"of men born of women there is none greater than he..."

John the Baptist. Today a small group of us went to Ein Karem, which is John the Baptist's hometown. We picked the perfect day to go- the weather was awesome (about 75 and sunny...) and we got a lot done. We've been studying about John the Baptist in NT class which made it more interesting to go and see where he grew up.

This church commemorates John, Elizabeth and Mary.


This picture shows Elizabeth greeting Mary. Elizabeth was the first person Mary went to when she found out she was going to give birth to the Son of God. Elizabeth was in a similar situation and was able to relate.

Chelsea & I wandering the hills of Ein Karem.

Kara & I in the Bethlehem church


Cate, Kara & I walking to the Chagall windows in the hospital- there were 12 of them, each representing one of Jacob's sons. I wish I got pictures but we weren't allowed- they were like 10 feet high and 4 feet wide and so bright with color

We ate at the cutest cafe for lunch. We ate on the patio and had these giant salads with the freshest ingredients... it's been a long time since I've had plain chicken in a salad & I was craving it
our half of the table

my favorite day thus far....

Bethlehem. This day was memorable for me because every Christmas season I imagine in my mind what the nativity story told in Luke 2 was like, and today I got a much clearer picture. The best part of the day didn't come til later on when we went to Shepherd's field. But I need to start at the beginning.

We started the day by picking up our Palestinian professor, Adnan Musallam, once we crossed through the checkpoint into the West Bank (specifically, Bethlehem, his hometown). We drove to Bethlehem University where we talked with the students about the Israeli Palestinian conflict. It's been very enlightening to get the Palestinian perspective, because it's hardly ever portrayed in America. Some students over here get worked up and pick sides once a perspective is given, but the JC has committed to being neutral so that's what I'm trying to be. Still good to learn both sides though. The more I learn the more I realize how confusing it really is.

The overall message I got from that was the Palestinians live in a completely different world than the Jews and they hardly ever have contact with each other. The students we spoke to said we Americans get a taste of war every once in a while when we hear about it on the news or rarely when someone we know is directly affected by the war; it's daily life for them. They grow up with soldiers, guns, fighting, "sides", the wall, barbed wire fences, checkpoints, uniforms, etc. etc.

The students are very conservative. We told them we were conservative as well and they cheered for conservatism~

Here's a picture of the separation wall. The majority of it is actually barbed wire and a small percentage is comprised of this big concrete wall. Nonetheless, it still puts a barrier between families, communities, schools, friendships, church congregations...


Next we went to a church in Bethlehem which commemorates the actual birth of the Savior. I wish they didn't build big gaudy churches on such sacred sites, but it was still awe inspiring to actually be in Bethlehem, knowing that the Savior was born somewhere in that tiny, quaint, beautiful town.

The picture below is where they think the manger was placed.


Stefanie & I in the Bethlehem church.

Going into the church you had to walk through this little door. The door signifies the story when the man asked Christ what he had to do to enter the kingdom of God, and Christ replied give up everything and come follow Him. Christ then said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It was impossible for camels to go through these tiny doors.

Here I am about to go through the door (Brother Wilson is in front of me...)


The best part of the day I have no pictures for, and no words could probably do it justice. It really was a once in a lifetime experience, and I hope every Christmas season in the future will be just a little bit different; a little bit better because of it. We all drove from the small city of Bethlehem to Shepherd's Field, which is just right outside the city. Here we separated into two groups and had class presentations.

It was already dark by this point and stars were starting to come out, about 7 pm. My group wandered all the way down the grassy hillside to find the perfect place to have our class devotional. Six people were chosen beforehand to give character sketches of important people of the nativity; Herod, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, the shepherds & the wisemen. The interesting thing is I have heard of these people all my life, but I feel like the Nativity really came to life to hear the personal story of each of these key roles. We sang Christmas hymns in between each person, including Mary's Lullaby, Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem. The line that kept running through my head all night was from Mary's Lullaby, "For you are a King, but tonight you are mine..." Compared with other Christan churches, I don't think the LDS church gives Mary enough attention. She really is a perfect example of righteousness and she often goes too unnoticed.

Perhaps we were sitting in the very fields where the shepherds were when the angel came, telling them of the good news. There was even a little star over Bethlehem in the near distance. The actual birth of the Savior happened in April, around the time of the fieldtrip- it all seemed too real and the spirit was very strong. After the hour long program we turned off all flashlights and on that quiet hillside overlooking Bethlehem our professor recited Luke 2 from memory. It was the perfect night.

A day in the life

...of Jesus.

The main problem with not blogging is I forget what I learned, especially on the field trips. These pictures are from the field trip we took back in March where we walked around the Old City and talked about how it would have been in Jesus' day. It's been a very interesting experience to think about and study Jesus Christ's mortal life; what the day to day would have been like.

Below shows what the community cleansing baths would have been like. Before going up to the temple to worship, the Jews (and Jesus was a practicing Jew) had to clean themselves by entering the cleansing baths. After entering the bath they couldn't come in contact with anything unclean until they reached the actual temple or else they would have to re-cleanse themselves. You walk down one side, into the water, and up the other side.


Kelsey & I at the southern wall of the Temple Mount. This exact wall (from a certain level down) is Herodian and would have been here when Christ was here.

Valorie & I with the City of David in the background. In the very back is the Dormition Abbey church.

Me standing on the threshold stone, which is where you enter the temple. Anyone who entered the temple would have certainly stepped on this stone, Jesus Christ & myself included~


We also walked and sat on some of the real steps leading up to the temple; many have been replaced but some are still original. It was cool to think that although it's just quiet stubble that lies 30-50 feet under the city today, 2000 years ago the same street would have been lined with vendors and the hustle & bustle of thousands of people; one being the Savior of the world


This is a really cool picture with the Dome of the Rock, Wailing Wall, and JC (between the green trees..easier to see in person...) all in one shot

.

Israeli "Halloween"

This week we, along with the Jews of Jerusalem, celebrated Purim here at the JC. These Jews really know how to celebrate! The festival commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from the Persians as told in the book of Esther. Typically, everyone gathers in the synagogues as they read the story from Esther. Whenever the name Haman is mentioned, they all go crazy with noisemakers, yelling, clapping and stomping their feet.

All Jewish holidays start the night before at sundown, so we went out the night before. Everyone gets involved, but the children are the main ones to get in costume. We asked our Judaism professor what the typical food is of Purim and he said...alcohol.

So with costume on, which mainly consisted of our jingly skirts purchased here, we headed over to Ben Yehuda St. It wasn't that busy so we ate dinner, walked around and left. The best part was dressing up & just being out on the town. We heard things picked up around 11- oh well.

Children the day before- we were like paparazzi


Kara & I- our friend Moon did everyone's facepaint. Somehow I think putting a lot of makeup on constitutes a costume?

Roomies

more girls. our photo instructions were "hate each other"...

Shelby & Carly= love
true love. she made her own mask

entertainment on the street. this was actually really cool- they would switch places every few minutes and take the fire from the other person while it was in the air

Happy Purim~

tel aviv

I just might have a new fav city- Tel Aviv, Israel. The day after we returned from our Jordanian adventures we loaded the buses at 7am for a full day in the capital city of Israel. I looved it.

We started out with a tour of the Diaspora Museum, which features the stories and history of Jews spread out all over the world. We learned about the different kinds of synagogues established around the world as Jews began to flee Israel and the lands of Europe to escape the brutality of the various nations that had ruled their land over the course of its existence. The diaspora or dispersal of the Jewish people to America has caused many to establish their own way of life in the different corners of the world.

We then moved on to Independence Hall, the building where Israel was granted its independence from Britain on May 14, 1948. It was really cool learning how quickly the decision was made to make Israel a soverign country; only 2 days before the event were invitations sent out. It was supposed to be a well-kept secret with only the few hundred invitees in attendance but over a thousand people showed up. At the end of our tour they played the exact recording of David Ben Gurion pronouncing the status of the new country- so cool.

The pic below is the exact room where it happened

After the museum we were let loose for freetime for a few hours. Of course we wandered over to the beach- this was my first glimpse of the MEDITERRANEAN SEA! I've always wanted to be at the Mediterranean- never thought I'd reach it via Israel though.

Kicked off our shoes the first chance we got It was so nice to be at a warm beach in the beginning of March. It was just like beaches at home except a lot more skin showing. Some girl was getting a full body massage in the middle of the beach- it was kind of awkward
Chels & I~ she goes to school in Hawaii so this was like being back at home for her

the water was beautiful. the weather was perfect

Everyone was playing this paddle/ball game along the beach

we discovered this awesome outdoor gym on the beach! It looked like a playground but the closer we got the more we recognized the stationary bike... elliptical...weight machine...

This is the exact spot where Jonah tried to escape his calling from the Lord and was swallowed by a whale
kara, me, cate
Bro Wilson teaching the stories o the Bible. Its so cool- practically every single place we go has ties to the Bible
I'll be back~

the Romans had a good time

**P.S. this post and the next two are in reverse order. The start of our Jordan trip is actually the "For the first time..." post-read backwards=).

The Romans are famous for their arches- they were all over and perfect. I'm amazed at what they've built and how long the structures have endured


posing in the most well-kept Roman architecture outside Rome itself


We stood in the big amphitheater and our tour guide said because of the way it's built, you can stand on a certain spot in the middle, talk in a normal voice and hear it from any spot around the amphitheater. He asked Matt to stand on the spot and sing a song; he resorted to "Mary had a Little Lamb"



Christine & I in the amphitheater- you sit by these round circles on the bottom level and they work as telephones. We were whispering in them to people sitting way across the theater and they could hear us.



These men were playing music for us and people were dancing around


Val & I doing a jig to the bagpipes
Romans are also famous for their columns. At one point our tour guide put a spoon between the cracks in one and was able to make the whole column sway. They built them in a unique way to protect them from earthquakes.


Kara & I outside the arena We saw a reenactment of an old Roman chariot race and gladiator fight. It was actually really cool. We were sitting in the same exact seats the Romans were thousands of years ago. They showed us army formation and technique and how they were so strong.

Then the chariots came out! The best part. It was so cool they zipped around the track a few times at lightning speed. When the 45 min show was over they let us come down on the track for pics with the soldiers, gladiators and chariots. I somehow convinced one of the chariots to take me for a little spin around the track when they weren't even allowing it- the highlight of the day.
Stef & I loved this 14 year old- he kept saying something about his girlfriend being mad? I don't know
Lunch was so good this day- Pitas double the size of my face

Amman, Jordan

All the girls in our group with our black robes and scarves. It was interesting to be one of them for a little bit. I didn't like how it made us all look the same-took away our individuality. I realized I would make a bad Muslim- I couldn't keep the robe and scarf on for the life of me. Robe kept flying open and the scarf was off my head in no time.

Beautiful inside of the Mosque in Amman
Allison & I in the womens portion of the Mosque
Hercules' hand outside the Hercules Museum
The Byzantines had a tradition of burrying their children in large jars and putting them under the floorboards of their family rooms so the children would always remain with the family. These are the remains of a child and part of the jar.
Lisa, Rachael, Kara, Lindsey, me, Ryan at old ruins

We had to get jumping pictures at these ancient ruins in Amman. Kara & I
Kelsey & I "Jesus came to John the Baptist, in Judea long ago, and was baptized by immersion in the River Jordan's flow." We sang this along with a few other songs at the site where Jesus Christ was baptized. We know it was this river, but not the exact spot since the river is constantly changing its course.