Jerusalem

What does one do when they return from floating in the Dead Sea? A talent show of course! 

There were so many good acts and funny people and talented things. It was the greatest. Although I would definitely have to say that the highlight for me was performing my favorite song with my favorite girls.
Kara, Marianne, and I sang “Shine, Jesus, Shine!” and came up with some sweet dance moves for it. We also dressed up in sweet outfits with sweet makeup and put baby genie pants on our heads.

After our outstanding performance, we took a series of unsuccessful jumping pictures using the self timer. What fun we have.
Don’t you love our outfits? :) The song and dance was even better. 
Okay, hopefully you can’t completely zoom in on our faces, because if you can, you will find the most horrible picture of us three ever taken. Love it.

Soooooo fun. My goodness, I missed water so so much while in Jerusalem. I live in Alaska; I go to school in Hawaii; I must have the ocean in my life. This Dead Sea trip was quite refreshing for my need of salt water.

And to top it off, Nycole and I got this sweet picture of our sweet watches that we bought in the Old City. Mine is a Harry Potter watch and hers is Fula or something, Muslim barbie basically. 

Then… QUMRAN! Where the DEAD SEA SCROLLS were found. Whoa. I was there where the caves are where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. The caves are behind me in the picture and guess what is on my chin… yep, it’s a fly. There’s a fly on my chin.

On field trips such as this, you may have noticed that I like to take random pictures of various things. This one is a picture of the authentic Jesus sandal and foot, or basically, it’s Carly’s dirty foot.

And here is Steve Marcum looking good in my sunglasses.

On the bus ride home, Eliza fell asleep, in this position, mouth open, looking pretty darn awesome.

As we were on the bus back to Jerusalem, there were some camels on the side of the road. Oh I love the Middle East.

There’s nothing better than ending your day with a camel.

Chelsea, Stephen, and Jacob. Seats don’t get any better than this. Can you imagine being at the Garden Tomb on Easter morning?! We were there with so many other faithful Christians, celebrating Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Christ. And we were celebrating at the place where Christ came out of the tomb as a resurrected being. Incredible. Spiritual. Definitely one of my top three Jerusalem experiences.
The sunrise service did have preaching and sharing of the Easter story, but it also included a lot of singing. This picture is the musical group that lead it all. They were soooo good and so into what they were singing. Everyone was. I LOVED IT. Hmmm… makes me kind of want to convert to evangelical Christianity. :) Only joking. Being a Latter-day Saint is the only way to go.
I LOVE THIS SONG. Oh my goodness. I had the hugest smile on my face the entire service. Everyone was just rejoicing and celebrating Christ and celebrating the resurrection. We were all united together with the same foundation and with the same belief in Christ.
This is after the service was over, (too bad it had to end). Here’s me and good ol’ Ryan Money, who was shouting “Amens” and “Allelujahs” through the whole thing. What a character, that Money Man.
Before this Easter in Jerusalem, I didn’t really know what Easter was all about. I hadn’t thought about it much, as I hadn’t thought about a lot of things very much. But Easter celebrates Christ’s resurrection. I looooooove Easter.

Another service opportunity is feeding the babies. There is a Muslim hospital right down the street and you can go there and feed the little newborns and the babies that are underweight. This one I was feeding was maybe about 4.5 lbs, and it was 40 days old or something. Feeding the babies is really cool. Made me miss my darling nieces.

Another field trip! Woo hoo! We just went around the Old City to various sites associated with Christ. One of the big stops was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is one of Sham Sham’s favorite places. In that church it has all of the sites that Helena determined to be the sites of the burial, crucifixion, condemnation, and other such things. It is an incredible church
with incredible, old, old, old mosaics all over the place.
There were some fun little caves too. Woo hoo for caves!
Then we went to this church where Father Angelo, a cool dude, told us cool things about his life. I think said something like doing what he does means you have no money, no wife, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But I’m not sure if he said that or not. Somebody did at some point because I heard it somewhere… :)
Father Angelo showed us how Orson Hyde, one of the early apostles,  had carved his name on this door in one of the rooms.Then we went in to another church and Brother Skinner (or maybe Brother Huff) taught us about the “eye of the needle.” Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into Heaven. The stones near this arch are Herodian stones, 2000 years old. That opening on the side is called the eye of the needle. It was there for people to get through when the gate was closed. Perhaps that is what Jesus was referring to, because it would be extremely hard for a camel to get through this opening, especially with their awkward movements.
Can you see a camel getting through here? Not really. I guess it must be pretty hard for rich people to get into Heaven then.
Also at this church were paintings of Czar Nicholas and his family. There was a painting of Princess Anastasia. I LOVE THAT CARTOON! Anyways, the Romanovs stayed in this room for a while. I went in this room. Cooooooool beans. 
The next church was Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, when I had gone to mass about two months before. It was awesome going in there again, because we got to sing my favorite song… “SHINE! JESUS! SHINE!” We sang that song when I first went there and when we came here for the field trip and Bro. Skinner asked if anyone had a song they wanted to sing, I yelled out, “671!!!” Oh I love Shine, Jesus, Shine. Best song ever. 
After the churches, a group of us went and learned about the Shroud of Turin, which is possibly the cloth that Christ was covered with in the tomb. There’s a lot of evidence that’s supports it, but that’s kinda crazy. It was really cool learning about it though. I am learning so much here. I don’t want to leave.

I love Palm Sunday, especially in Jerusalem. What an opportunity to be able to walk the path of Christ’s triumphal entry. I love Jerusalem.

“I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing. 

Samara = creepy girl from the Ring

Samara = what Holly shouts at me when she shuts off the lights as I’m in the basement at my dad’s house, leaving me in the dark by myself screaming

Samara = name of travel agency in Jerusalem and not the travel agency we used to go to Galilee, not that we used a travel agency anyway

By the way, I’m back from my 11 day trip to Galilee. I will be blogging about all of the Galilee goodness very soon hopefully.

I had the greatest time ever. It was so so good and so beautiful. Everything was green and we were right on the Sea of Galilee so there was a beach and there were beautiful flowers all around and I loved every second of it.

We’d go back and forth from a day of field tripping to a day of New Testament class for three hours and then free time on the beach. I had such a good time. I loved it so much.

The beach was my favorite part, no surprise there. I miss the ocean, but the Sea of Galilee satisfied my ocean need for now, even though it’s only a lake. I’d go for long walks on the beach all by myself and it was the best. I found a few dead fish and then had nice little burial services for them, and I found a dead bird too and did the same. And I found a lot a lot of ladybugs. They were all over the beach. I gave them names like Winston and Emmaline and Josephine and Octavias and Julius and things like that.

I’d also read the New Testament on the beach and it was so incredible because everything I was reading about happened right where I was sitting. I was looking out at the water the Chirst walked on. I was in all of these places where he performed wonderful miracles. I love the Holy Land.

Galilee was the best trip ever. I miss it. And I’m going to miss Jerusalem too, because I leave this wonderful place too soon…

There was also this awesome fish that was like neon and fluorescent and really colorful. I loved it. When we were done snorkeling, we took jumping pictures of course.
Some of them turned out great…

… and some didn’t. :)

Swimming in the Red Sea is good for you.

Galilee was the best field trip ever. Trips don’t really get better than Galilee. My last morning there I woke up early and went for a little beach walk to watch the beautiful sunrise and say my goodbyes to the Sea of Galilee.
I met Marianne and we went on a little beach walk together. I really love this girl a lot.
We left Ein Gev and were kind of headed home, but with a lot a lot of historical stops on the way. This place is known for its beautiful mosaics, especially this one. It’s really incredible how much detail and shading they get just from putting together all of these little rocks. Could you imagine making something like this? Not me.
The sign said, “It is forbidden to wet or stand on the mosaics,” so I peed outside. :)There was also in old Roman road that you can all the wear and tear on and paths from old wheels. After that place, we went to another place that had something to do with Elijah. We sang some hymns. Love it.
Then I went on a roof and it had a map things pointing to many different cities and places. JERUSALEM! I love that place, so so so much.
Then we went to Haifa, in northern Israel. There’s the Mediterranean!
And there was an ice cream truck that played ice cream truck music. Yay! I don’t know if I’ve ever actually seen an ice cream truck in real life before. We don’t really get them in Homer.
Then we went to a beautiful cemetary, where some of the early missionaries to the Holy Land were burried.

Finally, after many hours and many stops, we made it home, to the Jerusalem Center! Yay! It’s always always so good to get home.

Roomies! I love my JC roomies. We’re in Akko, where there are a bunch of Crusader remains, as I’m sure you can tell from the vaulted ceilings and massive pillars. :) Shamra loves Crusader architecture.
Then we went to a mosque.
They are beautiful inside.
Then on our way to the sea, we walked through a market where there were lots of dead fishies. Classic smell.
So happy to be at sea! I do love the Mediterranean.
And I love Kara Van Wagenen and Marianne Gold.
I especially love posing for pictures with them.
We left the Mediterranean, the beautiful sea, and went to some Jewish tombs. Angie and I took a purple picture. She’s so wonderful.
Stone coffin. :)
Dead faces. Human menorah.
GQ.
Outside the synagogue. No, it’s not called a synagogue. This definitely isn’t a synagogue. What’s it called? I can’t think of the word. Sepulcher? Cenotaph? Maybe I’ll just say tomb.
Before we ended this slightly shorter field trip, Moon was jammin’ to her pod and dancing on the wall. Moon… love her.
We went back to Ein Gev and I again found myself wandering down the beach. I came across a dead bird and surrounded it with little shells.
Then I covered it with grass. Little birdie is now resting in peace. This place makes me so happy.
I walked in the water where Jesus walked in shoes that probably looked kind of like his. It was the best.
Our last night in Galilee… we had a bonfire with everyone! All of the guys attacked Moon and had a funny little mock trial. But poor Moon ended up with peanut butter and barbeque sauce on her. She had to shower, which she didn’t really want to do. :) But still, Galilee = nothing but good times.

Another field trip. Our first stop was a tel with some recent excavations and ruins of some old place. I didn’t much care for this tel. We just saw more old rocks and another CISTERN. I just wasn’t feeling more of the same thing. I was feeling a little burnt out with tels and rocks and ruins and especially cisterns. It’s still completely awesome though. And Kara, Marianne, Hayley, and I just take pictures in the flowers instead of going into more cisterns, so it works out.
Kara Schumacher… funny girl.
Then we went to Tel Dan, which was so fabulously nature. Except since it was a nature reserve, you weren’t supposed to pick the wild flowers. I did anyway, because they look so good behind my ear. :)
one of the four main sources for the Jordan River I think
I was taking some notes about good ol’ Tel Dan and this cutesy furry caterpillar just came right up to me. I think the bugs can feel how much I like them.
I don’t really remember what these things were used for, but here’s a picture of me in it.
At Tel Dan. Nature reserves are pretty excellent.
FROLICKING! Yay!
huge pistachio tree and some JCites
We went to get back on the bus and as we were making sure everyone was there, we realized Hayle wasn’t there. Uh oh. She got lost somewhere in the Tel Dan nature reserve all by her self. She ended up taking a wrong path somewhere between the pistachio tree, Paradise, and the Winnie the Pooh tree. Luckily some of the boys went and found her, because this whole experience would not be the same without that girl. I just love Hayley. I really really do.
Then we went to Caesarea Philippi/Banias. People were tired.
I made shadow puppets with Priscilla.
there were pretty waterfalls here, which are not in the picture
Matt Huff and Ryan Rampton scaled the cliff wall.
JJ and I stood in the lovely water.
Then we went to Nimrod’s Fortress. Awesome… totally gnarly.
I tried to escape out of one of the places where weapons used to stick out of.
Old fortresses are the coolest. They are way better than cisterns, although there was a cistern there, but there was a lot more than that.
The Galilee area is so beautiful. Too bad there isn’t a BYU Galilee. :)
“Danger! Abyss!” Just trying saving JJ’s life.
Unfortunately, no one was there to grab Brother Huff. Too bad… he’s a pretty cool dude. That night we had a bonfire on the beach with our classes on the beach. It was so awesome. People did skits and fun things. But the highlight of the program was probably Wilkinson’s African tribal dance. Sooooo funny. Man, Galilee is the best. I love it.

I’m a month behind on this good blogging stuff, but I’ll catch up someday. It’s 4 am and I’m in Utah and I’m awake because of extreme jet lag. So I’m using it to my advantage and playing a little catch up.
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Sunday, March 29: Field Trip.
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We started out getting on the bus again at 7:30 am. Kara and Shelby decided to take naps as soon as we got on. I decided to take pictures of Shelby’s open mouth.

Our first stop was Bet She’an or Scythopolis. Roman ruins from back in the day.
walking down the stairs of the theater
Then we went to the bathhouse ruins, where there were all of these little mini Terra Cotta warriors. :) Fun fun.
These explain about the bathhouse. There were three main divisions, hot room, warm room, and cold room. Men would go to these bathhouses to socialize and catch up on the town’s latest. Bathhouses = party central.
community toilet, gotta love it
Moon and Silky Wilky, two of the coolest people ever
We call this Scythopolis.Flowers!
Bugs!
After spending far too long at Bet She’an, we went to Gan Ha-Shelosha! It is this beautiful natural spring or something and we just went there and swam around and it was so fun and so beautiful and I love water.
Then we went to the Church at Nain. Nain is where Christ raised a widow’s child from the dead. The child was all wrapped up and they were carrying out of town or something, and Christ rose the widow’s son from the dead. Miracles.
The floor in the little church was pretty cool.
Back to the bus for some Chelsie Kara Chelsea Kara Chelsea. Yay!
Then we went to Mt. Tabor, where the think the Mount of Transfiguration occurred. This is Shelby. He’s from Eagle River. Yay Alaska!
another beautiful church
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Monday, March 30: We had New Testament on the shores of the Sea of Galilee again. Awesome. Brother Huff is such an excellent teacher. It amazes me how much he knows, talk about a fountain of knowledge. :) And our class is so good, because everyone really knows so much and offer all of their very insightful insights all the time. It puts so many new perspectives on the scriptures.

Today in class, this little ladybug was waiting on my chair for me. We bonded for to first hour and a half of class. She was pretty cool.

Except my poor little lady bug had a crippled wing and couldn’t fly. She’d try and whip her wings out and one of them was only half there. Sad. :( She’d life her bum/body up so that the beautiful red polka dotted part would come up so that her wings could come out. But she couldn’t fly with them. Poor ladybug. But we had fun in class anyway. We had a fun little photoshoot. My camera takes fabulous close up pictures, especially for being just a little ol’ camerea. After class and the party with my ladybug, I found myself here. Back to the beach.