May 19, 2007

It's the Sabbath. Yes, I know it's Saturday. Welcome to Jerusalem! I'm starting to get used to saying things like Shabbat School instead of Sunday School. It's normal now to look over the shoulder of the sacrament speaker and see the Dome of the Rock. I have fallen in love with the Sabbath more than ever. Perhaps it's because it's the one day in the week where I can sit and relax and get things done. I now have my site reports and pictures labeled from Be'er Sheva to Valley of the Kings. (Ok, so two whole days. But still—there was a lot packed into those two days.) I plan on publishing my site reports and putting a link to them in here when I'm finally all caught up. For anyone who cares.

Church was absolutely lovely. Even though I got almost 8 hours of sleep in the first time in probably a month, I was exhausted. But everything was so good that I was able to conquer the intense desire to fall asleep (for the most part. I had my weak moments) and actually pay attention. Perhaps because I was taking intense notes. :) In Shabbat School we learned about the rich man and the camel going through the eye of the needle and whatnot. I learned so much. Listening to everyone else's comments left me in a fury to write fast enough. Everyone thinks I'm the smart one here, but after listening to everyone else today, I have been sufficiently humbled. I may be book smart when it comes to what we're learning in Old Testament, but my peers have one-upped me in the stuff that matters most. I am constantly learning from everyone around me and am becoming a better person every day. It's really been a happy day.

We had linger longer after church. We all brought cookies; the locals' were homemade. The homemade cookies were most often gone before they ever touched a table. I have never craved deserts so much in my entire life. It's rather weird, considering how much I haven't been craving sweets for the past year. Perhaps it's because they're not quite so sweet and rich here. I don't know. But, oh, were they divine.

My roommates all slept afterwards. I seriously considered taking a nap, but I knew if I did, I would just sleep all day, then wake up groggy. Instead, I decided to be productive in a relaxing sort of way and started labeling my pictures, typing up site reports as I went. It was really relaxing and rather fun. Plus, as a bonus, I'm starting to learn people's names better. As I label them, I find myself looking in the student directory less and less. And to top it off, I realized that I was calling Hilary by the wrong name (Heather) for a day or two now. Even better, there is a Heather here. Haha! Oh well. She's sitting next to me right now and I apologized for my lack of brain power. She has fully forgiven me. Perhaps because our RS lesson was on forgiveness. Who knows. All the same result for me. :D hehe.

At dinner tonight, we had pistachio ice cream. Can I just say that it was divine? Oh. Heaven. I can't wait until the next time they serve that. Much better than the pink bubble gum-esque flavor. :S

I stayed in all day today, catching up on labeling pictures, site reports, email, etc. I feel slightly guilty not going out to Gethsemane or the Garden Tomb, but only a slight tinge. I really just wanted to stay in today and keep my Sabbath a day of rest. It's been a very pleasant day for me; I have no regrets about staying in. I'm discovering that I'm a lot like Grandma Lovell in that I'm a homebody—I am perfectly content to enjoy the comfort of my own home as opposed to going out and seeing the world. How crazy is that to say as I look out my window over Jerusalem? But it's not like I'm not seeing the sites. I spend hours upon hours almost every day out on field trips seeing everything with a tour guide (Bro. Merrill). I couldn't hope to have seen 90% of what I have if I had come on my own and spent twice the time here. Seriously, for the last 5 or so weeks we still have here, we will only spend 2 weeks of it in the Center. The rest will be overnight trips out at different sites. Even the two weeks here, we still have half day and full day field trips all over the near-by area. It's not like I'm becoming a hermit in Jerusalem. It's just that, with all the crazy running around, when I have free time, I want to do something different. I don't think that's a bad thing. Besides, anything I miss out on that I really want to do, I can just make Travis do when he's here. :)

We had a fireside tonight by Blair Van Dyke, an institute teacher at the Orem institute. He's out here for a 3 week tour and they talked him into speaking in Sacrament and giving a fireside tonight. It was a really good fireside. He talked about modern Church History in the Holy Land and used it to relate to the "decade of decisions" for us. Which he also revolved his repentance sacrament talk around as well. I really enjoyed listening to him both times. He really made me stop and think about my life. I truly am in the decade of decision making. This is a critical time in my life, and I have to be really smart about what decisions I make. I can't make a hasty decision because I just want to get it over with. I have to decide to follow the Lord's direction, even if I don't agree with it or know where it's taking me. I don't feel like I have any big decisions in front of me right now or in the very near future (except where to get a job when I get home...), but despite that, everything he said really struck home to me and I know those were talks that I was supposed to hear. I need to work on my faith and trust in
God so that when the time comes for me to make those important decisions, I can make them without hesitation.

One last thing, then I shall close. I want to add something that I wrote in my little scripture journal that I take to church meetings.

"As I sit here, looking out over the Old City of Jerusalem, I can't help but have a feeling of peace. As I partook of the Sacrament in the same area of the first sacrament, it takes on new meaning. Yet, the sacrament is the same—no matter wher you are. It's the same spirit in Urumqi, China or Luxor, Egypt or even Provo, Utah as it is in Jerusalem. This place is special; it has such a sacred history. But God loves me the same—no matter where I am."

I've had a tinge of homesickness recently. I am loving it here immensly, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But I find myself thinking of home and ready to move on with my life. The last several years I have dreamed of coming here; I have focused my studies around being here. I know that the Lord worked miracles to get me here. Now that I'm finally here, I have realized that I don't need to travel around the world and walk where Jesus walked to feel the peace and love that I need. I don't need to go to Gethsemane to feel the power of the Atonement. It's a good experience to be here and keep the things I learn here in my heart (and in my pictures :D). It's a better experience to study the scriptures and gain a relationship with my Savior. I don't need to be here to do that. I am going to enjoy my time here as much as I can. I am going to live up every experience I possibly can. But when the time comes to go home, I will not regret it. The time will be perfect, and I will move on with my life and be grateful for the many incredibly blessings that the Lord has blessed me with.