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!