O Jerusalem: Just a Few Thoughts and a Long Overdue Update

So first off before I get into the extremely condensed version of my life in Jerusalem since my last post I just want to apologize to everyone who sent me an email in the past month or so and to whom I haven’t responded. My hotmail wouldn’t send emails but I have since gotten a gmail account so I will write you soon! Also I want to apologize for being the biggest blog slacker ever...but we all knew that I would be so maybe I am not that sorry. Anywho here is the fast forwarded version of what I have been up to for the past few weeks, or at least the parts I can remember.

1. We went to JORDAN! We were there for four days and got to see a lot of really cool things. Among my favorites were Petra—a super cool archeological place with sweet rock formations...Indiana Jones anyone?—and the Jordan River. I say this almost every post but probably the most intense heat I have ever experienced was at the Jordan River. We walked down to the site where Jesus was supposedly baptized by John the Baptist, and man crazy monkeys was it sure hot. Besides that, though, it was really special. We sang some hymns and read about Christ’s baptism...really powerful. So Jordan was a great trip all around. Actually it was probably my favorite trip thus far, and not only because we got to see really interesting places. The people that I was with just made it great...I just love everyone here!

In Jordan at the place where Moses overlooked the Promised Land

Petra!

Donkey

2. A few days after Jordan we had a day field trip to Bethlehem if I remember correctly. It was fantastic. We saw some really beautiful churches, including the beautiful Church of the Nativity. My favorite part of the Bethlehem field trip, though, was when we were sitting in a shepherd’s field. Dr. Harper talked to us for a little while, but then he gave us time to just sit there and ponder. That is kind of where my thoughts are stemming from for this post. As I was sitting there contemplating Christ’s birth and what it meant to me in my life, the phrase “wise men still seek him” kept coming to my mind. I thought about the ways that I try to seek for Christ in my life, and came up with the obvious and familiar seminary answers. But then I realized something that I really needed to be reminded of. I can find Christ in everything that is around me. I can seek him by looking for the good in others, and recognizing that his hand is guiding almost everything that we do in this life. I can seek him by striving to be like him. As I mentioned earlier I just love the people that I get to associate with here in Jerusalem, and I really feel like I have come closer to my Savior just by associating with the people here because they all have such Christ-like qualities. It is often through them that I am able to feel of Christ’s love, so in that sense I truly believe that one of the best way to seek for Christ in our lives is to recognize all the many things that he has blessed us with. I definitely needed to remember that.

3. After Bethlehem I don’t really remember specifics on what has happened. All I do know is that it has been a lot of fun! I am basically becoming a regular at a Jewish bakery in the Old City...super delicious. I have seen a lot of cool sites including Tomb of the Kings, Hezekiah’s Tunnel (that was before Jordan), Tomb of the Prophets, more churches etc. A few days ago we went and got a tour of the Kotel Tunnels, which are underground tunnels that expose almost the full length of the Western Wall, and are very possibly streets that Jesus himself walked. Neato! Something that the guide said that I thought was cool was that “there are people with hearts of stone, and there are stones with human hearts.” Going to all of these sites and places with such extensive histories behind them reminds me of just how much we can learn from the past. Especially being in Jerusalem, “the stones” can literally tell us the stories of what happened here so long ago. I love it!

Ok enough of the longest blog post of life. I have a few more thoughts that I wanted to write but I will have to save them for another day. Also...my camera broke in Jordan. So the only pictures I have are the ones from Jordan that I took before that. Yay. Luf you all and congratulations if you made it to the end of this post!