Galilee DAY ONE. 11-16-09

Okay, here we go people.
Get ready.

On our first day of our Galilee Extended Field trip, we, of course, made quite a few stops along the way. We drove up along the western side of Israel, kind of along the coast, and our first stop was to Caesarea Maritima.

I loved this site. It was a beautiful Herodian city on the coast of Israel. Herod build a huge seaport, temple, palace (of course), and city. This is also where Paul was put before Festus and Felix, and held for two years. Brother Brown actually was the one to suggest that the only possible place was this place where the councils would meet next to the palace...and then he got a very curt response from the archaeologist in charge, and then a few months later they announced that as the place where Paul spoke to them. Funny, right? I mean, not that Brother Brown cared about recognition, but he had a good chuckle when he told us. Also, it's just really cool that we had such incredible, knowledgable scholars as our leaders, teachers, and mentors.

This is a stone they found here, which has Pontius Pilate's name on it, and is archeaological proof of his existence. I think it's the only proof besides the Bible. Kind of cool.

So, we started around the palace, and the area that Paul spoke, and read the account in Acts. This is also the site where King Agrippa told Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." And then we walked along the coast, next to the arena where the chariot races would have been. Jeremy, Adam, Kyra and I went and explored the temple area...I think that was the temple area, anyway. And then we ran and met our class up to leave that part of the site, and went to an ancient aqueduct area on the beach to see what the aqueducts used to look like. Amazing!


The amphitheater..

You can see the sea and the ruins behind me..

This is Herod's palace. The Sea has since risen, and so the rooms are filled with water. But it's pretty cool.

There were fishermen fishing with HUGE fishing poles, all along the shore. It was very quaint.


This is a view up the coast, where we walked. You can see the arena in the background.

This is my souvenir shell in its natural environment :)

I wanted to walk along the beach, but the waves crashed right up to the breakwall, where there was a pathway, so I ended up walking along the "wrong" side of the railing. It was a lot of fun.

The Crusaders took over this town after the expulsion of the Muslims, and so there are some great Crusader buildings, like this gatehouse.

Pointed, ribbed vaulting. Katy, mouthwatering, right?

And this is the aqueduct. It was really impressive, and it went on for quite a while.

Sarah Ingalls and me :)

A fun day at the beach :) We didn't get to stay for nearly long enough, though.

You just have to write your name in the sand at the beach....

Next we drove for a little while, and ended up to Tel Megiddo. This is where Armageddon will be. The word "Armageddon" comes from "Megiddo." This place is pretty interesting, because it has 25 layers of strata (or different civilization layers), and from the top we could see Mt. Carmel (the place of the Temple of Baal in the Old Testament), Mt Tabor, Mt Hermon (the two possible mountains for the Mount of Transfiguration), and Nazareth. Along with several other mountains, like where Ahab's headquarters were, and the Mountain where Christ raised the widow's son on one side, and where Elisha raised the widow's son on the other side. The Parallels between Christ and Elisha are pretty cool. (And Elijah..)

Us climbing the Tel. Kathleen actually made up a cute song to go along with this. It goes:

What the Tel, What the Tel,
What the Tel are we climbing up.
Rocks and boulders.
Climb another hill,
Oh what the Tel.

Kyra Waring and I at the lookout on top of Tel Meggido

Not a cistern :) But it was a grainery.

It is so green in Northern Israel! This is Anna Daines and me.

And, of course, the water system in Tel Megiddo.

After that we went to Nazareth. First to the Christian Church of the Annunciation. That was pretty sweet. They have a grotto there, where the house of Mary is supposed to be. They were having a prayer service in there when we were there, so we couldn't get a super good look, but it was kind of just another cave...so there you go. It was a beautiful church though. It had some sweet stained-glass windows. And it also had many different contributions from different countries, in the form of paintings and other artwork depictions of the Annunciation.

Oh this is a funny verse from the Qu'ran translated into English right next to the Church of the Ascension.

The Church of the Ascension..

They had these beautiful doors depicting events in Christ's life. Not like the Gates of Paradise, but still, quite nice.

Inside, you can see that they have this whole fenced off central area which is supposed to be the house of the Virgin Mary before she had Christ.

and again...

Our Next stop in Nazareth was to the Church of Joseph, which was were Joseph's tomb was, I believe. It had some beautiful stained-glass windows also:


This is Joseph's betrothal to Mary.

The Annunciation of Christ's birth to Joseph.

And Joseph's death. How hard it must have been for Christ to let a man who raised him die, when Christ could conquer death.


And Joseph's house, I believe.

Then we walked up the hill to a Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. They believe that the Annunciation to Mary happened at a well, and therefore their church is by the well. I was sitting there with my legs crossed, and the priest got very upset at me. To the Greek-Orthodox (and others, we experienced this other places, too), crossing your legs is a profanation of the cross. Same with crossing your ankles. So he got very upset at me. So I uncrossed them, and then later another girl in our group did it and he got mad, so I started whispering to girls as they came by to not cross their legs, even before they sat down. They were a little bewildered, but I think if we hadn't told them, that the pastor guy might have kicked us out. They're serious about that stuff. I didn't take any pictures, so I think that you weren't allowed to...they were pretty intense about everything. Anyway...

This is me, in front of a carpenter's shop in Nazareth. We were just walking and we passed it. It was very cool.

Anyway, after that we walked back down to the bus and drove to our Kibbutz on the eastern shore of the Galilee. We looked right across the lake (Sea is kind of a misnomer, because it is, in fact, a freshwater lake...) towards Tiberias. It was dark by the time we got there, so we could just see the stars twinkling and the lights across the lake. B-E-A-utiful.

So, first day, check! Only ten more to go...

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 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 2oo 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. Mine was a little more expensive than other people's...but oh well! What can you do? (It was the phone cards :))

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. I didn't know if I should smile...so I'm sorry if that is offensive to anyone.

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, who 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 a 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.