June 2, 2007

My heart is so full today. I really don't think that I can express enough how much I love the Sabbath here. The Spirit is simply too strong to not feel it. It's after meetings like today that I want to sit and be alone to reflect, to ponder. If I'm not alone, I at least want to be with someone that I can have a spiritual conversation with. Today I was able to do both. My alone time is just about to end as I see my roommates coming up to the room. But that's ok, I can still write. If all else fails, I'll put in my headphones and create my own little world.

This morning started off on a shaky note. Although it was fast Sunday, they had determined, with the approval of the District President, to cancel the fast. (I think it mostly had administrative purposes—they forgot to tell the kibbutz that we wouldn't be eating, so we wanted to save face.) Knowing my body and not wanting to chance it in a foreign country, I decided not to fast. Since breakfast is 6:30-7:30 and we didn't have to be on the bus until 9:30, I figured I would have a fair chance at shower time if I got in before I went to breakfast. It only took me a half hour and two snoozes to get up this morning. I hate to admit that that's progress, but... it is. :D I went to breakfast with wet hair and ate with the other 6 people there. To my knowledge, only one other person ever showed up. Out of over 90 people, that's a lot not to show up. Haha! But, judging by the number of people who showed up for lunch, I'm pretty sure that most everyone just slept through breakfast, they weren't really fasting. :) While getting ready this morning, I burned myself 3 times on my curling iron. Once across my cheekbone. That kind of hurts. I will be so grateful when I finally get my flat iron back. ~sigh.

Finally, we were on our way to church. My class met with the Tiberias branch. Just a couple of months ago, Elder Holland came out and dedicated the building for the branch. It's a quaint little building, big enough to house around 50, I would guess. Pres. Browning said that the branch has 40 or so members, but only 20 ever come. I would guess that there were maybe 10 there today. 6 or 7 of which sat up on the stand to conduct or do music. The branch consists of Russian, Spanish, English, and Hebrew speakers. You know the wooden plaque-like things that tell you what hymns we're going to sing? They have four of them—one for each language, since their hymnals are set up differently. One full wall is window—overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It was a gorgeous view. Although our group had decided not to fast (sort of), it was still fast and testimony meeting. Three or four of the local members bore their testimonies, but for the most part, it was all our group.

The Spirit speaks so strongly to me here. I am learning so much about myself and who I need to become. Much of it I could never express to anyone. It's a feeling. My tongue has a hard enough time translating my thoughts into English when I try to explain something. I don't even want to attempt translating a feeling into words. Here are some of the thoughts I wrote down today.

- The Godhead appeared to Joseph Smith; the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. Don't forget these essential parts of this gospel just because your focus is on the Holy Land and the Bible.
- The Galilee was Christ's home. When he suffered in Gethsemane, He was away from home. I know when I am miserable, it is much more endurable for me to simply be at home. Imagine, suffering more than anyone has ever endured and having to do every bit of it away from the security of home.
- Perhaps we can't do missionary work here–but maybe it's the MTC for us. To prepare us to share the testimonies we've gained here with those who surround us back home.
- It's not just the view of the Galilee here that is incredible—it's also the light that shines through and lights the room. It's the light of the world. It's the same everywhere. Now that I can share.
- The field is not ready to harvest here yet. There are still so many rocks of prejudice that must be removed first.
- I don't have to focus solely on the scriptures while I'm here. Jesus sat and contemplated His life while looking at this view. I can follow in His footsteps and contemplate what my life holds.
- After the ministry, Peter didn't know what to do, so he went back to work. After this experience, am I going to simply "Go back to work"? Or am I going to continue this experience at home?
- When Christ taught, He gave the gospel in its purest form. Because of Joseph Smith, we again have the gospel in its purest form.
- "It's interesting to visit the churches of different denominations and see how we all come together to worship Christ. It's amazing to see how many people He has touched." - Hilary. (I'm pretty sure that I really needed to hear this perspective.)
- The Old Testament prophets preached and preached and no one listened. How lucky we are to live at a time when the prophet speaks and millions sit down and listen. Times may be hard—but they could be so much worse.
- "I just can't stop thinking about my Savior." - Kat
- He is your best friend—whether you recognize it or not.

The Spirit was so strong there. Someone commented that the Spirit of the Savior was here 2000 years ago, and it hasn't dwindled a bit since. I have to agree with that. There is something very special about this place. It was a tangible feeling today. I've never felt anyone quite like it. One person got up to bear their testimony and said, "The testimonies of everyone here are in the air—you can feel it in the air." I'm going to have to agree with that wholeheartedly.

Afterwards, we were out on the balcony overlooking the Galilee, taking pictures and talking. A few of us were just standing there, overwhelmed and awed by what we were seeing. Bro. Merrill made an interesting comment. "If you always had a view like this, it wouldn't be as special, would it?" I think he's right. Perhaps I should go back and look at my building back home and see what spectacular things it holds that I now take for granted. Perhaps I should take that outlook on a lot of things in my life. What am I taking for granted?

The drive home from church was really good. I sat by Brad and somehow, we ended up talking about things that really matter. I love talking to boys about anything, really. I love being able to have a good conversation with a boy. However, it means so much more when I can have a good conversation about things that matter. About life in general. About spiritual things. To be honest, I don't recall much of what we talked about. I remember he has developed a theory about agency. We all get a set amount of agency, but then the way we use it determines whether we lose or gain more agency. For example, if you make a choice to get addicted to something, you choose to lose your agency. However, and this is a random way to describe it—I love it—if you choose to like a food that before you didn't like, you have more choices. When you don't like a food, your only option is to not eat it. However, when you decide to like the food, you then have the option to not eat it, or to eat it and enjoy it. So, by making the first decision, you have given yourself more agency. I found this rather intriguing. So, everyone, in my crazy food adventures of last year, I have increased my agency by choosing to like wheat bread, zucchini and green peppers. :) Wahoo! I had never thought of it quite like that. But that's just a way to describe it. It applies to everything in life. So, the more good choices you make, the more agency you'll have. The more bad choices you make, the less agency you'll have. Hmm... Intriguing.

Brad also has amazing musical talent. I love to listen to him sing—he's really talented in that sense. I think it's because of him that we sing so often in class. So I'm really glad he's in my class, because I love to sing here. Somehow, we got on the topic of hymns. Oh, I remember. He said that he really enjoyed the closing hymn, Sing We Now at Parting, and I agreed. I don't consider that hymn to be one of the better known songs in the church, so I continued by saying that the more I listen to and sing lesser known hymns, the more I love them. In fact, my favorite hymn no one knows. Of course, he asked what my favorite hymn was, so I answered, Come Unto Him. His eyes got big and he replied, "Hymn number 114?!" Of course, I was floored. Sure, I've met some people who know the hymn, but no one knows it well enough to throw down a hymn number. So he told me a story. Apparently his mission president was a general authority before he got called as a mission president. At one meeting before General Conference, they asked Craig Jessop to sing Come Unto Him. When he was done, Pres. Packer stood up and said, "That hymn sums up everything I know in the Gospel." Wow. Now there's a powerful statement. One more reason why it's my favorite hymn. :D

I got home from church, ate lunch, and came back to my room. My heart was so full that I couldn't go back and finish yesterday's blog. I had to start today's. I needed to write down what I was feeling before I got distracted. I got so far as to finish church before I fell asleep. Five hours later... it was time for dinner. Haha! I love it. I slept enough that I definitely dreamed. However, the only dream I can remember, or rather, the only part of the only dream I remember, is rather entertaining to me. Apparently Brad has talent unknown to the world. Not just that we didn't know that he had this talent, but also that no one could have ever imagined that this talent existed in anyone. So, in my dream, some unknown person came up and opened a large bag of Skittles and poured them on the floor. The size of these Skittles are best compared to M&Ms. Everything from the minis to the peanut M&Ms. But they were Skittles. They were also red, white, and blue. This unknown person then called Brad over and told him it was time for him to share his talent with us, and instructed him to fit all of the Skittles under my foot. Him working on this talent weaved in and out of the rest of the dream, so at one moment, Skittles were being placed under my foot, while at another moment, I was off doing something else. Only to come back to the Skittles. Finally, at the end, I was no longer the person with the Skittles under my foot—it was Brad. He proclaimed his completion, then grudgingly admitted that he hadn't been up to par today and picked up his other foot to reveal about 5 Skittles minis that he hadn't been able to fit. Hahaha! I have craziness dreams... That's for sure.

After dinner, I came back, finished up yesterday's blog, then worked on today's. Then I decided I'd better read some scriptures, since I have a quiz in NT tomorrow...ehhh...

Pres. Browning gave a fireside about patriarchal blessings. He's the Patriarch for all of Russia, as well as the District President for all of Israel. I liked the way he presented the fireside. It technically was on how he receives inspiration for giving patriarchal blessings, but really, he said, The way I receive inspiration is the same way you receive inspiration. So the entire fireside was teaching us how to receive inspiration. He referenced many times Richard G. Scott's talk, "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer" from April 2007 conference. Hence, one more talk to add to my list to listen to. It was good doctrine to hear.

More reading and writing later... I started getting ready for bed when Christi knocked on the door, wondering if she could use my laptop and cord to charge her iPod. Of course, said I. Problem was, while it charged, we got talking. Now, we all know what happens when girls start talking late at night. ;) Between talking and looking through my music, and giving her a back rub... she was there until well after midnight. But it was great fun. I only regretted having homework yet to do, breakfast early, and class at 8. ~sigh. I can justify my little sleep, though—I took a five hour nap. That's a full night's sleep round these parts. :D