Wow we just got back from Galilee and I am still amazed of how beautiful it was and how much fun we had! It was so amazing going to all of the sites and seeing places that Christ had been. We went to church at a small chapel and that was really fun to meet some of the local members there. We had a lot of free time and spent most of it playing on the beach and in the sea. Our first night there, there was the most beautiful sunset and that got everyone so excited to stay there for 10 days! We had a massaging party and hung out on the beach every night and that was so nice just chillin' and hanging out with a bunch of really fun people! The Kibbutz we stayed at made a bonfire for us 3 different nights! That was so much fun!
One night we went to a fish restaurant and I got the St. Peter's fish.... everything included! It took a lot of courage to bite into that thing at first, but it was one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten!
Every time we got near a body of water, you were 100% sure to find us in it. It was really hot and humid there in Galilee so stepping into water was so refreshing! Thank you to our teacher who didn't get to impatient with us for wasting a lot of time playing in the water! haha. Now I can say I've been in the Mediterranean Sea!
One of the best days was when we went to Capernaum for an afternoon. Jesus spent most of his time there and performed most of his miracles there in Capernaum so it was so cool to walk around the excavations they have done and think about what it would've been like 2,000 years ago. They think they have found Peter's house (which is where Jesus stayed when he was in Capernaum). There was also a synagogue excavated and it is very likely that Christ taught in that synagogue!! So cool!!!

Jordan

Jordan was so much fun! Our first stop was at Mt. Nebo which is where Moses was translated- the picture on the left is a representation of the serpent that was put up for the people to look up to and be healed. We went to Petra and it was so much fun! Now I can say I've walked where Harrison Ford walked! They filmed one of the Indiana Jones movies at Petra! It was so awesome. There were so many cool things to see there. I met a Bedouin man there and a few of us went to his house (which is in an old tomb) and he gave us a tour. It was really cool and he had a beautiful garden (picture on the right). I also rode a donkey for the first time and let me just say that it was a big adventure and I have so much more respect for Marry- I rode the donkey for an hour and I was very sore. I can't imagine how Mary must have felt riding it for so long. There was some really cheap jewelry there and us girls were in heaven! That night we took a bus to Amman (the capitol of Jordan) and we had a few hours of free time so we went to a shopping center down the street. Our favorite store was a DVD store where every DVD was $2!!! I couldn't pass up this opportunity so i bought 17 movies! I know that sounds ridiculous but hey, I got 17 movies for the price of 2 or 3 so I used that to justify it. In Amman we went to an old Roman city from the time of Christ- our tour guide said that it was very likely that Christ came to this city during his time in Jordan. That night we went and had a fireside with the branch in Amman. It was really interesting to talk with the people there. It would be so hard to stay excited about the church because they cannot proselyte to any Muslim and Jordan has a high percentage of Muslims. The guy who spoke talked about all the service the church does in the area. He talked about a Leper colony in Egypt that was really poor and the people there eat such bad food because they don't have any way to keep their food good. The church bought fridges and microwaves for every person living there! I thought that was so cool!
Our last day there we went to an Islamic Mosque and it was so awesome! All of us girls had to wear these really attractive black robes because the women have to be completely covered. It was cool to go in there and learn more about the Islamic religion. After that we went to the spot where Christ was baptized! It was a cool experience but it was also really hard to pay attention to our tour guide because it was 118 degrees! I'm not sure if I've ever been in temperature like that. But i guess any time you at 1300 feet below sea level it is going to be that hot!
It was a great trip and I'm glad to be back in Jerusalem. There was a terrorist attack in the city when we were in Jordan so we have been on house arrest since we got back on Wednesday- we couldn't leave the center at all and that was a little sad because we only have like 4 more days that we can spend in the city. But I guess it was kind of a blessing because we had a midterm the day after we got back so it made us all study. We finally got to go out today after church and it was so nice to spend time outside! Things are going great here and I'm still loving it! We leave for Galilee on Tuesday for 10 days and that's going to be so awesome! Love you all!

Back from Egypt

In Egypt I had the time of my life! I never
expected that we would see so many cool things and do so many fun activities! The whole trip was planned out so perfectly and the trip was a little rough- busses aren’t the most comfortable but it was ok. We had 2 armed guys on our bus to protect us! Kind of crazy hu?








We drove to Cairo and went straight to the Pyramids of Giza and saw a cool light show there. The next day we went back to the pyramids and we had a guide who taught us all about them. We got to go inside one of them- cool experience but it smelled really bad and it had to have been like 130 degrees in there! We all came out of there thankful for the 110 temperature outside! Haha.


That night we flew down to Luxor and the next day we went to the Valley of the Kings which is where tons of the pharaohs build their tombs. We went into 4 different tombs and the best one was King Tut’s tomb because they had his actual mummy on display inside! It was really cool. All of the artwork in the tombs was so cool and really colorful.



That night we rode camels for an hour! My guide practically proposed to me…. Kind of awkward! Haha. The next day we went to the Luxor and the Karnak temples and they were really cool. On our way back to Israel, we stopped and went snorkeling in the Red Sea!! That was so much fun and the water was so blue! The whole trip was more fun than I can explain and I’m making such good friends with all the other students. I was looking at my schedule and I have less than a month left and I almost started crying! I don’t want to leave this place! When we got back to Jerusalem from Egypt, we all felt like we were coming home. I love it here!

The day after we got back from Egypt, we went to McDonalds! It was so nice to ear American food!!

Last Greetings Before Egypt!!

Hello everyone! I've been having such a fun time here in the Holy Land. On Wednesday, we went on another field trip to the hill country called the Shephelah. We went to many different sights that were really cool. We went to the area where Samson was born and met Dalilah and that whole story happened. Then we went to a national park and saw a bunch of tombs and houses from Old Testament times. It was really cool! We also went to the place where David killed Goliath and in good old seminary fashion, we acted it out! The field trip was all day long and we were all really tired when we got home.
When we were on the bus coming home, our teacher got a phone call from the center and they said there was a terrorist attack on the West side of Jerusalem and that was a little scary to hear but they said we can still go out into the city. But we were on the field trip so everyone is ok.
The next day after class, I went out into the Old City for a few hours. First we got money for our trip to Egypt then we went to the Garden Tomb! Our guide was very respectful and after he told of all the reasons why that place was the most probable one for Christ's tomb, he then said that it doesn't matter where the tomb is, it just matters that he isn't here anymore because he is risen.












Then we went to the St. George's Cathedral and it was so gorgeous inside! On all of the seats were these really cool cushions that had different cross stitching on them- I found my favorite one- when I was holding it, I felt like Miss America: "What is the one thing this world needs?" "World Peace!" haha. The organ was really cool too- hence the picture.













Our last stop was the American Colony Hotel. It was used during a couple of the wars as a soup kitchen and has been a real help to the local people of Jerusalem. One of the guys who came with us is a history major so he taught us all about this hotel and then since it was the day before the 4th of July, we sang some patriotic songs :) There was also a really pretty garden that we walked around for a while.

Now we are all ready for Egypt! I'm so excited to go there and see all the tombs, mummies, and pyramids! It is going to be the experience of a lifetime! Hopefully I don't get too sick! They say that 95% of the students get sick on this trip to Egypt so it will probably happen. You'll hear from me in a week! Love you all.

On one of out first stops, a guy was there trying to sell us a camel ride! It was a pretty sickly looking camel but it was the first camel I've ever seen so I still thought it was cool.










This is right in front of Bethlehem! We are going on another field trip in a few weeks and visit the city. And yes, we have to wear those really attractive fanny packs whenever we go on field trips. Dad, I'm sporting it with pride!









This is the Garden Tomb. It is such an awesome place! You can feel the spirit right when you walk in the garden.










Dome of the Rock on top of Temple Mount!!! A bunch of little kids kept taking pictures with us. They were so cute! They loved seeing the picture on the screen of the camera after we took the pictures. They were teaching us words in Arabic! They were so funny and kept following us around.

Yay it finally works!! Sorry it has taken so long to get this thing going but it was blocked when we first got here. Wow so much has happened since I got here. We ended up getting here only one day late and things didn't slow down from there. Right when we got to the Jerusalem Center, we had dinner then went straight to class! There are 80 students total and everyone is so nice and so much fun! I love going to the Old City with different people every day to get to know them. It's really fun.

I can't believe all the places I have already visited in the first 6 days of being here! I have seen Bethlehem, the Garden Tomb, Golgotha, the Church of the Holy Seplecure and everything on the Temple Mount- main thing there is the Dome of the rock. Then I did the Rampart's walk- you walk on top of the city wall. It takes about 3-4 hours total so we did split it up and did it in 2 days.

Classes are going great- they are so interesting! I have a Judaism class, Islam class, Near Eastern Studies and Old Testament. All the teachers and staff are really nice. Mom and Dad- you would fit in here perfectly! You should totally do it next year!

We are going on a field trip tomorrow so I'll update again soon and put up some more pictures!

Stranded in Chicago!!

Doug and Heather- you will be excited to hear this. The plane in Salt Lake was broken and it took 2 hours to fix and so once we got to the Chicago O'Hara Airport, we missed our connecting flight to Vienna. So we were stranded in the airport trying to figure out how to get to our final destination- the Tel Aviv airport. United helped us out a little bit and got us a hotel way out in the boonies. We packed 20 people into a 11 seater van- we are all really close now! We had a good sleep and now we are planning our day in Chicago because our flight to Frankfurt, Germany isn't until 10PM. Doug and Heather- we are going to walk the magnificent mile! I'm so excited to be in Chicago and we are going to have a 10 hour layover in Frankfurt so we will be able to see some other stuff there too! I hope we can get to Jerusalem soon though. At this point, we will get there Friday at 3AM. What an adventure already!!!

Well I'm off for a new adventure in the Holy Land. I know the trip is going to be so fun and I hope that I don't get sick!! I'm excited to have the experience of a lifetime and to meet new people but what I'm most excited about is to live in Jerusalem and to learn more about Christ and about the New and Old Testament. Wish me luck!! I'll be gone from June 24th - August 14th.