Jordan!

First off I may or may not have broken Blakes computer... now I say may or may not because I never dropped it, got it wet, or done all of those things that usually break a computer it just wont turn on so I dont have a computer anymore so blog post may be more delayed then they usually are! But hopefully I wont get too annoying asking other's to use their computers!

On a happier note I just got back from Jordan which was amazing! We had such a good time I fall in love with each place we go!

Jordan trumped Turkey in these ways...
1) the food- The food in Jordan was amazing so much better then Turkey which seemed a little backwards to me
2) Petra- Need I say more?
3) Not as many long bus rides!

Petra-

Picture this.. Watching Indiana Jones the week before going to Petra.. the whole room is cheering after the movie ends and the anxiety for it is building up! Then as you get there you are getting more and more excited... as you walk down the Siq it looks a lot like the Grand Canyon or Zions. It is absolutely beautiful! The tour guide is telling us all this cool yet not relevant information and I am going crazy just wanting to see the Treasury (and secretly wishing Harrison Ford will be there waiting for me). I cant even tell you how excited I was and it probably felt like the longest walk of my life getting there.. But it was well worth it! All of the sudden we turn a corner and you see this.....

(A picture will come soon enough I promise! ha)

Pretty amazing right? It was such a cool place and I got to ride my camel! After seeing the treasury together they let us break off and have some free time. So a couple of us decided to go to the Monastery, we heard that it was just a walk up to it. So as we are walking we soon realize that this may have been more then we bargained for. ha! It soon turned into an hour and a half up hill hike with Shannon and Aubrey having to stop at every necklace vendor possible. haha It might not sound too bad but when there is at least 10 up and they all have the same necklaces... yeah for a non shopper this is difficult! hah But it was well worth it because at the top the monastery was one of the most beautiful buildings and huge!! I dont understand how they built it but im sure glad they did. Dont worry on the way down we again had to stop at all the vendors!

Jordan River-

The last day in Jordan we stopped at the Jordan river and went to a site of Jesus's Baptism It was beautiful.. the water was all murky and  not quite what I expected but the experience was amazing.  Its interesting because we were sitting in Jordan (of course) and the only thing that was separating us from Israel was the river, they told us not to talk to the people on the other side. We were able to have a devotional and our Professor gave a sweet testimony then he asked a couple people to bare their testimony on their baptism, and then we sang the primary baptismal song. It was really nice to go and touch the water and think about the covenants I've made with my Father in Heaven and thank Christ for his perfect example. It was a perfect way to end our Jordan trip!!

Marissa is Awesome!!

My cute primary girl put the title up as you can see! 

Real title: Tel Aviv! 

        First off... Im going to back track just a little. A group of ten of us went to Tel Aviv last Thursday (13th) It was so much fun and really nice and relaxing. We went at about 9 am and didnt get back till 10 pm so it was a long day out but it was perfect. We walked around Jaffa and then went and played some beach volleyball, football and swam in the Mediterranean Sea, how awesome is that?
             

Shout out to the BEST MOM EVER!!!!
  Cute mom sent me a Halloween package which had to be the best thing ever!  Thank you so much mom! You have no idea how nice it is to have American treats and to have mail.  It is so nice to get a little taste of home!

 Me opening my package and SO excited!

 Liz and I blowing up the cute decorations preparing to decorate

The final product...cutest door Ever!

City Of David

Sorry I am kind of slacking on the blog these last two weeks but it is getting harder to find time here. 

Quick update on the pictures... We went to the City of David yesterday and went through Hezekiah's tunnel. It had to be one of my favorite field trips! The tunnel is 1760 ft. long about a 45 min walk in the tunnel and about ankle to mid caff  deep of water. It was awesome!We were able to use our headlamps for real finally it was great.  After the tunnel we went to these really cool tombs and explore them a little bit. So over all it was a great day! 

Conference

  Today we had a quick sacrament meeting and then watched the Saturday afternoon session of Conference. I absolutely love conference! I have to admit it made me A LOT homesick thinking that usually on conference we are at the cabin with the family playing games, and just enjoying being with each other. But if I had to pick an alternative place to be Jerusalem's not a bad choice!
  I think one of my favorite talks this session was Carl B Cooks, he talked about how its better to look up.  A lot of things happen in this life (like Curt says life isn't the reward, its the trial...) and there are two ways we can look up or down. And I choose up. He talks about how much joy can come from looking up and giving our burdens to our Savior.  It was such a beautiful message and something that I can definitely work on in life.



Yom Kippur

   Today is the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the day of atonement and is the holiest days of the year for them.  So after conference a group of us decided to go observe this holiday day....and what better way then going to the Western Wall and then to a Jewish synagogue. I love how the Jewish people worship there is absolutely no shame and are usually very humble and open about it.  There were many people humbly praying and it was so peaceful.  The men in our group were able to go right into the synagogue and worship with them while the girls when to an observation balcony. It was a once in a life time experience that I am very grateful I was able to see!

Last week!

The big things this week were: sleeping through dinner on fast Sabbath, Conference, field trip, midterms, and an organ concert! 

Sleeping through Dinner

  You know that feeling of being woken up in a complete panic, realizing that you slept through dinner on fast Sabbath.. Well that was the feeling I had!.. Let me just tell you its probably one of the worst feelings ever. Liz and I decided to take a nap on Saturday, because when you can’t eat I guess you sleep... Neither of us thought to set our alarms thinking we would never sleep 3 hours. But we did! Liz woke up in a complete panic yelling its 4:50 we missed dinner and instantly my heart dropped we changed into Sabbath close and ran up to find that dinner was all eaten, gone, put away. I literally almost started to cry I was so hungry! Luckily they found some fruit for us so we had a couple pieces of bread and some apples... Later that night, after we watched the first session of Conference, it seemed to be a huge story told here in the JC so one of the girls asked me about it and I told her the story.  My cute professor was behind me and heard that I hadn’t eaten and was starving so him and his wife kidnapped me and invited me over for dinner.  It was so yummy!! I had been craving a good home cooked meal for a long time.  I told them I was totally fine with coming and visiting anytime they wanted!

The field trip was to the Negev Desert-

  The Negev Desert is basically everything you think it will be really hot, dusty, and there's not a whole lot to look at.. While there went to a Bedouin town and visit a non profit organization run but this cute old lady that has really change the lives for the Bedouin women there.  She opened up this place where women can come and get an education and told us that she was the first lady there to get a driver's license! 

   

Midterms

  Quick sentence on midterms…. They were ridiculously hard but they are over now thank goodness!

Organ Concert

   A group of us got special permission to go out into the Old city after dark.. For those of you who don’t know we have strict rules here about when we can and can’t be out.  So it was a pretty big deal that they let us go.  It was at St. Savior’s Church, which is such a beautiful church. The man was a local from Jerusalem he played 5 really beautiful pieces.  

Arabian Night -- "Like Arabian days, More often than not Are hotter than hot In a lot of good ways"

This week consisted of trying to catch up on sleep from Turkey, studying for midterms, and going out in the city for a couple of hours just to get out.  Last night however we were able to have a little break from studying and live it up.  We had Arabian night (instantly thought of Aladdin) it was a lot of fun, got all dressed up in our Arabian get up. We had a couple of guys come and say the call to prayer live, which gave me more of an appreciation for what i wake up to at 4am. ha Then they made us some authentic food. I might not have been a huge fan of the food but it was fun to try it! At dinner I sat by cute sister Ludlow who I absolutely love she reminds me so much of Aunt Jackie, I teach her two girls in primary, and it makes me feel a little closer to home. After dinner we went in and had a little dance party they taught us a traditional dance and we all looked silly trying to follow their lead but it was great! Just what the doctor ordered!

Pictures to come.

P.S. This is probably mainly for my mom but my professor has a blog and he can upload a ton of pictures and videos of all of us and what we are doing. He also is better at all the details and info so if you want to check it out feel free!
http://huntsmansintheholyland.blogspot.com/  

Turkey Baby!

So....Turkey officially feels like forever ago. But because of midterm studying im a bit late, sorry! Here are some reasons why Turkey is one of my new favorite places. 

1.Paprika Pringles- that's right $4 pringles but i don't regret it one bit! 

2.Beyaz Magnum bars

3. Beautiful sights

4. Bon Fire on the Beach

5. Trying new foods-They brought us out a fish bones and all, it wasn't too bad either. 

We went all over Turkey literally-we started in Istanbul, traveled to Troy, Assos, Pergamon, Ephesus, Melatis, Heirapolis, Iznik, Bursa, and then back to Istanbul. We had bomb.com hotels they really treated us well some were 5 star hotels and then the others were 3/4 stars.  Not too shabby!

Here were a couple of my favorite stops in Turkey...

Istanbul: 

I loved the city of Istanbul, it was beautiful.  We went on a really pretty boat ride to look at all the land to see both the Europe side and Asia side of Turkey.  It was such a fun city with so many beautiful buildings like the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and a great place to buy baklava!

Assos-

This is one of the cities Paul visited on his missionary journey.  It is such a cute little place... we had to walk up this steep cobblestone pathway with these people selling their handmade trinkets. When we got to the top it was so beautiful it had a nice a breezy, with a great outlook of the Aegean sea, and beautiful ruins. It was one of my favorite places! 

Pergamon-

Pergamon was an experience I will never forget.. While we are on the top of Pergamon a sudden downpour of rain happened and in about 5 seconds we were all drenched head to foot. But that didnt stop us (even if the doctor wanted it too) we still went to all the different ruins and alters that were built upon Pergamon, which were amazing.  It probably wouldnt have been such a big deal if we didnt have about a 3-6 hour buss ride of us and we were all soaking wet! After we came down from the mount we had to make a stop and get out all of our luggage and change.  At the gas station we changed at I had a guy ask me if I wanted to have a ride in his new car, no worries mom I said no (this happens a lot to all of the girls)! 

Lovin the Sabbath!

    The longer I'm here the more I realize how much my Savior knows me personally!   I joked with Mom about how awesome it would be if  I got a call in the Primary here and guess what.... Shannon and I are Primary team teachers to the valiant girls.  I am so excited about this calling! I love children it makes complete since to me of why our Savior teaches us to be like them.  They instantly light up your day, they are wiling to except you for who you are, they love you the minute you walk in, and are so forgiving and can look past all your short comings! This calling is hard though because it makes me miss all my cute nieces and nephews! I miss all the fam but those kids constantly made my day!

      Quick update-After Church I was able to go to Gethsemane for the first time and it was amazing.The spirit there was so strong we read some of Luke and sang a couple of hymn (of course). It is such a beautiful experience to sit and think of what our Savior did for us. At the place, or around the place, of where he suffered for us.  I thought of how much someone would have to love you to do something like that for you...and that love is amazing and incomprehensible!  I am so grateful for him and his love.  I have always felt inadequate of having his love but the more I learn here the more I realize that all of us are able to receive it and that's what makes it so beautiful!

Here are some pictures...

   Me and Shan view form the top of the Austrian Hospice


Shan, Tyler, and me outside the garden tomb.

 I know it was quick but I have to go pack...tomorrow I'm off to Turkey! "Spring Break" here we come! ha

And the Walls Came Tumbling down

Oh Jericho-

Today we were able to go to Jericho.. How Crazy! Jericho is below sea level and DEATHLY HOT.. I do not know how people can live in this heat. Here we were able to go to King Herod's palace. It was amazing to be here and to be at the place where the walls came tumbling down just as it says in the bible! We also stopped at this beautiful spot where we could all put our feet in the water which was a huge relief seeming how hot it was!

As cool as all that was it was nothing compared to the events that took place next... We went to Tel es-Sultan Jericho and here is where the adventure began. We hike up this huge mountain to over look this amazing monastery. There are a bunch of men trying to sell all these gifts to us and we keep saying no thanks ya know?.. Well this man riding a donkey just follows up this big mountain and when we get to the top he tells me he will let me ride his donkey. Me: "No sorry I dont really want to pay any money, thanks though." Man: " Oh no no its free come on." Me: "free are you sure I wont pay" Man:"Yes, yes free" Me: "Well I dont know how i'd even get up so no thanks." Man: "I will help you" here the man picks me up and throws me on his donkey... I am dying of laughter at this point and a little nervous because every ones watching, and he wants to move the donkey to this really cool place apparently... Well its a cliff on that side, scare me! The nice man really let me ride his donkey!!!! So I'm trying to be a kind person and decide to give him a tip.. I go to give him a couple of shekels (thinking im being generous). He tells me "oh no no no if you are going to give me money it must be at least 5 shekels." Are you serious im about to be ripped off when i was just trying to be generous..... So I reluctantly pull out 5 shekels and lesson was learned. Dont give money if its not asked for because they will just want more!

Good day in Jericho! haha

The Never Ending Day!

The never ending day....

A big group decided they were all going to go Tel Aviv on Sunday (our free day) to go to the beach, but a couple of us decided we would much rather stay in the old city and explore and see a lot of the things we haven seen. So we spend 9..oh yeah 9 hours.... in the Old City! It was great but it was a long day.

We woke up early so that we could attend a Lutheran Mass. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. The pasture talked about the 10 year anniversary of 9-11. Then they invited us up into the circle with them and then after we were able to talk to the pastor about some fun things to do in the city and have her teach about the church we were congregating in.

After we decided to go the the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, this is the other place that people think Christ was buried after suffering for us (other than the Garden Tomb). It was a really interesting feel, there 5 different churches that meet in this building and it much more elaborate than the Garden tomb. It was harder for me to feel the spirit of the place. I mean dont get me wrong it is beautiful and magnificent but just a different setting then what I imagined.
We also went to the Church of the Dormition. This is the place where the Virgin Mary is said to be buried, and also the location of the Last Supper and King David's Tomb. It was a pretty place but unlike the Church of the Holy Sepulcher it wasnt over the top it was very simple. Its interesting because every place we go our teachers remind us that we dont know if this the exact place of the last supper but thats not whats important about the place...Its more of the knowledge that it did happen whether here or in the next building over Christ was there at some point in his life.

My favorite part of the day was when we "got lost" in the city. A group of us (no worries mom) decided that we just wanted to explore and see what was around talk to some people who lived there and really get a fill for the city so thats what we did. We found some really interesting spots and people, who are all very nice they love us Mormons! We were able to find a path to get on top of the wall that surrounds the old city. It was an amazing view and a lot of fun! So there it is a light description of the 9 hour day!

Descriptions of the pictures... Left to right

The group outside the Holy Sepulcher, Shans stalker picture of e laughing at/with Justin, The mural on the ceiling inside the Holy Sepulcher, Me and Jeff's ugly face contest, Candles that are lit inside the Holy Sepulcher.

Me at the Garden Tomb, Shannon Me and Aubrey inside the Holy Sepulcher, Me and Shan outside the Church of Dormition, Shan and Adam on their way up to the top of the Wall

View of the City, Me touching the stone that might have been where Christ was crucified, A bunch of us being dressed up by Shabbat (the favorite shopkeeper), Just a cool archway in the Old City!

Sleep-Who needs it these days?

Busy, Busy, Busy... I find it hard to find time to sleep here in Jerusalem. If im not out touring and exploring the city then I'm in the center trying to read the 500 pages assigned for me to read that day for the next class (usually I wouldnt really worry too much about the readings but when the professor lives on the next floor it makes it a little awkward... and when he's sitting at the breakfast table and asks about the reading and well you have no idea what he is talking about!). My past couple of days have been full of classes, I knew that when I was coming here I would be expected to go to class and learn and even have tests but I didn't expect the work load to be quite as intense but that alright. I'm convinced that when I get back I will 1st: know the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible like the back of my hand 2nd: Be an expert in Palestinian and Judaism 3rd: know the ways of this land less like a tourist and more like a native and 4th: Be able to speak Hebrew fluently of course! Alright so maybe my expectations are a little high but still I know that when I get back I will have grown in my knowledge of each of these areas which is pretty cool to me. Monday and Tuesday of this week were pretty busy school days so I wasnt able to leave the center, which was hard sometimes you get anxious to get out there especially when its so close! But today, Wednesday, I was able to get out and see a lot of things before my Hebrew class. Where of course my camera died but no worries mom I made Shannon take a lot of pictures and I will upload them soon! Here are the places we went: the Pools of Bethesda, The Western Wall, The Dome of the rock, Walked around the Jewish headquarters, Mary's tomb, and went to the sight where Christ had the crown of thorns placed on him and he carried his own cross. Each place was special and has its own stories that go along with them but my favorite places I visited today were the Pools of Bethesda and the last place...

The Pools of Bethesda: Again this had to be one of my favorite sights I saw today... It was a very emotional sight for me. This is where Christ told the man who could not walk and the blind to go and bath in these pools and be healed. You could walk down a tunnel and actually see some water that was still there and many remnants of pools. It was beautiful. Also there was a church built there called St. Anna's church and here you can go in and sing and worship. Our group was able to sing a couple of songs (which I could not get through but luckily half the group could). As we were singing a German group came in and asked if they could join in with us. It was amazing the spirit was so strong.

Where Christ bore the cross and had the crown of thorns placed on his head: This of course is an emotional place.

I have to tell you that Israel isnt what I was expecting... Its not a very clean place, its a land that is in constant conflict, and is I cant believe how such a small place can be so divided. But something i did expected was some of the feelings I am feeling and i've only been here a week! I cant wait to have more and more of the experiences I had today!

(Pictures to come, hopefully soon!)

Sunday's are our free days, its a little odd I'm still trying to get use to the idea of having church on Saturday, and then going out and shopping on what I'm use to as the Sabbath! So today was my first official day out in the city without having a teacher that knew everything there. Weirdly enough I felt a lot more at ease today than yesterday. I think yesterday was a little overwhelming and things here weren't how I expected them to be.

Here are some pictures of the past couple of days.

Explanation of the pictures- a group of us ventured out to Jerusalem we went to the Rockefeller Museum and saw some amazingly old artifacts... One of which was a drinking fountain, I didnt know that this was an actual artifact of the museum so me and Shannon were trying to figure out how it worked exactly. I was pushing on it and turning some knobs when the nice man came up to me and informed me that this was actually an artifact at the museum AWKWARD! hah He was laughing with us luckily so it was all good! After the museum we went to the west side of Jerusalem and found of course a McDonald's!!! It made me feel a little closer to home (except that they had a guard checking your purses and bags before you could go in) so we decided to get us some ice cream to top of the trip. And then before making the trip back of us ate at this pita place which smelt and looked really yummy. On the way back to the city we were able to go through Old Jerusalem and look at the shops and just make some mental notes about all of the cool things I want to bring home (sorry dad its all too tempting to pass by haha)!

Well you made it this far... Bbbarley!

Well lets get down to business... I was suppose to arrive in Israel on Wednesday but with this families luck, I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear that I was stuck in Phoenix, Arizona for a day and a half! This wouldnt have been too bad if Neal and Shannon would have still lived in Peoria but seeming that they arent there, there was no reason I wanted to be stuck in Arizona. I was suppose to fly to Arizona, Philadelphia, and then to Tel Aviv. But due to the bad luck situation and our plane having mechanical difficulties we decided to just hang out there in Arizona. The airlines tried to treat us well and give us some free dinner tickets, a nice hotel and a broken swimming pool. To try to fake happy we decided we would make the most of us (50 students) being stuck. We went swimming(at the hotel across the street because again ours was broken), and to the mall, to look at all the things we couldnt fit in our suit cases, and saw the movie The Help (which is an amazing movie). Sounds like a party right? It wouldnt have been too bad if we werent all very anxious to get to Israel! Luckily I was in the first group to get out of there (thanks dad for calling BYU. haha!). But the adventure didnt stop there 16 of us went out on the first group and lets just say I will never fly on US Air ever again... well after my flight home I guess. We flew from Arizona, to Charlotte, then to Washington D.C., continuing on the Frankfurt, and finally Tel Aviv. It was a long 32 hours with little room being squished in between a lot of people. But at that point I didnt even care we just wanted to make it to Israel so bad!

So to make a long story long (right Heath ha)....We made it to Jerusalem!!! The center is amazing, and beautiful everywhere you look you see this incredible view of the holy city. Our rooms are small and tight but thats alright i can deal with it and we havent started class yet because of all the complications which im scared for. The professors are so knowledgeable i know i can learn a lot from them but i hope that my brain can handle all the info! ha It is so much reading but that was to be expected and its a lot easier to read when you can sit out on your balcony and look out at this amazing place.

Today was my first day out in the city and going to church. Church is amazing i have a hard time listening only because i over look the city but i can tell you that thinking of Christ while taking the sacrament is a lot easier because i over look where he walked and lived. It was so crazy to actually walk around, it was scary in some parts like east Jerusalem just a different feel and a lot of army men with their machine guns... West Jerusalem is much cleaner and today it was peaceful because it was the Sabbath. It is the safer part of Jerusalem they let you stay their till 11 pm if you wanted where as in east Jerusalem you cant be their after dark. As we were walking through the old city, a lot of merchants were saying your Mormons right? One of the guys said You must be Mormons i can tell by your eyes, another said Mormons are blessed by God. They have this really great perspective and love for us, I feel like its more because we know we have money to spend but hey what ever it takes!! haha

I love it here and have had this constant peace but even with that i miss home a lot. I know though i am suppose to be here, I have SO much to learn and hope that i can take in and take every advantage of learning about our savior because that is why im here everything else is just extra. I miss the family already and these first couple of days have gone on slow but I prepared myself for that. Hopefully that was a sufficient update and not too boring. I will try to be good at this whole thing but work with me I don't have a lot of experience in the blogging area!