Jordan Part 2

I'll try and consolidate this post to highlights only. Jordan was just such an incredible experience!!!

First of all, I've had a lot of questions about my last post. My friend passed away a few hours after I posted that. Ashleigh was an incredible example to me of what true charity, patience, and love is. We had planned to be roommates this summer after I got back and before we both started our careers. I can not possibly imagine what her family is going through. I know that this experience has taken a toll on me and I am so far removed from it here and surrounded by constant reminders of Christ and his atonement. I consider myself so blessed as I deal with the sadness of losing a good friend, removed from the support group that has formed in Provo, to know that Christ came and willing laid down his life so that we can have not only an existence after this mortal journey, but a life surrounded by loved ones. I know that our Father wouldn't have called her home so suddenly if she hadn't completed her mission here. I had the opportunity to visit the pool of Siloam right after I found out. Christ healed the blind man here, and it was so poignant to me as I sat there how in control Christ and our Father are. Ashleigh could have been healed, I'm sure of it. But I'm also sure that it wasn't the Lord's will and I'm going to trust in that knowledge.

Ok Petra = mind blowing. Camels = wicked cool! Ellie = exhausted!

The day after Petra found us in Amman, the capital of Jordan. We got an incredibly early start to go see the sights around town. First stop - the citadel of Amman, basically the old city. When we got there, I honestly had no idea what I was looking at: a couple cool ruins, some big signs in Arabic, some touristy walkways. We meandered through with Eeah pointing out highlights. Finally we turned a corner and I was looking at a real Roman temple... well what was left of it. There was nothing that could have prepared me for the magnitude of the temple. I'm such a sucker for ancient beauty. The Temple of Hercules. I couldn't get enough... but believe it or not, that was only small potatoes compared to what was to come the rest of the day!

I think the next place we went was the Jordanian Museum. Honestly, so much has happened since the trip, it's a bit blurry. At the museum we were greeted by the curator and set free to explore. It was very similar to the Israel museum, on a much smaller scale. And lots of pottery... it makes me sad that ancient pottery is literally becoming an everyday phenomenon to me. But it's true... one of my professors said the sights literally bleed pottery and he couldn't be more right!

Next up - Jerash - the oldest, best preserved Roman city. Words can not describe the feelings I got there! At first it seemed like every other Tel, plus a cool gate. Our guides decided to pit the two buses against one another, and I was elected (despite my aggressive protesting that I have no speed, just distance in my short lil' legs) to run a race against the other bus. Thankfully, there were 2 of us representing and the other girl pulled through for our bus! After the racing we went to the amphitheater. Wow. That's all I can say! There were bagpipers playing the tune of Praise to the Man as we walked in, and pretty soon our group had taken over the stage. Heather sang, and then a couple groups sang, and then the bag pipes started again... and soon we were dancing all around the stage! I danced and sang in a Roman Amphitheater!!  I'm pretty sure that life does not get more surreal than that!  The rest of exploring Jerash was incredible... I don't have time or attention span to get it all in. But just imagine a city the size of 2 BYU campuses probably, covered in columns, elaborate carvings, and the ghosts of the people who inhabited the streets lurking around the corners.

This was in the colonnade circle... just like in Hercules! 

Finally we went to the Automobile museum documenting the lives of the royalty of Jordan. It was fine. I don't really get old cars... I felt like I was looking at models of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the first half. But I did get this picture for Dad.

You probably can't tell what I'm pointing to... it's an Indian Motorcycle... exactly like the one in the World's Fastest Indian. I appreciated it in your behalf! 

Next day real quick. We went to a mosque... I can't remember which one, but they had made special arrangements for us to take a tour. Eeah was so wonderful at explaining what happens and the Muslim view of different things, I think my entire group was in reverence of the thoughts of mosques. Plus, we got/had to dress like Muslims out of respect. That was quite the experience! I'm never complaining about Mormon modesty again!!!

Then we went to the River Jordan where Christ was baptized. I won't spend a ton of time describing it, it was an incredibly spiritual experience for me! But as we were reading the account in the scriptures, just as we were talking about the Holy Ghost, sitting on the banks of the river, a flock of doves flew overhead. What a neat experience. I'm sure they are kept there for the tourists... but it was a wonderful effect and one I will never forget! 

I took a bit of a dip in the River :)

Ok, there are the very briefest of highlights from the Jordan Trip. It was an incredible experience and I am honestly in love with that country!! I'm beginning to think I would not mind spending a few years in this region on a work assignment. I might have to work towards that!

This picture should have been in my last post... but I was on a public computer. These are my adorable roommates - Lydia and Kimberly! I've only known them a month and they have become some of my closest friends here!!

Faith...

Today has been rough.

I woke up to the news that one of my best friends back at home had been in a serious accident and was in the trauma care unit.

I had no way to reach anyone and find out how serious.

As I waited for updates all day I was shocked at the peace I felt. It's been a while since I've dealt with a situation like this, and never from a distance where I am so completely helpless.

I visited lots and lots and lots of graves today. I couldn't help but think: What a blessing that I know about the plan of salvation. What a blessing to have the faith that we will live again. What a blessing to know that this life is not the end and families can be together forever.

Ashleigh is an amazing example of faith and a righteous woman. I have faith that whatever happens will be the Lord's will and be alright in the end. I'm so thankful that I can be here, where the atonment happened and know that we will live again!

Father

I'm taking a minor detour from writting down my activities to just write out what's been on my mind lately. Specifically Fathers. Specifically mine.

While here in the Holy Land I've been focusing on strengthening my relationship with my Heavenly Father. It's been a challenging experience to say the least. It is easy for me to relate to Christ here as I see where he walked, taught, lived, and died. Heavenly Father is much more ambigous and almost totally dependant on me to form the relationship. That's alright, something that you work for is much more rewarding than something that is given to you.

However, as I've pondered qualities of Heavenly Father and the role of fathers, I'm more and more grateful for the father I've been given in this life. My dad is my hero. I've yet to meet a man who is harder worker than my dad (which has made dating incredibly difficult because no one quite measures up!). My dad is a big prankster and tease which has helped me not take myself to seriously. My dad is supportive of not only my dreams and goals, but of all his children and his wife. I treasure the memories of I have of long evenings of pitching and batting cages, bike rides, jump over, and apple fights. I can never thank my dad enough for coaching me not only in softball, but in tough life lessons. 

Dad, I want you to know I love you and miss you. I'm so grateful for all you do for me! Thank you for giving me an example of qualities that our Heavenly Father has. You are the best!

PETRAfied

Cue ridiculously long blog post round duos!

This last week we had our first overnight field trip. Where you may ask? Jordan. Don’t worry… I wasn’t overly thrilled about going either. I mean…cool, another Middle Eastern country, slightly different culture, probably some cool piles of rocks. But do we really need to spend 4 days doing just that? I could not have been more wrong!!

First of all, we left ridiculously early, on our giant tour bus to make it to the border before anyone else did. When they said border crossing, I’m thinking something similar to the U.S. –Canada border. In set up I wasn’t that far off, they look very similar, except this border has mines in the no man’s land and they actually take the passport checking very seriously complete with scanning of our luggage and mirrors under the bus. We waited at the border for about 3.5 hours. I’m not gonna lie… I got a wee bit cranky. Finally the ordeal was done, we were all cleared and we were on our way to an adventure!

First stop: Mount Nebo, where Moses looked and saw the promise land and then was translated. I wish I would have realized that we were going there so I could have studied about it a bit more. Unfortunanetly, I was so cold and hungry that I don’t think I really got the full experience (plus it was super hazy so I couldn’t really see anything off the top of the mountain). But still, I got the same kind of feeling that I get when I go to the Manti Temple. A prophet of old stood here! Walked here! Spoke to God here! Plus, my mental picture of the Bible is coming together a lot smoother now. When I read about places on my own now I can actually visualize them and picture what’s going on. Awesome!

After Mt. Nebo, we went to see the Madaba Map. I was pretty excited for this one! Not a day goes by here that I don’t think about what an excellent teacher Mr. Oram was and I’m so grateful for his passion for art and being able to transfer it to me. I can’t imagine what this trip would be like without it. Soooo…. Mr. Oram had talked with us quite a bit about this map, in reality, it was not as vivid as I expected. But that could not diminish how fascinating wit was, how mind blowing the details, and the fact that thousands of footsteps of old had brought pilgrims to that exact spot on their route to Jerusalem. That same church also had the Madonna with the Blue Hand. I can’t remember exactly why that icon was so important…but I remember learning about it and so naturally I was excited to see it! After a quick stop at a local restaurant, we drove down to Petra.

Side note, on the drive, Tanner Potter sat next to me. I haven’t really talked to him at all that much, but that ride we got to know each other pretty well. I found a kindred soul in regards to books!!! And fun fact: he is a Davis Dart and part of the original Da Boys group… pre cursor to The Stoop…. Hmmmmmmmm….

Ok, we get to Petra and the welcoming committee is literally in the drive waiting for us, in full uniform playing the bagpipes, drums, and singing/chanting with swords drawn. What the heck!! I felt like royalty! After they ushered us through the gauntlet there was mango juice and bread with oil and thyme for us to snack on while we enjoyed the music. I’m pretty sure that will never ever happen for me again! I just soaked it all up and couldn’t get over the fact that it was happening to me!! After were checked in(and had an incredible Bedouin dinner), most of our group headed down to Petra to do a candlelight tour. There is something so incredibly magical about red rock at night! The whole time we were there, I kept thinking about working down in Zion and the nights when we’d all go rappelling Jolly’s by moonlight. That summer was the best decision I’ve ever made… maybe that’s what I’ll do again this summer… hmmmmm…

Anyways, we walked through the canyon following a little trail of tea lights. The stars were breathtaking! I’ve missed seeing stars regularly here. There is so much light pollution that only a few show up, but out in small town Petra down in the canyon, they were almost as bright as at the ranch! And I saw all of Orion for the first time, instead of just his belt! Wahoo! Walking through the canyon with Brooke and Larson, (the guy who reminds me of Landon), I honestly felt like I was right back in Southern Utah, except every once and a while the trail changed into an ancient Roman road lit by hundreds of little candles. We kept chatting and laughing, when all of a sudden we turned a corner and we’re staring at the Treasury of Petra, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And do you know what, it’s even more awe-inspiring than I ever imagined! I think all 3 of us stopped mid-sentence and just stared in amazement as we approached this magnificent tomb. As the mouth of the canyon opened up, there were hundreds of candles lighting up the Treasury. We sat down to just appreciate the majesty infront of us, and some local men started playing the flute and some Middle Eastern guitar/cello thing. It was… eerie, and magical, and time-transcendent (is that even a word?). Even with the freezing cold wind chilling my fingers one by one, I couldn’t get enough! Finally, I dragged myself away…with the promise I could come back the next day.

We stared bright and early the next morning. Our tour guide, Eeah, walked us through Petra by daylight. It was fascinating! He described the aqueducts that they had carved out of the sandstone, pointed out the camels carved into the walls, and explained the hundreds of caves/tombs that we would be seeing that day. Finally, we rounded the corner and I knew we would be seeing the incredible treasury tomb in a matter of seconds by daylight. Eeah told us to make lines, hold hands, and keep our eyes down. When I finally looked up again, the Treasury was in front of me, regal and imposing. After a few minutes there, they cut us loose to go explore. Petra is huge! I could have spent days and days there…probably even weeks! Everything was so ancient, and some places we climbed into, I felt like I was the first person to be there in centuries! Ok, I know that that’s ridiculous…  but it was so easy to imagine!

We took off with a small quick group to try and move quickly to see as much as possible with our short time. Hannah led the way followed by Brooke and I, then Larson, Andrew, and Mike tagging along. We booked it up the tallest mountain to get to the High Place first. Over 800 stairs. Ouch! We climbed them all in about 15 mins, and made it to the high place to enjoy the view for a while. What I wasn’t expecting though, was at the top there was a full on alter. Eeah had told us that they believe that Moses stayed some time there and there is a tomb for Aaron, Moses’s brother at the top of a mountain a few mountains away. Anyways, the high place alter was the first alter I’d seen complete. And it was huge! Even if none of the Old Testament prophets used it, I loved the visualization I got from that mountain top. We could see everything around us for miles and were so close to the sky, it wasn’t easy to get there, but worth the hike, and I could see perfectly how it would be laid out… I could almost see the smoke rising from the alter.

I'm pretty sure I'm bringing the fanny pack back ;)

 Heading down, we saw a cool lookout and of course had to check it out…. And discovered a back way down. A few other groups saw us head down that way and followed us, but our pace was a bit to quick for them. The way down was littered with tombs and caves. And about half way down there was a Bedouin woman playing a haunting tune on a flute. She pulled us to the edge of the cliff and pointed out sacred sights. Kinda cool! We crawled into graves and explored the nooks and cranny’s of pitch black caves(thanks for making me take a flashlight Dad!) and got to know a French couple that was playing leapfrog with us down the trail. Once we got to the bottom, there was a herd of donkey’s just chilling there, so we chased them around a bit and all I could think of was that stupid mule Elmer that I learned to barrel race on and how similar these dumb donkeys were too him. Right after the donkeys, we stumbled across some adorable children who were racing their homemade toys (a wheel from a stroller cut off and stuck onto a stick). They were running back and forth with bare feet over sharp little rocks. It broke my heart! When they saw us, they started yelling “Hello Mis-ter! Hello Mis-te-er!” They tried to become our guides through the caves. We’d been told not to indulge them because they should be in school, but we played with them a little bit, they couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7! Andrew even got them to race back and forth with him a few times.  And after we left, they followed us for about 15 mins chattering in broken English. They were so adorable, I wish I could have taken every one of them with me!

When we came to the road to the Monastery, we parted ways with the little kids and as we came around the corner, we spotted Nate Monson, Freddy and Nicholette. And from yards away we heard Nate yell “Stop the Donkey!!! Stop the Donkey!!!” we could not stop laughing! We had specifically been told no donkey rides… so to hear him freak out over the donkey moving a few steps was priceless!

We booked it up to the Monastery, about halfway up the steep stairs I’m thinking… “There is no way that this is worth it! My legs are killing me!” But guess what?! It was so worth it! We caught up to a couple other groups on the way up, and by the time we all reached the top (a wicked 800ish stairs later), out of breath and sweaty, the view was unreal! A massive tomb carved right out of the rock. Now, we’d been seeing quite a few of these all day, but this one was the most imposing one I’d seen so far. We had 45 mins to kill up there before lunch, so quite a few pictures were taken. About 30 of us climbed inside of the tomb and before you knew it, Prince of Egypt was being sung and we were dancing and forming circles… the little local boys were sitting on the death bed laughing at us. They must have thought we were completely crazy! We hiked around a little bit more, a few of the guys disappeared and pretty soon they were yelling at us from the top of the tomb. They had found a back way up and clambered up to it. Larson, Brooke, and I started to follow in their footsteps but before we could go very far a ranger chased us down and shooed us out. Turns out there is a no climbing sign that was facing the complete wrong way so obviously we didn’t see it…

On the way down from the monastery, starving as we were… I had to stop and look at jewelry. All morning long the necklaces had been catching my eye. They weren’t the generic (I can’t believe I’m using that term to describe anything here, but it’s the only word that is coming to mind right now) one’s that I’ve been seeing in the old city. Some of them were genuinely unique and somewhat specific to the area. About half way down, I spotted one I hadn’t seen yet, picked it up, and well had to have it. I’m so proud of my bartering skills lately. I paid exactly what I wanted for it, and I love it!

After lunch we decided to go try and find the museum that held the Elephant capitals from the amphitheater columns. We got pointed to a structure at the top of a mountain. Up we went… even more stairs… honestly, the south stairs at BYU seem like a breeze after this trip! Turns out we were given wrong directions, but there was a small trail around the back that we took, and after we turned the corner, there was a sign telling us we were on our way to see the crusader fortress. Awesome! We found it pretty easily, and for the first time since early that morning we weren’t surrounded by tons of shopkeepers and tourists… just us and a little man with a coffee shop. These tombs had some wicked graves in them, that looked like people were actually buried there instead of excavated. Obviously lots of pictures were taken, and then we realized we were running out of time. We raced back down to see the Roman Amphitheater and Palace Tombs. The amphitheater was cool, very similar to other one’s we’d seen. But, possibly the funniest moment of the trip happened here.

There was a little boy trying to sell us postcards, and he would not leave us(and by us I mean mostly Elizabeth) alone. Every time we got rid of him, he came back about 30 seconds later. Finally, Elizabeth ran out of excuses so she told the little boy to try Mike, because he had all the money. The boy ran over to Mike and started pestering him (what we didn’t know at the time, was that Mike had been telling the little boy the exact same lie about Elizabeth.) Mike tries to joke about us with the little boy, but he got right in his face, so Mike started backing up. Right into a big hole that led to the cisterns. I watched as Mike teetered on the edge of this hole, windmill arms and everything, then fell (I swear the whole thing was in slow motion) right into this hole, completely disappearing. My first thought was “Mike may have just died!” Elizabeth and I ran over, followed closely by Larson and Brooke from another direction. Mike was trying to stand up at the bottom of about an 8 foot drop with 2 good size ledges sticking out of the sides. We were really worried at first when he said he wasn’t ok. But he climbed out of the hole just fine and clarified that he had hit his tailbone pretty hard. 

He started walking around trying to walk it off and another group came up and asked what had happened. As I started to describe it, it hit me just how hilarious the situation was… honestly it was like something straight out of a movie, and the fact that Mike genuinely was alright. I started giggling… I swear I tried to hold it in. But then Mike said something about how it was karma cuz he’d been sending little kids at us all day, and the whole situation was comical… and I lost it. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to throw up! I had to leave and pull myself together. Even today, a week later, I can’t think about it without a smile. Mike is okay, he even started running with us again a few days ago, and he thinks the best part of the story now is how hard I was laughing.

After Mike’s dive, we really had to hustle to get to the Palace. We hiked up, poked our heads in stood in amazement, and I may have recounted the falling story to Matt and Mckay who we ran into there. We split up pretty fast though, Mike, Elizabeth, Brooke and I wanted to ride camels and the others wanted to explore a bit more. We hadn’t even made it down the hill, before a man offered us a camel ride. I put my bargaining skills to work again and got us a ride back to the Treasury for 5 dinars each. (I’m actually ridiculously proud of that one!) Brooke and I had to double up, but I didn’t even mind! It was a truly unique experience, and terrifying when the camel stood up and sat back down. Surprisingly we got a lot of comments as we were riding back (“Oh, camels make the ladies sexy!” “Hey you two in the middle there, you sexy!” “Middle two lesbians?”) Yikes!! I didn’t realize camels were an attraction factor.

 Mike thought it was hysterical and I can’t really blame him for anything after my reaction to his fall. We made it back to the treasury where a lot of our group were hiring camels for pictures. (Can I just add, they paid more to take a picture on the camel, then we paid to ride and take a picture… booyah!) A couple of the guys decided to put 4 on a camel… it ended almost in disaster with Larson making a full 360 around the camel’s neck and the camel nipping at him and snorting like crazy. It was a perfect way to end our day in Petra!

Alrighty… this post is already way to long. Kudos to you if you made it all the way through! Promise, the rest of this trip won’t be so lengthy (hopefully!)

Ellie

Just an update...

Hello hello!

Well, this is the first break I've had yet, no pressing homework, I'm not allowed in the city before 3 on Fridays and I got a nap in (I've never been so completely and totally exhausted ever in my entire life, but I just can't seem to sleep because there is always so much I want to do!)...so I'll try and catch up the past few days!

I'm all caught up to Tuesday... Wednesday we were slammed with classes again. Seriously, I'm thinking they might be trying to kill us these first couple weeks. Classes are normally in 2 hour blocks, intensive learning and dark rooms. All of us are super sleep deprived... it's rough! But we had a little bit of a break Wednesday afternoon and a few of us decided to head into the old city to explore a bit, when I say a few I mean like 14. We hadn't even made it 50 feet out of the gate when some kids asked us to come play darts with them. Since I had no agenda of things to do and see that day, I joined the group that went to play with them, Eric, Scott, and Kari. We played with them for a while... my dart playing skills are just sad to say the least. But it was fun and I love interacting with the people here.

Afterwards, we caught up to the other group and Kari decided to go with them to Omar's shop. Since I still haven't decided if I want the piece he has on hold for me, I opted out, and Eric, Scott and I went exploring. We didn't find much of anything thrilling, a cool shop, some candy, a neat ally. We were walking past the fountain by the church of the Holy Sepulchre and I saw a young guy with an awesome bird. I complemented him on it and he asked me if I would like to hold it. I asked if it was free and he said for me... yes! I held this neat little bird and it immediately pooped on my finger! Sick nasty! But I still needed the picture with it so I dealt with it.

Ok ok ok ... I wrote that first part almost a week ago. And I haven't had a single spare moment since then... so I'll finish up to last Monday and then I'll start working on another post to try and capture this amazing week!

So the bird poops on my finger, picture, and then we start talking. Turns out he was a Bedouin man who owned his own shop. We started chatting because we had just visited a Bedouin camp. He asked us to come to his shop to show us some of his Bedouin heritage things. We had about 20 mins before we had to start heading back so why not? We go into his shop which is just like every other little tourist shop in the old city, but he pulls out a picture book from behind the counter and starts showing us his family. Then he points to a picture of his mother or grandmother wearing this beautiful cross stitch dress. Then he points to the dress hanging on the wall of the stairs ( I hadn't even noticed the stairs before.) Right then a little boy arrives with some herbal tea that he's brought us. Our teachers had explained how hospitality is valued very highly in Bedouin society and their trademark is sharing tea. So I took it, but I also remembered how my parents had taught me never to accept a drink that something could be put in... so I just pretended to sip it. Meanwhile, Eric downs the whole thing, Scott did the same as me. Once we have the tea he tells us that he has some antiques upstairs in his workshop. I got kinda a fishy feeling about this so I had one of the boys go first and another one behind me as he lead us upstairs. But he was telling the truth, there was a beautiful workshop upstairs, draped floor to ceiling in elaborate fabrics with intense metal decorations everywhere. It honestly looked like something straight out of the movies, a Middle Eastern sitting room. In the fireplace there were jars and jars of spices, when I asked him about it, he says "My brother, he is crazy! He is a chef!" I'll believe that now. In the center of the room there was a round table covered in bowls of beads of all kinds of colors and sizes and materials. He has us all sit down on cushions and turns to me and says "I want to make you a present, and earring!" Well... I'm not about to say no to free jewelry, so we sat there and watched as he made me a beautiful earring. He says the stone he put on there is coral... sure why not... even if it's not... it's beautiful! He hands it to me and says, "I will only give you one because I want you to come back then I'll give you the other!" I don't know if he means buy the other or he'll really give me the other, I don't even care! It's a cool story behind the earring :) I haven't had time to go back and get it because I don't want to go back there without 2 biggish guys at least. This guy is just a bit to friendly, but I am definitely going back! By the time we finally got out of there we had 13 mins to get back to the center. It normally takes me about 18 mins from the Northeast gate back to the center if I'm walking at a good pace. We were at the West gate (Jaffa)... it was a very quick run/walk we did back to the center and guess what, we only made it back 5 mins late!

Thursday, I had another quick break after classes, so we decided to go to the old city again. Brother Belnap heard us talking about a place to find and he told us about the oldest church in Jerusalem that supposedly has the skull of John the Baptist. So off we went, sadly we didn't find it in time before we had to race back to the center to make it in time for class.

Friday, Mckay wanted to get ready for Jordan by going to Shaban's and trading our Shekals for Dinars. Apparently, everyone else in the center had the same idea. We got there and about 5 mins later another 20 people showed up. The little shop was so full that Shaban had us all sit down and gave us mango juice and pita bread with thyme. And of course lots of the girls bought scarfs and the boys looked at kipas (sp?), we had to leave pretty quick though... we only had about an hour and half to play in the old city before dark so 20 mins there and then 30 mins in Shabans... we had to leave pretty quick to make it back to the center. Mckay, Matt and I were walking down the street from Shabans when we saw an open door. You know what that means - go in! It was a green door, made for midgets-I had to bend down to go through. It opened up to a small courtyard with a little church in the middle. On the door of the church there was a sign - John the Baptists Relic church! We found it! Without even trying! I was thrilled! Sadly it was closed, it's only open at random 1 hour increments during the week. But, I know where it is now and I'm going back!!

Friday night was movie night, Lawrence of Arabia, there was no way I could sit through a 3 hour movie in the uncomfortable chairs in the forum, so I went and joined a group playing games. Scategories, catch phrase, and then I suggested Rook. There was one other girl here who knew how to play, so we taught two others and started a game. Soon more and more people joined in and pretty soon we had lots of rook games going, and guess what, people loved it! Not only loved it, there is talk of a Rook tournament going down! Best day ever! I haven't really played Rook since Freshman year, I'm loving it!

Saturday, church was amazing! I feel like I'm on a constant spiritual high here! After church, a small group of us walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane. It wasn't quite what I expected. It was noisy and cold and very manicured. But I found a quite corner, pulled out my scriptures and had a wonderful experience. I am still in awe that I can just walk to the Garden tomb or the Garden of Gethsemane whenever I want to, ponder on what happened there, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world all the time!

Sunday was something else. Most of the people here decided to go on a little excursion to see some caves about an hour away from the city. I looked them up and honestly... it just looked like Timp, plus, I'm not a huge fan of caves, they make me a wee bit nervous. So I opted out and signed up instead to play the carol-on bells that morning. So after breakfast, Hannah, Brooke, John, and I hiked over to the YMCA just outside of the the old city. When we got there, Stephen, Brett, and Kari had decided last minute to do it and hitched a ride with the Carlsons. We got to chime the hour and then we started playing the bells. Like actual huge bells ringing out over the city! It was such a nerve racking and amazing experience. I got to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow and then Hannah and I played Sunrise, Sunset. Every time I hear Viva la Vida now I'm going to think of that experience "I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing, Roman Calvary choirs are singing!" I rang those Jerusalem bells!!! Afterwards, we took the most awkward picture of my life in front of the building... ask me about it when I get home!

Afterwards we went over to the Israel Museum. Brooke and I had already been there, but let's be honest... I was so enthralled the first time I didn't mind going back and looking at things at my own pace. The highlight of my museum experience this time was not the artifacts. Brett and I were wandering through and we started chatting about these giant lion gates that were in the middle of the floor. Pretty soon, without thinking, we were chatting and leaning on the ancient lions. Before you knew it, the alarm started beeping and the guard was coming towards us yelling in Arabic or Hebrew, I don't know which. Brett had blocked me from his view so he only yelled at him thankfully, I couldn't stop laughing. I'm pretty sure those weren't the real things... they were in the middle of the floor and the last time I was there the tour guide touched them...but still, leaning on them was probably not the best thing. Still... it was a hilarious experience.

After the museum, we split up. Hannah, Stephen, Kari, John and I decided to stay in West Jerusalem and see what the night life was like. We're not allowed out in East Jerusalem (where the center is) or the Old City after dark. Since we were already in West Jerusalem it only seemed natural to stay out. We wandered over to the German Colony (and when I say wandered, I mean asked directions from multiple people and turned around a couple times), on the way over, Stephen and I got in an argument over who sings Livin' on a Prayer. He called multiple people to settle this, but since Brett is the gospel truth according to Stephen, he was the official tie breaker. At first he sided with Stephen saying it was Journey, but a few mins later he called back to side with me... Bon Jovi! So now he owes me a waffle, or crepe, and I have the satisfaction of knowing my Bon Jovi! The German Colony was alright... just a little street full of fun little restaurants and a crazy looking movie theater. I don't know that I'll go back, but I'm sure glad I went to see it at least once. We grabbed a taxi ride home and Stephen and John worked to lower the rate by auctioning off kisses from us 3 girls. Thankfully the driver wouldn't go for it and we made it home with out to much of a problem!

Alrighty this post is way past long enough, and I have homework, so until next time! Goodnight!

Homeward Bound... and a wee bit homesick

No, I'm not coming home... I'm talking Biblical home here. But before I catch up for the past couple days, I thought Mom and Dad would appreciate the fact that I got a little bit homesick yesterday. We went on an awesome field trip yesterday - details to follow - but the hour long drive there, the land around looked just like the Ranch and I got a little bit nostalgic. Then, later that day when I opened up my Picasa to organize my pictures for the day, it automatically opened up to the pictures I scanned for your Christmas present a few years ago. So I spent a few mins perusing pictures of Mom and Dad's wedding and early days on Beverly Street. I hope everyone is well at home... I miss you all! Its all I can do not to buy a ton of presents for everyone here!! I've already got about 5 million things I want to get for you girls... Ben is proving difficult... but my eyes are peeled for something perfect!

Ok... now the Homeward Bound bit. One of my first nights here, I was accompanying a friend, Heather (she has an absolutely amazing voice!!!!) and she asked me to play the old folk song Homeward Bound (Simon and Garfunkel remade it later) that Grandpa Williams used to have me play for him. I haven't accompanied anyone in that song since he passed away and as I was playing it for her I could feel him very close! Our field trip yesterday was to the Negev... the dry flatlands almost desert that the people of the Exodus wandered around for 40 years. On our way there, Brother Woods sang a few lines of Homeward Bound to us, making the connection that we are going back to the home that was promised to Abraham and how we are entitled to the promises he made. Brother Woods reminds me a lot of Grandpa Williams too... the veil felt very thin at times during the day.

We visited the Bedouin Women - nomadic people who still live a very simplistic... although more modernized... lifestyle. They showed us how make yarn, dye it, and weave these beautiful, elaborate materials. It was so primitive but so beautiful! In a few years when I have a bit more spending money, I'm going to order some of the pillow cases they made.

Next we went to Tel-Beersheva, a town that is mentioned many times in the Old Testament, because all 3 of the patriarchs were known to have lived there at one time or another. Every place I go, I'm learning so so so much, there is no way I can write it all down! But at Tel-Beersheva we focused on the significance of Alters in temples.... mostly because they found a 4 horned alter there. Wow! The thing that struck me at this site was the view that I was looking at was the same one that Abraham looked at as he left to sacrifice Isaac, the same one Isaac looked at as a young boy, and the same one that Jacob looked at some point in his life. As I stood in the streets of the city and tried to imagine what it would have looked like back then, the feelings that these great prophets and fathers and sons had to have been experiencing as they stood there (or somewhere really close!!) it made the scriptures so much more real! After wards we went into these amazing cisterns way under the city. I couldn't believe that these man made caverns were made so anciently ago... it gives me chills thinking about it!

My favorite site of the day though was Tel-Arad. Arad is mentioned in the scriptures as well as the Canaanite city that prevented the Israelites from entering into Canaan. Again, standing on top of the hill looking over the land that Children of Israel would have been camped in, I could just visualize a young women back then, standing somewhere nearby where I was and seeing this massive group of people approaching her home city. It is so easy to empathize with Biblical characters being here in this land and understanding how things are here... I can't even describe it! What fear must have been in her heart and the hearts of the leaders of Arad seeing the Exodus, how discouraging must it have been for the Israelites coming from the lush area of the Nile to be camped here in a relatively ugly place (I thought it was beautiful, but I can see how some might find it harsh and unappealing like it's described in the O.T.). But perhaps the coolest moment came for me when we looked over the layout of a complete Israelite temple that had been excavated from the site. I've seen drawings of what it was supposed to look like before, but it became so real to me. Honestly, I've always pictured a huge area making up the temple, but it was fairly small. About the size of the kitchen, dinning, and living room in my parents house. But I could feel the history as I looked at the rocks comprising the walls. I can't wait to go through our temple and compare the Israelite temples to what I learn there! I can tell I've got SO MUCH TO LEARN still! It's exciting!

Sunday I finally went to the Dome of the Rock! I remember learning about it back in High School. My teacher did such a good job explaining it and impressing into us the importance of the sight... I remember turning to Steph and we promised each other we'd go there. I got to chat with her for a few minutes yesterday and she was so excited that I'd been there! I can't wait for her to get home and we can share all the amazing experiences we've had abroad now! Anyways... the Dome of the Rock... it was even better than I had originally imagined! The tile is exquisite and the buildings surrounding it are gorgeous ruins of Roman looking architecture...except for the Mosque of course! I'm going to have to go back 4 or 5 times at least while I'm here to even start to take it all in.

Ok that really is me... 

If you turned around from where the above picture was taken this is what was behind you. From left to right: Matt, Me, Kimberly, Chris

After the Dome, Matt, Dillon, Kimberly (my amazing roommate!), Christopher, and I all set out to explore the Old City. We decided to try and find the 4 synagogues. But, somehow we ended up in the Christian quarter... I led us down a few random allies and up a few random stair cases and before I knew it we had found our way into a courtyard that I"m pretty sure was on the roof of a radiating chapel to the Church of the Holy Seplechure. Just as we came out on the roof... the bells started chiming. It sounded just like the Sound of Music. I would love to live in a city where real bells chime on the hour, there is something so majestic and peaceful about it. Next we found our way onto the rooftop of a couple houses that had an amazing view of the Dome of the Rock, Church of the Holy Seplechure and a mosque I think... Anyways, it was smack dab in the middle of the Christian, Armenian, and Jewish quarters... I'm pretty sure. It was such a cool view we decided to have lunch there. Right as we sat down, the Muslim call for prayer starting going off right above us, then about a minute later the church bells from the church of the Holy Seplechure started chiming. It was a very confusing and at the same time beautiful. I hope I can find my way back there sometime!

Rooftop in the middle of the City with me in the middle!

After the rooftops we climbed down and went exploring under the city, we went to Zedekiah's Caves, where the stone for the first temple was quarried. They were cool... but honestly the coolest thing for me was the fact that we were under such a bustling city!

Finally, the best part of the day was at the end... we visited Omar's Olive wood carving shop. They are exquisite! I'm wrestling with whether or not to buy this beautiful statue of Christ pulling Peter out of the water. It's expensive! After Omar's, we went exploring a bit more and finally found one of the synagogues we'd started out looking for. But then we discovered a breathtaking overlook of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. We dubbed it our new lunch place and had a very hard time pulling ourselves away from the spectacular view, the somewhat peaceful atmosphere and the benches that were great for our sore feet!

We found another rampart walk and started going around it, but ran out of time. Fun story - We were getting pictures and I was supermanning out of a rampart window to get a cool pic. I couldn't get very far out though. Matt thought he'd be nice and hold onto my legs so I could lean out further, well he lifted me up when he grabbed my legs and I thought I was getting thrown over the wall. Terrifying. The boys I was with all found it incredibly funny however. We had to race back to the center to make it in before sundown, but we made it in time for a gorgeous sunset and a big list of things to do next Sunday!

Today, the only thing I have to report is that I made it through all my classes (6 hours worth) without falling asleep and I got a bit of a tan (as much as I tan) as I studied/napped on my balcony today. Sunny 72 degrees today... sorry for all y'all back in Utah!

Well, goodnight from Jerusalem! As always, love you all!!

On Top of the World

I'm not in a super creative or writing mood right now... but I know I need to record as much as I can before I forget to much!

So here's a list of what's been on my mind and what I've been up to

1. I've been here a little over a week and my testimony has grown more in one crazy week than it has in probably the last two years. It's impossible for it not to grow as I'm learning more and more about the Old Testament and especially about Abraham I'm in awe of the amazing things that took place here! 

2. The impossible has happened... It think I'm finally finding my way around the Old City! I've only gotten lost twice the last time I went there! Some cool things I've found and discovered:

I held a Parrot named Rose

I found the prison and tomb that held Barabbas supposedly

I tried Falafal and Schwarma... mmmmmmm sooo good

I visited the Church of the Holy Seplechure

And I finally got up the courage to buy/barter a bag that I really needed

3. I found Kristalyn and Landon's dopplegangers - except Landon's is blonde

4. I lead a Zumba class... it was terrifying but once we started I had so much fun... and I had multiple boys come up to me the next day and tell me how sore they were from it! Score!

5. Last night we got to go into the Old Ctiy after dark and participate in the welcoming of the Sabbath with the Jews at the Western Wall. It was an unforgettable experience! We could hear the crowd singing before we were even inside the city. It was slightly overwhelming walking into such an enclosed space and having so many people, like thousands of people, all there worshiping and singing and dancing. But the really incredible thing was how inviting they were and how much they wanted us to celebrate with them. I joined many dance circles just like in Fiddler on the Roof, and rubbed shoulders with many women who were praying earnestly. What wonderful people this world is full of! When we were at the Wall, I couldn't help but think of how much the gospel would bless these people's lives! How badly I wanted them to know what they were missing, to share with them the fact that there is a temple, multiple temples on the Earth today, and that they can speak to God anywhere not just at the wall. Sadly I'm not even allowed to hint at my faith, but I know that one day these amazing people will be given the opportunity to hear this gospel, even if it's not in this life.

6. After coming back from the Wall, we decided to have our own dance party. No lie, it was the funnest dance I've ever been to and I can NOT wait for the next one!!!

7. On Thursday we went and walked the rampart wall. We spent hours climbing all over the ancient stones and looking down on the old city of Jerusalem! It was breathtaking and such a neat experience to look down into the people's lives!

Well, there's a quick overview for me! Hope everyone is well back at home!!

Ellie