh964xa191YIfDF980Vd4WAdaUHSw30m5F24RliD1TF7yHvxtkghnOS-QJDjUUQ4SrEfhkm6swTl2yHLtuyyiZC0v2qbPRe__Wt5JqY_1opzhSGWoPw4SS-AG9zhh-PV5RwtuSWtxnGUjc/s320/DSC00346_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305294682193520530" border="0" /></a><br /><br />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, eatin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_63611SQPgRVubPVtZizuvUeDtAk_Wp2B4gj8hNzq0WKdQxnEnN5wjpYFhDFqgoc_TaCRvLAbWciP4g7PhSPMt7MnVtl0G9HnztCe_plLjdfzc3tKM-q3Ory9KlBwDA-mdy8zn2AYknU/s1600-h/IMG_6279.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_63611SQPgRVubPVtZizuvUeDtAk_Wp2B4gj8hNzq0WKdQxnEnN5wjpYFhDFqgoc_TaCRvLAbWciP4g7PhSPMt7MnVtl0G9HnztCe_plLjdfzc3tKM-q3Ory9KlBwDA-mdy8zn2AYknU/s320/IMG_6279.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305295552096376594" border="0" /></a>g 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!<br /><br />Monday was an interesting adventure...I ate pigeon. We went to a small Greek Cafe because Emma really wanted Greek food. It <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgslFBsfMx3RW8eFYIQXkKWkigCghLxK3VzS8Me_oFiSUi8Y5goabn1hmU0Bo-4-QQGrZJYNoVWoVUntN4o0FF-P-oAYhARFp09H6h2HRfJUu1BXrYdlLWlPsdoEuPE_NVlyvnxyMjG9XY/s1600-h/DSC00385.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgslFBsfMx3RW8eFYIQXkKWkigCghLxK3VzS8Me_oFiSUi8Y5goabn1hmU0Bo-4-QQGrZJYNoVWoVUntN4o0FF-P-oAYhARFp09H6h2HRfJUu1BXrYdlLWlPsdoEuPE_NVlyvnxyMjG9XY/s320/DSC00385.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305307566519182386" border="0" /></a>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!<br /><br />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. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_faviZoYsHvhwZNQJFe1iPd3vPsWfY-DqiplEwN7McKHX0cw-wijUsa-LUSe0DFMK0hQ64b1QLHKaqK4DVvKjKCCY81l8F-Gw0DJDVJA68osComUE0PLON77BBzXUDsd9A7qZJxGLqw4/s1600-h/DSC00393_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_faviZoYsHvhwZNQJFe1iPd3vPsWfY-DqiplEwN7McKHX0cw-wijUsa-LUSe0DFMK0hQ64b1QLHKaqK4DVvKjKCCY81l8F-Gw0DJDVJA68osComUE0PLON77BBzXUDsd9A7qZJxGLqw4/s320/DSC00393_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305311237924838402" border="0" /></a> 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.<br /><br /><br />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/me<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStcwajAh_cpIL3vp0ZA61Gh2isDt4FVvgqBqu4aV80zLsrqb88bwJHBgkJ0028u7bcyKs7gDJOQTxqX-TGBzsZrrTdD6i_2pRtNGqJK6pCpxtnv2rr8MoGC559f9tg90Q0xdI2_y1kgo/s1600-h/IMG_3432.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStcwajAh_cpIL3vp0ZA61Gh2isDt4FVvgqBqu4aV80zLsrqb88bwJHBgkJ0028u7bcyKs7gDJOQTxqX-TGBzsZrrTdD6i_2pRtNGqJK6pCpxtnv2rr8MoGC559f9tg90Q0xdI2_y1kgo/s320/IMG_3432.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305313338034503378" border="0" /></a>morial 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.<br /><br />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 poundin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ddlhf2U5fUIrxexbf-VM5ibPJWwFphBzFUIolH5UwZbEGyLKWdcCDnak2I3lc267oQx4gF4qXR31VNUq2w698pySskTry3yEz77Y5__fyTkbfYz4aBjqvpkc7_Gcb4-dbHd-GfiJC6s/s1600-h/IMG_3458_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 243px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ddlhf2U5fUIrxexbf-VM5ibPJWwFphBzFUIolH5UwZbEGyLKWdcCDnak2I3lc267oQx4gF4qXR31VNUq2w698pySskTry3yEz77Y5__fyTkbfYz4aBjqvpkc7_Gcb4-dbHd-GfiJC6s/s320/IMG_3458_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305311474684412082" border="0" /></a>g, 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.<br /><br />Then we got Falafel at my new favorite place...I really don't know what I am <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAVLZv-Tcd7CZy3COjpB_0ZeKJ-ok3XVFAoT4lrIwkT2jasEu1vsYjGHGdhyphenhyphenCyioosZe_9sA1ZN0DGP9hOBse6D7zNTXgEn1GA73LMI11yWCdfua8hbaAUKzn08wM8zpzjVXDdOwXB_0/s1600-h/IMG_6404.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 181px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAVLZv-Tcd7CZy3COjpB_0ZeKJ-ok3XVFAoT4lrIwkT2jasEu1vsYjGHGdhyphenhyphenCyioosZe_9sA1ZN0DGP9hOBse6D7zNTXgEn1GA73LMI11yWCdfua8hbaAUKzn08wM8zpzjVXDdOwXB_0/s320/IMG_6404.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305313826966443554" border="0" /></a>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: )<br /><br />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!Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-61478996763436335922009-02-13T09:47:00.000-08:002009-02-16T04:21:11.726-08:00Lessons...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,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqhzziNtamv6PIFDYv9_MjLmjIqQeguFlsvT4OPXcaeusau2Ra1y45x7UZKAc-Nk5AhRlkckM5VwTvKc1IRLlxd60QFMWC_90NDyVQTC-5mtSK08lD1vYohq2TEikyjdzfrzFQLuny0o/s1600-h/DSC00036.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 196px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqhzziNtamv6PIFDYv9_MjLmjIqQeguFlsvT4OPXcaeusau2Ra1y45x7UZKAc-Nk5AhRlkckM5VwTvKc1IRLlxd60QFMWC_90NDyVQTC-5mtSK08lD1vYohq2TEikyjdzfrzFQLuny0o/s320/DSC00036.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302350078220447682" border="0" /></a> 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.<br />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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhPk_NsUyLx5FpHfMX8pnAoJBxtpwbPKnVik3sxgSgG8xawvVIA3vntzC9Br3voD6QUrd8mdmC9KvtmXpxL6Pj8nkkdmNkIOSqFwWkhw2OTXEG7BdtdvSqjHiwYD-XcQ10Yz4WUryzQo/s1600-h/DSC00211.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 156px; height: 207px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhPk_NsUyLx5FpHfMX8pnAoJBxtpwbPKnVik3sxgSgG8xawvVIA3vntzC9Br3voD6QUrd8mdmC9KvtmXpxL6Pj8nkkdmNkIOSqFwWkhw2OTXEG7BdtdvSqjHiwYD-XcQ10Yz4WUryzQo/s320/DSC00211.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302354903984510802" border="0" /></a> 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.<br />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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyvC0lXWwkErcMemVobLTzIOqNIyas7-zNolosuYyl5wa3JVFoXe1TAd9kr3MdP1sd-93BDje9bSyebPrHOnBr9uB8GQ5PKO866LRoip4AgIExqqagiI0AwNlJViWYCx-6ePVluePO28/s1600-h/DSC00210.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyvC0lXWwkErcMemVobLTzIOqNIyas7-zNolosuYyl5wa3JVFoXe1TAd9kr3MdP1sd-93BDje9bSyebPrHOnBr9uB8GQ5PKO866LRoip4AgIExqqagiI0AwNlJViWYCx-6ePVluePO28/s320/DSC00210.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302353295308402450" border="0" /></a> 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:)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvz5X1yoFAhRV4FGanujo3x_yIa8c2HLZvUH0mBBzd33i92oEMZeakzDX7ah2qiMEXshUIFfrz_gWslBw7m_0qiKwVniwyILj8SaWdTyf6P1jedvhjZ-ICEU0BtAhB3cPvHNkuyfZa3Q/s1600-h/DSC00295_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 284px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvz5X1yoFAhRV4FGanujo3x_yIa8c2HLZvUH0mBBzd33i92oEMZeakzDX7ah2qiMEXshUIFfrz_gWslBw7m_0qiKwVniwyILj8SaWdTyf6P1jedvhjZ-ICEU0BtAhB3cPvHNkuyfZa3Q/s320/DSC00295_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302727085059170930" border="0" /></a> 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.<br /><br />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 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfKf5CFJNjo2kaDUs37pvLWN86OaEK9I8ypW7240taJdf73YlLwZ0ySPvtAZVWZpaERqZ9AzaGgWDkIt9bfNYtNentlrr3MgXm1D483j8nfQI7XurZtUlbEtWPWNtXVGcfcsbtgeXByU/s1600-h/DSC00174.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 174px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfKf5CFJNjo2kaDUs37pvLWN86OaEK9I8ypW7240taJdf73YlLwZ0ySPvtAZVWZpaERqZ9AzaGgWDkIt9bfNYtNentlrr3MgXm1D483j8nfQI7XurZtUlbEtWPWNtXVGcfcsbtgeXByU/s320/DSC00174.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302727833081642546" border="0" /></a>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!<br /><br />Have fun in Sun Valley without me family I love you and miss you:)Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-84915495993153281872009-02-06T03:43:00.000-08:002009-02-08T06:57:03.070-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzuYEiZ6F9xn0UzFomnhDXNG-nGryFm-4my4pGWoevsjT30iboR_FJaFVrdL0sV000ohrwcjM9IOoJowo65UM4u8NVWwocmnRbqwh7ImaujGQJ2UKNLSjJlaem4rRl4oHgAEeLgCALqY/s1600-h/DSC01555.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLzuYEiZ6F9xn0UzFomnhDXNG-nGryFm-4my4pGWoevsjT30iboR_FJaFVrdL0sV000ohrwcjM9IOoJowo65UM4u8NVWwocmnRbqwh7ImaujGQJ2UKNLSjJlaem4rRl4oHgAEeLgCALqY/s320/DSC01555.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300085292809889074" border="0" /></a>EGYPT<br /><br />Day 1:<br />Beer Sheba—the well<br />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. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDveEdX1wWwRPdmXKy7CaJc-uFEAlP5SCy2GvBGwGjROZgCBqetXIL3Ric0ykS0i982rZIVHg4_TvyMjpjNYKVscqCCApfJ6z8ek7m7OsTXVUGMVzYKRLDEbbsRPiTZ49vFLdmw02Vws/s1600-h/DSC01493.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDveEdX1wWwRPdmXKy7CaJc-uFEAlP5SCy2GvBGwGjROZgCBqetXIL3Ric0ykS0i982rZIVHg4_TvyMjpjNYKVscqCCApfJ6z8ek7m7OsTXVUGMVzYKRLDEbbsRPiTZ49vFLdmw02Vws/s320/DSC01493.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299682031692295666" border="0" /></a> 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!<br /><br />Day 2:<br />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.<br /><br />Day 3:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrp0zfKgojljW9RZCvP84lb5ZDZrNj8Oq0ml2M4DF6hEvFLI6lL-baVPvwA4dCpaGULL-plbIGDReOPI_YGPUXlt01ImMTD7K1_rjt5pnbxH8Rv3V-1EJKwJ_DwzCz9vh8apCezfPNvQ/s1600-h/DSC01622.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrp0zfKgojljW9RZCvP84lb5ZDZrNj8Oq0ml2M4DF6hEvFLI6lL-baVPvwA4dCpaGULL-plbIGDReOPI_YGPUXlt01ImMTD7K1_rjt5pnbxH8Rv3V-1EJKwJ_DwzCz9vh8apCezfPNvQ/s320/DSC01622.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299750495054341042" border="0" /></a><br />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 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGqe-bRPPwuQTHMPkgKJNPvp3R-yo1ZpnVP5HfNjOkMZmrql5VBrHuqrAVNFntvnx5Zj-wRL6Nml_x2AVexwBHkw2VS0ty_NqHKm-Sbm9a-iTbXS6v6TBNsW3zI6sG-jD335W3MVHN3E/s1600-h/DSC01608.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGqe-bRPPwuQTHMPkgKJNPvp3R-yo1ZpnVP5HfNjOkMZmrql5VBrHuqrAVNFntvnx5Zj-wRL6Nml_x2AVexwBHkw2VS0ty_NqHKm-Sbm9a-iTbXS6v6TBNsW3zI6sG-jD335W3MVHN3E/s320/DSC01608.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299757387705134594" border="0" /></a>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 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgKzrY3dMCSLYJYPlse4Qfwg60fiLp0F2EreJwUfOpUEHacVvWYDNG3yTzXn9cqJoPHZgINdybvsoj1UqK0R7aGXbc_4fKBe1a3o4pVSkQ6Hs1-cflYOYJQJiFo5DdR2uOlvhw1KJXds/s1600-h/DSC01631.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgKzrY3dMCSLYJYPlse4Qfwg60fiLp0F2EreJwUfOpUEHacVvWYDNG3yTzXn9cqJoPHZgINdybvsoj1UqK0R7aGXbc_4fKBe1a3o4pVSkQ6Hs1-cflYOYJQJiFo5DdR2uOlvhw1KJXds/s320/DSC01631.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299752552338320050" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><br /><br />Day 4:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeSl92nMuttEWafxNit4VWhb3jI1f6QDxKwwitxhnCD8sl2mlb8UqiINzBJgNyLVJ5W5S3-Fm4o0ISWvLoST6pXY-CD8P9b-cHs8eT9p5tek_t4FNiyJy5l4rET3T_xkxISeGaaMT5L0/s1600-h/DSC01735.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeSl92nMuttEWafxNit4VWhb3jI1f6QDxKwwitxhnCD8sl2mlb8UqiINzBJgNyLVJ5W5S3-Fm4o0ISWvLoST6pXY-CD8P9b-cHs8eT9p5tek_t4FNiyJy5l4rET3T_xkxISeGaaMT5L0/s320/DSC01735.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299755212793973698" border="0" /></a><br />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 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9Ewh61l0BbAMTYncPM0lK-_X_hJQIEQMF_Fqf5phBdQQCizDcQeyQrlbxztpvlV3flQFJvy1SMQoEUGLxIg3pw_AbqkXtSR47YlIUJqhHN2qaT7XTd4T8JFSuQB4HXPr240-hSRixYo/s1600-h/DSC01894.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9Ewh61l0BbAMTYncPM0lK-_X_hJQIEQMF_Fqf5phBdQQCizDcQeyQrlbxztpvlV3flQFJvy1SMQoEUGLxIg3pw_AbqkXtSR47YlIUJqhHN2qaT7XTd4T8JFSuQB4HXPr240-hSRixYo/s320/DSC01894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299751895031877282" border="0" /></a>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 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gOohhOJIIU7S8crxuQBHHyMGtxyvgCq901dUPwUExg0PSCSbhUJAJVMWcFXlCmIssrVlHToHRjxntJUWQQLR-pYVnQDAOeymerK9p9OhtYPQtwFC2evVC6vQY7r5_RMSfL_8d0bWweI/s1600-h/DSC01898.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gOohhOJIIU7S8crxuQBHHyMGtxyvgCq901dUPwUExg0PSCSbhUJAJVMWcFXlCmIssrVlHToHRjxntJUWQQLR-pYVnQDAOeymerK9p9OhtYPQtwFC2evVC6vQY7r5_RMSfL_8d0bWweI/s320/DSC01898.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299758792636754642" border="0" /></a>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☺<br /><br />Day 5:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0jKNnCOYVGKty2vNqA4-ohyphenhyphenwc6mn-Ua-FuatYxPAsupGDkQINdlLH3OF3ZLzd5fbDBnEfjyGOgkXhk1dacEwmfAiKsmlzeMzYh6UUVrdnfC1ZsP4H_FRHxH7dRszBTJmS6TwkttUNW8/s1600-h/IMG_0585.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0jKNnCOYVGKty2vNqA4-ohyphenhyphenwc6mn-Ua-FuatYxPAsupGDkQINdlLH3OF3ZLzd5fbDBnEfjyGOgkXhk1dacEwmfAiKsmlzeMzYh6UUVrdnfC1ZsP4H_FRHxH7dRszBTJmS6TwkttUNW8/s320/IMG_0585.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299761425560393074" border="0" /></a><br />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. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4lyumcbmPl3brO6vQWOj08WImtzoch197-ikqd18Khg8S4Kvs4KDanW7sVqxDRShOgNVvhyphenhyphenQ-czARVaxNhWUzscyMDC1puoTKhcEMlpKgxWoLvvtnXr7UFPGWxLXL8TeQIlhIpWry8g/s1600-h/IMG_0574.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 295px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4lyumcbmPl3brO6vQWOj08WImtzoch197-ikqd18Khg8S4Kvs4KDanW7sVqxDRShOgNVvhyphenhyphenQ-czARVaxNhWUzscyMDC1puoTKhcEMlpKgxWoLvvtnXr7UFPGWxLXL8TeQIlhIpWry8g/s320/IMG_0574.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300076601915960482" border="0" /></a>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 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfHMUB6KPz3hneGioMiX8gxi1SybhSQoaUWJxtco-1gzDr96HzM3NvZiKbho_acpbAwRq5QPxn_IKTSxRgWiDDhbtp6atfDNXpZumHC872H6LynVglxi53NhayeN0kSjeQR1tWTQz8Vw/s1600-h/IMG_0549.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 197px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfHMUB6KPz3hneGioMiX8gxi1SybhSQoaUWJxtco-1gzDr96HzM3NvZiKbho_acpbAwRq5QPxn_IKTSxRgWiDDhbtp6atfDNXpZumHC872H6LynVglxi53NhayeN0kSjeQR1tWTQz8Vw/s320/IMG_0549.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300077718800132690" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvamDUxsjrWvPHsPymhPhHgl5V1p6vp7LPKkezMfyPBZsjNKKAN91bpBarvaOW1ZDLA7hY6T865c8vklrrRZ89AArRYlW3O1xvXot7naiDhHiUgdT1_P0n0s2YZYwwAU_h59krL7giOc/s1600-h/IMG_0681.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvamDUxsjrWvPHsPymhPhHgl5V1p6vp7LPKkezMfyPBZsjNKKAN91bpBarvaOW1ZDLA7hY6T865c8vklrrRZ89AArRYlW3O1xvXot7naiDhHiUgdT1_P0n0s2YZYwwAU_h59krL7giOc/s320/IMG_0681.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300078767497142354" border="0" /></a>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!<br /><br />Day 6:<br />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☺<br /><br />Day 7:<br />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!<br /><br />Mt. Sinai:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWEXhM5wDhNSou0U4aEUQQsrpdeKFfUbyih1BKODjK_oTgpwlkb1koePE3zEYqwNhzVewhNTlrUiiBRNHI3DpzdsTkM7P3_Hts5tDxrcJS3eFKbMCfkr0sbdVp7zaXUV3g-che6twAho/s1600-h/IMG_0866.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWEXhM5wDhNSou0U4aEUQQsrpdeKFfUbyih1BKODjK_oTgpwlkb1koePE3zEYqwNhzVewhNTlrUiiBRNHI3DpzdsTkM7P3_Hts5tDxrcJS3eFKbMCfkr0sbdVp7zaXUV3g-che6twAho/s320/IMG_0866.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300082434592712194" border="0" /></a><br /><br />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.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCfZiCZ4aH9NV5EEUx_PNFsxkXuZvQyZ8QCfYEZsbKUKaCKgQ8PuIE7EzqjeZx6pruOgzvzUFflVuc1nfyIMlOHyezfQHutLRM9KjiMR1ZVTzYuplLtEXnRnwmOWqRGpVXbtIEKSy4tw/s1600-h/STA_0827.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCfZiCZ4aH9NV5EEUx_PNFsxkXuZvQyZ8QCfYEZsbKUKaCKgQ8PuIE7EzqjeZx6pruOgzvzUFflVuc1nfyIMlOHyezfQHutLRM9KjiMR1ZVTzYuplLtEXnRnwmOWqRGpVXbtIEKSy4tw/s320/STA_0827.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300084033340352290" border="0" /></a> 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.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKzZt2MfioKyjjV7oLCsISpsWpM-iEVFax-1HTK2BUDYi022NdG7DFB9mx-v6wJo2WZpcdL44BDNQEApk4k0med9RA_URjw48Pj-ocCwQO1UPC2Q1jwpmfSmTbpmv4QcdTge3q0cEhr0/s1600-h/IMG_0865.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKzZt2MfioKyjjV7oLCsISpsWpM-iEVFax-1HTK2BUDYi022NdG7DFB9mx-v6wJo2WZpcdL44BDNQEApk4k0med9RA_URjw48Pj-ocCwQO1UPC2Q1jwpmfSmTbpmv4QcdTge3q0cEhr0/s320/IMG_0865.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300083847412599650" border="0" /></a><br />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.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnymqtLfufK3V6gWN01PAMLDLH9X7f6I-lCKCkizXGL0KnHFh7q5j5FgR4HJly7KRiBoeNGbrVGzRkRQcEtlMwXr6jpDzk4vFSEJjjFGdV20T_1OFBxD6jSJTb-tdCbNLnox83r_Z0QXE/s1600-h/IMG_0880.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnymqtLfufK3V6gWN01PAMLDLH9X7f6I-lCKCkizXGL0KnHFh7q5j5FgR4HJly7KRiBoeNGbrVGzRkRQcEtlMwXr6jpDzk4vFSEJjjFGdV20T_1OFBxD6jSJTb-tdCbNLnox83r_Z0QXE/s320/IMG_0880.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300085752410791682" border="0" /></a><br /><br />THE END...yes we scaled that!Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-83730025118788224842009-01-23T09:42:00.000-08:002009-08-03T16:56:32.723-07:00<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2pylXD6ttWxBQMGQUbCDb5yatGZqVpt8RmJEbqLwcu9YN_k827i5sfhC7mcC8JRvpE1TwNhXPzpYO1xzeZgVBpnmbEf-uKGrPgoCM2N4IPsOKdHfCJE8sMwBpjvukhY6NONGiOHhPpA/s1600-h/DSC01320.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl2pylXD6ttWxBQMGQUbCDb5yatGZqVpt8RmJEbqLwcu9YN_k827i5sfhC7mcC8JRvpE1TwNhXPzpYO1xzeZgVBpnmbEf-uKGrPgoCM2N4IPsOKdHfCJE8sMwBpjvukhY6NONGiOHhPpA/s320/DSC01320.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294553940257214066" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:webdings;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The Dome of the Rock</span></span><br /><br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaC5RciaOT0vDvwgyjjCNJCwRa_Nhhb-oPsY6QYClWLykhKIUaTw8MOY62mLy3KNF8qHJ1ot5Wca1IhYXvTiQbPFnQ48PYgZhd7QosME5nbM10GtnRJBefk6xtO46P1-0iix-cTmNn96M/s1600-h/DSC01295.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaC5RciaOT0vDvwgyjjCNJCwRa_Nhhb-oPsY6QYClWLykhKIUaTw8MOY62mLy3KNF8qHJ1ot5Wca1IhYXvTiQbPFnQ48PYgZhd7QosME5nbM10GtnRJBefk6xtO46P1-0iix-cTmNn96M/s320/DSC01295.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294552665971172674" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:webdings;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Emma and I at the entrance to the Dome</span></span><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFsGlip89uMFIAQvrJsnOYIm455e6jVru3qYopamhhlBZ_gwsauvvLYaTIIETW4dVnYQca_8PugXyeXTN1-460akFvKKr6wvPMTY7UgNHg4Yph4DHP6WFz7uzwuNvMqxVLO9On0KGdHbs/s1600-h/DSC01300_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFsGlip89uMFIAQvrJsnOYIm455e6jVru3qYopamhhlBZ_gwsauvvLYaTIIETW4dVnYQca_8PugXyeXTN1-460akFvKKr6wvPMTY7UgNHg4Yph4DHP6WFz7uzwuNvMqxVLO9On0KGdHbs/s320/DSC01300_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294551215332281602" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">A Muslim woman at the entrance of the Dome--</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;">I had to be somewhat sneaky taking this one</span><br /><br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje51Fb9YsvsBr381SXUWvSxCyPn6H0kH9cQmZvccDKcU1pdAI8GSes0H2MQNAPyv6kgYV0PMBtj1311DoNRCQLP5FkESQazIeOl_jiIchbQ4vK7YwsVRKLfFH-_cH4hnpPcJLRSuWUljc/s1600-h/DSC01223.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje51Fb9YsvsBr381SXUWvSxCyPn6H0kH9cQmZvccDKcU1pdAI8GSes0H2MQNAPyv6kgYV0PMBtj1311DoNRCQLP5FkESQazIeOl_jiIchbQ4vK7YwsVRKLfFH-_cH4hnpPcJLRSuWUljc/s320/DSC01223.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294549234068940178" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Tamarra and I playing the bells for West Jerusalem!<br />Haha it was actually sort of hard...but we did well:)</span><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2WzivHIENrn6z8jOslnRtMNrRxmdqdy2uAKpY-i9C6XVRdNTA9dkGqwWngASRqRjPWc3pDkcZJ6kFPVLq2uIEFi7o1rTOw1OGRrAKWX9glV2xF2lTrYieN8fnrrwu7dkRhI1F41CBZE/s1600-h/DSC01390.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2WzivHIENrn6z8jOslnRtMNrRxmdqdy2uAKpY-i9C6XVRdNTA9dkGqwWngASRqRjPWc3pDkcZJ6kFPVLq2uIEFi7o1rTOw1OGRrAKWX9glV2xF2lTrYieN8fnrrwu7dkRhI1F41CBZE/s320/DSC01390.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294547326506742850" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">Our shadows in Zedekiah's Cave</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4lSy_6YneGnMUha0snf4YwMan67V8Yvk7Z6RtipCI3kFG5c4XfPK3EbA2D2SL7BU_1vrb-KYJl2Y4jOlLc1QqMh5sjFXHrmuwZ6I6mkBmZ1-iV3Dy1aw_cXd8phmlGbdveDuZPCAWCE/s1600-h/DSC01210.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4lSy_6YneGnMUha0snf4YwMan67V8Yvk7Z6RtipCI3kFG5c4XfPK3EbA2D2SL7BU_1vrb-KYJl2Y4jOlLc1QqMh5sjFXHrmuwZ6I6mkBmZ1-iV3Dy1aw_cXd8phmlGbdveDuZPCAWCE/s320/DSC01210.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294546418777376098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">At the Garden Tomb--our new friend from Nicaragua!</span><br /></div>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-79468368267082273222009-01-16T11:07:00.000-08:002009-08-03T16:54:55.581-07:00<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBKnrZQ_nmj-KSzqpKakejFMUehIpZ_bwy98WSIfxvfjYAQF-lVO29zCTEb9pRhaOA7SmzKXrd9NZzUYrFedLMHNu80LHxAX1vUIhHGDbTCDqh-YEp05tN-qRmvwXWi23_Fua9YMXpHg/s1600-h/DSC01151.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBKnrZQ_nmj-KSzqpKakejFMUehIpZ_bwy98WSIfxvfjYAQF-lVO29zCTEb9pRhaOA7SmzKXrd9NZzUYrFedLMHNu80LHxAX1vUIhHGDbTCDqh-YEp05tN-qRmvwXWi23_Fua9YMXpHg/s320/DSC01151.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291973997830216130" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The Market right before Shabbat--</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The craziest time of the day,<br />an adventure well worth it:)</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJV_etwOk51Gkum_B_9DWgBqmlA8CZsgTRb8KyckuF1AorZ06yKhPJsJfynqntI7fz74ubG5bX_xphgBkL-a7Mt6o0Sw3vXqFTH6hBW0cjxUKSN2uzC2FE-y14nBjnLQY_4DDSmXNZVQQ/s1600-h/DSC01166.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJV_etwOk51Gkum_B_9DWgBqmlA8CZsgTRb8KyckuF1AorZ06yKhPJsJfynqntI7fz74ubG5bX_xphgBkL-a7Mt6o0Sw3vXqFTH6hBW0cjxUKSN2uzC2FE-y14nBjnLQY_4DDSmXNZVQQ/s320/DSC01166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291973311291669298" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Shopping at the Jewish Market--wohoo!</span></span><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92hB_qa8_g9RvuqlxylQNG_mnAjwSV01VlPLQgznOKPodbB0CBJr42Z1TknukV_jE55ZMc0juoE2WfPMRiYfmwMAJkGUpgpI3Suf9f8BeDnhz4i2cZDKh6nPmWCyBLupC77XNOZpZZeE/s1600-h/DSC01140.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92hB_qa8_g9RvuqlxylQNG_mnAjwSV01VlPLQgznOKPodbB0CBJr42Z1TknukV_jE55ZMc0juoE2WfPMRiYfmwMAJkGUpgpI3Suf9f8BeDnhz4i2cZDKh6nPmWCyBLupC77XNOZpZZeE/s320/DSC01140.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291972289636988578" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The Rockefeler Museum</span></span><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi497ZmSRZ0YF9Pt_OsIlQnKH-vrxJBtVgA4lqATwcRjH1dnnJH5aAMm1uwnSkQmpLYeuIgpTMhO9XOFfgk6OZm-Xn4JnWjURcoVMgksQ2lBBaink0KJbk146cq_1jiYhXgcEvjYhr_O5U/s1600-h/DSC01178.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi497ZmSRZ0YF9Pt_OsIlQnKH-vrxJBtVgA4lqATwcRjH1dnnJH5aAMm1uwnSkQmpLYeuIgpTMhO9XOFfgk6OZm-Xn4JnWjURcoVMgksQ2lBBaink0KJbk146cq_1jiYhXgcEvjYhr_O5U/s320/DSC01178.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291971858462776066" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The Pita Factory--The best Pitas I've ever had<br />I don't know if I will be able to live without these.<br />J-Dogs watch out Tamarra and I are talking about a Falafel stand!</span></span><br /></div>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-41957602450461333502009-01-16T05:13:00.000-08:002009-08-03T16:53:58.689-07:00The Jewish market just before the Shabbat...<span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Oh my gosh...I can't even tell you how cool it was to walk through the streets of the Jewish market right before 3:00 or Shabbat! Unreal...people are stalking up on bread, chocolate croissants(unbelievably yummy), pitas, veggies, fruit....bands are playing in the streets...but most of all it is extremely crowded and people don't care if you are in their way. You definitely have to watch yourself:) I got some great food though for really cheap. My Old Testament teacher took us through and then took us to the pita factory where we saw how they make them and he gave us all a hot pita! I love it here more and more every time I go out into the city.</span></span>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-86253088206586818892009-01-15T09:20:00.000-08:002009-08-03T16:53:34.393-07:00<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHdJwqUe4wQ5bF2X15euGDGlkqdyCHxMB4506UMA3d9eBHhnD6y3WZuou2PXjw7eefAZ-zimgOxKORjIIjWC5LXxkdQKC7ET8s2F7aJsx0dCUQUZ6pB2966pwNaEJLdzK7MRoHChYdqE/s1600-h/DSC01050.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHdJwqUe4wQ5bF2X15euGDGlkqdyCHxMB4506UMA3d9eBHhnD6y3WZuou2PXjw7eefAZ-zimgOxKORjIIjWC5LXxkdQKC7ET8s2F7aJsx0dCUQUZ6pB2966pwNaEJLdzK7MRoHChYdqE/s320/DSC01050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291572734663750786" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">My Fir</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">st Falafel...So Good!</span></span></span><br /><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtVI-FWVhIbsgLU7iDsl4qNgHudJuKqM5is6qtlJGw09NonmdzBtJWUd2Xso270n4I8qoB29TsT-b4sln9XrQwsb2j3QKXoZsmQHgVQ9IVb1DVFdduvpSoKJMI9nfx0hlkCji0nzDlqxQ/s1600-h/DSC01068.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtVI-FWVhIbsgLU7iDsl4qNgHudJuKqM5is6qtlJGw09NonmdzBtJWUd2Xso270n4I8qoB29TsT-b4sln9XrQwsb2j3QKXoZsmQHgVQ9IVb1DVFdduvpSoKJMI9nfx0hlkCji0nzDlqxQ/s320/DSC01068.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291572138761616594" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHoslrUV50THFJLZ8pVpwZnGJ7oxPL9Edt7kqhqO-Y-6x13Bt3mlITofn2Ksw-Ysa298kzaBwjakS9soXvcgXoO5AyeR2j8_sIVSBF_V4t_lx1yOkChbEuhsCY-OwBP7X5P8NIfm20Do/s1600-h/DSC01129.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHoslrUV50THFJLZ8pVpwZnGJ7oxPL9Edt7kqhqO-Y-6x13Bt3mlITofn2Ksw-Ysa298kzaBwjakS9soXvcgXoO5AyeR2j8_sIVSBF_V4t_lx1yOkChbEuhsCY-OwBP7X5P8NIfm20Do/s320/DSC01129.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291571921016934018" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Jordanian Military Site overlooking the West Bank</span></span><br /></div>Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695934201605158252.post-7299484100569351122009-01-14T11:21:00.000-08:002009-01-14T11:25:56.728-08:00Rachaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09703251198468096240noreply@blogger.com0