Continuation of the Easter Celebration

We're off on our Dead Sea field trip in a couple of hours. I only have 9 more days with Lana. I'm not ready for the students to leave! Final exams are this week.

This week continued the Easter celebrations. On Saturday there was the Holy Fire celebration at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I didn't go because of church and Lana was teaching Relief Society. But some of our students were able to get into the church. Reports were that there were 10,000 people in the church, which is insane to think about. They have a fire in the tombs (which we experienced earlier on our field trip this week). People take candles to light from the fire and then pass on the fire. Some of it is put in containers and rushed to the airport where it is flown all over the world! Picture #1 shows our students in the midst of all of the celebrations!

Picture #2 is Rayna, Sarah, Lauren and I at the Good Friday Via Dolorosa parade. We're just about to enter the church of the Holy Sepulcher courtyard. On our field trip to the Christian churches this week we were able to see parts of a Coptic Washing of the Feet ceremony. That was a fun experience. Especially as we were studying John 13 at the time. I taught part of our lesson at the Wohl Museum in front of a foot washing basin from the first century!

On our field trip to the Jewish Quarter we went to the excavations of the Burnt House. It was destroyed when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Picture #3 are pictures of a spear and a child's arm that were found in the excavation: a very sad reminder of the human tragedy of that time. 

Returned from Galilee just in time for Good Friday

Sorry that I haven’t written for a couple of weeks. We were up in the Galilee for 11 days and we’re constantly on the go up there. It’s all that I can do to keep up every thing. It’s a wonderful trip. Just exhausting! We went to all of the same sites as last semester, but we didn’t have the rainy weather when we were on field trips, which was nice. It was good to have Lana up there, but I hardly saw her. The two classes are going in different directions except for the last three days, which are long field trip days. 

This picture is sunset on the Galilee from my bungalow! Did you see the Church’s latest Easter video clip, “He lives”? The last scene is of Mount Arbel and it looks like it is taken from En Gev, where we stay. The students had fun sitting on the beach watching it, and seeing the live picture and comparing it with the video. We actually had remarkably clear visibility this trip, which was lovely. I felt a little more at ease with the field trips this time. On the last day I even flew solo, because Jeff Chadwick had sprained his ankle so he drove straight back to Jerusalem. I did ok though, so I was happy with that. 

Again, I loved the visit to the Mormon pioneers in the local cemetery. I was especially touched when one of the students, Mary, began pulling the weeds on Georg Grau’s grave as I was speaking. I think that she wanted to honor this man who sacrificed so much for the Church in Haifa.

We got back late on Thursday night. Friday was Good Friday, so we had class and then headed down to the Old City to participate in the Via Dolorosa parade from the Antonia Fortress to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The parade winds its way through the old city past each of the stations of the cross. It was a wonderful atmosphere. It was all in Arabic, but I loved being in the middle of the devotion of all of the people who were participating.

This morning, (resurrection Sunday) we all got up early and went to a dawn service at the Garden Tomb. It was a wonderful service: a great sermon by a Pastor from Oxford and great music. I loved being there.

I have really enjoyed celebrating Easter here in Jerusalem. I am so grateful for blessings of the atonement in Gethsemane and on the cross and for the Savior’s resurrection, which makes possible everything that I hold dear in my life.

I can’t believe that this group of students will be leaving in just two weeks. Where has the time gone? I have loved getting to know them and working together. I have felt the Spirit so strongly as we have studied the Old and New Testaments and my love for the gospel has tangibly deepened, in ways that I have never experienced before.

Made it back from Turkey

This morning we made it back from our trip to Turkey. It was a wonderful week: cold for the first couple of days, but we were really quite lucky with many days forecasting rain, but we only had one afternoon where it hit us while we were on site. The Turkey trip is just a great trip. We didn’t have one of the buses break down on the way to Gallipoli this trip, so that was a blessing. Both classes met together and I read from some of the journal accounts of a couple of the nurses and one of the signalmen who landed on the evening of April 25. You know when I was growing up, going to the dawn services with Dad and watching all of the parades I really didn’t think too much about the events of Gallipoli. Now it’s pretty surreal about how emotional I get each time that I go there. I think of all of those lives that were lost and I can’t help but think that there MUST be a better way to solve our differences. This year is the centenary celebration of the landing. My cousin has tickets to attend. I think that will be a very special event.

The major purpose of our Turkey trip is three-fold: sites of Paul’s second and third missions; the cities of John’s Revelation; and the sites of the Christian ecumenical councils.

This is my new New Testament class outside of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. It is just nearby the Hagia Sophia. It is called the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles from Iznic (ancient Nicea) that adorn the inside. It has 6 minarets, 9 domes and beautiful stained glass windows. The more I visit it the more I appreciate it’s beauty.

Will, Philip, Mackenzi, Andrew, Alyssa, Thomas and Hannah surrounding me at the synagogue in Sardis. This one of the best preserved synagogues in the ancient world. The mosaics on the floor are glorious (I’m not sure that there are enough supernal adjectives for my descriptions of all of these wonderful places)

Sun setting outside of my hotel window in Efes (near the ancient remains of Ephesus). Isn’t it gorgeous?!!!! The light in the center isn’t a comet; I think that it’s a reflection of the light on the window, but it looks pretty cool :o)

Kelsie and I looking at what remains of Constantine’s summer palace at Nicea. This is the place of the First Christian Ecumenical Council, the source of the Nicene Creed which denounced the Arian beliefs and declared the divinity of Christ. There is little, if anything, in this creed that Latter-day Saint theology doesn’t support.

               Nicene Creed as adopted in 325[edit]

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον) with the Father; by whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

And in the Holy Ghost.

But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' and 'He was not before he was made;' and 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable'—they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.

It was great to be in Nicea and discuss the events that took place here. The shopping was also fun!

Off to Turkey

This is going to be short today. We're in Istanbul and I came down with a head cold so I'm feeling pretty miserable at the moment. I'm having to send this in the hotel lobby because the wifi isn't very good in my room.

I love Istanbul! I wish that I could stay longer and just wander around. As we were going to our lunch restaurant we were driving along the shore of the Bosporus and we saw a family of Dolphins about 20 feet off the shore! The driver stopped the bus and we watched them for about 10 minutes. It was glorious. I didn't get a photo but one of the students is going to send me one and I'll post it next week.

We went to the Hagia Sophia again and each time I go I enjoy it more. The Christian mosaics are glorious and I'm getting better at reading the Christian abbreviations.

This picture is of Mary, Christ and John the Baptist. There's one more abbreviation about Mary that I have to work out. I think that it has something to do with her title theotokos = "bearer of God" but I'm not sure. I wish that I had seen this mosaic when it was in its complete glory!

                                                  The students are making a wish.

This picture is of the Siloam inscription from Hezekiah's tunnel. In Israel we only get to see replicas but this is the original inscription telling about the two crews who were making Hezekiah's tunnel meeting. I may have posted a similar picture last semester, but this is a better picture. 

Final Exam Week

This coming week is final exam week and there is a LOT of tension in the air! BUT when exams are over we’re off to Turkey so that will be a very welcome change of pace.

Today was our last Old Testament class together. I am constantly behind all throughout the semester, but I was finally able to catch up today and spend time talking about Malachi. I’m always sad at this time of the semester because it is very hard to say goodbye to the students. They will have the other religion teacher, Ron Anderson, for New Testament and I will get the class that he just finished teaching Old Testament to. 

One of my goals is that my students will get to the point that they will want to stand up and testify that they KNOW that the Bible is the word of God!!!! I begin and end the semester with the Prophet Joseph’s statement, speaking about the Bible, “He who reads it oftenest will like it best”! I really believe that statement is true and has certainly been my experience. As we finished class today I reflected with my students about how much I would lose if I didn’t have the Old Testament: my understanding of the Abrahamic covenant would be superficial and incomplete; I would lose the great examples of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, imperfect men, to be sure, but men who God chose inspite of their imperfects and worked with them until they became the great spiritual leaders that they were. I would lose the story, in particular of Jacob’s spiritual journey of not being sure whether he wanted to covenant with his father’s god at Bethel, even though he was invited by the Lord. But by the time that he came back to Penuel, he wanted that covenant more than ANYTHING else! That spiritual journey was critical for Jacob and I learn SO much about my own journey every time that I study that story. Without the Old Testament I would miss those inspiring stories of people like Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and so many others who had to pay great costs to be the Lord’s prophets and in spite of those costs they drew their line in the sand (figuratively) and declared to all that this is where they stood. They were followers of Jehovah! I would miss the stories of Isaiah and Jeremiah and their great hope for future Israel when they would return to the covenant and finally be able to receive the blessings that God had always wanted to bestow upon them, and the reminder that descendants of Ephraim I have the opportunity and responsibility to help bring about the fulfilment of those ancient prophecies. Most importantly, although it is often lost in modern discussions of the the Old Testament, I would miss the myriad of stories and teachings of God’s great mercy to his people! I LOVE the Old Testament!!!! It IS the word of God and has so many things to teach us if we will just give it a chance. I do love these students!

Well, this week our field trip was to Neot Kedummim, a biblical nature reserve. It gave the students a very “hands-on experience.”

The students had the chance to herd sheep and goats and learned that sheep and goats have very different personalities and respond very differently.

Ann and Merick learned that sometimes you have to leave the flock and go and get the goat that strayed!

We learned how to make Lentil soup (I.e., the mess of pottage that Esau wanted so much that he was willing to sell his birthright). I must admit that lentil soup has never been very appealing to me, but this tasted GREAT! If I ever serve in Young Women’s again and go to camp I am definitely going to push for us to make this! Although I don’t have a photo of it, we also fried some whole wheat and then add date honey to it. It was also very delicious.

We ground up some dried hyssop. This is a medicinal plant that is often used as an antiseptic. In Psalms 51:7 it’s medicinal qualities are mentioned, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” In the Gospel of John 19:29 , we learn that when Jesus was on the cross he was given a sponge of vinegar with hyssop put on it: "Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.” And I have some to bring home :o)

We celebrated Passover Seder this week. Here Lana and a group of students are singing one of the songs. It was a fun night!

Hump Day!!

Life is speeding by so quickly. Last week was my “hump day” in Israel. Before I know it I’ll wake up and this will all be over. I have to make sure that I appreciate each day. That’s a lot like a mission :o)

The snow this week was 7 inches!!!!! It was beautiful to look out of my balcony window and see it. Reminded my of Utah weather, except that Utah isn’t getting any of it. To have two snow storms in Jerusalem is really quite amazing.

Our field trip this week took us back to Yad VaShem. This is such a sobering place. I think that if I wasn’t with the students I wouldn’t go back. So much hatred, so much tragedy, so much death. I just don’t understand how people can do this to people, and yet it still goes on today, just in different places, and we pretend that it doesn’t happen, just like the world pretended then. I asked Lana to take this photo for me.

This is a hall with an eternal flame—lest we forget. I particularly wanted her to have a picture of the flame with Dachau in the foreground because I went to the Dachau concentration camp when I was backpacking around the world. That was my first realization. My bubble was burst. . . . And yet at Yad VaShem there is also a beautiful garden where trees were planted to remember all of those people who risked their lives to save Jews. That gives me hope.

On a brighter note, today I went to the King David hotel for lunch. This the ritziest hotel in Jerusalem. In the main lobby are tiles with the signatures of famous people who have stayed there. The one I saw were George Bush. I went with Linda Gunther and Sister Smith. Linda is leaving on Saturday. Sister Smith and her husband are here to be the new Humanitarian Service couple. I will miss Linda A LOT.

This  is a picture of Tina, Kasdyn and Linda at the Monastery at Petra. 

It’s hard to believe that in another week we’ll be finishing Old Testament class, heading off to Turkey and then coming back to start New Testament with the other group of students. It’s so easy to get attached and I will miss them, but I’m looking forward to getting to know the new group.

I wake up in the morning sometimes and can’t believe that I’m here and that I have such a wonderful opportunity of a life time. Who would have thought that a young kid from Redcliffe Australia would get to do all of this? The Lord has richly blessed my life. 

Midterm Exams, Dodgeball, and Hezekiah's Tunnel

Well not a whole lot happened this week. We had midterm exams. We went on the City of David field trip and today we went to the Holocaust Museum (Yad vaShem) and Mt Herzl.

Picture #1 is the most fun. Lana and her Family Home Evening group prepared to play Dodgeball. I wish that I had seen it. I just got the reports afterwards. Everyone told me to check out Lana’s hair. The finals for Dodgeball are tomorrow night. I guess I’ll have to go upstairs and have a look this time.

I got a note on my door Friday night. Two of my students brought me this Valentine’s Day flower! They had bought them for all of the girls, and I thought that it was so very sweet of them to think of me. I got a little teary!

Pictures # 2, 3, & 5 are from our field trip to the city of David last Monday. Hezekiah’s tunnel was just as fun this semester. The students absolutely love it—even though it is winter and the water was a little cool!

Picture 2 is me at the end of the tunnel. I’m pointing to where the plaque was that talked about how the two teams that were cutting the tunnel met in the middle. The original plaque is now in the museum in Istanbul, and we get to see it when we go.

In picture #3 I am standing by the ancient tower that was built to protect the Gihon Spring. It dates back to the Middle Bronze Age, around 1800 BC—to the time of Melchizedek!!!!! That’s pretty cool. 

Picture #5 is me teaching with the walls of Jerusalem in the background. We took the time to talk about Nehemiah rebuilding the city walls after the return from the Babylonian exile. In particular we talked about Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk, “We Are Doing a Great Work, and Cannot Come Down.” https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/we-are-doing-a-great-work-and-cannot-come-down?lang=eng

It’s a great talk about the story when Nehemiah was repeatedly taunted by his enemies to come down and meet with them. He responded with the famous quote: “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.” I love Pres. Uchtdorf’s application. Although he is speaking to the Priesthood, the message is just as important for the sisters:

"We live in times of great challenges and great opportunities. The Lord is seeking men like Nehemiah—faithful brethren who fulfill the oath and covenant of the priesthood. He seeks to enlist unfaltering souls who diligently go about the work of building the kingdom of God—those who, when faced with opposition and temptation, say in their hearts, 'I am doing a great work and cannot come down.'  When faced with trial and suffering, they respond, 'I am doing a great work and cannot come down.'  When faced with ridicule and reproach, they proclaim, 'I am doing a great work and cannot come down.'  Our Heavenly Father seeks those who refuse to allow the trivial to hinder them in their pursuit of the eternal. He seeks those who will not allow the attraction of ease or the traps of the adversary to distract them from the work He has given them to perform. He seeks those whose actions conform to their words—those who say with conviction, 'I am doing a great work and cannot come down.'

I bear solemn testimony that God lives and is mindful of each one of us. He will stretch forth His hand and uphold those who rise up and bear the priesthood with honor, for in these latter days He has a great work for us to do.”