1. I just needed to give a shout out that this past week was week 11, 11th month, 11th day, 11th year of the millennium, 11th hour and 11th minute I celebrated it with 10 other people. (Actually I celebrated it with more, but just for fun's sake I'll say 10 others). We took a break from studying for our last final and did a count down. When we hit 11:11, we wrote down our wish for the upcoming year and went around yelling and bugging everyone else that it was 11/11/11 11:11. It was epic.
2. November 6-12
SUNDAY: Yad Vashem (the Israel Holocaust Museum) and Mt. Herzl
MONDAY: Roman Catholic Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and hung out in West J
TUESDAY: Classes and Finals Prep
WEDNESDAY: Finals Prep and Judaism Final (Class #3 done!)
THURSDAY: Classes, Orientation for Galilee!!!, and Rampart's Walk (walked on the Old City walls overlooking Jerusalem from the Old City)
FRIDAY: (2 months until I enter the MTC!!!) Class and Finals Prep
SATURDAY: Church and Garden of Gethsemane
3. The tender mercy of this week kind of happened alongside with Week 12, but I'll get over it. My roommate has been having abdominal pains for a while, and the pains became really bad yesterday before church. They continuously got worse, so our home teachers gave her a blessing, and the doctor gave her pills to help with the pain. At about 9 that night, the doctor came in and did a little pain test (push somewhere and see if it hurt). Well, it hurt on the right side...where the appendix is. So we went to the hospital to see what is going on. The hospital was an experience in itself. When we finally found the hospital, we went through a shopping mall area to get to the ER (we found out later there was another way to get to the ER, but it was still weird going through the shopping area). Seeing all the Jews (ultra and reformed) was an experience too. But now you're probably wondering what happened to my roommate and curious to why I'm putting this experience in the tender mercy section. After she was tested for all the basic things, then was tested for more specific things by 4 different doctors, it was diagnosed that she didn't have appendicitis. If she did, she would have had surgery and be recovering while we were in Galilee. The Galilee trip is the longest trip we have which covers a good amount of our New Testament course. The tender mercy is that she was able to be tested, not have appendicitis, and she is now feeling good enough to go to Galilee. So whatever happened of the million things that were treated, it worked. My roommate's doing a lot better and is able to go to Galilee. :)
4. This week the funniest thing has been in the works for a while. On Thursday, we had our orientation meeting for Galilee. The head people decided to do an EFY line dance/flash mob for the faculty. Since I was an EFY counselor, I got into the thick of the...planning...committee. We've had a few days before where we wanted to do it, but it failed because we didn't feel like the whole student body was ready. But this time we gave people a little more heads up, so we decided to just go for it. The day came, and I sat in the front. I volunteered to be the one to figure out music, so when it came time to decide who would instigate the dance, I became the spokesperson. After the orientation, I raised my hand and said I had an announcement. I went up to the mic and got out my iPod and my roommate's speakers. My hands were shaking soo bad!!! I then turned to Bro. Skinner, our Academic Director, who was in charge of the meeting and said, "Actually this isn't an announcement, but a question for you Bro. Skinner. Are we going to party in Galilee? Cuz we like to party." Then the EFY music of 'We Like to Party' (the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich dance, you may know it) came on. We split the song into sections, so more people would stand up as time went on. My back was to everyone else, but from what I did see it looked pretty much awesome! I didn't know how the faculty would react but not at all what I expected! I expected some laughs, some smiles, even some confused faces...but no. It was the lack of reaction that got me! They didn't even seem to be phased by the flash mob like it happens every semester or something! But the best ending was when Bro. Skinner came back up to the mic after I turned off the music and sat down. He said, "Tie me to an ant hill and smear my ears with jelly." None of us knew what this meant which was the best part of all! Another epic event!!!
5. I love it when spiritual moments happen in the most unexpected random times. That has happened a lot more than I thought it would here, but maybe it's because I'm looking for them so they show up easier. Fridays are the movie nights typically, and we watched "The Robe" this last Friday. It's movie kind of like the 10 commandments in the sense of when it was made the atmosphere of the movie. First off, there were about five of us and five others who came in and out of the movie.there since everyone else was studying for our final which was an essay. I took time off to destress for a bit. By the end of the movie, there were only three: one of the faculty's wives, another girl, and myself. I liked the movie though. The movie was about the perspective of the Roman soldier who crucified Christ. It went through his life a little bit before, but mostly the effect afterwards. I realized while watching this movie that Christ had such an impact on so many people during that time. Since the apostasy happened, I didn't even think of the people who were effected after his death and how they went through life. Not only did Christ have an impact on others, but they had an impact on other people also. It was an everlasting effect. We have that change on people also. Whatever actions we make in life we pay it forward to someone else--good or bad. I know that pay it forward is meant for a good connotation, but sometimes in life we make bad payments. Our actions aren't as good as we hoped for, but those actions are still impactful. After the movie, I thought about all the people who have made huge impacts in my life and realized how much I was grateful for their good choices and actions, so I can be motivated to do good. It's just wonderful how we don't have to go through this life alone and how together we can all lift each other up to a higher state. Amazing.
I will be in Galilee for the next 11 days! (Another 11, just wanted to point that out) I won't be blogging next week since the Internet is super slow in Ein Gev. Just warning you, so you don't get too disappointed from missing your weekly reading of this blog. ;) Love you all!!!
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