Free Time Sunday and Field Trip Monday

Well yesterday, Sunday, was our first free day in the Holy Land. A group of about 6 of us decided to go to the Israel Museum in West Jerusalem. Not only do we have to go to the museum for class, but I also really wanted to go, so it was a win-win situation. The museum itself was so interesting because the building was extremely modern looking while everything inside is literally older than anything else I've ever seen. There were artifacts that were 1000s of years old. The museum is organized by era- starting with the stone age and going up until today. We only looked up to the Caliphate/Islam era though. It really is amazing what archaeology has brought to our day. As I was looking at all of the artifacts, whether it was jewelry, burial artifacts, or pottery, I just had to wonder how all of these archaeologists knew so much from the little artifacts that they have discovered. After we looked at the main building of the museum, we went outside to the shrine of the book- where THE dead sea scrolls are. It was so cool! I took Isaiah a few semesters ago and I'm so glad that I did because seeing these scrolls meant that much more to me. And these scrolls were discovered not too far from here! The shrine of the book building is really cool too. It's kind of like a white tear dropped dome... I don't know how else to describe that.

Oh and good news! Even though I can't upload pictures to my blog on the JC campus, I CAN go across the street to the Hebrew University and do it there. I can also get on facebook and such, but I think I'm going to hold strong to not getting on facebook for 4 months.... at least that's what I say now... haha. I won't be going there ALL the time because I kind of like the whole idea of being separated from technology. But I will definitely go there like twice or three times a month. That also depends on who else wants to go with me because you can't go anywhere without at least 2 other people to go with you. This is actually kind of frustrating to me. Not that I want to go out alone or anything, but sometimes it's hard to get people to do things that you want to do and then you have to accommodate other people by doing what they want to do and so on. That sounds really selfish of me... and perhaps it is... I guess I just wish I could go across the street by myself if I wanted to, but I'm sure I will get used to it soon.

Anyway...I forgot to mention that before going to the Israel museum, we went to Aladdin's, which is where you go to exchange money here. Oh and it is pronounced Ah-la-deen's not like the Disney movie. After that, we walked around and found Omar's shop. Omar actually found us and yelled down the street for us to come see his shop. He has been doing business with BYU students for over 40 years and he loves Mormons. He has pictures with all of the general authorities that have visited the Holy Land. His shop consists of a TON of hand carved Olive wood nativities and other things. Mainly nativities though. And they are SOOOO cool! What's funny is that he also has things like busts of Joseph and Emma Smith, Captain Moroni, and Christ, all based on Mormon paintings. It's kinda funny, kinda cool. Omar was very friendly and nice as well. He gave us free keychains made of olive wood of course. So I guess that is the place to go for anything carved of olive wood. Omar was then kind enough to help us get a taxi over to the Museum.

So yeah... back to the Museum. After the shrine of the book, we went to an outdoor exhibit that was a replica of the Old city when Herod was the king. The temple, which I didn't realize, was HUGE!!!! The replica itself was like 30 or more feet long and probably 20 feet wide. I'm not that good at distance judging.... I will upload a picture of it and you will see what I'm talking about. The point being that it was sooo cool and awesome to see what the city looked like during the time of Christ. Seeing how big the temple was puts the whole story about Jesus cleansing the temple into an entirely new perspective. Still amazing that He did that single handedly...

We had been at the museum for around 4.5 hours at this point and decided to take a taxi back to the old city. Oh the Old City. I am seriously in love with it. I could just explore it all day every day. It's just so foreign and exciting! I can't wait to show you pictures. So we entered at the Damascas gate and found this shop that supposedly sells the best falaffel (sp?) in Jerusalem. And I do have to say that it was delicious. They put it in a pita with a bunch of different vegetables, sauce, and something spicy in it. I don't really have a point of reference to know if it the best, but it was very good and will be the standard for the rest of the falaffel that I eat. Once we finished our falaffel, it was getting close to sunset, which meant time to go home. In East Jerusalem, our curfew is sunset because of safety reasons. In West Jerusalem, however, our curfew is midnight.

This blog post is becoming much longer that I originally expected it to be. You guys said you wanted me to be detailed though, so I'm just giving you all what you asked for! :) So today was our first field trip day. It was the "Jerusalem Overlook" field trip. Which basically means we went to a bunch of different sites that overlook Jerusalem. We first went to Nabi Samuel, which is the tomb of the prophet Samuel. He isn't actually buried there, so it is actually just an honorary tomb. It was way cool. Today was ridiculously windy and cold. So it was a little difficult to stay outside all day, but hey I was in Jerusalem, so I couldn't complain. After Nabi Samuel, we went to Augusta Victoria, which is a huge Christian church with a large tower that you can climb and look out on the city. Climbing up all of the stairs was sooooo hard! I seriously thought my legs were going to give in at any moment. But I made it to the top- and it was worth it! The view was incredible. It was very windy and cold though. After we got back down from the tower, we sat in the chapel and sang hymns. The interior of the church is gorgeous- full of mosaics of Christ's ascension and other things. I played the piano for everyone, which was very cool. I have been surprised at how much I have played the piano since I have been here. I have gained a new appreciation for the musical talent that the Lord has blessed with me. And for my mother forcing me to take lessons all of those years. (You happy Mom? You told me all of those years that I would one day thank you despite all of my threats to drop our piano off of a cliff haha. I guess you were right! So Thank you) Plus being able to play the piano in an ancient church is pretty dang legit. The cathedral was huge though, so with all of the acoustics it was hard for me to play and hear everyone else singing at the same time.

After August Victoria, we went around to different overlooks of the ancient city. And then one that overlooked Bethlehem- which is where they say the shepherds were when they saw the angel. The last overlook we went to was where it is believed Abraham was when he received the revelation that he would have to sacrifice Isaac. It was so cool to look out onto the old city and see the path that he would have traveled to go make the sacrifice. Thinking about being in the land of the Bible is such a blessing and I can't believe I am here. I will have to show you with pictures the path that I am referring to.

The field trip ended with a visit to the Hebrew University. One of the students, who is also a member of our branch showed us around so that we could know where certain things are, like cool restaurants on campus, computer labs, the bookstore and the library. And then we walked back to the center- which is very close by, as I mentioned earlier. Well that was my day yesterday and today. Now I need to go do the rest of my reading... ugh. Thank you to all of you that have been emailing me. They are much appreciated!