Living the Turkey Life: Old and New

Since Turkey was so amazing, I decided to Turkey its own blog post :)

SUNDAY: I woke up and realized the BYU vs. Utah game was going on in the forum area. Went and watched about 10 minutes after half time then was grateful I had to leave to get ready for Turkey. 'Nuff said. On a better note, the flight went great, and we landed in Istanbul!!! One of the best realizations I had in Istanbul was that it was the nearest I'll be to Croatia until I get there! AHH!!! I can't wait! But Istanbul is sooo beautiful! We came to our hotel and it was called "Cartoon Hotel"! The theme was cartoons, and there was Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and all sorts of characters! It was so much fun. Also the elevator was tiny and get this...there was no door to the box part. The door closed to the floor and then we watched the door go down and the wall move. After looking at the beautiful view, we walked through downtown Istanbul to get to our dinner, and it was sooo good!!! Family, you would be proud of me, I tried everything! And I found new favorite foods that I wouldn't have had by just the looks of it.

MONDAY: Our first stop was the Blue Mosque which is right by Hagia Sophia (the oldest church still standing; about 1000 years old). In the Blue Mosque we had to take off our shoes like in any holy place. They didn't require us to wear head scarves, but I think it's because it's more like a museum now. We then went to the Topkapi Palace which is where sultans used to live and about 4,000 wives, concubines, family, servants, and workers. It's like it's own little village. There was so many beautiful carvings, gardens, paintings, and other artifacts. The tile work was especially amazing. I don't even know how many tiles there were, but just imagine a little village covering their walls not in wallpaper but in tiles. Bam. Crazy, huh? We went down to a cistern ( an underground dam underneath the city) which was about the size of at least 3 Vernal temples, maybe 4. We then went to the Grand Baazar. Bizare! I still am marveling at how big that place was. We got lost so many times. It's a miracle my group made it back on the bus. After our long day we went on a boat ride to get to the Asian side of Istanbul (they call one side of the sea Europe and the other side Asia). It was great to feel the sea air and see Istanbul from a different perspective. When we landed, we ate dinner by the water side and I had a sardine whole! I know you're not beliveing me, so I took a pic of it and my reaction afterwards. Let's just say I wasn't smiling... I also had clam for the first time! It was stinkin good!!! Since I was on such an adventurous high, they served us an entire fish without the guts, but I then tried the eye. Definitely not trying that again. After getting back to our cartoon hotel, we hit up on the town by metro and tasted some of the best baklava ever! It was a successful night to an AMAZING, long successful day.

TUESDAY: Troy was our next stop, so we got on the bus and headed on our way. Now I can say I've been on a Trojan horse and got attacked by a frog where Hector was killed by Achilles (supposedly). Don't worry the frog will not mess with people again ;) That day we couldn't fit a lot with riding on the bus and not many sites around Troy so we went to our hotel which was right by the beach. So we went to the pool, had a bonfire and dance party on the beach! It was crazy fun! I LOVED IT!!!

WEDNESDAY: We started the day in beautiful Assos where Paul taught. It has a temple of Athena which overlooks a gorgeous view of the sea. I definitely could get used to the sea. I miss my mountains, but oceans and seas I could definitely look at for quite some time. In the little village, there were some turkeys. Yes, turkeys in Turkey! haha We then went to Pergumum (mentioned in Revelation) which has a Roman Temple, and it poured!!! Zeus was not happy with us being there or something. Everyone was soaked to the bone, but it was a lot of fun :)

THURSDAY: We headed our way to Ephesus which is an ancient city bigger than 2 BYU campus and only maybe 10% has been excavated. In the hills all around there is most likely 90% of the city underground. Wow. Ephesus was a hopping place. It's so much fun going to these ancient ruins and pretending to be like how it would have been in those days. My friend, Cali, and I walked down the lane acting like we were going to the Turkish baths and head to the theatre after some shopping. It was great. The theatre by the way made me all giddy! The acoustics were great and there were actual stones excavated for this site. It felt so good to be on a stage again! Another stage that was fun to see after Ephesus was the one in Miletus, another ancient city, but this one is where Paul said good-bye to the Turkish people. It made me really think about saying good-bye, but I'll talk about that in the overview blog. Before Miletus, we visited the Artemis temple which is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This temple had 127 columns about 60 feet high. Currently, there's only one column about 50 feet high. They're not exactly sure what happened, but it could be from a lot of different things (enemies, earthquakes, angry birds; last theory don't take seriously). But it was crazy seeing a field where one of the great wonders of the world should be. After this exciting ancient day, we went to a modern hotel which had hot springs! The water felt sooo good!!! A great way to relax after many hours sitting on a bus for sure.

FRIDAY: We started the day heading down a waterfallish of hot springs. If you want to see pictures of what I mean, type in Google "Pamukkale" and press on Images. Again, it was soo much fun! This day was mostly spent on the bus (about 7 hours) which is why this part is so short.

SATURDAY: Spent some of the day in Bursa, first off in the Grand Mosque, and Bursa is the end of the Silk Road, so we went to a silk market and visited some silk shops. I've decided I love silk and can never go back to cotton. It felt way too good. We then went to Nicea where Constantine held his winter palace and First and Seventh Ecumenical Councils (don't worry about the details, I'm just trying to remember for my test). We stopped by a small Hagia Sophia then made our way to the famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Crazy big. This church was originally Christian then the Turks took over and changed it to a mosque and covered all the Christian symbols. Now it's a museum and undeclared of religion so both religions can be seen inside this beautiful, huge building. We then had our final dinner in Turkey went to the airport. There were no troubles in my opinion throughout the airport experience. The only problem was that we arrived home 4:30 am in the morning. We were a bit tired the next day, but all is well.

Week 4: Foreign CatchPhrase Anyone?

If you want to view my travels with pictures, my professor has a blog and since he's a professor he has special rights to posting pictures and videos. I'm not in like any of the pictures, but you can still check it out :) http://huntsmansintheholyland.blogspot.com/

1. I've learned in Turkey that the top 5 words/phrases to learn are: Thank You (Sahol in Turkish; used this phrase probably every hour at least); Hello (Maharbra or something like that); Sorry (already forgotten how to say it and the next 2 words); Please; and No (to combine with Sahol to say to the vendors "No thank you" whenever they push something at your face). I'm really considering to remember this on my next adventures to foreign lands, so I can get smiles where ever I go because I try to say a word in their language and I pronounce it completely wrong :)

2. Turkey (look at previous blog)

3. As we spent our last hour in Turkey before heading to dinner, we stopped by a smaller bazaar and did some last minute shopping. As we headed back, I saw one of the saddest things I've seen in my life: two sick little girls wrapped in blankets with the lonliest eyes I've ever seen on a person's face. These girls were homeless and were asking for money. I know that their 'guardian' might have put them up to it and staged them in the streets, but I couldn't help it but give the little bit of Turkish money I had. If you don't know me, I am an Elementary Education major and kids are my weakness. When I saw these girls, my heart just tore a part for them. How would it be like to live on the streets? Not knowing if you would eat the next day or when you would sleep under a roof again? Especially as a kid. I can't even imagine my happy childhood living in the streets looking up at strangers begging for money. That's not the education I want for these girls, but all I can do is count my many blessings and keep working hard so my kids don't have to experience hunger. I will never see the look in those girls' eyes in my little girl's eyes. I'm so blessed.

4. So there were a few sick kids on the bus at the end of the trip, and guess what happened the day when we get home? About half of the students in the center got sick. It was pretty ridiculous seeing everyone the next day either coughing or have tissue in their hand. You may not think this is funny, but I thought it was hilarious. Yes, I was one of those sick kids hence why I didn't write on Sunday or Monday because I was either doing homework or sleeping, but it was pretty funny realizing we had our first epidemic at BYU JC (Jerusalem Center).

5. Miletus really hit me. Not because of the beauty or any significant ancient building, but a touching event. This is where Paul said good-bye to the people he had been serving for 3 years. We had a devotional here with my professor giving his thoughts and he talked about leaving people. He mentioned how we all had left people behind to go to Jerusalem or a mission, but he had a different experience of leaving people. His dad passed a way a few months ago, and he shared with us his thoughts on how his dad must have felt passing away leaving everyone behind on Earth. While he was sharing his story, I thought about all of you and how it would feel leaving you all behind in this life. I thought leaving to Jerusalem for 3 months was a hard good-bye and how leaving to Croatia for 18 months will be hard...I have no idea. I then thought of all those close to me who have passed on. I'm blessed to not have too many of these experiences, but enough to feel the pain of the memories. Enough to remind me not to leave a moment for granted and to keep words unsaid. I know Heavenly Father has a purpose and plan for each of us. We have been given gifts, talents, and abilities to fulfill this purpose. He won't leave us to fail. He'll be there every step of the way to encourage, help, and walk us the rest of the way. I love you. Don't forget it. At the end of the devotional, we sang "God Be with You 'Til We Meet Again". The words completely changed for me keeping this perspective in mind, so my friends, family, and people who I don't even know that are reading this, I love you. God be with you until we meet again.

Week 3: Shalom!

1. Shalom means ‘peace’ in Hebrew and is given as a greeting and a good-bye. Jerusalem used to be called Yerushalom which means “city of peace”. Even though this city is known for not being peaceful, there are many examples for it being peaceful. Yes, there are many religions, and those religions are trying to claim certain holy places; many of those people from the different religions respect each other’s agency to choose and worship that religion. I’ve had many experiences already of people from Muslim to Jewish, Orthodox or not, who have expressed that as long as someone is living a good life, God will be the one who will judge—not us. Sometimes we go through life judging someone based on their religion, and we don’t look at the fruits of the person himself or herself. These people are living in their own peace with each other. Some people choose not to live in this peace and accept other’s rights to agency. Because of this I’m not living in the city of peace right now, but I’m looking forward for the day when everyone will be living in shalom.

2. SUNDAY: Tel Aviv and swimming in the Mediterranean!!!

MONDAY: Judean Wilderness, Jericho, Herod’s Winter Palace, Qilt Wadi, and St. George Monastary

TUESDAY: Classes

WEDNESDAY: Classes and walked around East Jerusalem

THURSDAY: Garden Tomb and Classes

FRIDAY: Classes and looked at different Olive wood shops

SATURDAY: Preparing to leave for Turkey on Sunday!

3. I’m not sure if one would dub this as a tender mercy, but I am sure thankful for it. This week for the first time, I went with a bunch of girls out in the city. Usually it’s a bunch of girls and at least one guy, but this time I’ve traveled the city with only girls a few times. There is a big difference. I’m soo grateful men are here at the Center. When it’s been a group of just girls, we get more male attention from locals and vendors. Now Mom, don’t get scared. It’s more like catcalls, and men coming up and telling us they love us and want to marry us. We haven’t had anything big happen thank goodness, but I just feel safer with a guy around. Even one guy with a group of three girls gets less attention than a group of ten girls. We talked about this a little bit in Relief Society today, and it’s just because we obviously don’t look like locals and we dress a bit differently, so they think our standards are different. This is why modesty is so strict over here. It’s interesting to think that I was viewed as a super modest person back at home, and here, I’m on the borderline of modest (and to some religions I’m immodest). It’s so important to know the culture of where you’re going and understand the ‘rules’. I’m glad to have these fabulous guys here at the Center to protect us.

4. My roommate, Suzy, and I have been trying to figure out how we know each other. She looked so familiar to me ever since I first saw her at Orientation, and it was bugging me soo bad!!! We then figured it out. In Provo, I went to the devotionals every Tuesday at the Marriott Center. I went through portal J pretty much every time. I like to smile and say ‘hi’ to the ushers because I know through past experience, it’s more fun when people talk to you even if it’s just a ‘hi’. Well, Suzy was the usher my freshman year for Portal J. I was so stoked to finally figure out this connection. When I told her that was me who said ‘hi’ every week, she just gave me a silenced look. (If you know Suzy, she’s not one to just be silent especially during a time of rejoicing.) I asked what’s wrong, and she told me that she thought I was her mom’s best friend’s daughter the entire year. Suzy had felt guilty every time I said ‘hi’ because she couldn’t remember my name and felt embarrassed to ask since we were supposed to know each other from our moms being best friends and all, so she always just played along and said ‘hi’ back. Well at least she doesn’t have to feel guilty any more. This may not be funny to you, but it’s HILARIOUS to me! Now I understand why she looked at me kind of funny every time during freshman year.

5. This week a group of us went to Omar’s who is an Olive wood carver. He is known around the Church because of his BEAUTIFUL carvings. They are so detailed, and he gives each of his characters expressions. Omar is also a great man. He is one of the people who has influenced me this week about judging others. He has such a great perspective of life and other people that I can’t help but loving this man. His insights were just very profound. I’ve been thinking a lot about generalizations since coming to Jerusalem especially this week since 9/11 was on Sunday. I remember when 9/11 happened and all these people being so angry towards Arabs because of what a few people did. Just because someone looks a certain way or believes in something different doesn’t mean they’re bad or strange. Yes, don’t be dumb and righteous judgment is needed for everyday common sense, but our job is not to give final judgment. That is someone else’s duty who knows their heart and knows why they did the things they did. I’m probably over killing this topic, but it’s what’s been coming up for me over and over again. Well, tomorrow I’ll be in Turkey! I’ll give you the update of how the Turkish Delight tastes like in a week!!!

Week 2: I Have a Tale about a Tel to Tell...

I decided to post two blogs this week since one is about my mission call, and if you look at it...it's quite huge. Sorry, but I like to talk (theatre trait).

1. So the Tel that I have to Tell is that a Tel is a mound or hill that was made from previous settlements. These settlements are usually cities that have been destroyed either from being old or enemies or just construction to build up the city. So the streets I walk here at Jerusalem aren't really the same streets that Christ walked. He walked the same area, but there are only a few places where the stones are from Christ's time (very few stones).

2. SUNDAY: Wandered the Old City and West Jerusalem. Oh and I bought something on Sunday; I know, I'm a rebel. (Our Sabbath is on Saturday, so don't think too low of me.)

MONDAY: Had a field trip which was many overlooks of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, and many other places.

TUESDAY: Had classes all day! Great classes, but a little overwhelming.

WEDNESDAY: Had classes but during the break between classes went out to the Old City and looked around some more.

THURSDAY: Classes all day, Jazz/Ethnic concert, and received my call!!!

FRIDAY: After class, waited for 3 pm so I could open my call in the Garden of Gethsemane, then went to the Western Wall to welcome in Shabbot (the Sabbath).

SATURDAY: Went to the Garden Tomb before we had Israel District Conference.

3. My tender mercy this week was on Tuesday. It was just a rough day. We started classes, and they were all overwhelming with the reading. I also started feeling homesick because I think my body and mind finally realized that I wasn't going to be home for a few months and this wasn't just a vacation. (It's soo fun, but we are STUDYING abroad not playing abroad.) So I went and did my laundry (I have a very limited supply) and went to study also. Two of my friends, Devin and Brielle, came in. They didn't just come in, but they came in with one of my favorite things in the whole entire world!! SKITTLES!!! Skittles are my absolute favorite candy. They are seriously my comfort food, but I came across the world without them. So silly of me, but Devin was nice enough to ask me if I wanted some. I love her for that! It's AWESOME how Heavenly Father works through people.

4. Sunday was sooo funny!!! We have a new roommate. His name is Larry. Larry the Lizard. My roommate Taylor went outside on our patio for a few minutes and on the way back she saw something run into the room. I was taking a nap at the time, so she didn't want to wake me up and ran for one of her good friends here. They tried to corner it, then shoo it out, but it was soo FAST!!! Well, after a few minutes of trying to corner it, I woke up and then all three of us tried to either catch it (but we didn't want to tear it's tail off) or have Larry run back out the door. We weren't successful. He ended up running underneath Taylor's bed, and we tried to find him. We couldn't find him. We saw glimpses every once in a while that day, but we didn't see him leave the room. We haven't seen him since Sunday, but we're guessing either he is chilling and eating the bugs in our room or he left. We like to think he's still in our room, so we can claim that we have a roommate named Larry just to satisfy some more rebelliousness in us. ;)

5. Yesterday, we went to the Western Wall. I'm not sure how I can explain the feelings I had. The closest of how I can explain it is with a phrase our Academic Director described it: religious envy. At our meeting before going to the Western Wall, he explained how God works in many different ways to help people feel hope or connected to Him somehow and how if we try, we could feel something too. For many Jews, the Western Wall is the most sacred place to them because that's the wall which was part of a temple that was destroyed in 70 AD. To the Jews, this wall that is still standing is the closest place they can feel connected with God. As I was standing there waiting my turn to touch the wall, I was noticing all the different types of Jews and how they were mourning and remembering. As I watched, I felt something. I felt God's love for these people who are trying to do the right thing. Yes, I may not believe in what they believe, but I do respect them for trying to do what's right. It's amazing for this small town, country girl who's always been in the majority to go to this place with so many different beliefs and cultural ideas. It's the end of week 2, and I can't believe how much I have grown to love this place and the people inside and outside the center! I have already begun to feel sad for when I leave, but it's good because then I'll always feel the pressure to not leave a moment for granted. For I'm not going to leave with regrets, only with memories (and maybe some souveniors). Have a GREAT week!!!

I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go

For those who don't know...I GOT MY MISSION CALL!!! I've been blessed to be asked to serve in the Slovenia/Croatia mission speaking Croatian or however my mission president sees fit (aka I could be speaking something else once I get there). I will be entering the MTC on January 11, 2012 which will be about 3 1/2 weeks after I get back from Jerusalem. This is exactly when I wanted to leave because it's enough time (or hopefully enough) to get home and do whatever last minute things I need to do and spend time with the family at Christmas, but not too long that I get super anxious to leave. From what I hear about Croatia area and seen on Google, I'm already in LOVE. Yes, I know the pictures are for tourist spots but it looks so pretty. There's a girl here that has been to Croatia, and she was telling me all about the place and the people. Apparently there are very few members, and those who are members are basically women. Someone else told me that's where their grandparents top place to vacation because it's so beautiful. Pretty much, I'm stoked. Period.

I thought it would be fun to tell my adventure though on how getting my mission call went down because it wasn't just a simple I got the call in the mail then I opened it right then. It's kind of a process. First off, I didn't expect my call to come on Thursday but instead at least 2 weeks from how mission calls get delivered, and I had turned in my call 9 days before so it was kind of quick. Well, there was a jazz/ethnic concert on Thursday night, and I was ushering for it. I headed upstairs and one of my friends, Shalyn, asked me if I was waiting for a mission call. I told her yes and didn't think much about it because word was getting around that I was waiting for my call. She just looked at me with excitement and said, "There's a white packet upstairs that looks like a mission packet with your name on it." I freaked. I ran upstairs (but she had to keep directing me from behind because I didn't know where I was going), and then ran into the office and there it was. All perfectly white on top of the students' mail pile. I gently grabbed it and started freaking out even more. I just didn't know what to think. I couldn't believe it was here, and I didn't know what to do. I needed to usher and by that time I was running late. I tried to think of different options, then Shalyn who is such a sweetheart kept offering to do stuff. But I ended up just asking her to hold onto my mission call until after I ushered. Well once the concert was over, I booked it out and tried to hunt down Shalyn. I've been waiting too long to get my mission call and I wasn't going to wait anymore as long as it was in the building. But I couldn't find her! The Jerusalem Center is quite a large place, so I went to all the usual places where people go and called her name. No I couldn't find her anywhere! So I just told everyone that if they saw Shalyn to tell her I was looking for her. I went to her room and only her roommates were in there, and we did a sweep of the top of her things to see if it was there. Nope. So I got to my room because I had no idea what to do and I figured she would come to my room if she did try to find me. After about 10 minutes, Shalyn knocked on my door. YAY!! We talked for a little bit about missions (Shalyn served in Chile), and I just kept getting stoked. If you're wondering why I haven't opened it up by now, it's because for the past 5ish months, I've been dreaming of opening my mission call in the Garden of Gethsemane. People kept telling me how patient I was, but I think it's because I had dreamed about it so much, I wanted it to turn out just right. Now don't think I'm a saint or anything because I surely was tempted to open it many times (especially at 1:30 in the morning when I don't have a super good grasp on self-control and the envelope was kind of turned on the end, so it was already at the beginning stages of opening). I didn't open it the next morning because since it was Friday, we can't leave the center until 3 pm because there are prayers going on to welcome in the Sabbath and if a riot was to happen in East Jerusalem and the Old City, it would happen sometime before 3. So I took a lot of naps because there was no way I was going to get homework done, and it made the time go by so much faster. I also was super tired from not being able to sleep the night before. But a blessing happened, and I asked the Academic Director if we could leave at 2:45, so my group and I could be back for our 4 o'clock meeting (the walk to Gethsemane is about 20 minutes). He approved, so off we went at 2:45!

The walk up to the garden was not fast enough! I feel like I could have ran the whole way there, but I don't think my group had enough motivation to run the whole way with me (there are some steep hills). Once we got there, I had thought this all through. I wanted to sing "Called to Serve" and "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go". The girls who went with me (Shalyn, Eliza, Suzy, and Cali) are excellent singers, so I'm glad we were able to sing before I went off down the path a little bit and opened my call (they had a great view, so they caught it on camera. If you want to see it, you'll have to ask when I get home. It's pretty great). When I opened my call, I just couldn't believe it. Croatia? Wow. I'm so blessed. I then called my family (I called a earlier than expected, so it was soo hard to just keep it in. There were many times I wanted to be like, "I AM GOING TO CROATIA!" But I didn't.) The girls who were with me just freaked out when I told my family on the phone. But we had to book it back to the center for our meeting (totally made it back in record time) then I announced it to all of the people in the Jerusalem Center at the meeting where I was going. I received a standing ovation which was pretty cool (since I'm involved in theatre, standing ovations mean a lot to me). I just can't believe I'm going on a mission. AAAAHHHHHHH!!!

I know I need to go to Croatia (or Slovenia or Serbia; those countries are also in my mission). It's going to be super duper hard, but super duper awesome. For whatever amount of effort you put into something, you'll receive a greater amount back. I don't know what Heavenly Father has in plan for me, but I know it will be a great finale to these best two years of my life (EFY, Jerusalem, and then mission). Life is AMAZING!!!

Week 1: Am I in Near or Middle East?

As I have been thinking about what exactly what I want to post on my blog every week I decided to put it into 5 sections. 1. My title will tie into the first part because I'll give a little tidbit of something I thought was interesting I learned this week specifically non-spiritual since I'm guessing a lot of my readers are like me and don't have any idea of what goes on in Jerusalem geographically, politically, historically, and all that jazz. Also, not everything I learn these weeks will have the spiritual aspect. 2. I will give a low down of what I did this week (Randi you might want to skip this part; you asked for a heads up;) ). 3. My tender mercy for the week. 4. Something fun/funny that happened. 5. Testimony builder. Now that you all know the set-up you can read it all or just what you are looking for specifically (or none at all, but I'm guessing you'll want to read something or you wouldn't be on here).

1. Our substitute Academic Director who is getting replaced next week (the new one couldn't come until after a wedding) asked us the question if we were in the Middle or Near East? I answered smart-alecky, "Location?" And I was actually part right. Hopefully I understand this correctly (I was kind of sleep deprived at the time), Near East is a term Europeans use since this area is 'Near East' and Middle East is a term us Americans use. I don't know what Asians call it, but I thought it was a nifty tidbit.

2. Monday: Had orientation in Provo then couldn't sleep because I was so stoked!

Tuesday: Flew from SLC to NYC!! Then from NYC to Tel Aviv (an Israeli airport).

Wednesday: Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean then landed in Tel Aviv. Had Orientation in Jerusalem!

Thursday: Had an orientation walk and more orientation stuff (lots of times trying to stay awake since we were all still jet lagged).

Friday: Went to the Israel Museum (mostly archeological stuff), the Garden Tomb (talk more about that later), and the Old City by ourselves!!!!

Saturday: Had church ( I was chorister for Primary, so much fun!!! Hopefully I get a calling in Primary!) and went to the Garden of Gethsemane (AMAZING, 'nuff said).

3. My tender mercy for the week has been regarding flights. Obviously, I'm grateful I'm here, but seriously. I'm one of the blessed who has been here since the beginning. After our flight made it to NYC, we heard from someone who still had their phone on them taht 51 of our classmates (there are 82 of us all together) were stuck in Phoenix. After that first leg of the trip, their plane which was going to Philadelphia had maintenance problems and got ancelled. When the 30 of us got on the flight, we still didn't know how our friends were going to make it. 16 arrived Friday (note we arrived on Wednesday) while 1 got stuck in Frankfurt because she was put on the waiting list, and 12 more arrived Saturday. 1 student was laready here before because his father is a professor, Bro. Ludlow. If you were counting, yes, you did your math right. 22 people are still not at the Jerusalem Center. I feel very sad for them, but very blessed to be here right now. I can't imagine the last week waiting around to get here. If you look at my schedule, you can see I have done soo much already! I feel like I have been here for a month and want to stay forever! It's so beautiful here, and it's amazing how being in the country! I am so blessed to have Delta pull through for us.

4. Something fun that has happened was after we visited the Garden Tomb. We went into the Old City to just get our bearings and see as many sites as we can. The vendors LOVE us. I cannot express it anymore than that. We just walk down the streets and they ask, "Mormon?" and we reply, "Yes." then they get these HUGE smiles on their faces and say, "Welcome!" and try to get us in our shops. I'm guessing they've had plenty of students come by from the 'Mormon University' (no one knows us from the BYU Jerusalem Center). We had one man, who stopped us on our orientation walk to give us discount cards, stop us again and actually was able to get us into his shop (it was probably my fault but I'll take the blame!) We walked in and he offered us some fruit juice ( he knew that we didn't drink coffee or tea; again previous students) then he dressed us up in legitimate dressess and headdress. We got pictures; don't worry, I got some nice pics. I wish I could post them, but our internet stream can't handle all of us downloading pictures onto the internet so they made a rule to not let anyone. It's cool. You'll just have to come back later for the good stuff. ;) He seemed bummed after we had a good time taking pictures that we didn't buy anything, but I'll definitely come back later not only because his stuff is cheaper than other places I saw, but because he tried so hard. I respect him for his effort and feel like he should get something for it. And if anything, I should pay him for the fun we had!

5. Finally what will probably be my favorite part of my blogs: testimony builder. On Friday, we went to the Garden Tomb. We were supposed to start classes but since a good amount of the students weren't here yet, we did a field trip instead. When we arrived at the Garden Tomb, we had to wait outside a little bit, so we sang some resurrection hymns. Our group has AMAZING voices, and the Spirit came in so quickly. I love how music can do that. As we walked, the tour guide kept telling us how historians THINK where the crucifixion and resurrection were at but no one really KNOWS. He also kept reminding us that the place wasn't the important part, but the subject was what is really important. After the tour and seeing where supposedly Christ's crucifixion and resurrection was, we gathered as a group and had a devotional. We can't talk about our faith to others unless they are already members. So there was a little spot designed for groups, and we sang hymns and two of our professors gave us some thoughts. I'll be saying this a lot but it describes what I feel: it was amazing. The Spirit was so strong, and I'm just so grateful to be here where Christ walked and talked. Where He healed the sick, blind, and lame. Where He suffered, died, and resurrected. But I realized in the Garden of Gethsemane that what he did is important, but it is not the most important thing. He did ALL those things for ME (and you but this thought was directed towards me). If I don't remember and strive to be better, all those events will just be events. What Christ did and how it impacts me right now is the important realization. For Christ is not gone, He's LIVING though me right now. I made the mistake to not understand that until I came here. But if that's all I learn this semester, it will be enough to get me through to the end and return to my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank goodness though, that this will not be the only thing I learn this semester. I'm so grateful for the adventure that is ahead of me, and I hope you'll enjoy it too. Until next week!

Oh hey

I'm having technical difficulties with my blog. Shalom