Hungary

Hungary is wonderful. The city is beautiful and there is a lot to see and do. The first night here I went caving. I was very impressed. In scouts we went caving, and this one was just as if not more difficult than the ones that we would do. It enjoyed being able to do something active and adventurous. Yesterday I went one a bike tour of the city. I took a river tour that cruised up and down the Danube. They call this the Paris of the east. The buildings were all lit up and they looked great.

It is hard to believe, but I leave tomorrow for home. The time has flown and I have loved my experience. If anyone wants some advice about where to go I would be happy to give it and I strongly encourage everyone to travel. Not only is it fun to see new places, but I have gained a greater appreciation of other cultures and places. As for the fate of my blog. I don't know if I will keep posting. I have always been kind of anti-blog pro-telephone. We will see...

Italy

I have been in Italy all week and I have loved it. I started in the North and then I went to the South, and now I am on my way out. I have seen a lot of new places that I didn't see while I was on my mission. I went to Milano. There really isn't too much to see, but the Duomo was incredible and I was with friends from the mission. After that I went to Cinque Terre. That was so beautiful. There are five cities that are all along the coast and there is a path that connects them all. I spent most of the day walking between the cities, enjoying the beautiful view. At the end of the path I rewarded myself with a gelato and a swim in the sea. In the south I visited three cities that I served in. It was so great to see old friends. I was very encouraged by the progress of some, and discouraged by the digression of others. Hopefully my visits were helpful. Being back in the south really made me miss the mission. On Saturday I came back up to the North for the wedding of two missionaries that I served with. It was fun to see them and other missionaries that I served with. I was able to stop by Pisa for an hour, and I spent this evening in Florence. I love Italy so much and can't wait to come back. Italians are very hospitable and I haven't had to do a thing since I have been here. I can't believe that I only have three days left. It has been a wonderful trip so far.

Interlaken

Saturday morning I woke up and rented a mountain bike. I rode up the most gorgeous trail in the world. I got to a place where there are 10 waterfalls that all cut through the inside of the mountain. That was really beautiful. Round trip my ride was almost 4 hours and I loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, I didn't have my padded shorts so my butt is already feeling it. When I got back I left to go canyoning. That was so much fun. For this we had to get dressed in wetsuits, life vests, and helmets. We pretty much just climbed down this river. In doing that, we rappeled, swam, and jumped. I loved jumping off of the rocks. It was also really cool to let the current just carry you along. The river was moving very fast. I am so glad that I did it and I would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.

The Temple

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Friday was absolutely amazing. I got to Bern around 9.30 and I just walked around for a little bit. I then came over to the temple. I missed the last session that the district of Catania was doing, but I was able to see everyone after in the temple hostel. I served in three branches in that district, so I knew a lot of people. There were so many people here. I was amazed. There were some people that I was definitely not expecting to see. Today has just been a blessing for me. There were three people here that I taught. None of them were ever baptized while I was there, but they all were after. Baptizing some one is great, but seeing them at the temple is beyond description. It literally brought tears to my eyes. Switzerland is absolutely beautiful. I really love it here. I walked around Bern for a little bit and I think that my mouth was in awe the whole time. It is actually cold here and it has been drizzling off and on the whole time.

The next adventure

I have absolutely loved it here. I am so sad to leave and will forever cherish everything that I have learned here and above all the spirit that I have felt here. I will now be in Europe for two weeks. My posts might be a little more sporatic, but I hope to be able to document my adventures. My plans are VERY open but I think I will be visiting Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic. I am excited and hope that all goes well.

The Bells

One of the service couples here goes over to the YMCA every week to play the bells in the bell tower. They mentioned to me that I would be able to go with them one time if I wanted. I jumped at the opportunity and went with them. They said that I could play them but I didn't think that they were really serious. Sure enough, when we got there they handed me some music and I practiced it once on the practice carillon. After that, another girl and I hopped on the real bells and played "Reverently and Quietly" for all of West Jerusalem. I was so nervous and I messed up a few times but it was awesome. We can't procelyte here, but I was able to play some church music for all to enjoy. The other girls that went with me played "I Am a Child of God". After we played our songs we got to ring the bells 12 times to mark noon. It was so awesome.

Triclinium

Tonight's fireside rivals the one in the Shepherds field for one of the best spiritual experiences that I have had here. We went to the upper auditorium and we reenacted the last supper. There we had the tables set us just as how they would have been. 13 of us reclined while one of our professors talked about the last supper and how it all went down. After that people talked about the last supper and its significance. People then bore their testimonies about Christ. A group sang "This is The Christ". I love that song, it is so powerful. For the closing hymn we sang "I Know that My Redeemer Lives". That has always been one of my favorite hymns, but tonight it meant something even more. The Spirit, in a very powerful way, confirmed to me that the words that I was singing were true. I do know that my Redeemer lives. I am so grateful for the wonderful experiences that I have had here.

More Galilee

Up in the Galilee we have been to quite a few places where Jesus taught. We went to the Mount of Beatitudes, the place where he gave the Sermon on the Mount. It was great to have some quiet time to ponder the verses that talk about how I should live my life. I am grateful that the Lord is patient with my while I work on all of those things. We went to Capernaum. That is considered “Jesus’ city”. This is where Peter lived and where, other than Jerusalem, most of his ministry took place. No one knows for sure which mountain, Mt. Hermon or Tabor, is the one where the transfiguration took place, but we went to Mt. Tabor and learned about the transfiguration while sitting on top. If you want to know what all I am seeing just open the pictures in the new Bible Dictionary. The only places that I haven’t seen are #5, 16, 17, 18, and 29-32. In many of these places I have been able to get the exact picture that is in the scriptures. The only difference is that most of these were taken in the spring. It isn’t nearly as green right now.

Galilee

I am in the Galilee right now and I love it. It is so green here. I honestly thought that I left Israel. The Galilee is way up north. In fact, yesterday I saw both Lebanon and Syria. We are staying in a Kibbutz (hotel) that is right on the Sea of Galilee. The walk from my bungalow to the beach is about 200 meters. It is great. The weather is very hot and humid, and even though the water is very warm it is still refreshing. The other night I was sitting with my feet in the water reading my scriptures and I read a verse that talked about the apostles crossing the Sea of Galilee. I looked up and thought, wow, I am here! This is a St. Peters fish. It is the type of fish that the apostles fished for. For experience sake I am glad that I ate it, but for taste, not so much.

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea was crazy. I really don't know how to describe it. People always talk about how you float in it. It is no joke. You couldn't go under even if you tried. I walked into the water and I was kind of like, ok, this is normal. Then I got to where I couldn't touch anymore and I was still walking. It was so weird. I just kept walking. Obviously I am not on top of the water, but my chest was above water. If you just lay back you will float. I took my camera out into the water and got some pretty cool pictures. I felt really gross, yet my skin felt really smoothe in the water. I really can't describe it any better than that. It was a lot of fun.

Bethlehem

Bethlehem was so awesome. It was for sure one of the more spiritual experiences that I have had here. It is a smaller city and there is the Church of the Nativity there. The church is very interesting. The Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic Churches all own it together. This is where the traditional site of the birth is. It is so interesting what they have done. I didn't really know what to expect, but "where he was born" has been turned into a shrine. There are candles all over it and incense and stuff like that. Right across from that is where the manger was supposed to have been. Here they covered the spot with marble. It is all underground in this church. It is crazy because I am sure that at the time of his birth it wasn't like that at all. The spiritual part came after. We went to a shepherd's field. It is just literally that. Think about the movie Luke 2, where the shepherds are out with their flocks and that is where we were. We had a fireside. I played the Xylophone. I was a little rusty but I got through my song so I was happy for that. Different people talked about Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men. There were other special musical numbers along with them. We watched the sun set and the stars come out and the spirit was so great. Two girls sang O Little Town of Bethlehem and there I was, sitting there looking at Bethlehem. I am so grateful that Jesus came to the earth for us. I will never have a Christmas where I don't think back to the places I saw today and the spirit that testified to me the importance and greatness of the birth of the Savior.

The River Jordan

My trip to Jordan was great. I was confused a lot of the time because I kept hearing people say Jordan and I would think that they were talking about me, but they were usually talking about the country. Ever since I was a little kid and found out that there was a country named Jordan, I always wanted to go there. The River Jordan was actaully kind of suprising. By the time it reaches the Dead Sea it isn't much more than a little stream. This is the type of site that they are pretty certain that this was the place that the baptism happend. I am so grateful that Jesus set the example for us and was baptized the waters of Jordan. I know that he did that for us and I know that it is necessary for all of us. I am so grateful that the autority to do such a thing is on the earth.

The second picture comes from where the Jordan flows out of the Sea of Galilee.

Petra = Amazing

I think that our trip to Petra was possibly one of my favorite things that we have done. Petra is in Southern Jordan and it is where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed. A lot of people think that the temples carved into the mountain are fake. They are real and they are amazing. We walked all around and looked at the temples and tombs. I took a donkey ride up to the mountain to one of the temples. I am not going to lie, I was scared to death. My donkey kept going off the path and we were by all sorts of steep ledges. A few prayers later we made it to the top! The best part was hiking and climbing. We climbed up some mountains and had some pretty breathtaking views of a valley full of places carved out of the rock. Climbing all around gave me such a desire to go climbing and hiking when I get back to Utah. I recommend Petra to everyone, it is such a fun place.

PS- It may look like I photoshoped myself into this picture, I promise that I didn't!

Valley of the Kings

We got to go to the Valley of the Kings. We went into several different tombs. They were pretty awesome. It is amazing how colorful the writing and pictures on the wall are. The kings sure knew how to go out in syle. We went into king Tuts tomb. We also got to see all of his treasures. That was amazing. I can not believe how much stuff these kings had. I also got to see a whole bunch of mummies. They are so well preserved. It is kind of mind boggling.

Snorkeling

On our way back we stopped in the Red Sea and went snorkeling. It was awesome. The place that we went is supposedly the second best place in the world. I don't really know about that, but there were all sorts of cool fish and reefs. It was so fun to get out ans see the beautiful sea. The water was cool and refreshing. The place where we were was really cool because you could see Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The water was so clear and so blue.

Temples

We went to several different temples. They were awesome. I couldn't believe how big they were and how well built they were. We were able to walk around and learn about why they were built and some of the symbolisim behind them all. I was amazed at how close they were to the truth on some things. It is impossible to not draw correlation between the temples of today and the ones that I saw. There wasn't quite the same spirit in these ones as the real ones that dot the earth today, but they were fun to see.

Kibbutz

On our way down to Egypt we stopped at a Kibbutz. A Kibbutz is kind of hard to explain, but it is kind of like a Jewish communal living place. Basically everyone works for the good of the Kibbutz. It was in the middle of the desert, yet they have very successful date and mango farms and a huge dairy with 800 cows. They all live and work there and no matter what there job is they all recieve the same wages. It was cool to see how well this society works. We ate dinner there and they had a piano and microphone. They taught us a Hebrew song and we had a sweet dance party in thier restaurant. You know that your dance party is fun whenever you go outside to 107 degree heat and it feels good. I will always have good memories from the Yotvata Kibbutz.

Camel Ride

One of the highlights of my life was riding a camel in Egypt. Ok, so maybe it isn't a highlight of my life, but it was pretty awesome. To get to the place we had to cross the Nile. I don't know what I imagined the Nile to be like, but it is absolutely disgusting. We had a little dance party on our boat while crossing. There are few things better than seeing your professor dance like an egyptian. Camels are really awkward animals. I hopped on and almost got bucked off when he was standing up. Our trip started in a little city and our camels were causing a traffic jam. It was pretty funny. We then went out into the country side. I got to feed it a banana that my guide picked from a tree. My back was a little sore, but the ride was definitely worth it.

Pyramids

One of the higlights of Egypt was seeing the pyramids. They were absolutely incredible. We were pulling into Cairo and I saw them for the first time. There they were, looming above the skyscrapers of Cairo. The first night we went to a sound and light show. The show iteself wasn't the best, but it was cool to see the pyramids all lit up. The next morning we got up very early, we tried to beat the heat because it is soooooo hot there, and went to the pyramids. You aren't allowed to climb up on them, but we walked around them and took a bunch of pictures. We went inside one of them. There was nothing in there, but it was cool to think that I am inside this huge thing! The sphinx is right in front of them. He was pretty cool as well. It is just so crazy to think that the pyramids have been there for 4,000 years and they are still there and in good shape. I had always wanted to see the pyramids, so I loved being able to be under them.

School

I had an amazing time in Egypt and I really want to write all about it, but I have three finals this week and, I am so behind in school. As soon as I find a free moment I will write all about Egypt and post some pictures. Until then I am left in turmoil as to who is right, the Palestinians or the Israelis.

The Western Wall

Yesterday was so awesome. We went to the wailing wall while all the Jews were there welcoming in the Sabbath. I can't really describe the experience. I am completely convinced that everyone needs to visit this place. It is incredible The wall was packed. I didn't really know what to expect but I was greatly enriched. A good portion of the people were dressed in black suits with white shirts. Many of the orthodox Jews have the long curls by the ears and long beards and stuff. While they pray the will rock back and forth to show that they are putting their all in to it. There are some who sing and dance. I put on a kippa, skull cap, and went down there with them. Everyone is so welcoming and I was able to sing and dance with them. We got in a huge circle and danced around. I got to go up to the wall and say a prayer. There was a good spirit there. I have so much respect for these people and how they feel towards the Sabbath. Their whole whole point in going there is to welcome in the Sabbath. They look to it with joy and rejoicing. It really got me thinking about my life. Do I "celebrate" on Saturday night because the Sabbath is the next day? Do I put as much importance on this day as I should? Going to the Western Wall has been one of my favorite things that I have done here.

We leave tomorrow for Egypt. I am pretty excited about the trip. I have always wanted to go there, and here I go. We will be there until next Saturday. They have given us so much advice and counsel about the trip. About every year there is someone who gets sick. As long as I don't drink the water I think I will be fine there.

Sheplash

Today was such a fun day. We did a field trip of the Sheplash. It is the hills and valleys between Jerusalem and the coast. It was actually really green and hilly. The first place we went was an old city. It had a good view of the city where Sampson lived. The city where Delila lived was across the valley. That was cool. Whenever I hear the story of Sampson I get so angry. He was so stupid. Yet, in my life, there are little things that I do that are really stupid too. We then went to another hill top that served as a protections for one of the valleys. You can really see quite a bit from the tops of the hills. The next place we went had these way cool underground places. The first one was a place where they raised doves. There were over 2,000 holes in the top of the room where they would nest. We then went to some underground cisterns. They had been excavated and and so from the top is just looks like you are walking down into a whole. When you get down in there it is huge and amazing. All of the rooms link and we were probably under there for twenty or thirty minutes just exploring. It was so awesome. It was also way nice because it is really cool down there. I do ok in the heat so I am not going to complain too much, but it is hot here. I would honestly say that it is probably hotter in Oklahoma right now but I don't know. I loved the underground caves. After those we went to a tel. That is a big ruined city that keeps getting built upon. That was interesting. I found some pieces of pottery. Don't think that that is some amazing discovery, it is almost everywhere. After that we went to another cave. We did some sweet spelunking and exploring today. This one was intense. It was hands and knees with a flashlight the whole way. It was really narrow and it led to a big room. Once we got there we had a little spiritual thought and we sang a hymn. We sing almost everywhere we go. I love it. It was so fun to get out and do such active stuff. The last stop was the Elah Valley. That is where David fought Goliath. We did our little re-enactment. It was really fun. I was on top a guy's shoulders. We kind of read the dialogue and then David threw a rock at us. I think that the rest of the class had fun watching it. We then each got a sling and threw rocks. It was a lot of fun. I would like to practice it some more. Today was just a really great day.

The Dome of the Rock

Today I went to the Dome of the Rock. It was so cool. That is the big church will the gold dome. It is crazy, while I was sitting there I thought to myself: this is one of the most recognized buildings in the world. One can't think of the Jerusalem skyline and not think of this huge gold dome sticking up. Once I got up to it I realized that it was actually pretty small. Ok, it isn't small, but it isn't as big as I thought it was. I didn't realize how amazing the colors and the decorations on the side are. There is a lot of Arabic writing and it is so cool looking. From far away it seems grey, but the building has such awesome greens and blues on it. There is a huge area around it with tons of little kids running around. Some people were playing soccer and I really wanted to but I didn't want to be disrespectful so I didn't. We weren't allowed in the dome, but it was still pretty amazing from the outside.

Gethsemane

Today I had a pretty awesome experience. After church a bunch of people wanted to go to the Garden Tomb. We were taking a while to get ready and then we were like, eh, let's just go to Orson Hyde park. It is a park dedicated to Orson Hyde from when he dedicated the Holy Land in 1841. It has a beautiful view of the old city. It is right below the center. We walked over there and then we went down into Gethsemane. Gethsemane is interesting for a lot of reasons. One, there are two parts to it. There are two different gardens. One is the one that is all open to the public and kind of chaotic. There is another one across the street that is locked and they only let us in because we are from BYU. We got to go in there and just sit by ourselves. It was so amazing. I couldn't really comprehend it all. The event that happened there had been planned for all eternity and is necessary for all of our salvation. It is right on a busy street, but it has such a peaceful felling in there. I just sat there wrote in my journal and prayed. It was such a cool place. Another reason for which it is so interesting is because no other church fully understands the importance of it. They focus on in it for the betrayal. I am so sad that not everyone understands the atonement. I don't fully understand it, but other people don't even know the least about it. I am so grateful to the Jesus for all that he did for me. I know that he suffered for every person that has and will ever walk the face of this earth. I hope to live my life in a way that he didn't have to suffer quite as much for me. It has been such a good day.

Church

So we had church this morning. Yep, church on Saturday. It was kind of weird because I called Mom and Dad this morning and it was Friday night for them. The branch here is made up mainly of us students and faculty but there were quite a few tourists and there are some Americans that work here who are members. I feel kind of bad for the members here because it is kind of like a singles ward, but there are some families here. There was such a great spirit in church. It is hard to look at the speaker because the whole back wall is bunch of windows that overlook the pretty gardens and the city. I love it here.

A Realization

I had such a great experience last night. After we were done with everything I just went on to my porch, I am on the fourth floor, and read my scriptures. I was sitting there and there was a cool breeze, I actually put on a sweat shirt, there was the call for prayer for the Muslims, so that is a big loud speaker with a guy singing/chanting in Arabic, and I look out and the Dome on the Rock is right in front of me. The spirit just came so quietly and softly. I just thought to myself, wow, I am in Jerusalem. It was so amazing. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here.

Almost there

21 hours into the trip and I am still not there. Part of the group got delayed and won't make it in until tomorrow. I am glad that my flights have been on time and safe so far. I hope that we still get to do our first field trip tomorrow. I feel bad that they got held up. I am in Vienna right now and will be leaving for Tel Aviv in a few minutes. I got kind of worried when we got into the airport because I realized that the next time I am here that while everyone else walks to their connecting flights, I will be walking out of customs into a big scary world. Yikes!

In the begining

I never thought that I would do something like start a blog, but I guess that this will be the best way for me to allow others take part in my adventures. I hope that this will be fun and helpful to all.