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!