Palm Sunday March

This is a day late, but I have to tell you about the Palm Sunday March I participated in.
This is the first time that Passover week has coincided perfectly with the JC Passover week activities, which is amazing. My semester seems to be full of firsts (ie - first semester to be in Egypt during riots/see Bent and Red Pyramids...there are more firsts, I just can't think of them right now).
So, the Jerusalem Center is on the Mount of Olives, so we just walked up and over to Bethphage where the march starts. We left around 1:45pm and got there fairly early. There were lots of Arab boys selling water and palm fronds, which just helped add to the mood. We waited around for about an hour and boy was it hot. Sunday was probably the first really hot day we've had here, which is pretty good I think.
My first view of the march was some priests dressed in white followed by boy scouts. There were security guards who were keeping the public back until they had passed, and then everyone rushed in. My favorite part was the music! I hung out by a band that was just walking along and singing their hearts out. We learned the song pretty fast because the main word was HOSANNA! It was also great to see the assortment of people: old and young, all different races and religions. The coolest part was knowing that everyone who was marching was marching to commemorate the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ! What a powerful thought and feeling!

1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,

2 Saying unto them, Go into the village aover against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.

3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.

4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,

5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.

8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?

11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

One of my favorite moments was seeing the gate in the distance and then walking through imagining what it must have been like when Jesus Christ walked through declaring His divinity. I am so blessed to be here and be able to experience what I have.



This was such a great way to start off this week. The past couple of days (Monday and Tuesday) we have been going to the various sites that the Savior visited during the last week of His life. I am so grateful for my Savior and for what He did for me. I can't wait to come back and share what I have learned with all of you!

Falafel Thursday

I am in love with falafels. I don't know how to explain what's in them, but I bought some falafel spice in the Old City and I when I get home I plan on attempting to recreate them!

The picture is of my friend Sarah and I eating falafels from the Old City. The Oasis (our cafeteria) makes falafels every Thursday, and boy do I love them.
Here's how wikipedia describes a falafel: a falafel itself is a ball or patty made from ground chickpeas. The falafel balls are then put in a pita or wrapped in some flatbread. Usually you put in some veggies and french fries, then top it with a sauce. So yummy! I heard there is a falafel restaurant in Salt Lake and I want to find it when I get home!

Well, today and tomorrow are finals. We took one final this morning, and we have two more tomorrow. Just to rub it in to those of you who aren't graduating...these are my last finals EVER. I am so stinking excited! ha ha

Anyway, I can't procrastinate studying any longer, so I'm off! (P.S. - today marks the one week mark until I come home - CRAZY!)

Med - Red - Dead Seas anyone?

I love that that names of these bodies of water rhyme! I've been excited to write this blog post for that reason alone! ha ha

I've visited the Med[iterranean] Sea a couple of times now, which is pretty exciting. My birthday post has a picture of me in front of the Med Sea, but during our Galilee trip, we visited the Mediterranean Sea several times (Acco, Haifa, Caesarea Philippi). The day this picture was taken, we were in Acco and it was windy!



The Sunday after we got back from Galilee, we went to Eilat, which is on the shore of the Red Sea. It was a fun day of snorkeling and sunbathing. I loved it! I've never been snorkeling before, so I was a little nervous, BUT I LOVED IT! The water was just the right temperature, and I got to see some amazing coral and fish. I would love to go snorkeling more when I get back home. (I'll definitely have to find somewhere exotic/islandy because Montana and Utah aren't exactly coral-filled! ha ha)





The Dead Sea was our last aquatic adventure. We went there this last Sunday and spent less than two hours there. We had a whole day of field tripping before we made it to the Dead Sea. We were all exhausted by the end, but so excited to float in the Dead Sea! As we walked into the water, we could sea salt covering the rocks so that they were white! I had my sandals on, so I couldn't feel it, but the girl next to me wasn't wearing shoes and she said it hurt to walk on them! Here's my best explanation for what floating in the Dead Sea is like: it's similar to having a couple of water noodles underneath you at all times. You just float. It is the craziest feeling. You don't have to try to stay above water at all! (Now that's what I'm talking about.) It was painfully salty though (literally). If you had any cuts or scrapes they stung like crazy. If you tasted even a drop of the water, your face puckered up and you wanted to gag, and if it got in your eyes you were rendered blind and ended up crying for about five mintues. Don't worry, none of these things happened to me, but I witnessed it, and it looked painful!
Getting out of the water was cool too. As the wind dried you off, you could see the salt covering your body! I couldn't stop looking at my arms and legs! It was crazy!



Yup. The Med - Red - and Dead Seas were amazing!

If you ever visit a castle, BRING A FLASHLIGHT

Hello family and friends!

I feel very fortunate because in the past month or so, I have visited three castles! We visited one while in Galilee, and two in Jordan. The first castle we visited is called Nimrod's Castle. Apparently Nimrod is in the Bible and actually has nothing to do with that castle, but that's the name regardless. As soon as we got off the bus, we all "stormed the castle" and explored as many nooks and crannies as we could. It was a gray, stormy day, which just added to the mood. It was a huge castle and was very well preserved.



The second castle we visited was in Jordan and is called Shobak's Castle. We had blue skies that day, but I actually spent very little time above ground. We had about an hour to explore, and I ended up finding a "secret tunnel" with my friend Sadie. We went down the stairs, turned a couple of corners, and discovered that it was waaaay too dark to go forward. So we climbed back up to find someone who had a flashlight. Right as we reached the surface, we ran into my religion professor, Brother Muhlestein, and his son, B.J. We asked them if they had a flashlight because we had discovered a tunnel that was too dark to explore! Brother Muhlestein got really excited and told his son that maybe it was the same tunnel he had found last time! Both of these prepared men had tiny flashlights with them, so we all went down together! Brother Muhlestein confirmed that it was the same tunnel he had found last time. He didn't have a flashlight last time though, so he didn't get very far. We all clung to each other while climbing down this crumbling staircase. It was so much fun! A fairly large group ended up following us, but they didn't have flashlights! Yikes. For the most part they just crept their way down carefully and used their cameras to send random flashes of light into the dark abyss before them...ha ha. We didn't go to the very end, but Brother Muhlestein decided it was probably a cistern that we had discovered! We went as far as we could in the amount of time we had. It was so much fun! Climbing up was much easier. Right before we turned around though, two of my friends (who weren't in the original group) popped out of no where and scared us. I just about had a heart attack! Who do they think they are? ha ha It was pretty funny.
I didn't see any more of that castle because we were underneath it for most of the time! It sure was fun though.





We visited the last castle because another activity fell through. This castle was the first castle we visited where we weren't the only ones there! We've been lucky with regards to the other castles. I wandered around this castle with my new castle buddy, Sadie, and another girl Katie. We had lots of fun.



I sure wish I could have seen these castles in all their grandeur!