The students leave and Sandy Autry arrives

It’s Sunday night. The students are gone. My friends are gone. And the center is boringly quiet!!!! 

It’s been a tough week. I’m not very good at good-byes. Nothing will be the same again. I won’t be the same again, and yet I’m glad, so glad, for the experience. It was so very hard to say good bye, especially to Lana. It’s been wonderful to have her here and share some of these wonderful experiences with her. 

The one bright part of this week has been having Sandy Autry and her sister and friends here. We spent time seeing some of the sites in the Old City. On Thursday we drove down to Qumran and Masada and then on Friday we drove up to the Galilee and spent two days there. I drove and we didn’t even get horribly lost. So I’m feeling much more comfortable with my driving—well at least on the direct, uncomplicated driving routes. The Galilee was, as usual, divine. The air was really clear so that we could see Mount Hermon clearly and for the first time, we were able to stand on the balcony of the Tiberias chapel and have a clear view of the sea and the Golan Heights! It hasn’t been that clear the other three times that I have been there

                                                                         Sandy and me on the balcony

                                  All the girls, including Sis Rasband on the right, outside of the Al-Aksa mosque

                                                                    My latest trip through Hezekiah’s tunnel. 

This time with Katrina, Sandy Autry, her sister Lori, and Tracy. I love going through this tunnel. I love even more our discussions at the Pool of Siloam at the end of the pool when we talk about Jesus’ miracle of the man born blind (John 9). That story never ceases to inspire me.

                            Phil, Andrew, Ben, Will, Mike, Joshua and me taken at the Garden of Gethsemane.

                           Saying goodbye to the students is always so difficult, but I have wonderful memories.

                                                          Coulette, Becca, Zee, Danielle, Kristen and Alyson.

I had taken Sandy and Lori there and the students had made an appointment to spend some quiet, reflective time in the Olive garden across the street. We met up and took some pictures.

After church on Saturday we went to Magdala. This is a gorgeous place, with a spectacular church. I love to use this spot to talk about the women in Jesus ministry. We particularly look at Luke 8:1–3 which begins Luke’s travel narrative with the Twelve and the women accompanying Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. Although they don’t get a lot of airtime in the gospel accounts, it is clear that the women played a significant part in the Savior’s ministry. They were among his earliest disciples (Mary and Elizabeth) and they remained with him throughout his ministry, even to the very end. This picture represents some modern women, who like their ancient counterparts, are committed to be disciples of Jesus Christ!

This picture is with Thomas McCarlie. It is representative of our evening of goodbyes before the students got on the bus to leave. There are lots of last minute photos to help us to remember, and lots of tears—well at least on my part. When you spend three and a half months in very closed quarters with people you learn to love them dearly and it is hard for me to let go, but they have lives to get back to. Hopefully they will take the wonderful experiences that they have had here and go back to their lives equipped to help build up the kingdom. The privilege of coming to the Holy Land as part of this program is only available to a small minority of the people who would love to come. That means that the privilege of coming here come with a great responsibility. We must go home changed!

The experience of a lifetime happened this week!

This has been a pretty interesting week. We finished classes for the semester. We just have 2 days of field trip going to the places of Jesus’ last week. They are tomorrow and Tuesday.

Sandy Autry and her sister Lori arrived on Thursday night. We got to go to the Western Wall to welcome in the Sabbath with the students. They had a wonderful time and they definitely have “shiny eyes” that make them stand out in a crowd.

On the weekend we had District Conference. Elder Rasband (Senior President of Seventy) and Elder Price (Area Authority) came. We had a new District Presidency called. It’s David Whitchurch, who is the Academic Associate Director here at the center. His life was already busy. I guess it just got more so!

Our field trip last week took us down to the Dead Sea: Qumran, Masada, En Gedi, and swimming in the Dead Sea—not that I went swimming. We had the clearest conditions—the best I had ever experienced.

This Picture shows the Dead Sea out of the bus. You can see all of the way to Jordan! It was gorgeous! The Dead Sea at 1300 feet below sea level is usually hot, so it was nice for the girls to cool their feet in a pool at En Gedi. This was the place where David was hiding from Saul and had the opportunity to kill him, but refused because Saul was the “Lord’s anointed.”

The Falls here are beautiful. We didn’t go all of the way up because we were too exhausted!

But the most exciting this week was that a group of us were guests of the WAQF (which controls the haram es-Shariff where the Dome of the Rock is) and were taken on a tour of the al-Aksa mosque and the Dome of the Rock!!!!!!! We got to go inside both of them. I didn’t think that would be possible because non-Muslims are rarely allowed in there any more!

                                                                                   Me in the Mosque.

These pictures are in the Dome of the Rock. Both buildings are going through renovations at the moment, but they are still gorgeous buildings!

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!