A Day Below Sea Level

Today was great! We visited Masada, Qumran, Ein Gedi, and swam (better said...floated) in the Dead Sea. I just thought you would like to see!


Lots of Love!
Carlee

Bethlehem

It's been a very busy couple of days and its about to get busier! We went to Bethlehem last Wednesday, but I haven't been able to get a blog up because I've been stuck studying for finals ever since. We had our Palestinian final yesterday, and we have our Judaism final today. Yesterday it went fairly well, but today I'm bracing myself for the worst!

Bethlehem was an interesting experience. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. We spent some time in Ein Karem where John the Baptist was born to Elizabeth and Zacharias. We visited a couple of churches. My favorite was the Daughters of Zion abbey. It was really beautiful and peaceful in there. It has been wonderful to relate more to Elizabeth, Zacharias, John, Mary and Joseph, and their experiences.

After that we passed through the Separation Wall into what is considered the West Bank... Bethlehem. Passing through the wall gave me a much deeper perspective into what is happening over here. The Separation Wall is a 20ft wall the Israelis have built around the West Bank occupied territory for reasons of "security." If you ask me it is more demoralizing then a safety precaution. It was terribly hypocritical to see the huge PEACE banners strung up on the wall on the Israeli side. Building a wall doesn't promote peace. On the Palestinian side are huge gruesome murals blatantly attacking the Israeli hypocrisy through graphic artwork. In all honesty, it was disgusting. However, as I've been here longer I've learned more and more that I can't take sides. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have made prideful, stupid decisions. But as I've learned in Brother Hunington's class, time moves on and major issues eventually melt away into history. One day they'll work something out.

So that part of Bethlehem I didn't enjoy, but it was fun doing a little shopping in Manger Square, and going through the Church of the Nativity. However, the highlight of the day was when we had dinner and spent the evening on Shepherds Field. We had a fun program, sang lots of Christmas Carols, and Brother Draper gave a wonderful lesson on the birth of Christ. The Spirit was strong, and the evening was wonderful.

I love being in this land. I've learned so much! Although I'm ready for American food, and Christmas. This week we're going on three field trips tomorrow so I promise I'll update this more now!

I'm so excited to be done with my Jewish class! Wish me luck on the final!

Lots of Love!

TEMPLE MOUNT!

Tidings of Great Joy:

#1 Today we had a very exciting thing happen... we finally made it onto the Temple Mount! They only open it for about an hour each day (if that). We got out of class early today and so we decided to try and get on! Let me help you understand: Some people have tried 10 times to get on before today but they wouldn't let them on. So today we got super lucky that we were able to get on and look around for a couple minutes before they kicked us off. It was really neat! We are desperately trying to get a tour of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Asqa Mosque, but they haven't done that since before the Jerusalem Center closed. They are really picky who they let in now (obviously). But it would be really cool!

#2 Got a Falafel today! Hmmm! What a wonderful invention!

#3 IT ALMOST RAINED TODAY! It was overcast for the first time the whole time we've been here! It was exciting... it almost felt like fall!

#4 Old Testament Final is done and overwith... Happy Day, All is Well!

Hope you are having as many great tidings as I am! ha ha!

Lots of Love!

Hazelnut Kit Kats

So my best discovering this week: Hazelnut Kit Kats!

All I can say is...

Heaven in a candy bar!

Home from Jordan

Wow... keeping this thing updated is hard! Well I'm home from Jordan it was a good experience. Petra is my all time favorite! However, this isn't going to be my Jordan blog because I don't have my pictures here so you'll have to wait until tomorrow or so for that blog. Until then... I'll catch you up on what I've done SINCE we got home!

Yesterday we had a free day to recuperate from Jordan. I got to sleep in until 7am! It was wonderful! In the afternoon we went and played ULTIMATE FRISBEE! It was heaven sent... really! It's been much to long since I've played. (Shalyn made me jealous talking about her ultimate team she's coaching! ;) ) I had so much fun! I guess I surprised a couple of the guys... somehow they didn't know how competitive I was until yesterday. Funny! (Boy was that a shocker for them.)

After our sweaty afternoon a group of us went with my Jewish teacher to Shabbat service at his synagogue. It was incredible! Thankfully they had a prayerbook that had English translations next to the Hebrew (and lots of helpful hints along the way). It was absolutely beautiful how they welcomed in the Sabbath! I never realized how closely related we are to Judaism, but when I looked at the prayerbook and it was all praises of God and singing of his goodness I was really touched! The Spirit was strong in that meeting for me! I learned a lot (not just about Judaism, but about myself as well)!

Then in the evening we had our first annual SpookFest in the Shalom Shack (snack bar). Since we missed Halloween while we were in Jordan we all dressed up and danced and played games. I spent almost an hour trying to curl Ryan's hair so that he would like James. I wasn't planning on going but got some last minute help and had a costume dumped in my hands: I was a gangsta! (yeah yeah I know) I actually was told by several people I pull it off well... ha ha. We had a good time!

That leaves us at today, Shabbat. We had fast and testimony meeting today! It was a really powerful meeting! I love how the students have grown so close together! We've really been able to learn from each other!

Anyway I'm going to run! I'll get my Jordan blog/pictures up soon!
Lots of Love!

Carlee

A Day of All Seasons

A Day of All Seasons has been my experience here at the BYU Jerusalem Center. Seriously! Below 0 in the classroom. Layers and socks/shoes in the morning for class! About 85F as soon as you walk outside! And then off come the layers and you try and find the lightest outfit you have.

Anyway... Just thought I'd give a little taste of the climate. It's actually feeling a lot better now that it has cooled off a little (a little like Utah's fall but without the leaves).

Oh Mom, my Relief Society lesson went really well! The women here are amazing! It was a lot of fun!

And good news: I'm going to Jordan tomorrow! I'll update when I get back!

Lots of love!

Olives Part II and Hezekiah's Tunnel

This morning when our class was trudging through thigh-deep water inside a tunnel chiseled over two thousand years ago under the walls of ancient and modern Jerusalem and the City of David I thought to myself, "I can't believe I get to call this school! I wonder what everyone is Rexburg is doing." We have had a lot of fun this week! Especially this morning in our Southern Kingdom/Judah Field Trip. I liked it because we've been studying this time period in both Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Old Testament this week. There are a lot of life lessons to be learned from these people! I'm glad I get to learn them here! Picture: note the level of water! wahoo!


The other fun thing we got to do yesterday (to get away from studying) was crush the olives we
had to pick last week. I learnedsome interesting things. For example, the huge round stone (in the picture) that you crush the olives with is called a tribulum... where the word tribulation comes from. Now think about that for a minute. It was a great experience... and it was fun to watch all of the olive slim fights afterwards. Thankfully I wasn't involved in that one.


Midterms are finally here and class is a disaster! Mostly because none of us want to be in class. That is how spoiled rotten we are! 2 Midterms, 2 Quizzes to go then we're headed for Jordan! I really want to write more, but it'll have to be later! Love ya lots!

Carlee