Last Day, and Last Post, In Jerusalem.

Today I have a lot of mixed emotions. I am really excited to see my family and friends, but really sad to leave here.

I thought a lot about how to best spend our last day. I think that everyone was really wondering that. Which places do we go to one last time? Who do we say goodbye to? We compromised by going to a smattering of places, and saying goodbye and talking to whoever we could. Oh, and by taking a thousand pictures.

This is me, Kelly Bowen, and Kathryn, setting on our last adventure out into the city.

First we set out for Aladdin's Money Exchange, because some people needed to get Shekels for the last day, and because I needed to sign a check I gave him last week. Yeah...I had a slight blond moment and accidentally didn't sign the check I gave him last time, and so he called the center and the center told me. It was good. They are so trusting of us! So we stopped there, and we signed his visitor's book, and we wrote notes on the wall to future BYU JC students. His whole wall is plastered with sticky notes from students. I remember going in there the first day on our walking tour and seeing them. Now I have one on the wall. How does that work?


My Sticky note...

The wall of notes from JC students. It's only us that does this, isn't that kind of cool? A little spot in the city, dedicated to us giving our "posterity" advice..

This is me with Aladdin's two sons. They let me hold wads of 200 shek bills...I asked them if I could keep them. They said no. Bummer.

After that we walked out into the city and we went into a new gate....It's called King Herod's gate, and it enters the Muslim Quarter. We have never been in there before because it's really busy usually, and the whole Muslim Quarter thing can be tricky, but it wasn't busy today, and there was a group of three guys (also JC students) that were going in, too, so we were perfectly fine. It was great, though. Not a ton to see, but we explored some new territory.

This is King Herod's Gate, and that is one of three guys from our group that we followed in. Firsts and Lasts, all in one day.

After that we snaked our way through the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian Quarters. We said goodbye to shopkeepers that we met, and we spent our sheks....We really got some great stuff though. I'm really excited about it.


This is us and Reeda, who is Shaban's brother-in-law and owns the shop across the street.

Us and Shaban! The place where a lot of Mormon Money is spent.

Okay, Confession. I walked past this dress shop a lot, and always wanted to try on a dress. Well, today my dream was almost fulfilled...except when we went inside, the little lady that owns the shop and designs the dresses was so humble and only spoke Arabic, and I didn't want to make a mockery out of her masterpieces (or risk her thinking that we were) so we didn't. But they were some sweet dresses. In a costume-y kind of way, of course.

After that we left the city, and we went back around Aladdin's to this amazing Schwarma restaurant that has the best Schwarma in the entire city. It's sooo good. You can get them in a pita or a wrap there, so today I tried the wrap for the first time. I was in heaven.

It's a local place, you can see all the women in their headscarves. Having locals eat at the shop where you're eating is always a bonus. Man, my mouth waters just thinking about this Schwarma!



Mmmmm! It was so good! I miss it already! Goodbye Schwarma. Sad Day.

Next we went back to Aladdin's to change sheks back into dollars, and to take out more dollars to have for the plane ride, and to pay our bills to the center for our calling cards and phone usage and such. 

After that we stopped into the Garden Tomb for one last visit. It was incredible. There was nobody there, so we all got pictures without people there, and sang and just sat and thought and listened to each other talk. It was great. We were singing hymns and this other group of Christians that were just touring, maybe in their late 20's, were there, so we invited them to sing hymns with us. We sang Christmas hymns, and it was just amazing to see music bring people together like that. I love that we sing in our Church. I love that we feel the Spirit through music and that our Spirituality is so closely linked with music.


When we got there, there were no people there, at all. It was wonderful. We got a nice, quiet moment without people there.

Our little group of BYU students at the tomb. Starting int he back row, it's Megan Richards, Maurie Stacey, Lexi Young, Kathryn Hawker, and Jon Richards. Bottom Row: Me, Kellie Bowen, Lizzie Cutler, Amy Bradshaw, Emily Anderson, and Leanna Davis.

This is us and another group of Christians who were there and who we sang with, in front of the tomb. Oh and a group from Nigeria got there around that time, so the guy on the far right decided to be in our picture with us :). Nigerians are fun, it was fun to get to meet them at the religious sites we went to.

I do want all of you to know how grateful I am for this experience. I know that the reason I am here is because Christ was here, and He lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He paid the price for our sins, and felt our suffering. He loves us. His love for us is all-encompassing, and He will be there for us if we accept His help.

Then we went to West Jerusalem and the Shuk (found out how to spell it today...it's pronounced "SOOK"). It was just a quick walk through for an hour and a half or so. We just soaked up all the atmosphere that we could, and loved every minute of it.


This is us at the Shuk!

After this we took a cab home, and had dinner. And we started packing... After packing we kind of stayed up all night, and we had one last hurrah, where we had an open mic night, watched our slideshow video, and....cried, a lot. It was a really great night.

This is me and my little Nokia cell phone, while packing. I look kind of weird, but it was probably late...and so...yeah. Oh hey, you can also see my Fulla watch. Fulla is Muslim Barbie. Great watch.

This is the last number performed at the open mic night, after we watched the slideshow. The Five violinists played a beautiful rendition of "God be with you 'til we meet again." Hence, the tears. It was a really hard night, because we can leave

Writing this blog doesn't really do this day justice. I was just really happy all day long. I am sad to leave, but the happiness that I felt just being in the city couldn't be masked by the sadness to leave. I truly love this place. I love the people here, despite the wide differences between some of them. I love being here, and what being here has taught me. I feel like I am a completely different person, and I hope to use this study abroad as a turning point in my life. It can, and will, be a springboard for the future.

I love you family. Thank you for your love and support during these past three and a half months. Thank you for reading my blogs, and being interested in what is happening in my life. I really have felt your love for me while I've been here. I want you to know how much I love you. I am excited to see you all, and be home for Christmas.

So, there you have it. My Jerusalem Experience! (Galilee hopefully coming soon...)

Can't wait to see you guys!

My Final Field Trip 12-15-09

Today was another glorious day in the Holy Land. It was surreal though, because it doesn’t feel like I’m getting on the bus to go to the airport tomorrow night. It doesn’t feel like I’m all done with field trips. It’s very surreal.

Today we began the day with walking to the Garden of Gethsemane for one last time. We walked in silence, and they passed out pieces of paper with short, one-liner teachings of Christ on them. So we walked and just thought about the Savior. When we got to the garden, we went to the private side, and split into classes and talked about the Atonement. We talked about how Christ not only suffered our anguish and our pain and sorrow, for sins, injuries, and everything else, but how he also suffered “the wrath of the almighty God.” He did that for us. He received the punishment that we would have for our sins, on our behalf, so someday, if we accept His infinite Atonement, He will stand at the judgment and will give us mercy, because He already paid for the Justice we would have faced. Just think of it that way. Usually we think of Christ being able to succor us because He experienced everything that we have and will experience. And that’s true, there’s nothing wrong with that. It is also important, however, to think of Christ paying the price for our sins. He suffered our punishments. And He experienced immeasurable pain on our behalf. His thoughts were turned to us as He was arrested, tried, beaten, spit on, scourged, and humiliated in the streets. He allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross for us. He loves us. He wants us to accept that infinite and most sacred gift. He can only offer us mercy, if we accept Him as our Savior.

This is the Garden, on the private side. Look how much younger the trees are compared to in the other side...

Oh, me in the private side. Okay, now look how much older the trees are in the next one...

This is me in the Public side. Look how huge the tree trunks are! It's so crazy. They are at least a thousand years old. Some people think they are two-thousand years old. They are at least grafts from trees that are that old, so there you go. Trees from Christ's time!

This is the stone that the church is built around, where they think Christ suffered the Atonement - for me! And you!

After the Garden of Gethsemane, we took vans to St. Peter in Gallicantu. “Gallicantu” means rooster, or rooster crowing or something. It is a church that commemorates Peter denying Christ three times, and is on Mt Zion, where Caiaphas’ house was, and where Christ was taken after being arrested. It’s interesting to think why Catholics would want to commemorate Peter denying Christ. But the church focuses on what Peter learned from that, and what happened afterward. It commemorates him as he went out and “wept bitterly” and then later when Christ places Peter at the head of the Church when He comes to him as a resurrected being in Galilee. It is a beautiful church. There is also a dungeon pit, where prisoners would have been lowered in through a hole to be kept. There are no scriptural references to Christ being held, but there may have been times when He was placed in holding between times when He was tried. Just an interesting thought.

Kathryn and I, with the background being North towards the Old City, and my head is blocking the center, on the Mount of Olives, I believe.

This is St. Peter in Gallicantu Church. It's kind of cool, and sticks out a little bit from the hill, because of the dome.

This is a mosaic that shows Christ being spit at and mocked, in Caiaphas' house.

This is the pit dungeon where prisoners would have been held. They think that Christ was here, because there are Byzantine crosses carved into the stone, and tradition wasn't as long ago for them as it is now for us :).

This Church also had Roman-era steps, which Brother Emmett said would have been steps that Christ walked on while he was being led to Caiaphas’ house. So we got some pictures there. Crazy, to wrap your head around standing where Christ possibly stood, Himself.

Me on the Roman Steps, where Christ probably walked!

After that we walked through the Old City to St. Anne’s Church. It commemorated the birthplace of Mary, as well as is the place where the Pools of Bethesda are. I am so happy that I got to go to the pools of Bethesda! You have to pay to get in, and most people had gone, so I didn’t know if I would be able to find anyone to go with. But we got to go! First of all, St. Anne’s Church has some of the most beautiful acoustics ever. We sang in there for almost an hour. There were special musical numbers, too. We have some incredibly talented people. I kind of want to take voice lessons when I get home, just to develop my talents more. I love singing, and I have been so privileged to hear so many amazing musical numbers from the incredible singers here. There was one that the guy’s quintet did. They have done a bunch of songs together. Awesome sidenote: they didn’t know each other before they came, they just all got together and worked hard and learned parts to songs. It is so cool. They do such an amazing job. I got a video of theirs and some other people’s songs, too. I can’t wait to show you some of it!

St. Anne's Church.

It's Catholic, yet relatively unadorned. I really liked it.

This is the Father of the Church, who has a great view of mormons and was cracking jokes while he was telling us a story about a pastor who wanted to sing in the church, but some members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which was in town that week for something, were coming to sing, so he told them that, and the pastor got really upset and said that we, as Mormons, aren't saved, and we shouldn't be in the church...and the Pastor looked at him and said, well according to you, Catholics aren't saved either, so me and the Mormons have that in common. Or something to that effect.

The girls in the Church... it's too late right now to list all their names.

After that we walked out and had a little lesson in the Pools of Bethesda, about the man who had been lame for 38 years, and was waiting by a pool that was a “healing pool.” They believed that an angel would come stir the waters, and the first person to get into the water would be healed. The man had been sitting there for 38 years, and could never be the first one to get into the water because he was lame. When Christ came, and asked him about his injury, he thought that He was merely going to lift him into the water. Instead, Christ healed him. The man didn’t even know who Christ was, until later when they met again, and Christ told him to go his way and sin no more. Amazing.

Ruins!

After that we headed to the Chapel of the Flagellation. Brother Hamblin talked about scourging with us, and how we picture it as a little whipping, but it was literally life-threatening. If you got too many lashes, then it could literally kill you. It is also the Church of the Condemnation, so this is where Pilate condemned Christ, and then he was scourged. I’ve been there before and didn’t take any new pictures, but it really hit home to talk about all the pain that Christ went through. It was painful just to sit and listen to Brother Hamblin talk about it.

After that we walked through the Old City and out of Damascus Gate, and to the Garden Tomb. We talked there for a while about the crucifixion, and read three of the four accounts of it. Then we sang hymns, and Brother Emmett left it open to us to bear our testimonies about Christ. I just sat and listened, but there are so many amazing people in my group. I know that places don’t make testimonies, but the people here have taught me so much through their testimonies. I want to let go of myself and really give myself over to the Lord. I know that if I can give up my life, I will find it.

Garden Tomb!

The Garden Tomb without any people....which is a rarity.

Tonight was another amazing night, too. After dinner we had an End of Program…Program. Some people were asked to speak for a couple minutes on what they learned this semester, and then some people sang. There were even more musical talents shown, and so many spiritual insights.

Oh and before dinner, I took a video tour of the center so I can show you guys all around it!

I can’t believe my time here is coming to a close. I’m going to miss this place, the center, and most of all, the people that I have met and come to love so much while being here.

Last Day Tomorrow. Better make the Most of it! Weird.

In the computer lab...

So I came in today before our field trip to check my email, and Lauren Magleby is gchatting with her fiance, and he informed her that there are only 71 hours until we land in Salt Lake, and so she told us that...

And I thought, "WOW. That's not a lot of hours." :)

I'm excited to see all of you! Merry Christmas!

Penultimate Field Trip

That was today. Great. Only one more day of field trips, a free day, and....traveling. Ahh!

Okay, whew. I'll keep it together.

Today we had an awesome day. We went to Bethany, Bethpage, Pater Noster Church, Dominus Flevit, Orson Hyde Park, and the Upper Room. I'm going to touch on all of them. Just you wait.

So Bethany is on the east side of the Mount of Olives, on a little outshoot of the Mount. It is the town where Mary and Martha lived, and where Christ would go to stay a lot. There's no record of where their house is, of course, but Bethany is also where Lazarus lived, and where Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, and there is only one tomb there that fits the criteria for that, and that's where we went today. It was really surprising, actually. It was pretty deep, down in the earth, down a slippery staircase, and then into an antechamber and then a small tunnel into the tomb chamber. Only about 10 of us could go down at a time.

After that we went and we had a discussion/lesson on Mary and Martha, and Christ coming to raise Lazarus from the dead. He waited four days after Lazarus' death because according to Jewish tradition, the Spirit lingers in the body for three days after a person's death. By waiting four days, it was a sign from Christ that He had power over the spirit, to call it back to the body. Pretty interesting, right?

This is the Church at Bethany. All of the churches have amazing acoustics, and we love to sing.

This is looking into Lazarus' tomb...

This is the entrance. Sorry, I had a better one, but I don't know what happened to it. It's just a little entrance though.

This is me and a poinsettia! It was huge, and pretty, and made me think of Christmas! I'll be home soon!

After that we rode the bus to Bethpage, which is where Christ waited while his disciples found a donkey for Him to ride into Jerusalem on, for the triumphal entry. Well, they didn't just go find a donkey, but there was one that Christ told them to go find, and the brought it back. At that point He got on the donkey and rode over the Mount of Olives and into Jerusalem. There was a beautiful church there, commemorating it, that had amazing accoustics. We sang there. Today was a day filled with singing, which was really wonderful.

This is the Church at Bethpage...

A fresco depicting Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. They always have paintings that have landscape backgrounds but don't show Jerusalem, it's interesting.

This is me and Megan at the church, with the fresco in the background.

After Bethpage, we walked over the mountain to Pater Noster Church. This is the Church that is famous for being the traditional site where Christ offered the Lord's Prayer. Pater Noster means "Our Father." Some other things that this site is known for are Christ's Olivet Discourse, His ascension into heaven, and also the place where He decends from heaven. It was a beautiful place. Brother Brown said that, to him, it is one of the most special places in all of Jerusalem. It was very peaceful, and is the site of where many great things happened. They also had The Lord's Prayer all over the church on these panels, in different languages. I'm not kidding, I found one for everybody! Here, you can all take a look!

Pater Noster!

This is the Church, with the courtyard...

The original place that they are commemorating is a cave that is on site, so this is me in the cave.

Me and Lyndsay in the cave!

This is the "Anglais" version of the Lord's Prayer.

Tagalog! Yay for Patrick!

The main church and altar!

Creole! I don't know if this is the same one Clayton spoke..but it said Creole, and so I took a picture. See, one for everyone.

Samoan! Funny sidenote. I saw Fijian, and so I thought there must be Tagalog and Samoan (sorry Clayton, but I didn't even dream of Creole), so I walked around the whole church, and couldn't find them in the courtyards....so I went into the actual chapel. Yeah, Samoan and Tagalog...they were right inside the church, by the altar! Spanish wasn't even in there! ENGLISH wasn't even in there! So there you go. Creole, Samoan, and Tagalog are apparently more central in the Lord's Prayer than English and Spanish. Good work to our Returned Missionaries.

And FINALLY, I found Spanish, and was happy. Oh excuse me "Espagnol." I found Espagnol. Love it!

After that we walked down to Dominus Flevit, where I went a couple weeks ago, and we learned about Christ lamenting over Jerusalem. Dominus Flevit means "The Lord wept." It has a church in the shape of a teardrop, built in 1955, commemorating His weeping for Jerusalem. It's actually one of my favorite churches because of the beautiful view there. It's really peaceful and just really pretty. I really loved it going back.

The view from Dominus Flevit on a rainy day. The Dome is so pretty. It's big, too. It still surprises me.
This awesome apse and altar. I love this church, really. It's simple, yet beautiful.

This is a reference to Christ's lament over Jerusalem when He says, "How often would I have gathered thee like a hen gathereth her chickens." Or something like that. It's on the altar...

And again, the view! 

Next we went to Orson Hyde Park, and we ate our sack lunches and learned more about Orson Hyde. He was an apostle called to go on a mission in this area. He had visions before he came of all the places he visted, and everything he would do. He also dedicated the area from the Mount of Olives, looking over the city. I love that park, it's really fun to go sit in. It's beautiful!

After that we went and caught our buses again and drove to The Upper Room that is over David's Tomb. We learned a little more about the Last Supper experience, and then we went on the roof and looked over the city.

This is Dormition Abby, and I thought it was a cool angle...

The Upper Room... packed with Mormons! Yessss!

This is me and Sarah Ingalls in the Upper Room. I love this girl!

That was the end of the field trip. It was really cold in the city today, and so some of us opted to come back to the center afterward. We could've gone out, and I'm a little sad I didn't, but for some reason it just felt right to come back to the center. So I enjoyed a nice afternoon here at the center, and wrote my last paper for class and just enjoyed the center!

We also had a pre-departure orientation meeting tonight. They love to orientate us, which is great. So, the clock is really winding down. It's weird. I think I'm going to start packing tonight too, just to make sure that I can fit everything I've bought in!

Love, love, love!

P.S. I love all of you, and I love everyone here. I am so blessed to be amongst such amazing people here, and to have such incredible people in my life. I love you all, really. So much.