Jordan Part 1

Hey! So how was all of your week? To sum up  Jordan was a great experience, I loved it. But here is a summary of what has happened the past week.

Day One

We took a bus across the border which let me tell you is the biggest hassle. We all had to get out and wait in line then we had to switch buses. But after that we arrived at Mt. Nebo, it is the location where Moses saw the promise land but not allowed to go. 

Afterwards we stopped at St. John Church in Madabba. This is where a famous mosaic of the land of Palestine.  This is just a random picture from inside the church. I would expound but it wasn't that cool.

  The next stop was a highlight, it was at Mt. Machaerus. This is the location where John the Baptist was beheaded. He condemned the marriage between Herod and Herodias (probably because she was his niece and sister-in-law) and this angered Herodias so they out him to death.

 here is the start for funny friday....

 that night we drove to Wadi Musa or the location of the Petra

DAY TWO: PETRA

So Petra was so amazing, I thought it was just that one location that was in the Indiana Jones movie but it was so much more. There was like 20 of them!

 Here we are at the Treasury opening. It is as magnificent as you can imagine

 So Petra is a full town, there is tons of tombs, temples, monasteries, and also houses that are all built inside the cliffs. So we hiked up the monastery which was a mile long hike in 102 degree heat, woo it was HOT. But worth every minute. If you couldn't tell we are spelling out P-E-T-R-A

 This is Linds and I in front of the Monastery

On the way back down there was a bunch of bedoiun women selling cheap jewelry so I bought a few bracelets from this wonderful lady, had to get a picture with her. 

 This is what the hiked looked like,  reminded me a lot of Lake Powell

 These are just a few houses, around 30,000 thousand people lived here

 Highlight: Getting to ride a camel! 

So, Since it is funny friday I will show you the new photos that we have taken in Jordan, we now are taking "urban photos." If you don't know know what that means just google urban outfitters and that is what we are re-enacted. Here are a few shots from the whole trip:

Tomorrow I will finish with the last two days. Right now I am watching Never Say Never- Justin Bieber. So inspirational. no joke

Hold me lIke the River Jordan

Hey guys! I just arrived home from my trip in Jordan! It was such an a amazing trip and the Petra is in the top 5, top 3 coolest things I have ever seen in my life. WOW! I don't have much time today to give you the run down on the trip but here is a preview for my post tomorrow......

jordan river

Happy Father's Day!

 I know I am a day early but today is the Sabbath so for us it is Father's Day. 

So here goes......

Dad,

  I want to let you know that I love you and I am so grateful to have such a wonderful person in my life

You are an inspiration to me

 

 You have given me that greatest opportunities (i.e. Jerusalem)

 I hope someday that I could be like you......

i.e. learn your dance moves

or earn an award for "Best Butt"

You have lived a life that is full of service and I love you for that

 You are such a patient person. I know that sometimes I can be too much to handle but you have always been so supportive and patient with me :)

 When we are together we always have such a good time! Thank you for your jokes ( grave jokes) and  the humor that you provide on our family vacation ("is your birthday on Tuesday because your car is pink?")

We are a fearless climbing duo

 I would be not the person I am today if it wasn't for you. You have been my greatest influence

Thanks for trusting and believing in me, even when I did not believe in myself

You are my best friend

Thank you Dad

I LOVE YOU

Seperation Wall

Yesterday we had a field trip to the separation wall and a member from the US Embassy came and gave us a run down of the reasons the wall was built. The main reason for the separation wall is to decrease the number of suicide bombers and terrorist attacks within Israel.

The wall has its pros and cons: the pros being that it has decreased the number of attacks and violence has decreased. The Cons thousands of people living on the other side of the wall lost their jobs, family ties and for multiple people in our ward lost the opportunity to come to church.

This is considered to be a temporary solution but no one knows what that means.....

People graffiti the walls to raise awareness and protest against it. The interesting thing is that all of the graffiti is in English because they are trying to reach the American audience and have them intervene.

 Now let me tell you a little tale about this tel. 

A tel is an ancient city that was usually destroyed and then another city was built upon it. Many of the ancient ruins that we see are tels, and they usually consist of 4 or 5 cities built one upon the other. 

The tel that is directly behind us is the city of Samson (This picture was taken during the last field trip)

Today has been a really good day, a few of us went into the city to read for our classes. We went to the "broad wall" which is the wall that was standing during the first temple period. In my OT (Old Testament) class we were assigned the reading in 2 Kings and Ezekiel where it is talking about the first temple destruction. It still just amazes me that I can read the Bible and be in the exact place where it occurred! I know you must be all jealous right now. 

So the Jerusalem Center is under quarantine, not really but over 30 students have gotten the flu in the past 48 hours. Most of them are returning back to health so it was probably food poisoning. I guess I have a solid stomach and I did not get sick. phew.

So those who know me well know how A-MAZING I am at basketball so Lindsey, Emily and I signed up for the bball tournament here. Our team name? mo' money mo' problems. We are going to dominate. The first game is tonight so wish me luck.

I am SUPER excited for tonight because it is alos our Passover/ Seder dinner! It is like a 5 hour program and the food is going to be delicious. I will post pictures tomorrow. 

Love ya!

Just a few random pictures

1. A picture of me and my friends at the Dome of the Rock a few days ago. These are the side columns where the Prophets and Christ would have taught their sermons.

2. Me studying in my bed. Typical mid-morning activity

Me outside my apartment!

Happy BIrthday Mom!

I know I am a day late but the internet went out last night so I was not able to post a blog. But Mom I want to tell you happy birthday and I want to thank you for being such a great influence in my life and supporting me throughout ths journey and all other experiences. I could not have asked for a better mother and I know that I will forever be indebted to you. I hope your birthday was wonderful and I hope you enjoyed Dad's cake!
Well, sorry again for keeping you guys waiting. But these past two days have been packed with field trips, visiting tells, and sloshing our way through underground tunnels. Yesterday we went to a few Biblical sites, the major one being the site where David slew Goliath.

Once again our acting skills are coming out, lindsey and I make up Goliath and Emily is David. We got actual sling shots and practiced for a while. It took a while to get the hang of it and there was an Asian tour group that also stopped for a bit and I think they left when all of us pulled out our sling shots. Ooops

We also went to the hometown of David, Goliath, and Samson. I would show you pictures of the rocks but I will save you from the boredom of looking at rocks.A t one of the locations we got to go through several tombs of local kings are wealthy landowners. This is a picture in one of the tombs, so a few of us started a trend and a "field trip uniform" that consists of khaki pants and white shirts, we call ourselves the "plain white tees" and so here is the group pic from yesterday:

yesterday was really long, an 11 hour field trip adn it was HOT  but I don't mind it because the bus rides are always a highlight and no matter where we are something funny occurs. Our teacher just has this natural gift for bring in the spiritual side to wherever we are and it is so exciting to be in the locations of the Biblical stories!
Today was probably the best field trip thus far, we went to the City of David (which is the original Jerusalem where Melchizedek, Abraham ,Isaac, Lehi, Isaiah, and other prophets lived). Before the Babylonians attacked during the first temple period they built this system of underground tunnels to attach the water from the Gihon spring to the west side of the city. This tunnel is still flowing with water today! At the start of the tunnel you jump in waist high to freezing cold water! Luckily the level drops as you move your way through but that initial jump sure does take your breath away.

These pictures were taken during the low tides or after the tunnel trip but as you look at a few of their pants you can see the water level marks. We all had to bring our own flashlights because when there was no artificial light it was impossible to see your hand in front of you. For a few hundred meters we played "chicken" to see who would be the first to chicken out and turn on the lights. I was not the chicken but it was one of the guys. He did have a mild excuse because he kept hitting his head on the ceiling. Before the tour we got to watch a 3-D movie about the tunnels. The Israelis are obsessed with little tour movies and they are the cheesiest movies you will ever see, most of the time people fall asleep during them or just laugh at them.

Here we are prepared with our glasses on to watch the movie. After the tour we went and looked at the city ruins where we saw.....

The Pool of Shiloam where Jesus healed the blind man with mud and spittle. 

(Try and guess what we are doing in the picture)

This is the location where Isaiah met with Ahaz and the general area where he gave the famous prophecy of Christ being born to a virgin. 

 And some ancient toilets. Look for the rock with the hole in it.

Today was an overall success and I just had the chance to skype with Emily and my niece Cecilia which made my day :)

Funny Fridays

Hey crew! So I am going to start a tradition on Fridays, I am going to post the funny pictures of the week. Since I have just started I will pull some pictures from the past and the funny picture of the week is from turkey. So I am going to set up the scene....we were at Ephesus and we were standing in front of the fertility temple and women would attend this temple when they wanted to get pregnant so Lindsey and I had to naturally pose for this picture.

No worries mom, this is not a hint about my life or anything that is coming up soon. ( but maybe this is a hint for my siblings to start having some kids, just kidding) Besides that today has been really good. We had class this morning then we assembled another 1000 hygiene packs. Today was super HOT! It was approximately 94 degrees, I was dying. Then I went the Dominus Flevit church which is the location of where Christ cried over Jerusalem before he was crucified. Now we are just getting ready to watch Indiana Jones so we can prepare ourselves for the Jordan/ Petra Field trip that is creeping up on us!