Jericho and the Judean Wilderness

Today we had another field trip and we went out to the West Bank to Jericho and the Judean Wilderness!!! It was pretty much amazing.
For those of you who haven't been studying your Old Testament quite as diligently as I have...(I have Old Testament 5 hours/week, so it's okay if you're not. ha ha) Jericho is a very important place. In Joshua we read that the great wall of Jericho was knocked down through the power of God. His servants were given very simple, but specific instructions and they listened and obeyed and were blessed. Sometimes we think that the instructions Heavenly Father gives us are kind of silly or too simple, but when we adhere to his counsel, we are blessed with success and God's hand is seen in our lives.

From Jericho you can also see the Mount of Temptation, which is part of the Judean Wilderness. Now, we don't know exactly where in the wilderness Christ was tempted by Satan, but I included some pretty great pictures so you can get an image in your head of what the setting was.
One thing that is cool to have experienced is that when going from Jerusalem to Jericho, you go down (literally) 850 feet below sea level! Jericho is almost the lowest place on the entire earth that isn't covered by water. (I think there's one or two other towns right by the Dead Sea.) So when you're going to Jericho from Jerusalem and vice versa, your ears pop! This is good to know because Jesus Christ gave the following parable: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead." (Luke 10:30)

This brings me to the Judean Wilderness! There is a long expanse of wilderness that people used to travel to get back and forth from Jerusalem to Jericho/Jericho to Jerusalem. This journey is where the parable of the Good Samaritan occurred. When we got to a lookout point in the Judean Wilderness, we had a lovely devotional, sang some hymns, and talked about this parable. One lesson we learned is that the people who passed by the poor man on the side of the road were good people who were off to do various things. They might have even been priests off to work in the temple at Jerusalem. What a good thing to do. BUT sometimes we have to put good things on hold to take care of more important things right in front of us. Hopefully we can all keep this parable in mind and apply it in our own lives.

Well, I have so many more stories, but not enough time or space to share them, so you'll just have to wait until I get back. I love you all!

-Audryn-

P.S. The picture including me and my roommates has the Mt. of Temptation right behind us. So cool! And don't you like my artsy picture of the colorful jewelry with the Judean Wilderness behind it? :)