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.