~sigh. Time to return to the Center. I love the Center. I love Jerusalem. I'm just going to miss Galilee. Luckily, it's an amazing field trip all the way home to make up for it.
Akko
Here is where Paul left to start his missionary journeys. Other than that, there's really no scriptural relevance. It's mostly Crusader stuff. This is yet another “has everything” tel. Well, except it’s not a tel. Haha. We have water ways, columns, excavations, tunnels, even the earliest found fleur de lis. This was a fun adventure place. I could see how it could be really fun to explore on our own. But I also really enjoyed having a guide. After we left the crusader part, we headed out through the market place. It was rather large with lots of shops. Cats walking through the fish market, a video of fish still breathing (sick! Eww!), and free pita bread from Bro. Merrill later, we ended up at the Mediterranean Sea. This was a fun little stop. People would run out on this wall that stretched out into the sea to get their pictures taken, then waves would rush in and crash on top of them. Hehehe. I hear Bro. Whitchurch’s class got much more wet that we did. But they also spent a lot more time than we did, though. It was fun to take pictures of people dashing across wet rock, trying not to get hit by a crashing wave.
Quote: "That's how you ruin a placed; you just mess it up." - Bro. Merrill
Templar Cemetery
So.. remember back to Bro. Van Dyke's fireside about the history of the Church in the Holy Land. (I'm not sure I spent too much time on this one.) This is where the Templars in Israel that were converted to the Church were buried. At least, 4 of them were. Their graves even say “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” on them. You don’t expect to see that in Israel. I felt like Dad at this site—taking pictures of grave stones. I guess I can’t poke too much fun at him anymore. At one point, Benyamin, Tiffany and I snuck off to a secluded place and sang some hymns. We decided to shake it up a bit and all sang a different verse at the same time—in harmony. It was incredible. I had never before considered such an idea, but it was marvelous. It really sounded like both of the others were singing in foreign languages. I can only imagine what it would have sounded like to someone listening in. This is also the site where I started perfecting the macro setting on my camera. I took one picture that I believe I will love forever of this brownish flower in focus with one of the Templar graves out of focus in the back.
Ceaserea Maritima
This was built by Herod the Great as one of his massive building projects. This is a port city, with the harbor actually being built by Herod. Somehow they figured out how to get concrete to harden underwater. Craziness. Gorgeous. Oh how gorgeous. I love water. I really do. I love watching the waves crash on rocks. I could sit and watch all day long. This place was huge. Even maps I struggled taking pictures of in one shot. We started at the amphitheater where Brad sang for us from Joseph. It was windy, though, so it was much harder to hear him than it had been to hear Bro. Merrill. But I could still make it out. That was impressive. We headed out, and unbeknownst to Benyamin, Rebecca and I, the rest of the class went to the beach. While we waited to go to bus, we found a giant statue of a rock. And had way too much fun with it and the camera. And by way too much fun, I mean Rebecca ended up with holes torn in her skirt. Ehhhh… Oops? Finally, we realized that everyone else was down by the shore, so we headed down there. Bro. Merrill didn’t realize that his headset was broken, so none of us had any idea where he wanted us to go or what he was saying. But we all ended up together in the end. They were still excavating part of it, so we were able to walk on the actual stones and whatnot. I felt slightly guilty, but the workmen were right there and didn’t say a word. So I assume we were safe. Oh, and this was the site of my 2nd ever Coconut Nok Out. Mmmmm…
Quotes:
- "They don’t have ice cream, so we’re not stopping.” – Bro. Merrill
- “My feet are cold and stony.” – Benyamin.
- "This is the funnerest day yet!” – Brad
We got back to the Center in time for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised at how excited I was to be back. But then I remembered how much homework I had to do by 7:30 the next morning. And then the realization hit that it was back to the rigors of Center life. Busy, no time for sleep or homework, yet still expected to function and know the information. ~sigh. Back to "real" life.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
June 6, 2007
I sat and watched a couple on the beach today. (Shhh... don't tell, but it's two people in my group that have hooked up since we got here. Ha!) They were so cute to watch. He had a stick, she stole it, enter playful banter of him trying to get it back. End in breaking of the stick. Fade out with them sitting peacefully, looking over the Sea of Galilee at sunset. ~sigh. Someday that'll be me...
I never thought I would be sad to go to Jerusalem. But I really don't want to leave Galilee. I really want to just sit on the beach and sing hymns all night. I would have, too, but everyone I was singing with left. So I did, too. Probably a good thing, too. I have to get up early tomorrow. Breakfast is at 6 and I still have to pack. Meh. If it were just a drive home, I would totally go out and just meditate on the beach. I've decided I have a love for living water. I could stay by or on it all the time.
I know why I came. This place has taught me who I want to become and what I need to do now to get there. I need to be a much better person. I hope I can have the strength and courage to live back in the hustle and bustle of life the way I have been learning here.
Today was the Jezreel Valley field trip. We started at Mt. Tabor, which is one of the two most accepted sites for the Mount of Transfiguration. (The other is Mt. Hermon and in the West Bank, so we can't go there.) The bus ride there caused me great nauseous turmoil. I was appalled to reach the bus's destination and find out that we would continue on in taxis up the mountain. With 17 hairpin turns. !!! I wasn't excited, to say the least. Sis. Huntington, my adopted mom, came to my aid and bought me some gum. Sitting in the open air, waiting for the last taxi, and chewing some gum helped. She then made me sit in the seat that had the open window next to it. Needless to say, I made it to the top safely. By the time we left, I felt much better for the rest of the day. Thank goodness. Can I just say that I can't wait to get back home and get in the driver's seat? I've been driving for so long that I had forgotten how easily I get car sick; I thought I had grown out of it. Turns out, I'm still just as susceptible... I'm just safe while driving and not as a passenger. ~sigh. Anyway... back to the site. Yes, it was a church. But I liked it. It was a gorgeous church, that’s for sure. The acoustics were lovely. The walls covered in beautiful mosaics and paintings. We saw Moses with horns of light here, which is an interesting combination to please all those that can’t decide which Moses had. (The Hebrew word can be light or horns, depending on what vowels you put with it. Hence why you sometimes see Moses with horns in paintings. This artist simply combined them.) It also had a good view. This fit into the category of “Church I’d love to visit again, but due to the beauty of the church, I forgot the story behind it.” If I were to go again, I’d like to spend some time outside, sitting on the hill, talking about the Transfiguration.
"I’m glad that other Christian churches can build beautiful churches that we can come and pray to our God.” — Bro. Merrill.
Next was Nain. This was a tiny, Podunk church. Outside there were even cats and chickens running around. How much better do you get? The church was really small, consisting of a grand total of two paintings—one on either end of the chapel. Both of htem depicting Christ healing the widow's dead son. (The story this church is for.) There was a podium, with letters, pictures, and flowers scattered across it. And that was about it. Here we sang some more. Have I mentioned that I love singing?
Ok, back up. Bro. Whitchurch's class is a day ahead of us on all of our Galilee field trips. (Not sure if I've mentioned that.) They go on a field trip while we stay in and have four hours of New Testament. Then the next day, we go on the field trip while they stay in and have class. (We only have one bus while we're here.) But, it works out nicely for our class, because we always get to hear how the field trip went, what to look forward to, and they smooth out all of the bumps. So, it's been long enough now that we're all craving a good cheeseburger. Enough so that everyone has forgotten how much they dislike McDonalds and wants to go there every time we pass one. Oh, the joy and gladness when we heard that Bro. Whitchurch's class stopped at McDonalds for lunch. We had been begging Bro. Merrill for weeks to stop at one, but he always insisted that we couldn't do anything that Bro. Whitchurch's class didn't get to do. We were all dismayed when Bro. Merrill announced that McDonalds was not, nor ever had been, in our plans for the day. Rioting, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth broke out. The equality of classes had been broken, and we were not happy about it. I was at the front of the bus, so I heard it first and had gotten used to the idea long before many even heard it for the first time. I had plenty of time to stop and think about it and remember that I don't actually like McDonalds. I felt bad for Bro. Merrill every time a new group of students learned about the change of plans and rebelled. Over and over and over again. Luckily, Bro. Merrill is wise.
After we finished singing at Nain, he gave us a choice. "We have spent a fortune to get you into Gan ha-Shelosha (Israel's best swimming place that I'll talk about later). Bro. Whitchurch's class spent 45 minutes there. So, we can either eat the sack lunch we've been given and get 3 hours swimming time, or we can stop at McDonalds and cut off at least a full hour from your swimming. Let's vote on it." Bro. Merrill knows our class's two weakness: ice cream and swimming. He knew perfectly well that if it were a choice between swimming and McDonalds, swimming would win. He was absolutely correct. We had two votes for McDonalds—Race and Caleb. Both of which voted for it, simply because they wanted to go against the grain. Caleb so that he could always say, "Well, I wanted to go to McDonalds and we didn't get to go. So I should be able to do _____." haha.
Our last site was Nazareth—hometown of Jesus. (You know, Jesus of Nazareth.) It's also the place of the Annunciation. There were churches to both Mary and Joseph. The annunciation church (Mary's) is not yet 40 years old. Inside is the traditional spot where Gabriel appeared to Mary. The walls are all unfinished concrete. Every country has contributed some representation of the annunciation (typically paintings or mosaics). The US is … interesting. Modern art, of course. [rolls eyes] Japan has real pearls imbedded in the mosaic. I really liked the Annunciation Basilica. I loved it for its beauty. I wish I would have known that we wouldn’t stay outside after Bro. Merrill finished talking about it, because I really wanted more pictures of the different representations of the Annunciation. Oh well. There were more inside and I got pictures of all of them. Though, many turned out more blurry than I expected. I’m starting to learn how hard it is to take pictures inside dark rooms. Without the flash on, there are problems—everything is blurry. With the flash on, it washes everything out. ~sigh. I’m trying to master the skill of holding really still. I can’t wait till Travis comes with his tripod. And photo skills. The grotto was nice. Bro. Merrill had never been down there before; it’s always been locked. It’s very much a Christian place of worship. People standing in line to kiss the traditional spot. I wonder if we as Mormons do quirky things like that that I’ve just never thought about. If anyone can think of any, let me know. I really am curious.
The Church of St. Joseph was much different. It was smaller, more humble, less elaborate. I liked this one, too. It had an older feel to it. While the one for Mary is exquisite, the one for Joseph is humble.
In walking to the churches, Bro. Merrill said something about all the cars being in a traffic snarl. Bro. Merrill comes from a much different vocabulary generation. We love it. He randomly says things like "traffic snarl" that throws us for a loop. The best one was at one of our meals, he said that someone was niggardly. He says our reaction was as if he had swore. No one in our generation knows that niggardly does not come from the root nigger. He told us that we all need to read more. Haha! :D
On a more serious note, Bro. Merrill said something about Christians that I feel is profound and encapsulates what I feel about all the churches we visit. "Their deeds are not the memorials to Christ—it’s their buildings.” Note to self. Be sure that my memorial to Christ is my deeds.
Now it was off to swim. Gan ha-Shelosh is a swimming resort. It's like a swimming pool in that it is man-made. But that's where the similarities end. It is from a spring, and they have made large pool-like areas (that look like large ponds) for swimming. There are waterfalls (small and very man made) and I heard there were caves (though I never found them). Now, I have discovered while here that I am deathly afraid of drowning. I'm not sure I can convey this enough. I haven't recognized this yet, because every time I've been swimming, I'm either in a swimming pool where I can touch or the walls are within close swimming distance or am out on a lake with a life jacket. Either way, I've got a safety net. I got to these pools, with a glimmer of hope. Surely, they'll get progressively deeper, so I'll have plenty of room to swim safely. It'll be like the Sea of Galilee! I learned very quickly that the bottom drops off very quickly and becomes deep enough that it's possible to rock jump (although, it's not allowed). I stuck with Tiffany who sat on some rocks and dangled her feet in the water while I practiced treading water, swimming, and putting my face underwater. I am no good at any of the above. Goal: Practice. Then it was off to buy some ice cream. As soon as I got back, more people wanted to buy ice cream, so I went back up with them to show them where it was. Upon coming back, Tiffany and I laid down on our towels and listened to a talk by Elder Eyering and ended up falling asleep. I woke up to see a group of students doing... yoga, I think. Led by Mike S. That was entertaining—seeing a boy lead yoga. hehehe. Suddenly, it was time to go. Wow, those three hours went by incredibly fast.
A few hours after dinner, we had class programs. We listened to the other class down the beach yell, scream, and laugh around a bonfire, but our class decided to take a different approach. Bro. Merrill is constantly teaching us in class and saying things like, "I have five hours prepared on the Beatitudes, but we don't have time, so I'll have to stop here after just one hour." We love listening to him teach and just crave to hear more. So the committee he asked to be in charge of the class program turned around and asked him to speak to us. A fireside, if you will. It was sooo good! He decided to speak about reverence. Not reverence as we typically think about it—just sitting quietly, but in a deeper respect. Pres. McKay said that reverence is profound respect mingled with love. (I can't help but sing the Primary song right now, "Reverence is more than just quietly sitting, it's thinking of Father above.") Pres. Hinckley said that we need to increase the reverence in churches, homes and temples—there is not enough there. Woah. That's pretty strong language. Hmm... it's too hard to summarize it. I'll just follow tradition and transfer over some of my notes:
- "If Michaelangelo painted all the mass graves of Rawanda or Bosnia, I still wouldn't want it on my wall." You choose what is on the walls of your house.
- Watch your language. Things that are acceptable to your generation are very offensive to an older one.
- If the Savior were to come visit, how many dishes would you have to do, how many dirty clothes would you throw under your bed? What magazines would you hide; what would you take off the wall?
- Be the roommate that lifts, not drags down.
- God never shouts, he only whispers. - E. Oaks
- If you can't control what's going on around you, you have to be quiet inside. - E. Eyering.
- Always have a pad and pen with you to record your thoughts. - E. Scott.
- The first thing Satan does to attack you is to obstruct the communication channels between you and God.
- Read "Bringing up Civil Children in a Rude World" from the Church News
- Never use sarcastic language—it's unbecoming a bearer of the Priesthood.
- Vulgar and indecent language is offensive to the Lord. What kind of language is in your apartment?
- Music is the language of the soul; it indexes where we are in life.
- "The Saints have now begun to live the standards of Babylon by proxy via TV. Do we, as Latter-day Saints, consider proxy absolutely binding?" - Janet (fictitious name) (An anonymous letter sent to Bro. Merrill)
- Have you heard and/or seen anything lately that is less than absolutely edifying?
- "I was smiling out loud"
- Find a time and place to be quiet and alone with your thoughts. Leave your home if necessary. Got sit in the Celestial Room. The Savior did it over and over and over again. Follow His example.
- Meditate on yourself and your relationship with your Father
- Sweet Hour of Prayer. Hour refers to the time you spend with God—not necessarily on your knees.
- If you had two hours with a prophet or apostle, what would you ask?
- BYU is the Lord's school. The Lord's university is the temple.
- Take the Spirit with you to the temple—don't always expect to go there to find him."
- "My boy, you have to walk to the edge of the light and a few steps into the darkness—then you will find the Lord lights the way before you." - Pres. Lee
- Figure out how the Lord speaks to you so that He can do it more often.
- You don't get to choose what the Lord needs you to do—you only get to choose to say yes or no.
- Having Bro. Merrill around all the time, imparting of his wisdom all the time, is this a glimpse into what the apostles felt like? Having Christ minister to them on a daily basis.
As always, I learned a lot about the things I need to be working on. Again, I sincerely hope that when I get home, I can keep it up. I'm really scared of slipping back into where I was. Keep me in your prayers! :D
I never thought I would be sad to go to Jerusalem. But I really don't want to leave Galilee. I really want to just sit on the beach and sing hymns all night. I would have, too, but everyone I was singing with left. So I did, too. Probably a good thing, too. I have to get up early tomorrow. Breakfast is at 6 and I still have to pack. Meh. If it were just a drive home, I would totally go out and just meditate on the beach. I've decided I have a love for living water. I could stay by or on it all the time.
I know why I came. This place has taught me who I want to become and what I need to do now to get there. I need to be a much better person. I hope I can have the strength and courage to live back in the hustle and bustle of life the way I have been learning here.
Today was the Jezreel Valley field trip. We started at Mt. Tabor, which is one of the two most accepted sites for the Mount of Transfiguration. (The other is Mt. Hermon and in the West Bank, so we can't go there.) The bus ride there caused me great nauseous turmoil. I was appalled to reach the bus's destination and find out that we would continue on in taxis up the mountain. With 17 hairpin turns. !!! I wasn't excited, to say the least. Sis. Huntington, my adopted mom, came to my aid and bought me some gum. Sitting in the open air, waiting for the last taxi, and chewing some gum helped. She then made me sit in the seat that had the open window next to it. Needless to say, I made it to the top safely. By the time we left, I felt much better for the rest of the day. Thank goodness. Can I just say that I can't wait to get back home and get in the driver's seat? I've been driving for so long that I had forgotten how easily I get car sick; I thought I had grown out of it. Turns out, I'm still just as susceptible... I'm just safe while driving and not as a passenger. ~sigh. Anyway... back to the site. Yes, it was a church. But I liked it. It was a gorgeous church, that’s for sure. The acoustics were lovely. The walls covered in beautiful mosaics and paintings. We saw Moses with horns of light here, which is an interesting combination to please all those that can’t decide which Moses had. (The Hebrew word can be light or horns, depending on what vowels you put with it. Hence why you sometimes see Moses with horns in paintings. This artist simply combined them.) It also had a good view. This fit into the category of “Church I’d love to visit again, but due to the beauty of the church, I forgot the story behind it.” If I were to go again, I’d like to spend some time outside, sitting on the hill, talking about the Transfiguration.
"I’m glad that other Christian churches can build beautiful churches that we can come and pray to our God.” — Bro. Merrill.
Next was Nain. This was a tiny, Podunk church. Outside there were even cats and chickens running around. How much better do you get? The church was really small, consisting of a grand total of two paintings—one on either end of the chapel. Both of htem depicting Christ healing the widow's dead son. (The story this church is for.) There was a podium, with letters, pictures, and flowers scattered across it. And that was about it. Here we sang some more. Have I mentioned that I love singing?
Ok, back up. Bro. Whitchurch's class is a day ahead of us on all of our Galilee field trips. (Not sure if I've mentioned that.) They go on a field trip while we stay in and have four hours of New Testament. Then the next day, we go on the field trip while they stay in and have class. (We only have one bus while we're here.) But, it works out nicely for our class, because we always get to hear how the field trip went, what to look forward to, and they smooth out all of the bumps. So, it's been long enough now that we're all craving a good cheeseburger. Enough so that everyone has forgotten how much they dislike McDonalds and wants to go there every time we pass one. Oh, the joy and gladness when we heard that Bro. Whitchurch's class stopped at McDonalds for lunch. We had been begging Bro. Merrill for weeks to stop at one, but he always insisted that we couldn't do anything that Bro. Whitchurch's class didn't get to do. We were all dismayed when Bro. Merrill announced that McDonalds was not, nor ever had been, in our plans for the day. Rioting, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth broke out. The equality of classes had been broken, and we were not happy about it. I was at the front of the bus, so I heard it first and had gotten used to the idea long before many even heard it for the first time. I had plenty of time to stop and think about it and remember that I don't actually like McDonalds. I felt bad for Bro. Merrill every time a new group of students learned about the change of plans and rebelled. Over and over and over again. Luckily, Bro. Merrill is wise.
After we finished singing at Nain, he gave us a choice. "We have spent a fortune to get you into Gan ha-Shelosha (Israel's best swimming place that I'll talk about later). Bro. Whitchurch's class spent 45 minutes there. So, we can either eat the sack lunch we've been given and get 3 hours swimming time, or we can stop at McDonalds and cut off at least a full hour from your swimming. Let's vote on it." Bro. Merrill knows our class's two weakness: ice cream and swimming. He knew perfectly well that if it were a choice between swimming and McDonalds, swimming would win. He was absolutely correct. We had two votes for McDonalds—Race and Caleb. Both of which voted for it, simply because they wanted to go against the grain. Caleb so that he could always say, "Well, I wanted to go to McDonalds and we didn't get to go. So I should be able to do _____." haha.
Our last site was Nazareth—hometown of Jesus. (You know, Jesus of Nazareth.) It's also the place of the Annunciation. There were churches to both Mary and Joseph. The annunciation church (Mary's) is not yet 40 years old. Inside is the traditional spot where Gabriel appeared to Mary. The walls are all unfinished concrete. Every country has contributed some representation of the annunciation (typically paintings or mosaics). The US is … interesting. Modern art, of course. [rolls eyes] Japan has real pearls imbedded in the mosaic. I really liked the Annunciation Basilica. I loved it for its beauty. I wish I would have known that we wouldn’t stay outside after Bro. Merrill finished talking about it, because I really wanted more pictures of the different representations of the Annunciation. Oh well. There were more inside and I got pictures of all of them. Though, many turned out more blurry than I expected. I’m starting to learn how hard it is to take pictures inside dark rooms. Without the flash on, there are problems—everything is blurry. With the flash on, it washes everything out. ~sigh. I’m trying to master the skill of holding really still. I can’t wait till Travis comes with his tripod. And photo skills. The grotto was nice. Bro. Merrill had never been down there before; it’s always been locked. It’s very much a Christian place of worship. People standing in line to kiss the traditional spot. I wonder if we as Mormons do quirky things like that that I’ve just never thought about. If anyone can think of any, let me know. I really am curious.
The Church of St. Joseph was much different. It was smaller, more humble, less elaborate. I liked this one, too. It had an older feel to it. While the one for Mary is exquisite, the one for Joseph is humble.
In walking to the churches, Bro. Merrill said something about all the cars being in a traffic snarl. Bro. Merrill comes from a much different vocabulary generation. We love it. He randomly says things like "traffic snarl" that throws us for a loop. The best one was at one of our meals, he said that someone was niggardly. He says our reaction was as if he had swore. No one in our generation knows that niggardly does not come from the root nigger. He told us that we all need to read more. Haha! :D
On a more serious note, Bro. Merrill said something about Christians that I feel is profound and encapsulates what I feel about all the churches we visit. "Their deeds are not the memorials to Christ—it’s their buildings.” Note to self. Be sure that my memorial to Christ is my deeds.
Now it was off to swim. Gan ha-Shelosh is a swimming resort. It's like a swimming pool in that it is man-made. But that's where the similarities end. It is from a spring, and they have made large pool-like areas (that look like large ponds) for swimming. There are waterfalls (small and very man made) and I heard there were caves (though I never found them). Now, I have discovered while here that I am deathly afraid of drowning. I'm not sure I can convey this enough. I haven't recognized this yet, because every time I've been swimming, I'm either in a swimming pool where I can touch or the walls are within close swimming distance or am out on a lake with a life jacket. Either way, I've got a safety net. I got to these pools, with a glimmer of hope. Surely, they'll get progressively deeper, so I'll have plenty of room to swim safely. It'll be like the Sea of Galilee! I learned very quickly that the bottom drops off very quickly and becomes deep enough that it's possible to rock jump (although, it's not allowed). I stuck with Tiffany who sat on some rocks and dangled her feet in the water while I practiced treading water, swimming, and putting my face underwater. I am no good at any of the above. Goal: Practice. Then it was off to buy some ice cream. As soon as I got back, more people wanted to buy ice cream, so I went back up with them to show them where it was. Upon coming back, Tiffany and I laid down on our towels and listened to a talk by Elder Eyering and ended up falling asleep. I woke up to see a group of students doing... yoga, I think. Led by Mike S. That was entertaining—seeing a boy lead yoga. hehehe. Suddenly, it was time to go. Wow, those three hours went by incredibly fast.
A few hours after dinner, we had class programs. We listened to the other class down the beach yell, scream, and laugh around a bonfire, but our class decided to take a different approach. Bro. Merrill is constantly teaching us in class and saying things like, "I have five hours prepared on the Beatitudes, but we don't have time, so I'll have to stop here after just one hour." We love listening to him teach and just crave to hear more. So the committee he asked to be in charge of the class program turned around and asked him to speak to us. A fireside, if you will. It was sooo good! He decided to speak about reverence. Not reverence as we typically think about it—just sitting quietly, but in a deeper respect. Pres. McKay said that reverence is profound respect mingled with love. (I can't help but sing the Primary song right now, "Reverence is more than just quietly sitting, it's thinking of Father above.") Pres. Hinckley said that we need to increase the reverence in churches, homes and temples—there is not enough there. Woah. That's pretty strong language. Hmm... it's too hard to summarize it. I'll just follow tradition and transfer over some of my notes:
- "If Michaelangelo painted all the mass graves of Rawanda or Bosnia, I still wouldn't want it on my wall." You choose what is on the walls of your house.
- Watch your language. Things that are acceptable to your generation are very offensive to an older one.
- If the Savior were to come visit, how many dishes would you have to do, how many dirty clothes would you throw under your bed? What magazines would you hide; what would you take off the wall?
- Be the roommate that lifts, not drags down.
- God never shouts, he only whispers. - E. Oaks
- If you can't control what's going on around you, you have to be quiet inside. - E. Eyering.
- Always have a pad and pen with you to record your thoughts. - E. Scott.
- The first thing Satan does to attack you is to obstruct the communication channels between you and God.
- Read "Bringing up Civil Children in a Rude World" from the Church News
- Never use sarcastic language—it's unbecoming a bearer of the Priesthood.
- Vulgar and indecent language is offensive to the Lord. What kind of language is in your apartment?
- Music is the language of the soul; it indexes where we are in life.
- "The Saints have now begun to live the standards of Babylon by proxy via TV. Do we, as Latter-day Saints, consider proxy absolutely binding?" - Janet (fictitious name) (An anonymous letter sent to Bro. Merrill)
- Have you heard and/or seen anything lately that is less than absolutely edifying?
- "I was smiling out loud"
- Find a time and place to be quiet and alone with your thoughts. Leave your home if necessary. Got sit in the Celestial Room. The Savior did it over and over and over again. Follow His example.
- Meditate on yourself and your relationship with your Father
- Sweet Hour of Prayer. Hour refers to the time you spend with God—not necessarily on your knees.
- If you had two hours with a prophet or apostle, what would you ask?
- BYU is the Lord's school. The Lord's university is the temple.
- Take the Spirit with you to the temple—don't always expect to go there to find him."
- "My boy, you have to walk to the edge of the light and a few steps into the darkness—then you will find the Lord lights the way before you." - Pres. Lee
- Figure out how the Lord speaks to you so that He can do it more often.
- You don't get to choose what the Lord needs you to do—you only get to choose to say yes or no.
- Having Bro. Merrill around all the time, imparting of his wisdom all the time, is this a glimpse into what the apostles felt like? Having Christ minister to them on a daily basis.
As always, I learned a lot about the things I need to be working on. Again, I sincerely hope that when I get home, I can keep it up. I'm really scared of slipping back into where I was. Keep me in your prayers! :D
Still alive!
Ok, yes, I'm a week or two behind. I really don't know what happened. I don't feel like I've been slacking off or procrastinating or anything. Yet, somehow, I ended up way behind in my site journals, in my New Testament reading, and I haven't even started studying for my Archaeology final that is in 3 hours. Yipes! But... after that final, I'm done with classes. And... I wish I could say that I'll have all the free time in the world... but I'm heading off to Jordan first thing in the morning. And I don't think I'm taking my computer. I don't know when I'll catch up. Ahhh!!!! :D But just so you know, I'm alive. I'm loving it here. And everyone needs to pray that Travis will get his passport in the next 5 days. Ahhhh!!!!! [deep breaths] Ok. I'm done. Just thought I'd let y'all know that I live. :)
Monday, June 4, 2007
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
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
June 1, 2007
Breakfast again from 6:30-7:30. But then this time, it was our turn for a field trip. By 7:30 we were on the bus. First stop—the Ein Gev dock. Here we boarded a wooden boat and started off across the Galilee. To our surprise, the captain put The Star Spangled Banner over the speaker system and started raising an American flag on his boat. When we all just sat there in shock, he urged us to stand and sing. So we did. Hands over our hearts we sang our National Anthem while sailing across the Sea of Galilee. Ha! It was amazing. The boat ride itself was very good. Bro. Merrill got on the microphone and taught us stories from the Gospels, interrupted only to sing another hymn. I got to lead Master the Tempest is Raging. Hehe. I never want to lead that hymn again. We tend to sing fast with Bro. Merrill singing, and I couldn't figure out the best way to lead a fast 6/8. Oh my, it was entertaining. Mike Ulrich came up to me later and told me that i was the best part of his day. :D Happy to make someone's day. *rolls eyes.
Our first stop after we landed was at this small little museum—home to an ancient boat found in the Sea of Galilee when the water level was low, dating to the time of Christ. We watched a little documentary, talking about how it was found and how they excavated it. I loved it because it showed personalities of all involved. You could see the sincere excitement on their faces and hear the giddiness in their voices. It was obviously a real and sincere film. Then we got to go see the boat. I have to admit, for being 2000 years old, it's in really good condition. I was impressed. I walked by the gift shop, not actually expecting to buy anything. Like any gift shop at a touristy place, surely it would be overpriced, right? But, being bored, I walked in anyway—like everyone else in our group. Immediately my eyes fell upon an oil lamp. This was unlike any oil lamp I've seen in the Old City. All the ones I've seen there look fake and cheap. I've been trying to find one that looks somewhat authentic and still in my price range. Thus far, I haven't even fulfilled the first requirement. Bro. Merrill happened to be there, so I asked him if he thought I could find something like that in the Old City. He took one look and told me no. Bro. Huntington appeared on the scene, so Bro. Merrill passed the question to him. Another inspection and a, "No, the ones you find in the Old City are all Byzantine era. This is from the time of Christ. You're not going to find something like this there without looking hard and paying an arm and a leg." Fine, fine. I was convinced. Two more people that I'm done shopping for. :)Next, we boarded the bus and headed over to the traditional site of the Mount of Beatitudes. I loved this place. There is a church on site, but down the hill a bit, they have an amphitheater where we sat. Here, we could look down on the Sea of Galilee, which was only a stone's throw away. Tragically, in the center of the amphitheater was a podium with a wall behind it, so you could only see the Sea on either side. But that was ok. We sang several hymns, as well as talked about the Beatitudes. He promised more to come in the classroom. But the little bit we talked about was exactly what I needed to hear. Go figure. I get that a lot this trip. When we were done, he gave us 15-20 minutes to go take pictures, but the majority of us stayed and wrote our thoughts down. The Spirit was just so strong. This is what I wrote:
"Although this has an amphitheater built upon it, you can still feel the Spirit of this place. I still wish we could sit on a hillside and listen to Bro. Merrill teach the Beatitudes—the podium with the giant cross behind it is rather distracting—but you can still see the Sea and feel the breeze. We sang a few times. I requested How Great The Wisdom and the Love. I had been flipping through my hymnal when Bro. Merrill asked for a reflective song. That one just popped out at me. One line in particular stood out—I have it marked—"By strict obedience Jesus won." As we talked today, Bro. Merrill really said some things that struck me. Sometimes I feel bad being mocked for doing what's right. I find myself relinquishing my standards in order to be liked. That's bad. Being mocked is good. [Insert name here] said that "we currently live in the Great and Spacious Building. There are pointing fingers all around." If you're in the Great and Spacious Building, you should want to be mocked. I definitely need to change my attitude and actions. Spencer W. Kimball's talk A Style of Our Own hit me hard, too. Is even our Honor Code slowly dwindling to conform to the pressures of the world by wearing shorts? "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled [with the Holy Ghost]." "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "Rejoice and be exceeding glad"!!!"
Tabgha. This is the traditional site of Mark 6—Feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. This one had a little courtyard out front with a fountain and flowers. Inside was a church with a mosaic floor and very simple decor. I took a seat on a pew and reflected a little bit. After a few minutes, some Christian tourists stood up and started singing their hymns. I was still in the mood to be reflective, so I wrote some more."I've decided what it is about some sites that I like and can feel the Spirit at and what it is that I don't like about others. The setting. When I'm in a church set up on the traditional site, I feel like a tourist coming to admire the church itself. Christ didn't split the loaves and fishes in a church. They're pretty and I try to appreciate them for what they are. But I wish they had a spot of natural—what it would have been like. I liked the Mount of Beatitudes because it had the quiet garden-like area overlooking the Sea of Galilee where I could sit and reflect and feel the Spirit. Here, I could respect the people singing their hymns—but it was a respect for their faith, not a special feeling for the site."
Next site: St. Peter's Primacy. This is from John 21, after Christ was resurrected and stood on the shore, calling out to the apostles on the fishing boat. When they come to the shore, Jesus and Peter have the "Feed my Sheep" conversation, then He puts Peter in charge of the church. We started inside of the church set up there. I love singing; I love acoustics. I hate no pictures. ~sigh. I've learned something new. Singing hymns brings a Spirit that nothing else can. I've found that I feel the Spirit much more strongly in the churches that we sing in. Those that we just talk in are usually the ones that I end up not liking as much. After we sang, we went out to a mini-amphitheater where we could talk more and Bro. Merrill said something that struck me. 
"We as Latter-day Saints don't worship rocks, nor do we worship exact spots. We worship the Lord." Perhaps I shouldn't be so judgmental of churches built upon traditional spots. I suppose I just feel like the church distracts from the worship of the Lord. This church is directly next to the Sea. So we were able to go down and take some good pictures and just have a good time.
Last site: Capernaum. Here was two sites, actually. The ancient synagogue which black basalt foundation is actually probably the original base of the synagogue Christ taught in. Craziness. Not a stone's throw away is Peter's house. On top of the base of Peter's house is a church upon a church upon a church. All built to protect this sacred spot. Bro. Merrill pointed out something interesting. The church is built on Peter's house—not Christ's. That is indicative of where the church is heading at the time.After we got home, I started to do my Archaeology reading. I slept for a couple of hours, then woke up and finished my reading just in time for dinner. At dinner, Brad came and joined our table, so he and I ended up studying until class started. I'll be honest, I did all the reading and it made sense to me, but I didn't study my reading questions nearly enough. Granted, the only thing I missed on the quiz was that Alexander the Great's father was Philip II. Class was really good, but I got ADD partway through. Luckily, I sat by an outlet, so I had been taking notes on my computer. So, to quell the ADD, I worked on organizing pictures. It was great fun, really. :)
I walked back to our rooms with Kathryn and ended up going over to Theresa's little house, sitting outside and talking for awhile. Everyone is afraid that they're failing their classes and it makes me really sad, but I don't know how to make it better. I told them I would study with them, but I'll be honest, I don't know how to help them study. Especially for OT, seeing as how they're in another class. And quite frankly, I am grateful I'm not in their class. It seems much harder than mine. I never thought I'd say that about Bro. Merrill's class—that it's the easier choice. Funny thing is, Victor Ludlow is coming over Summer term to replace Bro. Whitchurch. So, I'm pretty sure, the same will be true. Bro. Merrill will still be the easy one. At least from what I hear about Bro. Ludlow, anyway. After awhile, Kathryn left so Theresa and I talked as I rubbed her back. Initially we were going to rub each others backs, but I started and I'm pretty certain I give much longer back rubs than the rest of the world. Especially because I'm fearing that my hand muscles are weakening, so I want to keep using them to keep them strong. Needless to say, when we finally parted, I was just finishing her back rub.
I went back home and wrote a lot in my blogs, trying to catch up and did a really good job, if I do say so myself. :) It's nice to be able to write details. To have time to write details. Granted, because I take so much time on my blogs, I don't have any spare time to do all the other things that I decided I was going to do. :D Oh well. Priorities, right? Finally, around 12:30, I decided to go to bed. Right after, some of my roommates came home. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep through their talking, but once again, I surprised myself. I don't recall one bit of it.
May 31, 2007
Breakfast: 6:30-7:30. Pretty sure we all showed up around 7:25. hehehe But that's ok. Bro. Whitchurch's class had a field trip today, and they left at 7:30, but our class was staying in and having class. (We only have one bus up here, so we have to take turn going on field trips and staying at the kibbutz for class.) I had a half hour between breakfast and class, but I didn't really want to go back to my room, since it's clear across the kibbutz, so I stuck around and worked on typing up a blog for the half hour interim period. Well, that is, until Sis. Huntington came over and started talking to me. I'm telling you, she is one amazing lady. In hushed tones, so no one could hear her except me, she asked me how I was doing—if I was feeling any better from my headache yesterday. To be honest, I had woke up without a headache and hadn't even thought about it. Luckily, she brought it to my attention so that I could be appropriately grateful for it being gone. I assured her that I was doing great, and I could see the relief wash over her face. "Tianna, I have to admit that I've been really concerned about you all night. Yesterday while we were talking, you looked so pale. I was so worried. But this morning your face is full of color again. I'm so happy to hear that you're feeling better." Really, isn't she amazing?
New Testament started at 8. Our first day of this class. It was kind of exciting really. Especially since we didn't even look at the syllabus. How many classes can you say that about? He gave it to us when we first got here, then gave us the updated reading schedule about a week or so ago. Plus, the grading system and our homework stuff is exactly the same. It really doesn't feel like we're in a new class at all. Especially since we're simply moving from the Old Testament to the New. And we spent the first hour of class talking about the inter-testamental period. It was great.
Initially, the class was set up so that we had 2 two-hour blocks of class—one in the morning, one in the evening. We vetoed that idea. So instead, 4 hours straight class in the morning. I'll admit, I was a little nervous and skeptical about this idea. Turns out, it's worked out rather nicely. I had my laptop and an adaptor so I could take notes on there and get more out of it. (For most of it... Bridget lent me her convertor, but as we all already know, convertors don't work to power my laptop. Only adaptors. So halfway through, during a long break, Lauren got her adaptor from her apartment and let me use it for the rest of class.) I knew a lot of what he was saying, but I learned a lot, too. Blessing of religion classes and the scriptures in general. It doesn't matter how many times you read the stories and take the classes—even from the same professor—you still learn what you need to hear. I was amazed at how fast the 4 hours went.
After lunch, everyone went straight for swimming. I grabbed my scriptures and sat on the beach to read. After a half hour or so, my eyes were getting droopy, but I didn't really want to take a nap, so I decided to listen to a talk on my ipod. A week or so ago, Bro. Merrill had mentioned a talk by Spencer W. Kimball—A Style of Our Own in class. One of the beauties of having the Internet in class is that when he mentioned that we should all listen to this talk, I immediately got onto the BYU devotional website, found the talk, and downloaded it to my computer. So, after putting it on my ipod, I headed back down to the beach with my scriptures for round two. I read some more, until my eyes started drooping again, then I put on the ipod and just stared into the Sea of Galilee and listened to Elder Kimball chastise the world. hehehe. I laugh, but that's really what he did. He was really smart about his presentation—I didn't realize it until later when I was telling someone about the talk. He started out big and broad—talking about the great and abominable cities that were destroyed such as Pompey or Sodom and Gemmorah. He talked about the evil practices that went on in each of these cities that were so disgusting that of course we, as an audience, would cheer on their destruction. It was horrific. Then he moved on to chastity, talking about adultery and keeping yourself chaste before marriage. He focused a lot on how it was the most grievous sin, second only to the shedding of innocent blood. We've all heard that, I've never had a problem with that, so it was easy to just smile and nod and not really personalize it. Next step was immodesty. Here's where it started to get personal. I'm sure for many people who heard it—not just me.
For the most part, it was everything that we always hear about modesty. Except, he was much more abrupt than anyone today. The words vile, abomination, and grievous sin, were prominent throughout his talk. You could hear the disappointment in his voice as he talked about the way people dressed during the day. He talked about the Miss Utah pageant, specifically the swimsuit section, and how horrible it was. Seriously, if I were crowned Miss Utah, then heard this talk, I'm pretty sure I would have turned in my crown right then and there.
The part that really shocked me, however, was the statement, "I see women on the streets wearing shorts. There is no place for women to ever wear shorts unless it's in their own rooms of their own home. No shorts. It's immodest. President George Albert Smith, your prophet, has mentioned this many times recently." Of course, my first thought was, "But BYU Honor Code says that shorts are ok. Surely this was a talk directed to the people and culture of that time and isn't applicable to us." Then my next thought was, "Does the fact that it's in the Honor Code really make it permissible? Or, perhaps, is it simply that BYU is slowly conforming to the standards of the world?" I was torn. I asked Benyamin (Cambell), Rebecca and Chris about it later over dinner. I respect their opinions and I really wanted to know. I was shocked to hear both boys say that they would agree with the "No shorts. It's immodest" statement. Chris admitted that perhaps it was due to our Jerusalem Center experience where you never see anyone in shorts, and perhaps he's just overly sensitive at the moment. But still. The fact that two different boys quickly agreed—without even batting an eye—spoke worlds to me. We asked the Brownings. (He is the patriarch over all of Russia as well as the District President of the entire Israel branch, so we figured opinion was worth something :D hehe) Sis. Browning brought up the timing of the talk. Back then, when George Albert Smith was prophet, the shorts in style were the really short shorts. So perhaps the long, knee length shorts would still be permissible. Later that night, I was talking to Bridget about it and she brought up the point of garments and instructions on how they should be worn. Apparently, her mother and sister are very firm in the opinion that women shouldn't show their kneecaps. I had never head this before. Granted, all this is open for interpretation—as are most things in the gospel—but it definitely gave me a lot to think about. It's weird. To say "No shorts" doesn't really affect me much. The only pair of shorts I even own are to put over my bathing suit. So it's not like I have to cleanse my wardrobe. It's just the principle behind the matter that I had never even considered. Huh. One last quote from the talk that I absolutely loved. Girls everywhere, please listen to this! "Men are not going to love you more because your necks are bare; he will love you more when you are properly dressed." It's so true! He also brings up the point that a man will not respect you if you are not properly dressed.
By this point, Bro. Whitchurch's class had returned, so Theresa and I sat on the beach reading our scriptures until dinner time. Dinner was pretty much amazing. We went to the kibbutz restaurant down the street. The specialty? St. Peter's fish. (From the story when Peter found the coin in the mouth of the fish.) I knew that. What I hadn't expected until Bro. Merrill warned us just beforehand, was that the fish was gutted... and nothing else. It came on your plate, bones and all, in the purest shape of a fish you could fathom. Head and all. It was rather disgusting looking. At this point, I was torn. I really wanted to eat the fish, to have a cultural experience, yet at the same time, I wanted to be full at the end of the meal. They also served pizza. Hmmmm... Solution?
I got pizza, Chris got fish, and we split them. I have to admit, once you got past moving the fin to get the meat underneath, as well as ignoring the fish staring back up at you, the fish was actually rather good. Good thing I like fish. Then came the excitement of the night. The adventure, if you will. The challenge of eating the fish eye. I suddenly had memories of regret of not eating chicken feet or 1,000 year old eggs in China. Would I let that regret come again? I could not. I ate the fish eye. Yes, my friends, it is true. I, above all others at my table, was brave and ate the eye of a fish. Oh sure, because of technical difficulties, I may have had to do it twice. (Apparently, the first one I ate wasn't the entire eye.) And sure, perhaps the video we took was of the first one which didn't get nearly so bad a reaction. (We thought we videoed the second, but we had it on the wrong setting so we just got a picture of the first and last scene... ~sigh. Oh well. I have witnesses.) 
Perhaps I gagged three times on the second half (it was much bigger, gooier, and chewier) and everyone around me was more afraid of the eye coming back up than if it was going to go down. Hehehe. But it didn't taste bad. It was just the idea of eating a fish eye, really. Chalk it up for one more crazy thing I've eaten. :D Oh, and don't forget about the stray cat wandering through the restaurant. Ha!
After dinner, we drove over to Tiberias where we went to a real grocery store. I haven't seen a real grocery store for over a month. But it feels like six months, to be honest. I struggled seeing meat and fruits and chocolate and yogurt and shampoo all in the same place. Trust me, I got used to it, but it was definitely a shock. The fun part was that Benyamin was trying to get stuff for Rebecca's birthday (it's on the 4th) without her knowledge. It resulted in some extremely funny stories. Seriously, if she doesn't suspect something, it'll be a miracle. After a half hour of wanderings through the streets of Tiberias, we came home. I spent way too long talking to Bridget about shorts, doing homework until I couldn't stay awake any longer, then it was off to bed for all of us. Again, I slept through the rest of my roommates getting ready for bed. That's really odd—because my room is literally the living room. I can stick my foot on the kitchen floor while sitting on my bed. To watch TV, you have to sit on my bed. It is the main area of movement. Plus, I'm not a heavy sleeper. I typically wake up to people moving around. I prefer it when people get up early, because then I'm more likely to get up because there is movement all around. Apparently that hasn't been a factor as of late, because I definitely don't remember a thing.
New Testament started at 8. Our first day of this class. It was kind of exciting really. Especially since we didn't even look at the syllabus. How many classes can you say that about? He gave it to us when we first got here, then gave us the updated reading schedule about a week or so ago. Plus, the grading system and our homework stuff is exactly the same. It really doesn't feel like we're in a new class at all. Especially since we're simply moving from the Old Testament to the New. And we spent the first hour of class talking about the inter-testamental period. It was great.
Initially, the class was set up so that we had 2 two-hour blocks of class—one in the morning, one in the evening. We vetoed that idea. So instead, 4 hours straight class in the morning. I'll admit, I was a little nervous and skeptical about this idea. Turns out, it's worked out rather nicely. I had my laptop and an adaptor so I could take notes on there and get more out of it. (For most of it... Bridget lent me her convertor, but as we all already know, convertors don't work to power my laptop. Only adaptors. So halfway through, during a long break, Lauren got her adaptor from her apartment and let me use it for the rest of class.) I knew a lot of what he was saying, but I learned a lot, too. Blessing of religion classes and the scriptures in general. It doesn't matter how many times you read the stories and take the classes—even from the same professor—you still learn what you need to hear. I was amazed at how fast the 4 hours went.
After lunch, everyone went straight for swimming. I grabbed my scriptures and sat on the beach to read. After a half hour or so, my eyes were getting droopy, but I didn't really want to take a nap, so I decided to listen to a talk on my ipod. A week or so ago, Bro. Merrill had mentioned a talk by Spencer W. Kimball—A Style of Our Own in class. One of the beauties of having the Internet in class is that when he mentioned that we should all listen to this talk, I immediately got onto the BYU devotional website, found the talk, and downloaded it to my computer. So, after putting it on my ipod, I headed back down to the beach with my scriptures for round two. I read some more, until my eyes started drooping again, then I put on the ipod and just stared into the Sea of Galilee and listened to Elder Kimball chastise the world. hehehe. I laugh, but that's really what he did. He was really smart about his presentation—I didn't realize it until later when I was telling someone about the talk. He started out big and broad—talking about the great and abominable cities that were destroyed such as Pompey or Sodom and Gemmorah. He talked about the evil practices that went on in each of these cities that were so disgusting that of course we, as an audience, would cheer on their destruction. It was horrific. Then he moved on to chastity, talking about adultery and keeping yourself chaste before marriage. He focused a lot on how it was the most grievous sin, second only to the shedding of innocent blood. We've all heard that, I've never had a problem with that, so it was easy to just smile and nod and not really personalize it. Next step was immodesty. Here's where it started to get personal. I'm sure for many people who heard it—not just me.
For the most part, it was everything that we always hear about modesty. Except, he was much more abrupt than anyone today. The words vile, abomination, and grievous sin, were prominent throughout his talk. You could hear the disappointment in his voice as he talked about the way people dressed during the day. He talked about the Miss Utah pageant, specifically the swimsuit section, and how horrible it was. Seriously, if I were crowned Miss Utah, then heard this talk, I'm pretty sure I would have turned in my crown right then and there.
The part that really shocked me, however, was the statement, "I see women on the streets wearing shorts. There is no place for women to ever wear shorts unless it's in their own rooms of their own home. No shorts. It's immodest. President George Albert Smith, your prophet, has mentioned this many times recently." Of course, my first thought was, "But BYU Honor Code says that shorts are ok. Surely this was a talk directed to the people and culture of that time and isn't applicable to us." Then my next thought was, "Does the fact that it's in the Honor Code really make it permissible? Or, perhaps, is it simply that BYU is slowly conforming to the standards of the world?" I was torn. I asked Benyamin (Cambell), Rebecca and Chris about it later over dinner. I respect their opinions and I really wanted to know. I was shocked to hear both boys say that they would agree with the "No shorts. It's immodest" statement. Chris admitted that perhaps it was due to our Jerusalem Center experience where you never see anyone in shorts, and perhaps he's just overly sensitive at the moment. But still. The fact that two different boys quickly agreed—without even batting an eye—spoke worlds to me. We asked the Brownings. (He is the patriarch over all of Russia as well as the District President of the entire Israel branch, so we figured opinion was worth something :D hehe) Sis. Browning brought up the timing of the talk. Back then, when George Albert Smith was prophet, the shorts in style were the really short shorts. So perhaps the long, knee length shorts would still be permissible. Later that night, I was talking to Bridget about it and she brought up the point of garments and instructions on how they should be worn. Apparently, her mother and sister are very firm in the opinion that women shouldn't show their kneecaps. I had never head this before. Granted, all this is open for interpretation—as are most things in the gospel—but it definitely gave me a lot to think about. It's weird. To say "No shorts" doesn't really affect me much. The only pair of shorts I even own are to put over my bathing suit. So it's not like I have to cleanse my wardrobe. It's just the principle behind the matter that I had never even considered. Huh. One last quote from the talk that I absolutely loved. Girls everywhere, please listen to this! "Men are not going to love you more because your necks are bare; he will love you more when you are properly dressed." It's so true! He also brings up the point that a man will not respect you if you are not properly dressed.
By this point, Bro. Whitchurch's class had returned, so Theresa and I sat on the beach reading our scriptures until dinner time. Dinner was pretty much amazing. We went to the kibbutz restaurant down the street. The specialty? St. Peter's fish. (From the story when Peter found the coin in the mouth of the fish.) I knew that. What I hadn't expected until Bro. Merrill warned us just beforehand, was that the fish was gutted... and nothing else. It came on your plate, bones and all, in the purest shape of a fish you could fathom. Head and all. It was rather disgusting looking. At this point, I was torn. I really wanted to eat the fish, to have a cultural experience, yet at the same time, I wanted to be full at the end of the meal. They also served pizza. Hmmmm... Solution? 
I got pizza, Chris got fish, and we split them. I have to admit, once you got past moving the fin to get the meat underneath, as well as ignoring the fish staring back up at you, the fish was actually rather good. Good thing I like fish. Then came the excitement of the night. The adventure, if you will. The challenge of eating the fish eye. I suddenly had memories of regret of not eating chicken feet or 1,000 year old eggs in China. Would I let that regret come again? I could not. I ate the fish eye. Yes, my friends, it is true. I, above all others at my table, was brave and ate the eye of a fish. Oh sure, because of technical difficulties, I may have had to do it twice. (Apparently, the first one I ate wasn't the entire eye.) And sure, perhaps the video we took was of the first one which didn't get nearly so bad a reaction. (We thought we videoed the second, but we had it on the wrong setting so we just got a picture of the first and last scene... ~sigh. Oh well. I have witnesses.) 
Perhaps I gagged three times on the second half (it was much bigger, gooier, and chewier) and everyone around me was more afraid of the eye coming back up than if it was going to go down. Hehehe. But it didn't taste bad. It was just the idea of eating a fish eye, really. Chalk it up for one more crazy thing I've eaten. :D Oh, and don't forget about the stray cat wandering through the restaurant. Ha! After dinner, we drove over to Tiberias where we went to a real grocery store. I haven't seen a real grocery store for over a month. But it feels like six months, to be honest. I struggled seeing meat and fruits and chocolate and yogurt and shampoo all in the same place. Trust me, I got used to it, but it was definitely a shock. The fun part was that Benyamin was trying to get stuff for Rebecca's birthday (it's on the 4th) without her knowledge. It resulted in some extremely funny stories. Seriously, if she doesn't suspect something, it'll be a miracle. After a half hour of wanderings through the streets of Tiberias, we came home. I spent way too long talking to Bridget about shorts, doing homework until I couldn't stay awake any longer, then it was off to bed for all of us. Again, I slept through the rest of my roommates getting ready for bed. That's really odd—because my room is literally the living room. I can stick my foot on the kitchen floor while sitting on my bed. To watch TV, you have to sit on my bed. It is the main area of movement. Plus, I'm not a heavy sleeper. I typically wake up to people moving around. I prefer it when people get up early, because then I'm more likely to get up because there is movement all around. Apparently that hasn't been a factor as of late, because I definitely don't remember a thing.
May 30, 2007
Woke up at 5:30. Finished packing and started cleaning until 6:30. I hope we did a good enough job to pass clean check. Ehhh... I'll find out when we get back to the Center in a week. :) I had enough time to grab a small bowl of cereal for breakfast and remembered at the last minute to quickly email my parents to tell them I'd be in Galilee for 8 days, so don't worry if I don't email or blog for that long. (If these get posted before I get back to the Center, feel lucky everyone. Kathryn has probably let me use some of her Internet time that she bought.)
The bus ride turned out to be just fine. Though, I've discovered that sleeping on busses is not nearly as easy when I'm not drugged. :) Needless to say, I didn't sleep much for the first 2 hour portion of the drive. We then started hitting the sites. We started at Beth Shean. This place has relatively little scriptural significance, but was incredible nonetheless. It is a fabulously preserved archaeological site from the Roman era. This site actually started out really depressing. I went to take a picture and when I turned on my camera, all it did was beep at me and tell me, "Lens error. Restart Camera." Over and over and over again. I wanted to cry. I passed it around to several people to see if they could fix it. As Eli was looking at it, Kat told me that she'd pray for me. It still didn't work. I tried not to cry as we went through the site, looking at all the places I wanted pictures of.
We walked through the bath house. We could see the little pillars that held up the saunas so that coals from fires could be placed beneath it. We saw the mosaic floors that they had put immense time and effort into. I had Cambell take a few pictures for me. Half way through, one group climbed the enormous tell in the middle to take pictures while the rest of us sat at the bottom. I saw Brad. I asked him if he knew anything about cameras. He laughed, "I know lots about cameras!" "So make mine work!" I said as I handed him my camera. His face fell a little, "Well, I don't know anything about broken cameras. But he tried nonetheless. Kat, laying next to me, was on her third prayer. Brad pulled out the memory card and the battery—giving them to me. (I had already tried this 2-3 times) He put the battery back in, and it turned on. [IMG_1172]I was ecstatic! Thus, we decided that Brad and Kat make the perfect team. We call them Brat. Kat prays and Brad touches the broken item. Magic!
I'm so happy my camera got fixed. A few minutes later we came to an amphitheater. I've always wondered how good the acoustics are in there, really. Without microphones, how well could people, really hear the people on the stage? I was impressed. I was sitting rather high up, and Bro. Merrill started talking to us from the stage. Even when he was talking quietly, I could hear him really well. So, he decided to sing to us. I had no idea he could sing that well. He sang "The Impossible Dream." It was beautiful! Luckily, my camera worked, so I got it on the movie. 
Tragically, my memory card filled up 30 seconds from the end. Kenzie said she got the whole movie, but she moved her camera around to get the audience, too. Perhaps I'll get hers and splice her audio with my video for the last 30 seconds or so. I really want to make a movie of the Center. That song on there would be great, methinks. I should talk to the memory committee and see if they want to do that for the memory, or if I should just do it on my own. Either way, I should really clean some space off of my computer so I can get lots of people's pictures.
Next stop—Bet Alpha Synagogue. The name of this place makes me laugh. It's Hebrew meets Greek. Interestingly enough, that's what the mosaic on the floor does, too. (Hmmm... I didn't make that connection until just now...) It's a Jewish synagogue, but the mosaic on the floor (which is gorgeous) is centered around a Zodiak. Above it is the Ark of the Covenant and below is Abraham sacrificing Isaac. But a zodiak?! In a Jewish synagogue?! Craziness.
Next was Sepphoris. As we stood at the map at the beginning, Benyamin tied my fanny pack to a giant chain without my knowledge. I finally felt a little tug and turned my head, expecting to see Ryan M. who will randomly hold on to my strap and let me pull him up hills. Instead I saw Benyamin, so I just chuckled and turned back, not thinking anything of it. Benyamin, however, thought he had been caught, so he just let go of the chain in disappointment. Not expecting it at all, the weight of the chain jerked me backwards, giving us all a good laugh.
We ended up getting lost here. Ha! I love it. Apparently everyone was falling asleep, so the teachers felt even worse for dragging us all around the tel, backtracking several times. But, to be honest, I loved it. Well, the first stop wasn't all that great. It was on a tower, which would have been cool if it hadn't been so hazy. Apparently, you can see the Sea of Galilee from there. We could barely see 30 feet away.
They did make the top part into a museum of sorts, and it had some authentic pottery and whatnot. I was surprised to see that the really fake looking oil lamps I find everywhere actually do look authentic. Craziness. So I took a picture of it, so if those are the only oil lamps I can find, I can prove that they look authentic. ;) hehehe. (It's the one on the bottom left) All the other places, however, were full of mosaics. I've decided that I'm in love with Mosaics. I want one of my own someday. In fact, as much as Bro. Merrill keeps saying that it has to be incredibly boring, I really want to lay one down myself. Granted, I'd want someone else to make the design, but I want to actually put it down. I wonder if I could find a Tile by Number... :D
Last was the Arbel Overlook. This was amazing. 90 degree cliffs. I love the thrill of standing on heights like that. I would have absolutely loved it were it not for the wind. Most places didn't have ledges and handrails; you could just sit on a rock and hang your legs over, or lay down on your belly and look out over the cliff. :) I love that thrill. But the wind was horrible. It would have easily rivaled a bad wind in Idaho. Yeah—it was that strong. And it came in gusts, too. So, you'd get used to the little breeze that was coming through, then BAM, a strong gust would hit and knock you off balance. So you couldn't trust yourself to sit on the edge. Pity, really. Don't worry, Mom, I didn't get close enough to the edge to have scared even you. (Although the picture may not look it... ehhh...) Again, I value my life. :) I may, perchance have balance myself precariously on a pointed rock in order to take pictures for people and get a good view of the cliffs behind them... but that's a different story. I'm sure Travis would agree that sometimes, a good picture is worth some sacrifice. :D Plus, I kept someone right there next to me to catch me if I fell. And I definitely reached out for balance a few times—waiting out a gust of wind before I took the picture. But even with the wind, the cliffs were amazing. They were worth the stop.
Last stop—Ein Gev. This is the kibbutz we're staying at for the week. One reason that Galilee is much more pleasant than Egypt is that we have one place to stay. We can put our luggage in our room, and forget about it all day. We can unpack and spread our stuff around, and not have to worry about cleaning it up for days. hehehe. Egypt, we had a different hotel or train car every night. I really don't think we stayed in the same place more than one night in a row. Cairo... maybe two nights. But I don't think so. I should check on that. It's nice to have my own little "home." One weird part—new roommates. They split the rooms up alphabetically by class—the same roommates that I had last time we were up here. Now, I love these girls... they're all amazing. But I don't have the same comfort level with them as I do with my JC roommates. Hmmm... hopefully that'll change as the week progresses.
I got off the bus with a bad headache. I'm pretty sure it was a combination of not enough water and trying to sleep on a bus where the seats don't recline, so I definitely slept on my neck funny. I mentioned it to Sis. Huntington but reassured her that a good sleep would take care of it. And if it didn't, I had ibuprofen in my bag. She was really cute about it. It's nice to have little "mini-mothers" here. Someone who looks out for you. I've made a special little friendship with the Huntingtons. They sit right in front of me on the bus (I sit as close to the front as I can, and the teachers always take the front seats on either side. Hence, I'm always right behind either the Huntingtons or Bro. Merrill.) so I've been able to get to know them better. They are really entertaining people, that's for sure. I want to be a cute couple like them someday.
I went to my room and promptly took a nap. I woke up for dinner with a worse headache than I had left with. Dinner helped a little bit, so I convinced myself to go down to the bonfire for Ryan Morely's birthday. Everyone was just sitting around talking. My headache kept me from talking much, so I got bored rather fast, and finally decided that I'd rather sleep. So I went back to my room. However, the homework due the next day was pressing down upon me, so I decided to start that instead. Partway through, Bridget came home, carting Ashley Anne with her. So the three of us struck up a conversation. Partway through, I mentioned that I still had the headache and blamed it on sleeping on my neck funny. Immediately Ashley Anne jumped up and started giving me a back rub. Wow. I'm pretty sure it was better than many of the professional back rubs I've had. Really, she could make money off that talent. And honestly, I was in heaven. I didn't realize I hurt in so many places. And come to find out, it was my back that was throwing off my neck. She spent more time on my back than my neck, and by the time she was done, my headache had lessened dramatically. Bless her soul, that's all I have to say. She saved me that night. However, as soon as they left, I went to bed. I was so out of it, I didn't even hear everyone else come home, even though my bed is pressed up right next to Christina's. (I think it's made for couples, but is really only two twin beds.) Hmmm... Apparently I really needed sleep.
The bus ride turned out to be just fine. Though, I've discovered that sleeping on busses is not nearly as easy when I'm not drugged. :) Needless to say, I didn't sleep much for the first 2 hour portion of the drive. We then started hitting the sites. We started at Beth Shean. This place has relatively little scriptural significance, but was incredible nonetheless. It is a fabulously preserved archaeological site from the Roman era. This site actually started out really depressing. I went to take a picture and when I turned on my camera, all it did was beep at me and tell me, "Lens error. Restart Camera." Over and over and over again. I wanted to cry. I passed it around to several people to see if they could fix it. As Eli was looking at it, Kat told me that she'd pray for me. It still didn't work. I tried not to cry as we went through the site, looking at all the places I wanted pictures of.
We walked through the bath house. We could see the little pillars that held up the saunas so that coals from fires could be placed beneath it. We saw the mosaic floors that they had put immense time and effort into. I had Cambell take a few pictures for me. Half way through, one group climbed the enormous tell in the middle to take pictures while the rest of us sat at the bottom. I saw Brad. I asked him if he knew anything about cameras. He laughed, "I know lots about cameras!" "So make mine work!" I said as I handed him my camera. His face fell a little, "Well, I don't know anything about broken cameras. But he tried nonetheless. Kat, laying next to me, was on her third prayer. Brad pulled out the memory card and the battery—giving them to me. (I had already tried this 2-3 times) He put the battery back in, and it turned on. [IMG_1172]I was ecstatic! Thus, we decided that Brad and Kat make the perfect team. We call them Brat. Kat prays and Brad touches the broken item. Magic!
I'm so happy my camera got fixed. A few minutes later we came to an amphitheater. I've always wondered how good the acoustics are in there, really. Without microphones, how well could people, really hear the people on the stage? I was impressed. I was sitting rather high up, and Bro. Merrill started talking to us from the stage. Even when he was talking quietly, I could hear him really well. So, he decided to sing to us. I had no idea he could sing that well. He sang "The Impossible Dream." It was beautiful! Luckily, my camera worked, so I got it on the movie. 
Tragically, my memory card filled up 30 seconds from the end. Kenzie said she got the whole movie, but she moved her camera around to get the audience, too. Perhaps I'll get hers and splice her audio with my video for the last 30 seconds or so. I really want to make a movie of the Center. That song on there would be great, methinks. I should talk to the memory committee and see if they want to do that for the memory, or if I should just do it on my own. Either way, I should really clean some space off of my computer so I can get lots of people's pictures.
Next stop—Bet Alpha Synagogue. The name of this place makes me laugh. It's Hebrew meets Greek. Interestingly enough, that's what the mosaic on the floor does, too. (Hmmm... I didn't make that connection until just now...) It's a Jewish synagogue, but the mosaic on the floor (which is gorgeous) is centered around a Zodiak. Above it is the Ark of the Covenant and below is Abraham sacrificing Isaac. But a zodiak?! In a Jewish synagogue?! Craziness.
Next was Sepphoris. As we stood at the map at the beginning, Benyamin tied my fanny pack to a giant chain without my knowledge. I finally felt a little tug and turned my head, expecting to see Ryan M. who will randomly hold on to my strap and let me pull him up hills. Instead I saw Benyamin, so I just chuckled and turned back, not thinking anything of it. Benyamin, however, thought he had been caught, so he just let go of the chain in disappointment. Not expecting it at all, the weight of the chain jerked me backwards, giving us all a good laugh.We ended up getting lost here. Ha! I love it. Apparently everyone was falling asleep, so the teachers felt even worse for dragging us all around the tel, backtracking several times. But, to be honest, I loved it. Well, the first stop wasn't all that great. It was on a tower, which would have been cool if it hadn't been so hazy. Apparently, you can see the Sea of Galilee from there. We could barely see 30 feet away.
They did make the top part into a museum of sorts, and it had some authentic pottery and whatnot. I was surprised to see that the really fake looking oil lamps I find everywhere actually do look authentic. Craziness. So I took a picture of it, so if those are the only oil lamps I can find, I can prove that they look authentic. ;) hehehe. (It's the one on the bottom left) All the other places, however, were full of mosaics. I've decided that I'm in love with Mosaics. I want one of my own someday. In fact, as much as Bro. Merrill keeps saying that it has to be incredibly boring, I really want to lay one down myself. Granted, I'd want someone else to make the design, but I want to actually put it down. I wonder if I could find a Tile by Number... :D
Last was the Arbel Overlook. This was amazing. 90 degree cliffs. I love the thrill of standing on heights like that. I would have absolutely loved it were it not for the wind. Most places didn't have ledges and handrails; you could just sit on a rock and hang your legs over, or lay down on your belly and look out over the cliff. :) I love that thrill. But the wind was horrible. It would have easily rivaled a bad wind in Idaho. Yeah—it was that strong. And it came in gusts, too. So, you'd get used to the little breeze that was coming through, then BAM, a strong gust would hit and knock you off balance. So you couldn't trust yourself to sit on the edge. Pity, really. Don't worry, Mom, I didn't get close enough to the edge to have scared even you. (Although the picture may not look it... ehhh...) Again, I value my life. :) I may, perchance have balance myself precariously on a pointed rock in order to take pictures for people and get a good view of the cliffs behind them... but that's a different story. I'm sure Travis would agree that sometimes, a good picture is worth some sacrifice. :D Plus, I kept someone right there next to me to catch me if I fell. And I definitely reached out for balance a few times—waiting out a gust of wind before I took the picture. But even with the wind, the cliffs were amazing. They were worth the stop.Last stop—Ein Gev. This is the kibbutz we're staying at for the week. One reason that Galilee is much more pleasant than Egypt is that we have one place to stay. We can put our luggage in our room, and forget about it all day. We can unpack and spread our stuff around, and not have to worry about cleaning it up for days. hehehe. Egypt, we had a different hotel or train car every night. I really don't think we stayed in the same place more than one night in a row. Cairo... maybe two nights. But I don't think so. I should check on that. It's nice to have my own little "home." One weird part—new roommates. They split the rooms up alphabetically by class—the same roommates that I had last time we were up here. Now, I love these girls... they're all amazing. But I don't have the same comfort level with them as I do with my JC roommates. Hmmm... hopefully that'll change as the week progresses.
I got off the bus with a bad headache. I'm pretty sure it was a combination of not enough water and trying to sleep on a bus where the seats don't recline, so I definitely slept on my neck funny. I mentioned it to Sis. Huntington but reassured her that a good sleep would take care of it. And if it didn't, I had ibuprofen in my bag. She was really cute about it. It's nice to have little "mini-mothers" here. Someone who looks out for you. I've made a special little friendship with the Huntingtons. They sit right in front of me on the bus (I sit as close to the front as I can, and the teachers always take the front seats on either side. Hence, I'm always right behind either the Huntingtons or Bro. Merrill.) so I've been able to get to know them better. They are really entertaining people, that's for sure. I want to be a cute couple like them someday.
I went to my room and promptly took a nap. I woke up for dinner with a worse headache than I had left with. Dinner helped a little bit, so I convinced myself to go down to the bonfire for Ryan Morely's birthday. Everyone was just sitting around talking. My headache kept me from talking much, so I got bored rather fast, and finally decided that I'd rather sleep. So I went back to my room. However, the homework due the next day was pressing down upon me, so I decided to start that instead. Partway through, Bridget came home, carting Ashley Anne with her. So the three of us struck up a conversation. Partway through, I mentioned that I still had the headache and blamed it on sleeping on my neck funny. Immediately Ashley Anne jumped up and started giving me a back rub. Wow. I'm pretty sure it was better than many of the professional back rubs I've had. Really, she could make money off that talent. And honestly, I was in heaven. I didn't realize I hurt in so many places. And come to find out, it was my back that was throwing off my neck. She spent more time on my back than my neck, and by the time she was done, my headache had lessened dramatically. Bless her soul, that's all I have to say. She saved me that night. However, as soon as they left, I went to bed. I was so out of it, I didn't even hear everyone else come home, even though my bed is pressed up right next to Christina's. (I think it's made for couples, but is really only two twin beds.) Hmmm... Apparently I really needed sleep.
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