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5 airports, 4 flights, 3 suitcases, 2 cranky Austrians and 1 very long day later I am finally back in the USA. It took 36 hours but it feels so good to be back! I loved seeing my family, including the newest edition, Ava. I'm so excited to spend the next couple weeks of summer playing with family and friends and catching up on all of my favorite summertime activities. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone from the JC, but it's nice to know that I will see most of them again in a few weeks!

Days 104 & 105

Yesterday was the second half of the Last Week of Jesus' Life field trips. We started out by walking in silence down to the Garden of Gethsemane. We talked about the Atonement there, sang some hymns and had free quiet time to sit and read our scriptures and ponder. It was my last time going to Gethsemane, and I really really loved it. It has been one of my very favorite places to spend time because of how peaceful and quiet it is there.

After Gethsemane we went into the Church of All Nations, which commemorates the Savior's time in Gethsemane. It is designed to look like an olive garden at night, with dim windows and stars on the ceiling. It was really beautiful, and there were beautiful paintings and mosaics of Christ inside and outside the church.

Next we walked to St. Peter's in Gallicantu, which commemorates Peter. This is supposedly the place where Peter denied Christ 3 times during Christ's trials, but the church also commemorates all of the events between Jesus' arrest and His crucifixion. Then we went to St. Anne's, at Bethesda, where there was a pool where Christ healed a paralyzed man. The church there had really amazing acoustics, so we sang some hymns, there was a quartet, and the ward choir (including yours truly) sang "This Is The Christ". Over the summer I have definitely come to appreciate the power of singing to bring the Spirit to the places we visit.

After St. Anne's we walked to St. Mark's Church of the Flagellation, where we talked about the scourging of Jesus during His trial and on His way to the cross. Then we went straight to the Garden Tomb. We talked there about the crucifixion itself and the Resurrection 3 days later. We had free time there too. I love spending time in the Garden Tomb, and it was especially nice after the discussion and the testimonies we had just had about the events that happened there. It was without a doubt the most powerful field trip that we have had here in Jerusalem. Even though I had been to most of the places before, I feel like you can never go enough. I get so much out of every visit and I'm always anxious to go back to feel the Spirit at these places.

Last night we had a closing meeting, where a few people got up and shared what they have learned since being in Jerusalem that they are going to take home with them. I really liked everything that everyone shared, and it was good for me to reflect personally on what I have learned and what I am going to take home with me. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I think there are a lot of positive changes that I've made and that I want to continue to make since coming to the Holy Land.

After the meeting me and my roommates had one last roomie sleepover, with all of our mattresses out on the floor. We were so tired, but it was so fun to spend one more night together. I am going to miss them a lot this fall when I'm back to my own room.

This morning I ran over to Omar's olive wood shop to pay for one of my purchases, then out again to do the very very last minute shopping. We got t-shirts and small gifts and some treats for the flight home, including a big bag of gummies. Gummies are a treat that I will miss a lot back home. We stopped by the Western Wall for a few minutes, and we saw a couple of Bar Mitzvahs going on. We got shawermas and frozen fruit drinks and some caramelized nut samples, and just had fun wandering the Old City one last time.

Our last stop was at the Garden Tomb. Like I said, I get something out of it every time I go there, and even though we had just been there yesterday it was really good to go back and read my scriptures, pray a little and just sit and think, reflect on the last 4 months and on everything I've learned and felt here. We sang a couple of hymns and then we walked back to the Center. I guess technically our very last stop was at the one-shek popsicle store on the way back up the hill to the JC.

When we got back we had a ton of packing to finish up. Most of our stuff in our room was packed, but there were a lot of little things here and there that sometimes are the hardest to find a place for. By dinner, though, all of our bags were packed, weighed, and waiting at the top of the stairs. Dinner was a barbecue outside, with really great food and really great desserts. It was actually probably one of the best meals we've had here so far.

After dinner we had an awards ceremony and a slide show of all of the best pictures from over the summer, then a bunch of us played Murder in the Dark for a while. We are all still awake right now, at least all those of us that will be leaving for the airport at 3 am. Our cell phones and linens are all turned in, our bills are payed and now we are just waiting to get on a plane and get back to our homes.

It has been an absolutely amazing summer. I can't imagine anything I would have rather done, and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. There have been highs and lows, but I have loved every day of it. I have been surrounded by the most amazing people and I have learned so much from them, in addition to what I've learned from the teachers, the field trips and above all the Spirit. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be here and I hope that I can come back to the Holy Land again one day.

Day 103

Today was our first day of the Last Week of Christ's life field trip. We started out the day in Bethany, where the tomb of Lazarus is. Jesus' miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead was when the Jewish leaders really set their sights on having Him arrested and killed. We stopped outside the church there but didn't go outside, then we went outside the tomb. At the end of Manscill's lecture one of the guys came groaning like a zombie out of the tomb, wrapped in toilet paper. A little irreverent, but still really funny.

The next place we went was Bethpage, which is where Jesus started His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, publicly declaring Himself to be the Messiah. We sang hymns in the church there, and saw remnants of the old road that He would have taken as He rode a colt into the city. After Bethpage we went to Pater Noster, which is one of the contested sites of the Ascension. One of the cool things about this church is that they had the Lord's Prayer in over 50 languages all around the inside and outside of the church.

Next we went to Dominus Flevit, the site where Jesus looked out over Jerusalem and the temple mount and wept. We read the New Testament account and some of the prophesies of the destruction of Jerusalem throughout the Bible. The church is built to look like tear drops, which is really cool. It is such a beautiful view of the city, but it's also sad to see it and think about all that has happened to this land since that time.

For lunch we stopped at the Orson Hyde Park. We haven't been allowed in there since the 1st or 2nd week of the semester because some of our students were mugged while they were walking back to the Center, but it's a really beautiful place so I'm really glad we got to go back there one more time before we left. We talked about Orson Hyde dedicating the Holy Land and about some of the events that have happened since then to fulfill the prophecies of the physical gathering of Israel back to this land.

Our last stop was at the Upper Room, a different one from the one we visited during our Christian Quarter field trip. This one I like a lot better, and I loved reading the scriptures about the Last Supper, especially after having our Triclinium program the other night where we learned a lot about it and saw what the dinner itself would have looked like. We sang some Sacrament hymns there too, and ate some bread from the Old City.

Tonight we had an information meeting about everything that we have to know to get ready to go home on Thursday. It is becoming more and more bittersweet every day as it gets closer to the end. After the meeting we had a party in the Oasis, with pizza, karaoke and dancing. It was a really fun end to a great day!

Day 102

This morning I woke up early, before my alarm went off. I got up to breakfast early so I could get the good cereal before it ran out, and it was sooo worth it. After that I went back to bed for a couple of hours until my group all got together and ready to go out into the Old City.

We mostly just wandered through, going to a lot of the same places and picking up last minute souvenirs and gifts here and there. We stopped at a lot of different shops along the way though that I had never been to, which was really fun. It's amazing to me that after all this time there is still so much of the city that I haven't experienced- I think it would take a lifetime to do it all.

One thing we did in the Old City that was really fun was that we stopped at a lot of little food places along our way and tried foods that we've never had before. I got a shawarma for the first time, and it was delicious. It's kind of like a falafel, except for instead of chickpeas at the bottom of the pita it's lamb. It's probably a good thing I didn't have one til today or I would have been eating them all summer. We also tried some sweets from a pastry shop, some lemonade with mint, and then later tonight I had this really good croissant with powdered sugar and almonds, and some roasted pecans. There's a lot of food here that's good, but nothing that I think I'll really miss a whole lot.

After shopping and snacking we went to the Dome of the Rock for the last time and took a couple more pictures. There were a few people from the JC who got to go inside with a tour guide from the UN, and it was sweet to see their pics since nobody really ever gets to go inside who's not a Muslim. We got some good pictures outside ourselves, and then we headed back to the Center.

After dinner a bunch of us went over into West Jeru to hang out one more time. Our taxi van had blue lights and a screen with music videos on it, so we had a dance party on the way there. On Ben Yehuda we got waffles and ice cream, and then we just wandered the neighborhood. We found this small park with a giant horse statue and a little ampitheater. So, of course, we took pictures on the horse and had a concert in the ampitheater. During my act a huge group of Jews came around the corner, and I got a lot of laughs and a lot of smiles, so I think they really enjoyed my performance. On the way back we saw this cute little boutique that was still open, and I bought a couple of really pretty scarves. We played on the street a little longer until our taxi got there, and then it was back to the JC for the night.

*The most exciting part of my day was finding out that I'm an auntie! I can't wait to meet my new little niece!

Day 101

It was our last Sabbath here in the Holy Land, and it was a really good one. Probably the best one ever. I woke up early and walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane with a few other girls. They let us into the locked private garden and we just sat and read and pondered for a couple of hours. It was the perfect beginning to the day.

At Church we had an amazing fast and testimony meeting. I went to Spanish Sunday School and said goodbye to Hermana Dulca, our teacher. In Relief Society my roommate Jessie gave an amazing lesson on how we can take everything that we've gained here and use it to serve others when we go back home.

We took a group picture of all the students outside the Center right after Church- with 79 of us, it was quite an adventure getting it all set up. Then a few of us went over to the Garden Tomb for the Living Prophet's Society. We all read the talk "He Is Risen" that President Monson gave at this last GC. We talked about the Resurrection, and what it means to us in our lives. It was so powerful to talk about it at the Garden, where the Savior Himself was resurrected and where the angel told Mary, He is not here, for He is risen. I think that visiting Gethsemane and the Garden Tomb will be one of the things that I'll miss the very most. I love the special feeling that you get there, a Spirit of peace and truth.

Tonight we had a Triclinium program- they had set up the stage to look like the Upper Rom would have looked at the Last Supper, with the tables and seats on the floor where the apostles would have leaned and eaten the unleavened bread of the Passover. There were a few musical numbers and narrators of the chapters in John that talk about the Last Supper and the events that happened right after. It was really cool to see what it would have looked like and to be able to picture it while they read the account.

After the Triclinium we watched one more Messiah movie- it was about the apostasy and then the Restoration. I have loved watching these movies as we've studied the events that they talk about. We have been to most of the places they filmed at and we have discussed most of the scriptures in class or on field trips. I feel like I have learned so much about my Savior since being here, and I have loved getting to know Him better.

Roommate pictures outside the JC


Dome of the Rock


Riding the bus to the Garden Tomb

Day 100

Wow. Today was kind of the beginning of the end for us here. We had our New Testament and Field Trip finals this morning. The FT test was a piece of cake, they left us clues throughout the week all around the JC of what the questions would be, so we had a googledoc with all the questions and answers. New Testament was a little bit harder, but I still felt really prepared and I think it went really well. It was nice to be done, but kinda sad to be in the classroom for the last time. This afternoon was mostly resting. We all definitely needed to recover from the stress we had this week.

Tonight we had a Community Outreach Concert, basically a goodbye concert for all the students and people we have met in Jerusalem that we invited. I sang in the choir for a couple of songs, and there were a lot of other really amazing songs. I was a mess for most of it- my friends Chelsea and Jane sang For Good from Wicked, then my roommate Jessie played the song she wrote about Jerusalem on the guitar, then some guys did Prayer of the Children, and at the very end we all sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again. Suffice it to say that I definitely should have gone with the waterproof mascara. I've been so excited to come home, but tonight I started to realize just how much I'm going to miss it here. I am so attached to the Old City, the JC, all of the people here and the Spirit that is here in Jerusalem. I love it here and it will probably be harder than I think it will to leave here and come home.

Days 98 & 99

Yesterday I stayed in the Center all day, because we have our 2 big finals this week. This morning was our Ancient Near East test, which I was really worried about but luckily it ended up being even easier than the midterm was, and I felt really good about it when I was finished. Now I'm working on getting ready for the New Testament final that we have tomorrow morning.

Today after lunch I went out with some friends to take pictures in the Old City. We went to Dome of the Rock first and took some cool pictures on the Temple Mount, then we did some shopping and took pics along the way. Some of the funnest ones were handstand pictures in the middle of the road between shops with people walking past. With 4 of us at once, we only ended up with a handful of pictures where all of us are up at the same time, but the ones that worked out look really cool. When we got back me and my roommates all dressed up a little crazy and we went out to take more pictures by the signs for the JC outside the gate (to be posted soon).

The Arabic students from the Egypt study abroad got here on Tuesday night, and they'll be here for the next few days. It's kind of weird having new people around the Center, but fun to see new faces too. Tonight I played volleyball with some of them, which was a perfect break from studying. Now it's back to the googledoc for the rest of the night!

Day 97

This morning we had NT and our last ANE class before the final. The NT class especially is getting soooo good as we learn about the end of the Savior's life and His resurrection. I wasn't ready for class to be over, even after 2 hours, because this, to me, is the very best part of the Bible and I love it.

After lunch I went out into the Old City to do some shopping and finish up a couple of site reports that are due tomorrow. We exchanged money, picked up some tshirts, got some gummies, and looked around at a couple of other things that people wanted to buy. We were all over the place, down a lot of different streets that I had never been to before. It was really fun to see some new sights in the Old City, even though I've been there so many times.

We stopped at Via Dolorosa and on the way back up the hill to the JC to do site reports. We read scriptures that go along with those places and then we have to turn in a list of 20 of those throughout the semester. It's actually a really great assignment, because it makes us really stop and think at the places we go to about the true significance of those places in the life of the Savior.

Last night we watched the last section of the Messiah series that we have been watching for the past few weeks. It was about the Atonement and the Resurrection, and it was the best one we've seen so far. I love that in these last days of our trip we are surrounded with all of these things about the Savior, because really that's why we're all here in Jerusalem, to learn about Him.

Day 96

Today we had an awesome field trip. We started out by going to Masada, this site of a Jewish fortress during the Roman war. It is at the top of this really high plateau, and thankfully instead of hiking it we got to take a tram up there. When we got there we talked a little bit about the history of the fortress. They had a palace and a synagogue and a bathhouse and a series of cisterns, and they had a bunch of food stored to get them through the siege. When the Romans finally built a ramp and conquered the city, the people that lived there all committed suicide rather than become slaves to the Romans. Kind of a tragic story but it was really fun to walk around through all the different buildings and then back down the mountain on the tram.

After Masada we went to the Dead Sea to swim. It was really cool, you could literally sit there with your hands and feet in the air and just float on the top of the water. We swam around a lot and went to this mud pit to put Dead Sea mud all over us. It is the kind of stuff they try to sell you at the mall, and it actually works pretty well, my skin is really soft now. Swimming in it is the weirdest feeling, you kind of get stuck a little bit. Since you're so floaty, it's like when you are on a wakeboard and you try to flip over but you can't really so you have to twist your entire body and throw yourself around. It is such a funny sensation. The worst part was that swimming back to where our stuff was I got salt water in my eye, and it killed. My friend Daniel was helping me swim back since I literally couldn't open my eyes, but then he got water in his eyes. It was the funniest scene of the blind leading the blind as we tried to edge ourselves along the rocky beach until we could get back to our group and get a towel to wipe our eyes.

It was about 44 c degrees here today, or 112 f. That is hot. It was not pleasant. We went to En Gedi after the Dead Sea, which is where David spent time while he was running from Saul. Then we went to Qumran, where the caves are that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found at. It was really cool to learn about the Dead Sea Scrolls and how they are the oldest Biblical text manuscripts we have, and the way that they compare to stuff in the Bible, stuff in the Book of Mormon and stuff in the Pearl of Great Price. There are even some scrolls of things that aren't found in our scriptures, like the Book of Enoch.

Tonight when we got back me and my roommates all did a race to see who could get the fastest shower time with the requirements of shampooing, conditioning, soaping, and shaving. I won. The best part was that in about 15 minutes all 4 of us got through the shower, which I think is pretty impressive for a room of girls and it was nice not to have to wait forever to get clean after such a hot and sweaty and salty day. We had FHE tonight and now I have to finish my reading for my NT class tomorrow. We only have tomorrow and Wednesdays classes before the final, it is crazy how quickly this term has gone by and how much knowledge we have crammed into our brains in the past couple of weeks. I love everything that we learn about in the NT, and I think I'm actually going to really miss this class a lot when it's over.

Day 95

This morning I went with some students over to this school down the street from Crash Corner. It is a school and kind of home for children with autism, and for our service project we are painting a mural on the walls of the kindergarten room for them. It was really fun, the design was already sketched out and we were just painting in the colors on a bunch of animals, like parrots, giraffes, elephants, panthers, crocodiles, and monkeys. They were really bright and I think it will look really cool when it is finished. There are a couple of other groups that are going to go over later this week to finish the other side of the wall and the details.

After lunch I hung out in my room, cleaning, organizing, reading, scripture studying, finishing up some site reports and other schoolwork. I went over to Hebrew U to interview someone for another assignment, and we talked to this student who is Jewish by ethnicity but doesn't believe in God. It was interesting to talk to him, and I thought how weird it was to think that someone could live here among all of these different religions and at all of these special places and not have any belief in them. It's not often that you meet people like that, most of the people here are very religious, those are the people that I really love meeting.

Tonight I am finishing up my laundry. I got down to my last pair of pants today, so I was definitely in need of some clean clothes.

Pics From Jordan

Day 94

Today was a beautiful Shabbat. I woke up and went to choir this morning, sang before Sacrament, went to English Gospel Doctrine and then we had all combined for third hour since it's the fifth Sabbath of the month. I loved everything we learned and we were really encouraged to go to the temple, which I can't wait to do as soon as I get home.

After Church I went with a group over to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was really cool, we had all read different talks by General Authorities about the Atonement and talked about them and shared our testimonies. They call it the Living Prophets Society. It was the first time I've gone, but I want to go to more meetings because it was a really neat experience to talk about that while we were there in the Garden.

Later we had a fireside by Sister Qumsiyeh, our relief society president. She is from a town near Bethlehem and talked about how she was able to learn charity during her life growing up with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and how she was able to come to love the soldiers that were such a source of pain to her. It really inspired me to be a better person and be more full of charity, especially since I have so much less of a reason not to feel charity for all of the people around me.

Tonight we are doing another roommate sleepover with mattresses on the floor, a movie and some popcorn. I am so excited!

Day 93

We had 3 hours of New Testament in the morning... soooo long but also really really good. At 3 when we were allowed to go out into East Jeru I went with Katie and Natalie and a couple of others to the Garden Tomb, and we just spent about an hour there. It's always such a peaceful place. I started reading Jesus the Christ, by Talmage, and I enjoyed it a lot. It is always a really neat experience to read about or talk about events in the Savior's life so close to where they actually took place. As usual, there were a lot of other Christian groups there, singing and preaching. I love all of the different kinds of groups that come in. They are from all over the world and they all have their own way of celebrating the resurrection of Christ and it makes it so fun.

Last night we went to the Western Wall again as a group, but this time me and Katie dressed up like Jews. We wore dark skirts and simple shirts and wrapped our hair in scarves. We stayed away from our own group, and tried to copy what the Jewish women were doing. We walked the way they walked, read the prayer books, and prayed like they do. It was really really cool because it made it such a different experience from the last time we went to the Wall. A lot of people would say things to us in Hebrew, and we were treated like we were one of them instead of tourists. They were a lot more courteous than they can sometimes be when they know you're just another American there to just check it out. It was such a blast.

Day 88 (and Jordan)

Sunday was a half field trip, half free day. The field trip was to Herodian Jerusalem, a lot of parts of the Old City from the time of Herod. We went under the city to some of the old roads and bridges that were around during that time, we saw the remains of a house that was burned down when the second temple was. Then we went down to the Temple Mount. First we walked around and saw where parts of the original walls were still there from when they were torn down by the Romans. Then we went through the Citadel to some stairs that would have been there during Christ's life, and were probably the ones He used when He went to the temple. Throughout the whole day we read a lot of scriptures about the temple and the Old and New Testament, and it was really cool to see the scriptures kind of come to life.

That afternoon me and my roommates Katie and Natalie did some shopping for Jordan. Our roommate Jessie couldn't come, so we bought stuff out in the Old City and got stuff for us too. That night we had a toga dance party, the Bar Kokhba Revolt (geeky history reference; at least we know we learned something during Judaism class). We stayed up pretty late packing and playing.

Early Monday morning we got on the bus for Jordan! Our first stop was at Mt. Nebo, where Moses saw the promised land for the first time and then where he was translated later on. Then we went to this really old castle and walked around the walls. It was super windy, and it made it seem even more adventury. Next was a spring that was the headwaters for one of the rivers that leads into the Jordan. At our hotel that night we walked around the little town. We went to a bakery, and then we went to the hotel pool to swim for a while.

Tuesday morning we woke up early and headed to Petra. It was absolutely amazing. The Treasury and the Monastery were incredible, and there were so many other unbelievable tombs and buildings built into the cliffs. It was all red rock, so it looked like southern Utah, it was really pretty. Probably my favorite part was walking around and talking to all of the Bedouins. They were all trying to sell stuff, but if you just sat down and got into a real conversation with them they were really fun to get to know. One girl came up and talked to me and Katie for a good half hour, and I loved finding out a little bit about her life. She lives in a small village, and she wants to be a guide when she grows up. She is 14, which is the normal age for girls to get married in her culture, but she says that she never wants to get married because single is better. That night we went to a new hotel in Amman, and we got to walk around the city. There was a small "mall" down the street, mostly just a food court with a couple small stores. There's a movie store, with 100% legal, totally legitimate DVDs for $1.50, and we all picked up a couple new movies. We watched Eclipse that night, and there was this black shadow that kept standing up in front of the camera of whoever was filming it in the theater.

Wednesday we saw Jerash, the Roman city with the best remains outside of Italy. We got to walk around, see the cardo and the arches and the ampitheater. A few people in the group got up to sing to hear the acoustics. Me and Bridget got up and gave an amazing rendition of I Wanna by the Spice Girls. Then we got to go see a reenactment of Roman legions marching and chariot racing and even a gladiator show. It was really really fun. We had the best lunch of the trip that day, these pitas that were kind of like fajitas. It was delish. Then we went to an overlook of the Jordan River. It's been getting smaller, but that part of the river was really wide still and it was really beautiful. That night we walked around the city some more. I went with some people who wanted to go to the mall, and someone told us we could walk there but then we found out it was 15 k away, so we started heading back and we almost went to this super ghetto circus but then we decided against it and instead we went back to the hotel, dyed my hair and watched the Last Song.

This morning we went to a mosque in Amman, one of the biggest in Jordan. All of the girls had to wear these black robes that looked like graduation gowns with hoods. We couldn't help making a few 'wingardium leviosa' references. The mosque was beautiful and the guide told us about the prayers and what the Muslims do when they go to the mosques on Fridays. Then we went to this Citadel and museum, and saw some of the ruins and artifacts that have been found in Jordan. Last, we went to Bethabara, the baptismal site of Jesus Christ. We dipped our feet in the river, read scriptures about His baptism and saw the Byzantine church that was built there.

We were back at the JC in time for dinner, and it felt so good to be back. It was fun to see the 10 people who stayed at the Center- we missed them a lot. It's nice to be in my own bed with all my roommates. We have exactly 2 weeks left, and even though we've done so much there's still so much left to do. I'm really excited for the next few field trips we have coming up, and to find some other awesome things to do out in the city during our last few free days.

Days 86 & 87

We had class yesterday morning, for 4 hours. We only have a couple of days of class left when we get back from Jordan, and then we'll have finals. The classes seemed to be endless at the beginning of the semester, it's so weird now that they're almost over.

I actually haven't been feeling very well the past few days, so I didn't go out yesterday. I rested and slept through most of the afternoon, and then last night we had a talent show. I did a Tahitian dance, and it was so fun to get to perform. I really miss it a lot. There were a lot of really fun, really clever talents. Some people did skits, some did songs, all of them were super creative but still showed a lot of legitimate talent. It was definitely a highlight of the week. After the show, me and my roommates pushed all of our mattresses together on our floor and watched Legally Blond. The mattresses literally took up the entire room- we had to put the chairs on the empty bases of our beds. We left them there for most of the day today too, and it was kind of really exciting.

This morning I still felt sick, so I spent the day in the Center again, taking some medicine and trying to get better. I had toast and soup for dinner, and hopefully one more good night's rest will let me fully recover for our field trip tomorrow morning. We had a fireside tonight by the Becksteads, a couple from Haifa. They are a really sweet old couple, he is a very accomplished rocket scientist and it was cool to hear about their life as he pursued that career. After that, we watched Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade to get us all excited about going to see Petra in a couple of days. I honestly can't wait, I think it will be a really really cool week!

Day 85

We had class in the morning, a couple of hours of New Testament. The whole time we could hear these explosive noises coming from outside. We weren't really sure what was going on, but later we found out that it was all of the Jewish students celebrating their graduation exams. They kept doing fireworks pretty much all day. After class we had an orientation meeting for Jordan, since we leave on Monday. It was kind of like the one for Egypt, but not quite as intense. We're not supposed to eat fresh vegetables or drink the water, but most of the food is ok, even fruits if we peel them ourselves.

We had our field trip after lunch, to Herodian and Shepherd's Field. Herodian is one of the many palaces that Herod the Great built around his kingdom. It is a fortress, but with bath houses and pools and lots of other luxuries. During the Bar Kokhba revolt, the Jews turned part of it into a synagogue. We sat there and read some scriptures about Herod. Even though he did a lot of evil things, like killing a lot of his family and having all of the innocents slain, we talked about some of the good things he did like building a lot of really amazing buildings all over the Holy Land.

The next place we went to was Shepherd's Field, which overlooks Bethlehem. It is one of the very likely sites of the angel's visit to the shepherd's to announce the birth of Christ. We had some quiet time there to read and explore, and then we had a Nativity program. People acted out Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Wise Men, and Angels, and we sang a bunch of Christmas hymns. The Nativity is something I've done a lot of times, usually at least once or twice every Christmas season, but it was really an amazing to do it there with Bethlehem in the background. After the program, Brother Brown told the story of Christmas from the other side of the world. He talked about the signs that the people of the Americas were looking for that would tell them that Jesus was born. It was so cool to see both sides of the story told side by side, and to remember how important that event was to all of us all over the world.

Day 84

Today was a field trip to the Christian Quarter of the Old City. Instead of renting the nice tourist buses for the day, we got a city bus to take us over to New Gate.

Some of the places I had already visited, but it was cool to go back and hear all of the history and stories that go along with some of the churches that we walk past every day. The first place we went was to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. There was a pretty garden in the middle and we sang some hymns in the chapel out of their hymnbook, which had some of our songs, like Angels We Have Heard On High, and some that we don't have, like Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount, and Go Tell It On A Mountain.

The next place we went was the Church of Alexander Nevsky, a Russian church with some really pretty paintings telling the story of Christ's arrest through His resurrection. There was also a small hole through one of the walls that is supposed to be the traditional "eye of the needle".

Next we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I've been there at least 5 or 6 times at this point, but there were so many little chapels that we went into today that I didn't eve know existed. It is co-owned by the Armenians, the Roman Catholics and the Greek Orthodox, and the keys are held by a couple of Muslim families so that the relative cooperation between all of these sects can be maintained. It was really fun to explore all of the little side rooms all over the church- you could really get lost in there with all of the nooks and stairways there are inside.

Our last stop was at St. Mark's, which is another competing site for the Upper Room where the Last Supper took place (honestly I think the place we went yesterday is more likely the real one). A lady named Justinia from Iraq gave us an introduction to the church, and mentioned some of the miracles that have taken place there. There is a painting of Mary the Mother and Jesus as a baby that was supposedly painted by Luke while Mary was still alive, and people who have prayed there have experienced the gift of tongues and the healing of cancer. Downstairs was the upper room- it's downstairs because things are always built on top of each other in this city, so all of the old buildings are usually deep underground.

We had a sack lunch, but I came back with a group before lunchtime so we ate out on the grass on the 7th floor. Then I spent the afternoon napping, reading scriptures and trying to get ahead on some of the reading for this week. We get to "sleep in" tomorrow because breakfast isn't til 8, which is actually really exciting for all of us :)

Day 83

We had our New Testament midterm this morning, so me and Jessie woke up absurdly early to get in a little bit more studying. Right after the test we had class again, and then 2 hours of ANE. By lunch we were all a little wiped out, but we went out into the Old City anyway and it ended up being a really fun afternoon.

I went out with some people who I don't really hang out with that often, and it was really fun to get to know all of them a little bit better. We went to Dormition Abbey first, which is a supposed resting place of Mary. Under the church there is a crypt with a tomb that has a likeness of Mary over it. There were the most beautiful mosaics all over the two levels of the church, but there was also an angry man who walked around and wouldn't let us take pictures of certain things. We love these people.

After Dormition Abbey we went to the Upper Room, which is where the Last Supper took place. It wasn't a very big place, but we sang some hymns there and it was really cool the way it reverberated in the stone room. The next place we went, King David's Tomb, a lady came up to us and asked if we were the ones who had been singing at the Upper Room. We said yes, and she thanked us and said that it really helped her to feel something there, which can be hard when places are flocked with tourists. It was really neat to talk to her, we felt like we were able to do a little bit of missionary work. Even if we couldn't tell her about the Church, at least we could share the Spirit with her.

Next we went to a small Holocaust memorial museum that was next door, and then we tried to go to Schindler's grave but it was locked. Apparently there are some weird hours that we didn't know about. So instead we headed back to the Center. On the way we saw a big commotion at the Western Wall, so we stopped there to check it out and discovered that it was Tisha B'av, a day set apart to mourn the destruction of the temple. The Jews can't shave for 3 weeks before, they can't sit on an upright chair that day and they all go to the Western Wall and fast on the day of. I put a prayer in the Wall while we were there, it was cool to be there during the day with all of the people.

Last night was dinner, reading, and a cool Book of Mormon movie. I was still tired from waking up so early so I went to bed early, and it felt so nice :)

Day 82

It was a free day, and for the first time in a really long time I just kind of bummed around the JC all day. I didn't feel too bad about it though, because there were a lot of people doing the same thing. I woke up, went to breakfast, and got back in bed for a couple of hours. Then I read some scriptures, read some of my book, worked on some homework, did some studying for the NT midterm, watched a movie, had some roommate bonding, and went to bed kinda early actually. It was nice to have a relaxing day. Even though we just got back from Galilee, which seemed relaxing, I realized just how tiring that trip was with our back-to-back field trips at the end, especially. With about a week until Jordan, I want to stay rested because that will be another packed and non-stop trip.

Day 81

We had a free day, which means breakfast from 7:30 to 9:00 am. We left right after that to go to mass at the Terra Sancta monastery. It was in Italian, and it was really cool. The different priests said the prayers and homilies and we just followed along with sitting and standing and kneeling with the rest of the small congregation. After the service Father Angelo did a question/answer session with us, and he told us a lot about his life previous to becoming a monk and what his daily life is like now that he is one. He was hilarious. He told us that being a monk means "no money, no honey, and nothing you can do about it." He also told us some of the jokes that he would play while people do confession. He is definitely a unique priest.

When we were ready to leave the monastery we went out to the door but it was locked. All of the other priests had left and we were locked in! Father Angelo got on his cell phone and tried to get ahold of the guy with the keys but we ended up having to go up onto the roof and down the fire escape down to the back parking lot to get out of the building. We ate our lunches in the Old City, and then ran a couple of "errands." We stopped at Shaban's for some people to exchange money, and then we stopped at the camera store so I could buy a new one. I ended up getting a pretty good camera at a pretty good price, so it was a successful shopping venture. We took the bus home because one of the girls who was with us sprained her ankle in Galilee and is still on crutches.

Back at the Center it was kind of a chill afternoon. I read a little bit, and did some of the study guide for our New Testament midterm on Tuesday. After dinner I let my roommate Katie cut bangs in my hair. She was really nervous about it but she did a really great job. There were at least 5 or 6 other people getting their hair cut tonight, it was definitely a party.

Day 80

Today was Shabbat. I meant to wake up this morning to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, but unfortunately my alarm clock ran out of batteries sometime during the night. It was still a nice morning, I went to breakfast and then choir practice before Church. We sang Come Along, Come Along and it was really fun- it's the first time I've sang in Sacrament meeting with the choir.

After Church me and Natalie visit taught and took hallah bread to our girls. It was a big hit. Everyone loves them some hallah bread. Then we had a relief society enrichment activity about journaling. It got me really excited about keeping a better journal and doing a personal history. I have loved blogging over the summer, but I don't know if I'll keep it up when I get home. I definitely want to start keeping a more day-to-day journal of the normal every-day things that go on in my life, even if it's just a short paragraph or something.

This afternoon I spent a lot of time reading my scriptures and writing in my journal. After dinner we watched another segment of the Messiah movie, a series that Brother Brown produced that goes over different aspects of the Savior's life. This section was on the Sermon on the Mount and some of the other things that took place in Galilee, and it was fun to see each place and go, oh, I've been there. I talked to my family and that was awesome too. I miss everyone so much and I can't wait to see you all next month!

Day 79 (and Galilee)

We left on Monday for Galilee, and we stopped on the way at Caesarea Maritima, an old Roman city, with a lot of ruins. It was really beautiful, right on the water. We also spent some time at Nazareth, visiting a couple of Churches of the Annunciation and one for Joseph. It was a pretty small town, and it was fun to walk between all of the different churches and kind of get a feel for what it might have been like when Jesus was growing up there.

Tuesday we had class in the morning while the other class went on the field trip. We started out with the annunciation and the birth of Christ. After lunch we had free time, to play on the beach and in the water. We did an ultimate frisbee tournament, and my team one! It was way fun. We had a bonfire that night and then played games on the beach.

Wednesday our class headed out on a boat across the Galilee. It was incredible. We stopped in the middle to have a devotional, and we talked about the events and miracles that took place at the Sea during Christ's ministry. We stopped at a museum that has a boat from the 1st century that they found on the shore of the Sea one year when the water level was really low. It is a really good example of what the fishing boats would have been like that we read about all the time in the New Testament. The next stop was the Mount of Beatitudes, which was absolutely amazing. We read through the Beatitudes and then we had free time to look in the church and write in our journals. That was probably my very favorite of all of the places we went in Galilee. After that we walked down to a couple of churches down the hill- one dedicated to the loaves and fishes and one that commemorates Christ's first visit to His apostles after He was risen. Our final stop was Capernaum, which has the remains of Peter's home. Christ lived in this town for a year and a half of His ministry, and there is a synagogue there that He would have gone to and taught at. That night we had a couple of hours of ANE after dinner. It's cool now that we're getting into stuff that is more familiar, more Greek and Roman history.

Thursday was another class day with free time in the afternoon for playing. We had class out on the lawn overlooking the Sea, which was awesome. In the afternoon we went on a rafting trip down the Jordan River. Most of the time was spent attacking each others rafts and lots of it was spent in the water, it was such a blast. That night for dinner we went into Tiberias for fish and ice cream. There was a really cool boardwalk with lots of little stands. Me and Bridget got hennas and some bracelets.

Friday was a hike day. We went to Gamla, which is an ancient fortress on a ridge in the middle of this valley, so we had to hike down the valley, up the ridge, along the stones that are still there from when the fortress was conquered by the Romans, then back down and up the other side again. It was hot but fun. Next we went to Qazrin, a village that has been partially rebuilt so you can really see what houses would have been like in the time of Christ. They are all made out of stone, and they are really dark inside. It was easy to see why lamps were such an important aspect of their lives, because even at 11 am it was hard to see everything inside. We were back in time for lunch and then about half of us went on this waterfall hike. It was nice to finally get to wear shorts for hiking, because it was really hot but jumping into the pools along the way was so nice.

Saturday was the Sabbath, and we went to Church at the Galilee branch house in Tiberias. We had a fireside that night where branch members talked about what it meant to them to finally have a branch and a meetinghouse that were so close instead of having to drive several hours every week to go to the Tel Aviv or Jerusalem branches. They all had really cool stories of why they are here in Israel and what it is like to live away from many other members and in such a small branch.

Sunday was class and free time again. I did a little bit of homework but mostly just fun reading and then playing in the water. It was the perfect temperature all week, and sometimes it would get waves like in the ocean, where you have to jump up and go over them.

Monday we had a field trip to a couple of old cities to see the synagogues and ruins there. Next we got to go to Gan HaShelosha, these natural pools from spring water. There were three really big pools, and waterfalls between them. We got to swim there for a couple of hours and it was the perfect way to feel refreshed and ready for the rest of the sites we would see that day. After swimming we went to Nain, where Christ raised a widow's son from the dead. We talked about how He cares for the individual, and we sang some hymns in the small chapel there. Our final stop was at the Mount of Transfiguration. We had an amazing lesson from Brother Manscill about all of the things that happened when Christ took His apostles there. There was a beautiful church there also, and there were some Italian tourists there. We sang some hymns, and they all stopped to listen to us and some even started videoing us. It was really cool, because we felt like they could feel the same spirit there that we did. We don't get to do any kind of missionary work here, so it's nice when we do get chances to share the spirit without breaking the rules.

Tuesday we went to an old Roman town and walked through the ruins there. We did a kind of nature walk through some of the headwaters of the Jordan River that come out from springs right out of the rocks. It was cool because Brother Manscill put his ipod on through our headsets so we could listen to music while we hiked. We went to Caesarea Philippi, where Christ promised the keys to Peter, and then to Nimrod's Castle, a crusader fortress that was pretty intact and you could walk through the tunnels and up the towers. That night we had a bonfire for our class, with some fun parts and some spiritual parts. We had popcorn, scones and s'mores, and first we did some funny stories from our professors and then we had some testimonies from a few people in the group. I performed the Me Ke Aloha dance, one that Lani taught us that is about Christ. It was really special for me to be able to dance it there, since it was like my way of bearing my testimony.

Wednesday we went to Akko, another crusader city on the shores of the Mediterranean. We learned about the knights that came there and got a chance to walk around the city. It kind of had a little bit of the flavor of the Old City here in Jerusalem. We had another bonfire that night for the whole group, and it was a big testimony meeting. It was an awesome experience and the perfect way to end our trip to Galilee.

Thursday we stopped at a couple of places on our way back to Jerusalem, first we went to Sepphoris where there are some really beautiful mosaics. There is one that they call the Mona Lisa, and it really was pretty incredible compared to some of the others we've seen. The next stop was Megiddo, which was a crossroads in ancient times and always one of the first places to get conquered during wars. Megiddo is what all of the revelations about Armageddon are referring to. We went to an overlook of the Bahai Gardens (think Temple Square type views), and then to the Templar Cemetery. We all slept most of the way back to the Center, and it felt so good to be back in our own rooms.

Today we didn't have class so the laundry room was pretty much packed all morning, but I got all of mine done and cleaned up the room a little bit too. After lunch I went with Katie, Jessie, and Lindsey to West Jerusalem for some waffles and ice cream from this awesome little hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Babets. We hung out on Ben Yehuda for a bit, checking out some of the boutiques there and picking up some hallah bread for tomorrow. Then we changed money at Shaban's, and met a group of JC kids at the Austrian hospice. We did the Stations of the Cross with Father Angelo, the Fransiscan monk who showed us the Hyde Door a few weeks ago. It's a big thing that pilgrims do when they come to Jerusalem. After the traditional walk along the Via Dolorosa, Father Angelo gave us a private tour of some of the places in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that are not usually open to the public. We saw an old chapel and did a procession through the church. He told us a lot of cool things about the church, one of them is that because of all of the different groups staking claims on the church they instated this "status quo" policy a few hundred years ago, so now nothing can be changed about it. The benches are from the 1600's or something and they can't wipe down the picture frames, even though they're starting to get kinda grimy. A couple of Muslim families are actually the ones who have the keys to the building, so that none of the Christian sects can take over it. After the tour I took the bus back to the JC for the first time. It was really nice after a long day of walking to not have to climb that hill again.

Some Galilee pictures- I will post more when I can collect them from everyone I mooched off of after my camera broke:

At St. Peter's Primacy- the apostle's church

On the boat going over the Sea of Galilee

On the Mount of Beatitudes

Me and Jessie at the Roman Aqueduct

At Caesarea Maritima

Day 78

We got back today from our trip to Galilee, which was absolutely amazing! It was fun and spiritual, I learned so much, I really got to know people better and I feel like I got to know the Savior better while I was there. We had some pretty incredible field trips, like the Mt. of Beatitudes, the Mt. of Transfiguration, and Caesarea Philippi. We had some fun excursions too, like hiking to waterfalls and rafting down the Jordan River. There were some great firesides and devotionals too. We stayed at a resort run by a kibbutz, and it was sweet. The food wasn't the best, but we were right on the beach so I could wake up every morning and read scriptures or write in my journal with my feet in the Sea of Galilee. It really was the most amazing experience. I kept a pretty good journal of everything we did and saw there, and I will try tomorrow to condense it into a nice summary to post, hopefully with some pictures too. For now I have a bunch of laundry to do, and some catching up on reading and studying. We have our first test on Tuesday for New Testament, and we covered so much during the trip that there will be a lot to review.

P.S. I loved having mail waiting for me when I got back! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Day 67

Happy 4th of July!!! It was a pretty good one for us here at the JC. It was a free day, and a lot of it was spent getting things ready for Galilee but there was a lot of time for fun too. This morning we went to Aladdin's to exchange money and then to the YMCA. Me and Jessie had already been there but Natalie really wanted to play the bells. Brother Whipple let us play some patriotic songs, and I played My Country Tis of Thee. It was pretty fun, especially the parts where he jumped in and played some of the harmony or other random parts that made it sound really cool.

We walked back through the Old City and did some shopping on the way. We bought some cute bangles and I finally found a nativity that I love. Before we left we stopped at the Our Lady of Zion Convent, which is part of the Via Dolorosa. You go underneath the convent and there are a bunch of Roman-era roads and stairways that you can walk through. There is a game carved into the floor in one of the rooms, and it is supposed to be related to when the soldiers cast lots during the flagellation. We have to do site reports for New Testament, which is where you read scriptures that have to do with the place that you are at and then you write a short personal reflection. We have to do 20 of them before the end of the semester.

We got back to the Center in time for dinner, which was a full-out 4th of July barbecue!!! Almost. There were salads and hot dogs and hamburgers (veal and lamb) and potato chips and apple pie and vanilla ice cream and corn on the cob. It was one of the best meals we've had here so far. They even had sprite and fanta. After dinner when it got dark we did sparklers.

I have done a bunch of laundry, packing, cleaning, etc. for most of the rest of the day. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning at 6:30 and we have a pretty full day of field trip stops before we get to the kibbutz we're staying at.

Day 66

Today was a really great Shabbat. I woke up early and had some time to read scriptures out on our deck overlooking the city. Church was awesome, we had an amazing Testimony meeting and the other classes were really good too. After Church I walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane with some friends. It was very peaceful there- quiet, not crowded at all, and it was a great opportunity for me to write a lot in my journal and just think about things. It's been getting a lot warmer, and the walk back up to the Center was really hot. But it was definitely worth it for the experience. We only have 3 or 4 more Shabbats left, and I want to make the most of them.
After dinner I rested for a little bit, and later we watched this movie for a fireside that was about Christ. President Brown, one of our directors, helped produce it and it was cool to see him in the movie. He is very smart, and he knows a lot about Luke and a whole bunch of other stuff. We love him. The movie talked mostly about Christ's pre-mortal existence and how He was the Jehovah of the Old Testament. I loved that I recognized the scriptures they were quoting and the stories that they related to it. I can appreciate things like that so much more now that I have studied and understand the OT better.
Tomorrow is our last day before Galilee! I started packing a few days ago because I was just so excited to go. I can't wait!

Day 65

Today was our first day of New Testament. I loved it! It was basically an introduction to our new teacher, Brother Manscill, to what the class will be like, and what we will be learning this semester. We talked about all the different parts of Christ's life that we will be studying, and I was getting really excited because this is really why I came here, to learn more about the Savior in the place where His life, death, and resurrection happened.

After NT we had our Hebrew and Field Trip finals- piece of cake. They were really really easy, and it was nice to just have it over with and have absolutely nothing to stress about for the rest of the day.

At 3 I went with a group to this restaurant in the Old City where you can eat on the roof. We had all already had lunch, but they had delicious lemonade and it was really fun to sit on the rooftop, looking out over the city and seeing it from a different perspective. The lemonade had big pieces of mint leaves in it, and it was probably the best lemonade I've ever had.

After the restaurant we ran by Shaban's to get money for Galilee, and then stopped at the co-op on the way back to the JC to get some snacks for Shabbat. Tomorrow is Fast Shabbat, and we always try to have something to eat after Church because it's a long time before dinner.

Tonight was spent mostly resting, although I did get a little bit done on the reading for our first NT class in Galilee. I am getting so excited for the trip, and all of the things that we'll get to see and learn about while we are there, and I just can't help but want to get started now!

Day 64

We had our Old Testament final this morning, and it feels so good to have it be over! I felt really confident about it, so hopefully I did well (fingers crossed). After lunch we had Hebrew, our final is tomorrow so it was good to review everything. Our teacher also showed us everything that they do in her family for Shabbat, including lighting the candles, saying the prayers, eating the hallah bread, and singing the Shabbat Shalom song. We sang a few other songs too, and even reenacted a Jewish wedding. We held the tallit over the "couple", sang the Hava Nagila song, and then lifted their chairs up in the air. It was really fun, I love all of the cultural things that we learn in that class, because they help us understand the things we see and hear about sometimes, especially in West Jeru.

After class I went with some people along the top of Mt. Scopus over to the Tomb of the Prophets. The tomb is basically catacombs, kind of caves that were all connected with nooks in the walls for the bones. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were supposedly all buried there. The coolest part was that it was so dark, and we didn't have flashlights, but there were candles there that you could use. It was fun to walk around and explore and scare each other.

I am really excited because this is the first night in a VERY long time that I will get to sleep before 11. It has been such a long week of studying, but we have our last 2 finals tomorrow and they are the easiest ones. I am so excited for Galilee too- we have a countdown in our room: 3 days left!

Day 63 & Pictures!!!

Finally made it to Hebrew U!!! Here are some recent pictures:

The view of the Dome from the First Station of the Cross


The Fransiscan Priest at the Capella della Terra Sancta


The Hyde Door


The wall during our field trip, not too far from the Center


Just outside the JC on our way to Ammunition Hill


We found this on the street in West Jeru. It is definitely now on the back of our door.



The Wall at Bethlehem


The Manger at the Church of the Nativity



In Bethlehem



Drinking Diet Coke at the Palestinian Tent Restaurant




At the Zoo





At the Hurva Synagogue


Trying on dresses in the Old City


The Ethiopian Church


At the festival of lights in the Old City

Days 61 & 62

Yesterday was a free day, and even though we had a ton of studying to do a couple of people had organized things to go do out in the city. First we went to the Capella de la Terra Sancta, which is run by Fransiscan monks. There is a really beautiful chapel there, and at the “old house” where the pilgrims used to stay when they would come to Jerusalem there is a door that has the name “Hyde” carved onto it along with hundreds of other names from guests there. They claim that it is Orson Hyde's name from when he came to dedicate lands here. It was really cool to see it, a piece of Mormon history here along with the history of all of the other denominations that we see every day.

We had a couple of hours after that, and we had picked up our sack lunches earlier so a few of us went over to the Austrian Hospice in the middle of the Old City to sit in the shade on the patio there and study a bunch of our terms for the Judaism exam.

After lunch we walked toward the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish quarter. On the way there we passed a shop with super cute dresses and purses, so me and Josett each picked one up for the Galilee trip. The synagogue had a lot of interesting history to it. We took a guided tour, and first we went under to where you could see the remains of a Byzantine road. Upstairs there were parts of the original wall. The synagogue was torn down several times, supposedly by Muslims even though it was in the Jewish area, and now it has been rebuilt with the same designs, so the wall pieces that survived look really cool. The best part of the building, I thought, was going up to the roof because there were some incredible views of the city and out into the different valleys that surround it.

After the synagogue we were heading home when we saw an open door just inside Lion's Gate. Natalie told us that it is the first station of the cross, supposedly where Jesus may have been tried. She said she has been trying to get in forever, but the door is always closed. The basic policy on doors, as we have been instructed by Professor Hamblin, is that if they're open you should go in and keep going until someone tells you to stop. Well, we had a feeling someone might be coming soon so we ran to the other side of it where you could see the most amazing view of the Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount that I have seen, even compared to being on the Temple Mount itself. It was pretty incredible. Sure enough, some guy came running up a couple seconds later to tell us that it was private property now and that we needed to leave, but it was well worth it to see the view and get some great pictures.

Last night I basically studied..... ALL NIGHT. It was exhausting. We had our Judaism final this morning, and it went ok. Then we finished cramming for Palestinian. Right after lunch I went with Jessie and Katie to the post office and the money changers, and on our way back we found some sweet neon ninja turtles hats, and we decided that we needed them for Galilee. There were some random beach/water games too, so we picked up a couple of those and I got some sunglasses. We studied on the way there and back, and then for another hour at the Center before the exam. This one went... ok. The professor told us that we didn't need to know any dates. The first whole page of a 3 page test was nothing but dates. The rest of the test went better after that.

Tonight I've just been trying to keep doing homework and studying for the rest of the tests we have this week, even though it's so tempting to just crash. Tomorrow is our last day of Old Testament and Hebrew, and even though I know I'll miss them a little bit I am really really excited for Galilee and to start the New Testament class there.

Day 60

Today we had a field trip to the Separation Wall. It was actually one of the more interesting field trips we've gone on. First the guide came and talked to us a little bit about why the wall is there and some of the steps that led up to building it. Then we went to a few different sites really close to the JC.

The first place we went was an overlook of the Old City, where he talked about the negotiations that would have to take place regarding the city in order for any kind of peaceful two-state solution to take place. He also talked about how the Christian representation in Jerusalem has dropped from 20% to barely 1% in the past years. He said that even though he is Israeli and a Zionist, he wishes that there could be more Christians here to balance out the historical and religious attachments to Jerusalem and the Old City.

The second stop was a portion of the wall just behind us on the other side of Mount Scopus. There was a lot of pro-Palestinian graffiti, and it was weird to see it so close to where we are. The guide told us that while he is pro-wall because of the positive results, like a decrease in terrorism, he also recognizes that it is inconvenient and unfair to all of the neighborhoods that are being divided and the people who are forced to completely rearrange their lives and find new schools and everything like that. He also told us that little kids in the neighborhood figured out that they can scale the wall by fitting their feet in between the slabs, and that they can do it in 9 seconds.

Finally we went to an overlook that looks East, out toward the Dead Sea. There were a bunch of Palestinian neighborhoods and then in the distance you could see an Israeli settlement. The guide talked about how there have been talks about building a land bridge or something between that settlement and West Jerusalem, and he told us how that would separate parts of the Palestinian lands. Every time they do this, it makes a two-state solution less and less of a viable option, because as they do it the areas become so divided that soon there will be no place to draw boundary lines, the map will be like polka-dots with random settlements of each group here and there but no definitive areas.

After the field trip we had a review session for our Judaism test, and I spent more time studying some of the things for Palestinian too. We came up with a bunch of mnemonic devices to remember all of the months, holidays, jurisprudence, pillars, tenets, and names of Allah. Most of them are pretty ridiculous, but I will definitely never forget them.

Day 59

It was a really peaceful Sabbath. Same as usual, Sacrament, Spanish Sunday School, and translating in Relief Society. After Church I hung out on our deck for a little bit, reading scriptures and looking out over the city. We had a great dinner, as always, and then we got home taught out on the lawn. I've been doing a little bit of homework as well- we make googledocs for all of our study guides, so I was filling out some of the terms that I was supposed to be summarizing for Old Testament and Judaism. I watched probably the weirdest movie I've ever seen- Great Expectations. It was a little bit awkward and very creepy. Our internet is still HORRIBLE, and they say it's because they're streaming in the World Cup through the same connection, so hopefully once the Cup is over blogging and emailing and googledocing will be a little bit easier again.

Days 57 & 58

We have not had the internet most of yesterday and today, which has been kinda frustrating. Today I went with my roommates over to Hebrew U, we were there about 6 minutes until the security guard came and kicked us out because they close campus at 3 on Fridays for Shabbat. So then we wandered around the outside of the campus gates trying to get a signal but we couldn't. I think we'll go back Sunday morning and then I'll be able to post some pictures!

Yesterday we had classes and then at night we had a Seder dinner. Seder is Passover, which is in Spring but we did a mock one so we could see what it's like. Our Judaism teacher, Ophir, came and led the dinner. It was way fun, we started out by reading through the Haggadah, or telling of the story of the Exodus. There were parts that were sung by small groups and parts that were narrated. I was one of the narrators, I told the story about the wise son. Halfway through we had the dinner, which included about 6 courses of fish, soup, chicken, salad, fruit, and dessert. Then there was more narrating and singing. I have always heard little things about Passover, but it was really neat to see what it is really like.

Today we couldn't go out til 3, when me and my roommates tried and failed at Hebrew U. So after that we went to crash corner, which is just on the other side of the Center from the University. We just stopped at a little market and a fruit stand. The fruit place was awesome, there are a lot of them around and they always have really really good fruit- I have yet to get anything that was less than delicious. At this one I found an odd large, flat-ish banana. I bought it, and when I peeled it I found out that there were 2 normal size bananas inside the same peel! It was kinda the highlight of my day... is that sad?

The rest of today I just did a little bit of studying and a lot of movie watching. Throughout the day I've watched parts of Chronicles of Narnia, Phantom of the Opera, Anne of Green Gables, and all of Footloose and The Proposal. It was a really long week, and nice to just chill and hang out with everyone here.

Best part of yesterday: Getting a package from my dear mother!!! Thanks so much!!!