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.