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!

Galilee continued...

Picture 1: synagogue at Capernaum
Picture 2: Church of Beatitudes
Picture 3: view at the end of our hike
Howdy folks!

I'm trying to catch up on Galilee posts, but this week in Jerusalem has been so much fun! It's hard to believe that three weeks today I'll see my family and friends! (You should be freaking out right now, because I sure am!)

Anyway, here are some more journal entry excerpts:

CAPERNAUM
"Capernaum is the site where the Savior performed many miracles and taught many great lessons. It’s also the town where Peter lived. We had a little devotional in the synagogue in Capernaum. The synagogue standing now is different from the one in Jesus’ day, but it stands on the exact same spot where the synagogue of Jesus day would have been. In fact, you can see the basalt stones that would have made up the synagogue Jesus taught in at the very bottom of the current synagogue. There are also a ton of basalt ruins from houses and streets, etc. that are pretty cool...When we looked at Peter’s house, Brother Muhlestein pointed out that Jesus never had a home. He didn’t have a house to call his home. I had never thought of that before. Then Brother Muhlestein pointed out that Peter made his home open to the Savior at all times. In the scriptures, whenever it mentions “the house” it usually refers to Peter’s house because that is where Jesus spent the night when He was in Capernaum. We also reviewed one day in the life of the Savior and I can’t believe how much good He did in one day. Jesus loved His people so much because even when He was tired or hungry, He always took the time to perform miracles and heal those around Him, or answer questions and teach His people."

MT. OF BEATITUDES
The Mount of Beatitudes was beautiful. It was so green and the landscaping was exotic and carefully planned. The church was really cool too. The inside wasn’t extravagant, but the outside had beautiful columns and a cool dome. I liked it. It makes sense that the emphasis is on the groundwork though: that’s where the Savior gave His sermon on the mount (on a hill). We had the opportunity to browse the church and then we went to a shaded area with benches and had a short testimony meeting. Brother Muhlestein had us read the beatitudes, then we had the chance to go up and share our thoughts. I got up and bore my testimony, which is pretty cool! That’s right – I bore my testimony on the mount of beatitudes.

We also went on a hike for one of our free afternoons. It was SO MUCH FUN. Here's the journal excerpt for that adventure:
"This afternoon was free time, but I signed up for the hike to the waterfall! We left at 1:30 and took a bus to the trailhead. We had so much fun on the bus because it was the first time the classes were intermixed! Usually it’s the “Judd bus” or the “Muhlestein bus” but today we were combined! 39 people went on the hike accompanied by our tour guide.
The hike wasn’t too strenuous, which kept conversation good! I wore my swimming suit underneath my clothes so that I could jump right in to the water. I also wore my chacos the whole time, which was good and bad because I’m grateful I had them for when I was in the water, but hiking in wet chacos always hurts my feet afterwards.
The scenery was beautiful. We hiked down into a valley and just curved around these mountains. We saw a few waterfalls on the way, but the one we swam at was in the middle of the hike. We were all stoked to get in the water, but let me tell you, this water was ice cold. It took your breath away as soon as you immersed yourself in it. I went in o my own the first time, but I didn’t get my hair wet. The second time, I was dragged in and dunked by Kevin because I had pushed him in earlier. I suppose I deserved it, but still! The water was so cold that getting out of the water made you warmer than staying in the water!
We stayed there fore quite some time and took lots of fun pictures. We didn’t hike back the same way we came; instead we hiked up and out and the bus picked us up on the other side. I went with a group of people who left early, so we were a head and by ourselves for the hike back. Jared found a crab along the trail which was odd because we were on a mountainside, not next to a river/stream/lake/sea, whatever. As it turned out, Jared kept the crab with him the whole time and it got loose on the bus. I know - crazy. The hike back was beautiful because as we got higher we could see into the valley and see the curves of the mountain and the stream at the bottom of the valley. It was gorgeous.
When we got to the top and back to the road, Laurel, Addie, Heidi and I took some fun jumping pictures. Sadly none of them were perfect, but we have some fairly decent ones."

Well, I suppose that's enough for one entry. Hopefully you all made it to the end!

-Audryn-

O Galilee

Picture 1: a view of the city from up on the tel; you can see the effects of the earth quake because all of the columns are toppled over!
Picture 2: A Roman street at Scythopolis; you can see the tel (hill) where the canaanite city (Bet She'an) would have been in the background

Hello family and friends!

Galilee was AMAZING. We spent ten days at a beach resort at the Sea of Galilee and toured so many of the sites that the Savior would have visited. For the first week we were there, our agenda included New Testament class/free afternoon some days, and field trips to the various sites that Jesus visited on other days. It was really cool to have class and then visit those actual sites the next day!

I wish I could tell you about each of the sites that we visited, but I'm afraid there are just too many! Here is a list of the sites that we visited though:
Bet She'an (a city in the Decapolis)
Nazareth (Nazareth Village, Church of Annunciation)
boat ride on the Sea of Galilee
Ginosaur (museum of an ancient boat that would have been used in Christ's time)
Capernaum
Tabgha (Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes)
Church of St. Peter's Primacy
Mt. of Beatitudes
Tiberias
Mt. Tabor (possible site of Transfiguration)
Hazor
Dan
Megiddo
Caesarea Philippi
Akko
Haifa
Caesarea

Those are the sites at the top of my head, and I can guarantee that I forgot some!
The last four days of our trip in Galilee were all-day field trips and by the end of the whole experience, I was exhausted!

There were so many amazing sites, but my favorites were Bet She'an, Capernaum, Mt. of Beatitudes, and Caesarea.
I was very impressed with myself because I was very diligent in writing in my journal, so I'll just include a few excerpts from my journal about the different sites we visited. I will do this over a few blog entries so that you guys can actually enjoy the entries and read them all the way through, but there's your update!

BET SHE'AN/SCYTHOPOLIS

FYI - Bet She'an was the canaanite name and Scythopolis was the Roman name

"Bet She’an was so cool! It was a Canaanite city a long time ago (the city was on top of the tel) and then under the Pax Romana reign, the city spread down and out. The Roman ruins were absolutely amazing. There was an earthquake at some point during the city’s life and you can see the destruction from the earthquake because the pillars/columns are toppled over. It was pretty cool. My favorite part was the bath house. I love hot springs so much so I think it would be so fun to go to a bath house. "

Well, we have our New Testament midterm tomorrow morning, and my study group is about to begin, so I'll have to write more later!

-Audryn-

Bethlehem, YMCA Bell Tower...and Galilee?

Picture 1: my friend Piers and I at the Church of the Nativity touching the Grotto (the place where tradition says Christ was born)
Picture 2: Church of the Nativity
Picture 3: where I played the bells!

Hello family and friends!

I wish I could write an in-depth blog post telling you all about our Bethlehem field trip last Monday, my wonderful free day I had today, and any other random stories I feel like telling you, BUT, I may or may not be GOING TO GALILEE tomorrow morning, and I still have to pack. I know. I guess I figure it's a good thing if I'm so busy I don't have time to blog about everything, right?
So, I'm going to cut and paste a few journal entries and I hope that will suffice!

"Monday was our field trip to BETHLEHEM. It was amaaaazing."


"Our agenda was as follows:
Herod’s summer palace
Bethlehem University
Lunch at The Tent
Church of the Nativity
Testimony meeting at Shepherd’s field

Herod’s temple was huge. It covers about 45 acres. Our class started at the lower section of the temple where Herod’s pool was, then went climbed to the upper part. It’s cool because his pool had an island in the middle that he would have had fun parties on! The palace was really neat, but the cool part is that they aren’t even done excavating it! His palace is so big that excavation teams are still going. Wow."

"Following lunch Professor Adnan (our Palestinian professor) took us on a tour of Bethlehem and led us to Manger Square, where the Church of the Nativity is). It was fun going underneath the church to the grotto where some believe that Christ was born. It is hard to say exactly where Jesus was born, but we know he was born in Bethlehem, and the tradition that the Church of the Nativity is the place where it happened is fairly old, so who’s to say it isn’t the spot?
My favorite part of the Church of the Nativity was when we sat in the chapel and sang Christmas songs out of our little hymn books. We all filed in and sat on the benches and sang Christmas songs while Rachel Jackson conducted. So many other tourists stopped to listen and take pictures and record us. I’ll be honest – we sounded good! I wanted us to keep going because the sound was so rich and the Spirit was very strong."

Following the Manger Square adventure we went to "Shepherd's Field" and had a wonderful testimony meeting. We got to watch the sun set on the beautiful hills where we know shepherds (such as King David) would have led their sheep. It was a very spiritual experience.

Now for a fun story from today. The Jerusalem Center always brings at least one person who can play the organ here - usually for a year and a half. Mike Ohman and his wife serve that (and many other) purposes right now. He is a music professor at BYU and his wife works in the film industry (she has helped do costumes for lots of LDS films such as The Testaments). Well, this particular professor has also played the bells at the bell tower on BYU campus, so when he heard about the YMCA bell tower, he volunteered his services! He plays every Sunday from 11:15-12:00 and today I got to go listen to him. And now for the best part...I PLAYED A SONG. That's right. All of Jerusalem got to hear the musical bell tower talents of Audryn Damron today. It was glorious and completely terrifying! It was the coolest experience though.

Anyway, I really need to go tidy up my room and pack because we have an early start tomorrow. I love you all and I hope you're happy and safe!

-Audryn-