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!

This week...

I had a massive midterm for Ancient Near Eastern Studies. 

In preparation, we became good friends with the white boards.

This is the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms timeline.

Here's the condensed Assyrian, Northern Kingdom, and Israeli King list.  

And then there's me after 3.5 hours of sleep, with my whiteboard of the major time periods.

After recuperation day (the entirety of yesterday), I decided I finally needed to go out to the city.

 So, today I joined a bunch of people for a quick trip to Ben Yehuda street to get Schwarma. 

Me, Will, and Mary with our delectable lunches.

My new favorite foods!

We finished off our day with Arab Culture night. We had a class about prayer call, followed by a delicious dinner that I sadly didn't get pictures of because I reverted into historian mode.

 Alyssa, Annie, Rachel

(Will, Annie, Mary, Kayla, Brandon)

Shabon, our favorite shop keeper, let the five of us borrow clothes for the night. 

(Abi, Steven, Annie)

And we even got to learn some Palestinian dances. 

It's sure been a great (and busy) week!