Nok out!

Picture 1 - me outside the entrance into the room where the Last Supper occurred!
Picture 2 - taken today when walking through the Old City - these are the kinds of streets we walk through every day!
Picture 3 - Zedekiah's Cave - do you see how big it is?

Hello friends!

I've officially been here for one week! It seems like I've been here forever...and yet not. Time is like that I suppose.

I have seen so many cool places already and I wish I could tell you everything, but I'm afraid a lot of things will just have to wait until I get back. I've taken hundreds of pictures though. I can only imagine the project it will be to edit and organize my pictures when I get back. Good thing I'm graduating and going home!
Mondays are usually field trip days, and this last Monday was our first field trip! It was so cold outside! We separated into two groups depending on who your religion teacher was. We went to several places:

1. Seven Arches Hotel overlook
2. Augustus Victoria Church of the Ascension
3. ancient site of Gibeah (King Saul's palace used to be there!)
4. Nabi Samwil (It's an old fortress turned into a Muslim Shrine because people believe the prophet Samuel was born there - we were informed that this was incorrect and Dr. Chadwick pointed out on the horizon to the place where he was born!)
5. Hebrew University (It's across the street from the Jerusalem Center and has a nice bookstore where we can buy school supplies, shampoo, conditioner, etc.)

It was kind of exhausting, but so cool to see places where events took place in the Bible! Everything becomes so much more meaningful and understandable when you've actually seen with your eyes the places where these biblical stories took place.

My Old Testament class is by far my favorite class. The professor is fantastic and he knows so much! His main point every day is that the Old Testament tells us stories about IMPERFECT people who can STILL make and keep covenants and return to our Father in Heaven. I think that sometimes people get so bogged down with their imperfections and faults that they forget that we have a loving Heavenly Father who will always keep His promises. And what has He promised us? That if we try and USE THE ATONEMENT, we can return to Him. This is a beautiful principle and I'm just falling more and more in love with the Old Testament. I can't even imagine how fantastic the New Testament will be in a few months. Wow.

One thing that I've heard from people who have come here before and from the professors, is to get out of the city whenever you can and see the sites! Don't get trapped in the Jerusalem Center doing homework or just hanging out with people. So, hopefully I can go out most afternoons. We usually have class in the morning and then at 4:00, so that leaves a few hours in the afternoon to go out and then we can do homework at night. (And boy is there a lot of homework!)
Today I went out with a few friends and we went to David's Tower and the room where the Last Supper took place. We wandered around the Old City until we finally exited through Zion's Gate and found David's Tower. Today was absolutely beautiful - my favorite day so far. The skies were blue and we all went out in t-shirts because it was perfect outside. We went into David's Tower where David is buried and there was a men's side and a women's side meant for praying. (Men and women are separated everywhere you go.) The room for praying and worshipping was pretty small, but it was neat to see it.
Going to the room of the Last Supper was wonderful. The room has a vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows. There were 10 or 11 of us and we all sat and sang hymns while contemplating what happened in that room. I still can't believe that I'm here where Jesus Christ was. I - LOVE - IT.
At this point, the group split in half and some people stayed in the city and others, including me, went back to the Center. We took the long way back and went through the Old City. On our way, we stopped at a small grocery store and bough some AMAZING ice cream bars called Nok Out. I got oreo flavored. So worth it.

Tonight we're having a forum address at 7:30. Every Wednesday they have a guest speaker that usually talks about modern issues and whatnot. I'm pretty excited. Then it will be lots of reading before I go to bed!
I love and miss all of you!

I forgot to tell you about yesterday! I went out with a group of people and we went to Zedekiah's Cave. It's Jerusalem's largest cave and it's directly underneath the Old City. It was pretty cool. I couldn't take very good pictures, so feel free to look it up online for more details. It was pretty big though!

-Audryn-