Sunday, May 30, 2010

Thanksgiving point!

These are pretty late but I thought I'd still put them up:









Tulip fest
J-rew LOST Crew

My guuurrrrllll

I love this city

I learned this week that pickles dont mold but surprisingly olives do... Leason learned... My roommates couldn't figure out why it smelt so bad. I'll never tell.


old city!


Throw it DOWN v-ball team!

Fedding new born babies. She had only been on this earth for 7 hrs at this point. I felt so blessed to be holding her.

Egypt!!

Hearding sheep

On top of Mnt. Sinai... Priceless




We found this on the way into a church. We all just started laughing


God answeres prayers. Even for dumb train rides

Karnak Temple




Floating down the Nile River... So cool





Two of my favorite people Slater and Jess


Building a pyramid infront of the pyramids... Creative right? =) Jake, on top made us all fall.


Oh just infront of the pryamids




Playing in the softest sand I have ever seen.


Two of my roommates: Jessie and Danielle






I LOVE LOVE LOVE Gummies!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Wow, sorry I'm terrible at blogging... I'll make a couple of posts of the cool things we did because writing about them collectively would take way to much time
(I'll post pictures tomorrow)

EGYPT, Things I learned:
-The pyramids are more wonderful then you could even imagine. The best word I can think to describe them would be astonishing or magnificent.
-Besides bats, I think camels are the weirdest looking animals. They're so pre-historic. They're like a giraffe and horse but in the same body. So weird…
-Heavenly Father answers prayers, even for the dumbest things, like not getting eaten by flees while on an over night train ride.
-After a week of the ugliest, crankiest, hottest, and most tired you've EVER been, for some reason you become even better friends with the people you're with including all of my teachers.
-Floating down the Nile River while the sun was setting = unforgettable.
-Getting bitten by misquotes while on the west side of the Nile and realizing that West Nile was a very much possibility was surprisingly hilarious.
- I would not recommend carb loading for a week straight.
-I'm grateful for fruits and vegetables. In Egypt we couldn't eat any of those because they wash them in the Nile and the Nile is SICK!
-The culture there is completely different. Even from the people here in Jerusalem. Slum Dog Millionaire kept coming to mind as I have never seen more unfinished buildings.
-I’m TERRIBLE at bartering!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Is it possible to feel betrayed by the meal menu? YES!

There's some things in this world that you just don't kid around about... One of those is chocolate... I'm deprived of cooking while here so my weekly brownies is non existent. Within the first week of being here they gave us chocolate multen cake. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! It was soo good! My stomach was doing a dance it was so happy. Well... 2 weeks ago I look on the food calendar for when cake day is. When that day rolled around, I was SO happy all day. I was almost giddy about it. When I get to dinner I go right to the dessert section. No chocolate multen cake. Jello... JELLO?!?!?!?! Strike one. Then the calendar said that yesterday was "cake day." My first thought when I woke up was "CAKE DAY!!!!" All day I had a smile on my face because I just new that today was the day for cake. People were even excited FOR me. haha. So naturally when dinner starts I go right for the dessert section. Can anyone guess what happened next? NO CAKE! Strik two. My heart sank. I went straight over to Awkman, the head chef, "seriously Awkman!? I can't handle getting my hopes up any more. We need to work on our trust levels. First, lets start with the meal menu." He hardly understands english so we'll see how it turns out next week. The menu lies... Lesson learned

Monday, May 10, 2010

Temptations Monastery.This is the Hottest I have EVER been. We had to hike straight up hill to get to a monastery built on the side of the mountain.Not to mention we had to where scarves over our heads and long sleeves

Jedean Wilderness:
You can't really tell but that is a whale statue representing Jonah and the whale

My roommate Jessie and I on the funnest play ground I've ever been on

Tel Aviv = AWESOME!!!

This one is for Lauren, Emily and Connie!

Marhaba!!!


Marhaba means Hello in Arabic. To say hello back you say 'Marhabteen.' On Friday we got to go see the start of the Sabbath for the Jewish religion. This place is one of the holiest places for the Jews. I was amazed at the emotion and dedication these people put into their worship. They worship with "all of their heart, might, mind and strength." Literally... The worshipers will pray in front of the wall swaying back and forth, sometimes crying and place notes in cracks. They will never turn their back to the wall so they will walk backwards away from it. I got to see all of this first hand because the group of girls I was with were determined to get as close to the wall as possible. I couldn't understand the words that they were saying while they were praying but the emotion that some of the people were expressing didn't need words. It got me thinking about my Sabbath worship and how lightly I go about the day.
Sabbath the next day was AWESOME! I looked at my Sabbath day 100% different. We had the great opportunity to go see the garden tomb and Calvary. I could feel the spirit so strong here. As I was looking out over Calvary and trying to imagine what Jesus saw I remembered this quote by Elder John H. Groberg: "I love the Savior. I feel that as he hung upon the cross and looked out over the dark scene, he saw more than mocking soldiers and cruel taunters. He saw more than crying women and fearful friends. He remembered and saw even more than women at wells or crowds on hills or throngs by seashores. He saw more, much more. He, who knows all and has all power, saw through the stream of time. His huge, magnanimous, loving soul encompassed all eternity and took in all people and all times and all sins and all forgiveness and all everything. Yes, he saw down to you and to me and provided us an all-encompassing opportunity to escape the terrible consequences of death and sin. And even as he suffered for all of us, he voiced that most beautiful of all requests, “Father, forgive them.” (Luke 23:34.) My eyes immediately filled with tears as I stood out looking out at the same place He looked. My view was of a local bus stop but what a great spirit came over me. I know that my Redeemer lives and that He loves me too. I stand in awe of the love Jesus offers me.
This is Calvary


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Loving this... loving this!

I love this place! I already feel like this place is home. I am offically a nerd and LOVE to study. But who wouldn't when the history you are reading in your scriptures and text books is right out side your window?!
For instance, this is a picture of Jerusalem with The Dome of the Rock in the middle. Did you know that the Dome of the Rock is sitting on Mount Moriah, the mount that Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac?! The scriptures come alive here.
We went to a over look that looks out over Bethlehem. There just so happened to be a shepherd herding his sheep. So yes, I took a pic with a lamb with Bethlehem in the back ground.
Hanging out above Damascus Gate on the Ramptarts walk. (A walk on the tops of the walls of the Old City)

Zedekiah's cave

'Let your light so shine... To spell out BYU on the walls of the Old City"



The other day we went to a Jewish mosque. I was in front of the group of girls I was with as we entered a small room. I stood there kind of awkwardly not knowing what to do. The only women sitting in a corner yells "Do you want to pray?" I said "sure" so she pulls out a book and walks towards me. When she opens it I see that it is all in Hebrew. I say "I speak English." She looked at me funny and says " you don't speak Hebrew?!" I said "I haven't taken that class yet." She gave me a very stern look. SCARY! Then she asked if I was Jewish... Oopps! So I smile and the group of girls I was with hurried out. haha. I want to respect other peoples religions but I don't know all the rules yet... =) I love this!