Christmas in May!

Because we just started the New Testament, we decided to celebrate Christmas in May! We drove over to Bethlehem (it's actually only a 20 minute drive from Jerusalem!) and passed through the separation barrier into Palestinian territory. The security there is pretty intense. We walked through Bethlehem Square and the Church of the Nativity. There are actually four churches on the supposed location of the manger. The churches were very ornate and different from each other. The manger was actually most likely part of a covered cave where they would keep animals on their terraced hills.

After visiting Bethlehem Square, we drove over to Shepherd's Fields, where the shepherds may have been when the angel appeared to them. We had a Christmas program looking over the fields and Bethlehem. We sang Christmas carols and had students give insights to the perspectives of the different nativity characters. Each person fulfilled their calling with faith to make the birth of the Son of God possible. His humble birth was the beginning of His perfect life and ministry. While sitting there, I realized He didn't come down here teach, suffer, and redeem just so I could make a mediocre effort at perfecting myself. He came down here so that I may return to Him; I must better myself every day to make that possible. I will never forget this experience. I felt so much peace and gratitude for my Savior and Redeemer.

I hope you could feel a little bit of the Christmas spirit that I did sitting atop Shepherd's Fields. I am still listening to Christmas music..... :)

Hezekiah's Tunnel

This week we took a field trip to the City of David and Hezekiah's Tunnel! Both sites were amazing. We discussed the story of David and Bathsheba and looked at the possible sites. I have a picture below of the view from the top of the City of David. The stairs on the right side of the picture were probably the foundation of David's palace.
Next we started from the Gihon Spring outside the city wall and walked all the way to the city through Hezekiah's Tunnel! It was amazing. The water is still flowing; it was up to my knees! I can't believe they built this back even before Christ. It was built so that they would have a water source if they were besieged by the Assyrians. The Assyrians did come, but they were not taken over because they had fortified their city so well. It was such an adventure walking through the tiny cave with water rushing past me.
The picture at the bottom is by the Pool of Siloam, where Chist healed the blind man. We are starting to study the New Testament and I am so excited. Tomorrow actually I head to Galilee! We will be there for ten days studying the life of Christ. I'll try to blog but you have to pay for internet so we'll see. I love you guys!

EGYPT

On Sunday night we returned from a week in Egypt! It was absolutely the highlight of the trip so far. I wish I could post every picture I took, but the slow internet in Jerusalem won't allow it. I've tried to pick out the best! Here's a break down of the trip: Drove through southern Israel, slept at a kibbutz (Israeli socialist community), crossed the border into Egypt, drove across Sinai, drove under the Suez Canal and into Cairo, spent a day in Cairo seeing the pyramids and sphinx, flew to Luxor, saw Karnak and Luxor temples, shopped at the Bazaar, rode a camel, sailed on a faluka across the Nile, night train back up to Cairo (so fun!), visited the Alabaster mosque, shopped again!, drove to Iliat, snorkeled in the Red Sea, and finally drove home! By the end we were all exhausted and half of us were sick, but it was wonderful! What amazes me is how much history and how many artifacts have been found in Egypt. Temples and statues built three thousand years ago were right in front of me! We learned of the mystical Egyptian culture and saw many sites with ties to the Bible.


Standing of Kafre's Pyramid
Look how big the stones are!
















Karnak Temple












Hieroglyphics written on the walls of a tomb inside the pyramid










The whole class in our garb after the camel ride



After our dance party in the hotel with lobby singer, Anto
















Typical neighborhood in Cairo











Luxor Temple







Some friends and I just before the faluka ride











Camel ride! Haha I was kinda freaking out :)












After snorkeling in the Red Sea




Nile River











Step Pyramid, one of the first built
















Getting action with the Sphinx












Pyramids

Thanks for reading! We're leaving for Galilee on Sunday so I'll try to post my pictures from this week before then. I love you guys!

Bible Stories and Cautrophobia

I'm so overwhelmed with my blogging! We honestly do 10 things per day that are blog-worthy. I'll try to keep up! This week we went on a fieldtrip to many places relevant in the times of the Judges and Philistines. Here's some photos....

We went to the Biblical city of Lachish. These are ruins from the temple they had there. It's pretty amazing they are still standing!

So I never realized how claustrophobic I am! We went to this cave on our way to a fieldtrip the other day and I had a funny experience. The cave was actually used by the Jews to hide from Roman soldiers. They tried to make the openings small enough that the Romans would have to take off their armor to enter. They did a good job! We got to the entrance and I thought it was no big deal. After three attempts to crawl down the maze of tubes, I decided to wait until the end of the line to try again. You had to crawl around for about two minutes until you got to a big room where we could all sit. I couldn't stand the thought of being in a traffic jam with forty other students. After everyone else had started in, I still couldn't get myself to enter! Finally, I realized I would kick myself if I didn't take advantage of every opportunity offered me here in Jerusalem. I also knew that guys three times my size had fit down the tube. I grabbed my flashlight and did a sprint-crawl through the McDonald's play place-like cave. I was completely freaking out! I got to the room finally and we had a fun devotional about following the light of Christ and making it through the darkness. I didn't hear much because I was stressing about the crawl back out!

A couple of friend and I went to the King's Tombs in Jerusalem one afternoon. We borrowed candles from the owner and explored the 48 tombs! Luckily I had already conquered my claustrophobia.....

A friend and I at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many believe Christ's body was laid.

Today was our Shabbat (Sabbath) so we walked over to Gethsemane. I loved this verse that was displayed near the gardens.

On our fieldtrip we stopped at a national park that just looked like a desert. We walked down some stone stairs and came into this huge room! It was used as a dovecote (place to raise pigeons) in an ancient city. It was two floors high and had six different corridors!

This is a real olive press! It was discovered underground at an archaelogical site. These big stones are the leverage used to press down on big bags of olives. The juice would squeeze out and collect below.

This is my friend and I posing in the ancient tombs.... kinda creepy

I spotted a zebra painted on an ancient tomb and had to show you guys! Then I looked at a diagram of the tomb and realized it was actually a wild donkey. Lame!

This is the Valley of Elah, where David slew Goliath. Our professor brought slings and we all threw rocks around! Not surprisingly, rock slinging is not one of my talents. I actually hit myself as I wound up and cracked my glasses! Everyone heard and my teacher yelled, "Has someone been hit!?!" Haha I had to raise my hand and tell everyone that I just hit myself. Awesome.

The Holy Land is so amazing. I can't believe I have only been here about 9 days! I have already seen so much. I have to run and pack because I'm leaving for EGYPT tomorrow! So I won't blog again for a week or so. I love and miss you guys!

Allie

P.S. Happy Mother's Day mom! I love you so much! I can't wait to hang out with you when I get home! Let's go get some Taco Bell. They don't have it in Israel :)

Dome of the Rock

Yesterday we visited the Dome of the Rock! I think it is the prettiest building in Jerusalem. I took a bunch of pictures of just the building itself and there's a few fun ones thrown in there. The Muslims built the Dome of the Rock around 691 AD after taking over Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock was built on the Temple Mount. It was interesting because one side of the foundation for it is actually the Western Wall for the Jews. Further down I just have some fun pictures of our walk around the city.

This is Lion's Gate where we entered.

The clothing of these ladies is typical of Muslims in the city.

We were following these soldiers and I was determined to get a sweet picture. I was so focused on it that I actually started following them instead of our group! Luckily someone noticed and grabbed me when I started going in the wrong direction. Check out the machine guns.

This was just a colorful alley we walked down in the Muslim Quarter.

That's me in the right corner! This was a huge chuch on top of the
Temple Mount near the Dome of the Rock

These are just some friends and me posing in front of the Dome!

Thanks for reading! Sorry I didn't write more but dinner is ready! I love you all!

Geography Field Trip

Today we went on our first of many field trips! It was a geography field trip so we basically drove around the city and looked at the geography from different points. I can only upload a few pictures because the Jerusalem Center has limited bandwith but here they are!

This picture was taken from a ridge on the south side of Jerusalem. These are the shepherds' fields, where shepherds roamed during Jesus' times. Beyond that far on the horizon you can see the town of Bethlehem.

I am sitting right in front of the city of Jerusalem. It is actually right above my head. To the right of me is the West Bank, a Palestinian area, and to the right are Israeli areas. The Israelis have built a wall around the city to prevent the Palestinians from entering Jerusalem. At first I opposed this idea, but our professor pointed out that the wall could be part of the reason the Jerusalem Center was able to reopen. After the wall was built, terrorist activities in the city decreased significantly.

While we stopped at this lookout spot, I turned to walk across the way and almost ran into this camel! It was just sitting right behind our class hanging out. I took advantage of the photo op. Supposedly, we can ride a camel in Egypt! I'm wondering how that'll go as I'm still haunted by the horses I rode at our dude ranch family reunion a few years ago...

This is a great shot (if I do say so myself) of the Dome of the Rock. It was built by the Muslims in 638 AD. You can also see the city wall and a Muslim cemetary right below.

This is a shot of our view from the Jerusalem Center. You can see the Palestinian neighborhoods around us and the Dome of the Rock in the distance.

I better go study, but there's my little update! I had a wonderful experience today in a German chapel, Augusta Victoria. It had awesome acoustics so we all got up there and sang hymns (I mostly lip synced so I wouldn't ruin the sound!). We were singing "There Is a Green Hill Far Away" and I just realized I'm there! It is so awesome to learn the scriptures and the history and then go see the exact spot where those things occured. I feel so close to my Savior as I learn of Him and His life here.

Thanks for reading! I love you guys! I'll try to keep it up, although we're pretty busy here. Oh one weird thing. We celebrate the Sabbath on Saturdays here! So tomorrow is the Sabbath for me. This is probably the only time that I will take the sacrament twice in six days! It'll feel weird to have class and activities on Sunday, but that's what they have to do here!

Goodnight everyone!

Welcome to the blog...

Hey guys!

I thought some of you might be bored enough to read about my experiences in Jerusalem so I started this blog. I just arrived in Jerusalem yesterday. The flights actually went by quickly and I got to meet a bunch of my classmates on the way. I got up at 2:45 on Tueday morning and arrived in Tel Aviv Wednesday afternoon at 3:00.
I sat by one lovely woman from Bosnia. At first I was a little annoyed because for some reason I think she thought she had purchased two seats on the flight. Her feet seemed to follow mine, like a creep playing footsie. One time she actually pushed them diagonally across the two seats in front of us. Then she kept finding a way to elbow me every five minutes. The funniest thing was she didn't seem to even notice! I pulled out my journal and she stared over at my pictures. We shared memories with each other, although she only spoke a few words of English. As I leaned forward to fall asleep, this woman started rubbing my back. It was so tender! She ended up making that flight quite enjoyable.
We got into Tel Aviv and then drove up to the Jerusalem Center. We had some meetings and moved into our rooms. Today we had our first few classes and went on a walking tour of Jerusalem. This city is so different from anywhere I've ever been. It has so much culture, conflict, and history. We walked along the city wall, into the Palestinian side, past the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and down into the Israeli area. I have so much to learn about the different sides of the conflict and the history.
The Jerusalem Center is so beautiful and huge! Our rooms are connected by a little terrace and then we each have a big patio through the back door. From there we can see all of the Old City- the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, the city gates, etc. I'll take a picture from there soon to show you. I'm so excited to learn about the history or my Savior and then actually see the places where the events occured. This is such an amazing opportunity. I'll try to get some more pictures up here soon.
Here's a picture of where I'm living for the next two months! Thanks for reading. Sorry it was kinda random and boring. I'm sure I'll have some crazy stories soon! I love you guys!

Allie