Kotel Tunnel & Jewish Quarter

A couple of weeks ago on a free day a group of us decided to go to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. I LOVE the Jewish Quarter so much. We started out the day by going on a tour of the Kotel Tunnel. The Kotel Tunnel is the tunnel that runs under the city along the Western Wall. It was a really neat experience to learn a little bit more about Jewish culture and belief. We walked along the same road that exist back when Christ walked the streets of Jerusalem (Hence, the picture of my feet). The bottom picture is of Hannah, Katherine, and I in the tunnel at the beginning of the tour. The rest of the day consisted of visits to a couple of museums in the Jewish Quarter and a gummy expedition that didn't go well. Let me just say that gummies are the greatest thing in the world...despite the fact that they may or may not be sanitary and they all smell and taste relatively the same. But anyway, beware of the vendor who you buy your gummies from or you may end up having to put every single gummy back where it came from.... but anyway. It was another wonderful day in the city.

Red Crescent Hosptial

I had the opportunity to go and feed the newborn babies at the Red Crescent Hospital right down the street from the center. It was such a neat experience to be able to hold this beautiful little baby girl. She was SO precious and tiny. She was looking up at me with this beautiful brown eyes. Holding this little girl made me want peace for this troubled land more than ever. I don't want her to have to grow up amid all the conflict and trouble that this land has seen. But anyway, it was an amazing opportunity to spend just a little bit of time with this brand new baby.

Life in Biblical Times Field Trip

Pic #1: Reading the Torah Pic #2: Running away from the marriage trail :) Pic #3: Lisa and I making our spice!

A couple of weeks ago we went to this great big reserve type thing where they have it set up like life would've been in Bibilical times. It was a lot of fun! We got to draw water out of a well and sift hay and make our own spices. My favorite was herding the sheep though. There are so many neat lessons that can be learned from Sheperds and their sheep. We talked about how the sheperd must lead the sheep from behind. The sheep must be able to to see their destination. If someone tries to stand in front of them they will immediately stop. They must have their own agency to really see where their going. It is the sheperds job to put up boundaries so the sheep know what is expected of them and where to go but in the end the sheep are free to waander where they want. That has a lot of applicable lessons for our own lives. Our Heavnely Father gives us our agency and gives us the steps we need in order to get to our ultimate destination but it is up to us to get there. Sure we have people who help us get on the right path when we wander or make a mistake but we are never lead blindly. In the end it is our decision. I thought that was a really neat thing to think about. We also got to see a Torah scribe writing the Torah. He was working on the book of Esther while we were there. It takes about a year to write a Torah scroll because it is all done very neatly by hand. The scrolls run anywhere from $25,000-$100,000 dollars. They are amazing! Before the scribe writes the name of God in the Torah he must go and wash himself in a mikvah (ritual bath). That is why it often takes so long..think about how many times the name of God is written in the Old Testament! It was cool to learn more about it and see an actual scribe at work. It was a really fun day!

Hezekiah's Tunnel

Posing at Dormition Abbey

Shindler's Grave

Me and Ash playing David's Harp :)(Above)

Hezekiah's Tunnel! (Left)

We watched a 3D movie...it was so awesome, if you couldn't tell by our excited faces (below)

Hezekiah's tunnel was by far one of the funnest things we've done. We waded through ankle deep water for about a half an hour. We sang songs and had a grand old time! For part of it we turned off our lights and waded through in the dark just by holding on to the person in front of us. We sang "Hold to the rod"... I was thinking a lot about faith while we were walking and how often we don't know where life is going to take us but we just have to trust in the Lord and follow the path His son, Jesus Christ, has laid out for us. It was a cool experience. Afterwards we went up to Mount Zion and saw Schindler's grave and the Upper Room. My favorite was Dormition Abbey which is a church dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. We sang a few hymns while down in the crypt and it was absolutely beautiful. Such a fun and exhausting day!

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringin'!

So...we had a free day in the city on Sunday. A group of us woke up early and went to a bunch of different masses at the Church of the Holy Seplechure. We got to go to a Coptic mass, a traditional Latin mass, a Greek Orthodox mass, and an Ethiopian mass. I absolutley loved going to all the different services. It was a great experience to see all these different manifestation of faith from all sorts of different sects. Bethany and I took a picture outside of the Church. Then after the Church of the Holy Seplechure we went to the YMCA in West Jerusalem. We got to ring the bells for the whole city to hear! It was sooo sooo fun! I played "Come Follow Me" with Hannah. It brought a whole new meaning to "I hear Jerusalem bells a ringin'!" (cheesy I know) but nevertheless it was a blast! The picture is of me and Brother Whipple in front of the bell keyboard. After we rang the bells we wandered over to the Jewish Quarter and looked around a little bit. It was a very exhuasting but awesome day :)

Via del la Rosa & West Jeru

So last Friday afternoon I went and walked the Via del la Rosa. It is the 14 stations of the cross that tradition says Christ walked on his way to Golgotha. It was really neat. After that we went into West Jerusalem which was completely empty because it was the start of Shabbot. We went to this delicious hamburger place just outside Jaffa Gate. It is called the meat burger and it is SO yummy! Then we went to McDonalds and got 3 sheckel ice cream cones. All in all another great day in the city!

Temple Mount

We got to go up on the Temple Mount for just a few minutes and I snapped a couple of photos. The Dome of the Rock is so beautiful. The temple complex is so big...I was a little surprised. It was really fun!

Egyptian Night!

We had an Egyptian dance party and it was a blast! I got to dress up in my awesome dress I got in Egypt and dance the night away. Loved it!

Zedekiah's Cave & David-Goliath Field Trip

Zedekiah's cave is this fun cave that we explored that is located under some of the Old City. It was a little dusty in there....hence the picture :) The other pictures are of our field trip to all these fun caves and places...including the place where David slew Goliath. I am slaying my own Goliath in my epic picture. The one that looks like a dog house is us crammed into a tomb at one of the cave sights. Another fun field trip!

Mount Sinai!!

We had the opportunity to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning and hike Mt. Sinai! It was such an incredible experience. The stars on the way up were the brightest i've ever seen. It was soo cold at the top but seeing the sun rise up over the mountains and light up everything as it went was an experience I will not soon forget. We had a testimony meeting at the top and it was neat to be able to share this experience with everyone.

Luxor!

These are some more pictures from our trip to Luxor. I loved Luxor! Our hotel was right on the Nile and it was absolutely beautiful! The picture of me on the right with the pillars is at the Karnak Temple. It was amazing! The temple complex is HUGE and there is so much symbolism in it. These pillars were massive...i think like 20 something students could fit around them. The top left pictures is at the Luxor Temple. In Egypt we couldn't eat any uncooked food or drink any of the water...despite taking every precaution possible I still got sick so I drank A LOT of soda in order to help me feel better...hence the giant coke :)

and the walls came a tumbling down...

soo.. this is from our Jericho field trip quite a while a go but i though i'd put up a few pictures. Jericho is in the West Bank so it was a little bit different than Jerusalem. I loved it though! I got to see the wall of Jericho and we went to this beautiful montestary on the Mount of Temptation (where Christ spent his 40 days in the wilderness). It was such a beatiful view and the Church was amazing. The picture on the right is of the Judean Wilderness where Christ spent his 40 days fasting. The pictue on the left is Heather, Lisa, and I getting ready to go into the montestary on top of the mountain.

More Egypt....

Soo.. picture #1 at the top is of our Felucca ride on the Nile River way fun...except when we almost thought it was going to tip over. Picture #2 Amy and I in front of some GIANT statues that I can't remember what were for. Picture #3 Megan and I at Queen Hapsetuets (?) Temple #4 Lydia, Mandi, Lisa and I at Queen Hapsetuet's temple in front of an awesome statue and finally #5 me in front of some hiroglyphics at Queen Hapsetuet's temple

Valley of the Kings

We went to the Valley of the Kings and it was AWESOME! It was super hot that day but all the tombs were amazing. The hieroglypics in most of them were very well preserved and it was fun to look at them all and be able to read a little bit of them. The top picture is a Cathrine, Ashley, and Catherine with the valley of the kings in the background. The middle picture is outside of King Tut's tomb and the bottom picture is a group of us on the train thing riding up to the valley.