Neot Kedumim Field Trip

Neot Kedumim is a Biblical preserve with plants, animals, and objects from the bible. We first herded sheep and goats. It was difficult! The shepherd finally stepped in (after much struggle on our part) and started shoving the sheep forward. Once he got them moving they followed him. It turns out, sheep need direction before they follow. I think there is a talk in there somewhere. . .

We also pulled a bucket out of a cistern. . . it relates to the Bible somehow.

 Then I awkwardly realized most of my pictures are of myself, so here's a pictures of the guys in my Old Testament class along with my teacher, Brother Judd (4th from the right). Aren't they cute?

John and I mashing Zatar--a delicous herb we eat with pitas. 

This is random--a . . forest? Those are hard to come by. It felt close to home. We even made  a fire and cooked pitas and soup. Gotta love the smell of campfire!

They showed us a really old Torah scroll! The artistry of it was pretty amazing.

My wonderful teachers--Brother Judd (Old Testament) and Proffesor Stratford (Ancient Near East) displaying adornments from the Torah Scroll.

Denim Buddies! We were herding sheep--it seemed right.

Another oil press. This one was huge and took four girls to get going.

Tel Aviv!!!

 Ok let's be real. I haven't blogged in a month. I've been really busy. I figure I should get back on top of things, so here we go. . . TEL AVIV!!!! Best day ever. Where in the world did this place come from?? When you have been in a desert for 2 months, there is nothing like a gorgeous beach on the Mediterranean!! For the first time we left the center with no teachers, no schedule, and no idea where we were. We had an amazing adventure!!

 The morning was spent going crazy over the view, cool breeze, and smell of the ocean. It was so different than Jersusalem! Below is me in the flea market waiting for it to get warm enough to hit the beach.

 What would the trip be without another amazing church? This church was right on the beach! You can't beat that.

 There are two sides in Tel Aviv--the big city, and old Jafa. Here is Ben and I in old Jafa. It was a gorgeous little place with docks and fishing boats and this cute fountain. It felt like Greece!

 For lunch we ate on a hill overlooking the ocean. There are so many of us, even in a huge city we end up running into each other. Here are 25 of the 82 of us.

Oh the Mediteranean. The most amazing beach I've been on. Yes, it beats Florida and Hawaii.

Finally it got warm enough for the beach!!! Let me say it again, BEST beach I've ever been to. 70 degrees in February. Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. You just can't beat that. Look at the water and that sand!

 Here are pictures of my friends and me loving life.

 Below is my roommate Jessica and I. She just got her mission call to the West Indies!

 After a few hours on the beach we found ice cream in Old Jafa. They are masters of ice cream out here (I still haven't found a cupcake-- that will be a wonderful day).

As if the day couldn't get any better, we found a bike shop. Being the adventurous students we are, we rented bikes for two hours! We rode all along the coast past and into the city.

It was completely gorgeous! For the second time in my life I watched the sunset over the ocean.

For dinner we found a nice Italian restaurant and I ate pizza--the best I've had so far. Those are two things I miss--cake and pizza. But still, it was delicous and the perfect end to an incredible day. I feel so blessed. I LOVE ISRAEL!!!!

City of David Field Trip

 First of all, congratulations, the US makes the front page of the Jerusalem newspaper everyday. What is it with this storm I keep hearing about? I still don't know much, but after reading this article it sounds dramatic. I hope everyone is ok!

 Alright, the City of David. This is the original Jerusalem (the city/ruins on the right). When the current wall was built around Jerusalem, they forgot to include this portion. It is outside the current wall right under the Temple Mount. It is very famous in the scriptures. It is first the area of the Jebusites, then it is called Salem, then The City of David, and Then Jerusalem. David saw Bathsheba on a rooftop here, Christ came here, and Nephi and his family lived here. Laban most likely lived very close to where this picture was taken. 

 During Nephi's time, the portion in the picture above was a hill full of tombs. If you look closely, you can see some of the tombs with houses build on top. When Nephi and his brothers return to the city to obtain the brass plates, they hide from laban in a "cavity of rock." They most likely hid inside one of these tombs. 

We then saw ruins of the city. there was a large retaining wall that could have been the foundation for David's palace. Other homes were built along the wall. One of the homes had a toilet! In the second space from the right, right under the fence line there is a white square ish round toilet.

My favorite part of the day was Hezekiah's tunnel!! This tunnel was built in the ancient city to bring water from the Gihon spring to the other side of the city. (p.s, all these places are totally in the bible! It's really cool. I linked them to lds.org so if you click on the words you can read more about them) The tunnel was hand carved and pitch black. We used headlamps to see. My camera flash makes it look a lot brighter than it was.

 I led the way with just a short view ahead of me. It was dark, wet, and tight. The water level was usually mid calf, but got mid thigh.

 This got my adrenaline pumping. Some parts were tight! We turned off all our lamps and felt our way through in the dark at one point! It was so much fun! I want to go back again.

The tunnel ended at the Pool of Siloam. Christ heals a blind man here by putting spit and clay into his eyes and then having him wash his eyes here.

Mosque, Museum, & Market

 Today we had our free day to explore. We started with Dome of the Rock.

 We had to wait an hour to get onto the temple mount, but it was worth it!

Then we went to the Tower of David Museum. We saw an amazing view of Jerusalem.  

The exhibits were awesome!

We left the city through Jafa Gate and went into West Jerusalem right where the biggest white tower is. 

 There we found an awesome market! The fruits and vegetables were amazing, but they are famous for their pomegranates. I've never seen them so huge!  

They have the best pastries here. I got a little chocolate croissant for one shekel (about 25 cents). 

Pool of Bethesda

 I made it through half of my midterms! As a reward, I went to the Pool of Bethesda on Friday. We entered the city through Lion's Gate. It's a smaller but pretty gate. 

 I have been looking forward to this all semester! I LOVE Carl Bloch's painting, Healing at the Pool of Bethesda. I couldn't wait to see the site where Christ performed so many miracles.

It was gorgeous. The ruins are 20 ft below ground, but have been partially excavated.  It was a little oasis in the middle of the city!  There isn't much left of the places we see, but there is such a great spirit here.

On the way home we ran into this parrot! We tried speaking to him in Arabic, but he didn't respond. Maybe we should have tried Hebrew.  

Shephelah Field Trip

Last Monday we went on a field trip to the Shephelah--the low hills of Israel. Our first stop was Bet Shemesh--the area of Samson and Delilah. "Winter" is such a beautiful time here! I can't get over how green and beautiful it is. Come March, this will all be brown.

We also went inside "bell caves." The caves were anciently hand carved and used as basements to the homes above.

This is the valley of Elah. David killed Goliath here! In honor of the event, we played with slings. It's harder than it looks. . . Once again, it's SO GREEN! No editing. This is for real. It's so warm here. I'm getting a tan! I hear there's snow in the states?. . . crazy.

We also saw an old gethsemane--oil press!