Lessons Learned: Jerusalem

My time in Jerusalem has officially ended. I have one more hour until I'm welcomed home by my family.I have felt a vast array of emotions over the past week: love for my JC family, happiness for all our amazing memories, disappointment in my schoolwork, peace for my overall experience. I am coming home a changed person. I went through a couple "refiner's fire" experiences that have left me more equipped to fulfill whatever mission it is that God has planned out for me. I think I'm ready to come back to reality and embrace it and all of the changes that these coming months hold. Here are a few of the lessons I've learned since August 28, 2012:

1. I cannot run away from my problems. Whether that problem is a boy, bad habits, schoolwork, or a messy room, it's better to face it head on and care of it. That way I can move forward with life continue progressing.
2. Questions are an important learning tool. I've never been good at asking questions and usually end up sweeping them under the rug. Over the course of the last month, I have learned that I need to ask questions. I realized that every important sermon, doctrinal discourse, parable, and church event all happened because someone was willing to ask. Christ used questions to teach and help his disciples gain their own witness and he will do the same for me.
3. I need to trust the decisions I make.
4. My prayers are heard and answered. It might not happen in my timing, but an answer will be given.
5. I am capable of overcoming weaknesses. Even the ones that haven't changed since I was seven years old.
6. It's ok to be vulnerable and open up about hard things.
7. People want and need to be loved.
8. Family is the most important thing in the world. I love my family more than I ever have before and I can't wait to meet them in the airport and then have Joe back in January.
9. Change is a good thing.
10. No one can determine my happiness but me.
11. There's always room to forgive and make amends.
12. It is better to assume the best about people than the worst.
13. Angels are real and we are surrounded by them everyday. They come in the form of family, friends, strangers on the streets....anyone really can be an angel, so am I being one?
14. Heavenly Father has a very specific plan for each of us and that plan will lead us to happiness. 

I love Jerusalem. It will forever hold a special place in my heart. It is my city of peace and the land where I learned how to love more deeply and openly than I've ever known how. I will miss it greatly. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the thought of trying to articulate my feelings about and experiences of the past 3.5 months, so bear with me if I have difficulty talking about it or just won't stop talking about it at all. I'm excited to be home, but boy will I miss this chapter of my life.

Galilee

I'm back from Galilee!

I had lots of fun.

I witnessed a lightning storm and finally understood why the disciples were afraid.

 I woke up at 4 am to take pictures of the moon.

 I visited many beautiful sites. The Mt. of Beatitudes was my favorite. 

 I watched the sunset and turn the lake into liquid gold. 

I strengthened my testimony and learned a lot of pretty amazing things. Safe to say, it was a successful 10 days!

I'm alive!

Life here is busy. But I'm pretty sure that's life anywhere. Here's a brief glimpse into the while of my life.

10/29-11/1 Jordan 
I absolutely loved Jordan. Petra, Rainbow Street, bus ride conversations, explanation of the stumbling block in the scriptures...couldn't have been better.

Me and Will. Bus buddies Day 1. We slept 70% of the ride.

Mt. Nebo: the site where Moses was translated before the Israelites entered the Holy Land. 

Machaerus with my roommates. This is the site where John the Baptist was beheaded.

Riding a camel. 

Petra. THE MOST AMAZING PLACE EVER!

Lunch. I only ate a mini pancake for breakfast and forgot to eat until 1:00.

Me and the Donakey Sisters, Liz and Sarah. (Sarah, on the right, served in Burgos with Joe)

Rainbow Street. Crepes. Exploring. Fun.

Alyssa and I at a mosque, but I don't remember which one.

Mary and I at the Amman Theater. 

I helped paint a homeless shelter for teens.

We painted the walls light yellow.

Lindsey, Jay, Erin, Aleisha

Here's the whole group!

At the Herodian (one of Herod the Great's many fortresses).

Gorgeous stained glass windows in a Greek Orthodox Church.

The ceiling of the church.

The outside of the church. 

There's more pictures from Bethlehem, but the internet is going slow tonight. 

There's a little bit of what's gone in my world over the past few weeks. 

There's a good post coming soon...I promise...hopefully. For now, here's a quick update:

I went to Jordan and had an absolutely amazing time. I especially loved Petra! I got back and had an extremely difficult weekend, but grew closer to my Savior and strengthened my testimony through my trying experiences. I went to Bethlehem yesterday and bore silent testimony of my savior in Shepherd's field. Today, I picked olives, bought a nativity, chatted atop the Austrian Hospice, and visited the Kotel Tunnels.  

Here are my two favorite pictures from today. 

This is one of the last blooms in the JC Gardens.

Here's the men's side of the Western Wall at 10:30 at night. 

Grateful

Today I am grateful for
3 Sabbath day naps and a full night of sleep
angel roommates
respectful guys
brothers
parents who support and love me
an amazing testimony meeting
bearing my testimony
Priesthood blessings
Christmas music
anonymous notes
homemade ice cream with dinner
the Gospel
answers to prayer
trials
rebounding from those trials
smiles

There really is so much to be grateful for!

October update

Sukkot. Festival of the Tabernacles. 6 am. Whacking of the Willows. Accidentally erased all of my pictures, so this is all that's left.

Hezekiah's Tunnel. Alex, Annie, Kaylen, Lisa. Lots of water, lots of fun.

Graves at Lachish. Annie, Kayla, Laurann, Ellen.

Symphony with an amazing, famous, 25 year old Chinese pianist whose name escapes me.

Assembling hygiene kits. I was on towel folding duty.

Lorina, Laurann, and Annie at the St. Anne's Church.

Ben Yehuda St. with Alyssa, Lorina, Maddie, Annie, Laurann, and Eric.

Biblical Garden Fieldtrip. Shepherding. Katherine, Annie, Rosemary

Preparing lunch with Kayla, Laurann, and Alyssa.

Major reaction to the onions. I lost all my mascara by the time the tears were gone.

Me and Rachel with our lentil onion stew.

It's been a great month! These pictures don't do it justice. I finished up finals today (except I still have 2 essays to write). Next week we head to Jordan. It is going to be amazing and I can't wait! 

Sleep...or lack of it

It's finals week aka no sleep week. My last one is tomorrow at 1:30. Then there's 3 essays to be written before we head to Jordan. I promise I'm alive and a post will be coming soon; hopefully with lots of pictures. But until then, these two pictures will have to do. 

Will feeding sheep and goat.

Me with the sheep. 

Hope you have a lovely Thursday!