Bethlehem by day, Shepherd's fields by night. 12-3-09

Another amazing field trip day! This time, we finally had our trip to Bethlehem!

We started out for the day by first crossing the wall. What an interesting experience. It's so crazy that just to travel here, there are checkpoints and walls and barriers and the people aren't free to move around at all. It's just so different then in the States. Our Palestinian teacher's wife was with us for the day, because he is traveling in the U.S. to visit their children and grandchildren. When he told us that he was going to the U.S., he said that he was taking a bus from New York to LA....all of us were pretty much thinking, "ugh that sucks..." and then he said, "that's real freedom. I cannot wait to be able to just drive, and just keep driving, without checkpoints or border patrols or anyone asking me for my identification." We were all humbled. He lives in Bethlehem, and even though he has an American passport, and could live in America, he chooses to stay in a place where his heritage and family are, even though the Israeli government is constantly trying to take what little they have from them. Interesting.

A picture from the wall on the other side. It was just plastered in graffiti. Interestingly enough, most of it was in English. I don't know what that means. But there was also a ton of pictures that had American flags and etc...So I think the fact that The United States supports Israel isn't so popular with them.

Our first stop in the West Bank was to the Jerusalem Institute of Research, where we were given a presentation on the conflict, and Israeli settlers. There are groups of Israelis that are being subsidized to live in the West Bank by the Israeli government, in an effort to basically take over the land through habitation. It's so interesting that we hear so little of what is going on over here, in the States, but there you go. It was a great presentation. They showed us two websites to go to, to get information. I took a picture so I'd remember... :)

All of us crammed in this little conference room. Good thing we're okay with being cozy :)

Me and my row. And my new hat! I was channeling Katy when I bought it :)

A map of the control in the west bank. The dark tan - which is hardly there, is where Palestinians have complete control over the area, then yellow is where they have partial control with Israel having military control, and the dark gray area is where Israel has complete control. It's pretty crazy.

These are the websites you can go to, to get stats and updates on what is happening in Palestine if you are interested. They are pretty unbiased, I was told.

After that we went to Bethlehem University and we had a tour of the campus, which is pretty small. It's remarkable though. The School was started in 1973, and is a Christian university, although it accepts students of all faiths. It is accredited internationally, and offers a number of majors, and one masters program in International Relations. It was so incredible. It's a small patch of hope in the middle of Bethlehem and the West Bank.

We got to have a group Q&A session with a panel of students. There were four of them, three guys and a girl. They were from all faiths, and all backgrounds. Most of them told about how they had such a hard time trying just to get from one Palestinian city to Bethlehem. Most of them, even though they could get to the campus relatively easily without checkpoints and etc, have to stay the weeks in the dormitories just outside of campus (because there were no checkpoints when it was established, so there are no dorms on campus) and see their families on the weekends. It's just sad how limited they are. They can't really go outside of their city without special papers or permission. I thought that they could move freely through the west bank, but the west bank is still occupied by Israel, and it's not a free area at all. It just blows my mind to continually learn about it and see how many issues there really are to solve.

The seal..
This is the campus Chapel. The statue is Christ as a schoolboy, and there are angels of holy children and the stained-glass windows are all of children.

A picture of the Angelic Children that the chapel honors. It really is a beautiful chapel.

Me in the amphitheater :)

Our discussion group. It was a great Q&A.

Anyway, it was a really enlightening trip. After that we stopped at a restaurant to have lunch. It was SO good. We had pitas filled with salsa stuff, hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, and so many other things that I have no idea what they are... And the pitas were so, so good. Then they gave us some chicken stuff..and then some sausage stuff...and french fries! WITH ketchup. Amazing.

This is the restaurant. It was a tent-style. It felt very Bedouin.

The appetizer / pita course. So good!

This is Emily and I at lunch. My hat looks funny in this picture...oh well!

After lunch we went to the Church of the Nativity, which is the only surviving Byzantine-era church that Helena, Constantine's Mother, built on her quest for holy sites. It is a really old church, to say the least. It's cool though. You can see the original mosaic floors, and original mosaic walls, and then the actual nativity scene is in a grotto underneath the apse, where the animals would have been kept, in a cave. There's a silver star on the floor marking the spot of Christ's birth, and then a marble manger thing where the manger was. It was really cool. We had to be really reverent in the church, or they will kick you out. They tell us this everywhere, and we do a good job, but this time it wasn't, "be reverent" it was "no laughing. smiling is okay, just don't be excessive." woa. So we were good, and there were no problems, but it could've easily happened.

Bethlehem :) It's beautiful there.

The entrance into the bascillica-style church. I don't know why it was so short.

This is the 4th century Byzantine church! It was really cool!

This is the entrance to the grotto, with stairs down into the cave.

Entering the grotto cave.

This is the place of the birth of Christ, in Bethlehem.

This is the place of the Manger.

After that we went to the Roman Catholic part of the church (they have a chapel there) and we sat and sang hymns. I love singing in churches. The Accoustics are so amazing. Love it.

This is the Roman Catholic Church.

Next we went to "the Milk Grotto." Which, believe it or not, is a church commemorating a site where Mary spilled some of her milk while nursing the baby Jesus. So there you go. Churches, churches, everywhere. That also had amazing accoustics, too. And it wasn't a big group visit, but somewhere we went on free time, so a little group of us sang together. It was great! Again, love it.

Me entering the Milk Grotto

Us singing. The Priest loved our singing, and gave Jeremy a candle to hold while we sang.

The icon in the grotto, of Mary breast-feeding Christ. I hadn't seen anything like it before, I don't think, so I took a picture. Kind of interesting.

So we wandered around Bethelehem and shopped, although I am a little sad to say I didn't buy anything in Bethlehem. I already have an ornament from there that my Relief Society President, Sahar, gave to all of us, so I do have something from there. Everything was just so expensive. I wanted a little angel, but it was a lot of money. As in, the price tag was in dollars, and I thought it would for sure be in sheks cause it was so much. Sad day. I almost went back and bought it anyway, but I didn't like it as much the second time I looked at it, so that saved me. Whew.

After Manger Square and wandering around, we all loaded back on the buses for a night in Shepherd's fields. It was so cool. We left Bethlehem area, and crossed the wall back over to East Jerusalem, and we went to a random field somewhere..couldn't really tell you where it was...and we did a Nativity Pageant thing. It was so cool! We were out in the fields, similar to where the Shepherds who the angels came to announcing Christ's birth would have been, and, with Bethlehem as our backdrop, we reinacted the Christmas story from Luke 2. Sarah put it together, and she did such an amazing job! Adam was Joseph, and Lauren was Mary. They read from the scriptures and had special musical numbers. It was an unforgettable night. It was pretty cold, and we were sitting on the rocks, but it was so beautiful!

All of us camped out, getting ready for the program.

Steph, Steven, and me...I think my eyes might be closed...or barely open. Bright flash, and a little chilly. :)

This was a Barbershop Quintet. They always do such an amazing job.

A group of girls singing, again-so beautiful!

This is Brother Brown talking to us with the lights of Bethlehem behind him.

Our full moonlit night. It was so perfect and still. It was beautiful.

After that we packed up and came on home. Such a great day.