Christmas in July!!

We got to go on a field trip to Bethlehem on Monday.  It was a wonderful day to explore and commemorate and birth of our Savior.  

We started the day by going to the many different churches that celebrate the birth of the Savior.  The main church we went to was Church of the Nativity.  This was a church commissioned by Constantine and his mother Helena when she came to the Holy Land in 327 AD.  It has been in use since then, although the church was destroyed and rebuilt by Justinian in 565 AD.  Right now there are massive renovations being done to the church.   

 St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church---I really love Greek Orthodox churches because they are just covered literally from floor to ceiling in beautiful paintings.  

The ceiling of the church.

 We were in a (somewhat) autonomous Palestinian city, and it was cool to see all of the special "State of Palestine" things throughout the city.  We were in a place where only Palestinians and tourists can go.  No Jews/Israelis are allowed to go here.

Another Palestinian sign.

This is in the church of the nativity. The fourteen point star in the "grotto".  Each point represents a generation between David and Christ, reminding worshippers that Christ was a true king.

 This is a painting of Christ in the Church of the Nativity that I really love.  It is a beautiful portrayal of a normal looking baby.  It looks like a baby you would want to cuddle and hold.  It is a good representation of Christ.

 The cave of Jerome in the Church of the Nativity.  Jerome stayed here until he has translated the entire Bible from Hebrew to Latin (the Vulgate).  The vulgate was used by the Catholic church for many many years.

 A statue inside of the Church of the Nativity of St. George slaying the dragon.  Seriously, people love love love St. George slaying the dragon.  I see artwork about this in tons of churches I have visited.

The church of the nativity is behind us, you can see the bell tower there.

Ein Gedi

Ein Gedi is a nature reserve next to the Dead Sea, and it has really fun hikes to go on through it.  The hikes we did were hikes around the pools.  It was near Masada and the Qumran caves (where the dead sea scrolls were found). So basically I would hike for 1/4 miles hop in a pool, hike for a little bit more to the next pool.  It was great!  

Me and Jake Slater at the waterfall.

 We finally made it to the waterfall!  It was like 100 degrees outside, so it was a welcome surprise.

 The cave we ate lunch in.

Ein Gedi is right next to the Dead Sea.  This is us next to some chalcolithic caves.

 My chaco tan that is forming from wearing my chacos all around.

 On the way back from our exhausting but exhilarating day, our van broke down so we had to wait on the side of the road for half an hour until a new van came a picked us up, and the old and new drivers had loaded the old van up on a tow truck.  This is me and Taylor Smith being stranded.

Jordan Day 4

We woke up and went to the Jordan LDS church.  It was so cool!  They had their own floor of an high rise just for the church.  The auditorium of the JC is beautiful, with its huge windows showing the Jerusalem skyline, but it was so amazing to be in a normal LDS chapel.  I have felt the spirit in many churches around the city, but there was really something different in the LDS chapel.  It felt like home, and looking at the pictures of Jesus there, it felt like my Jesus.  The resurrected, loving, not nailed to a cross, looks like an actual person, with the little kids Jesus.  We talked in Old Testament about the different temples or houses of God the Israelites built and how these represented their relationship with God.  The tabernacle with its simple, movable parts that kept God close.  Then there was the first temple with its show-bread tables that could be used by the priests and represented how they viewed God as the same size as them. Then there is the second temple with its huge grandiose wash basins and menorahs, representing how they viewed God as omnipotent but not relatable.  Then I think of where we worship our God, and the little chapel in Amman, Jordan.   The simple chapel, with very little adornment, as not to detract from the simple light of Christ.  The paintings of Christ with children, showing how he is relatable and loves all.  When we finished singing in the chapel, the missionary couple there said that she had never had that many people sing in the chapel ever.  I love being part of the first wave of the church in new countries.  It makes you realize how much of a minority we really are.

Next we went to the King Abdullah mosque.  Gorgeous.  I especially love going into the women's section of the mosque.  It was smaller, less ornate, and more lived in feeling.  There were two little kids crawling/walking around and a mom and her mother.  We talked to them and one of the ladies that spoke English told us why she loved Islam and how it brought her peace.  

Then went to the River Jordan, where Christ was baptized.  Here we had a wonderful lesson by my professor Dr. Seely.  He talked about how when you come to a holy site there are three questions to be asked.  What happened there, why it was holy and significant to us, and how this can change us for the future.  He talked about how the significance of Christ's baptism comes from the fact that this is where he started his earthly ministry.  This was where Christ reappears as an adult in the Bible, and he really starts his ministry.  It makes me realize that right now is the time in my life right before the baptism.  These are the last years of preparation, and soon I will have to stand up and live the life my Father needs me to live, just as Christ stood up and lived the life His Father wanted Him to live.   Another cool lesson to be learned is learned from the example of the John the Baptist.  Here he is with all his followers, preparing the way for Christ, but in the process becoming very revered and popular among the people, until the baptism of Jesus when Christ starts gaining popularity.  And in John 3:30 John the Baptist explains to his followers that "he must increase, so that Jesus could increase."   John was so humble.  That is what impresses me.

THE MOSQUE

The Jordan River

Me and Jenna (my Israel roommate) and Alyssa Baker (my Jordan roommate)

Jordan Day 3

Day 3 started with a trip to Philidelphia, specifically the city Jerosh.  This was a old Roman City, and it has been amazingly preserved.  Much of it has been rebuild and re stacked up the columns.  Then we went to King Hussein's automobile museum.  Which was really cool , but also I am not a huge car person, so I didn't get all of the cool stuff out of it some others did.  But one thing I did notice was that cars used to be way more classy in the olden days.  Now they are just functional.  Then we went to a Jordanian museum of ancient things.  Ok, so that isn't the real name, but it is pretty dang close.  Then we went and hung out on rainbow street.  Rainbow Street is a street in Amman where all the locals come together and play guitar and stuff together.  It is really the town center of Amman.  And I was standing there, taking the scene in, and my friend Brian leaned over to me and whispered "There is such potential for the gospel here once it is allowed."  And suddenly my perspective changed.  I viewed these people as sons and daughters of God, and I could see in their faces that there was something missing.  And I knew that I had what they were missing.  I wanted to share this message with these people.  It was a great experience and made me so exited to go to a country where I can preach the gospel legally.  

Columns at Jerosh!

 Little nook in Jerash.

 More pillars . . . . 

There was this one pillar where it moved ever so slightly so the spoon you stuck in would move ever so slightly.  It was super cool looking. 

 More pillars . . . 

 A four cornered (Israelite/ancient Holy Land) altar.

 King Hussein's classy cars.

 It is like a tuxedo shoes, but care form.

 Me and Jess Smith hanging out in the car.

 Tron bike!!

 Cool artwork car outside the automobile museum.

 Me high fiving the fist of a giant Hercules statue they found.

 In our hotel room in Amman, it had stickers on the ceiling, telling us where Mecca is (where to pray to).

Jordan Day 2

Today we went to one of the seven wonders of the modern world.  In case you were wondering, these are the 7.

1. Chicken Itza in Mexico
2. Christus in Brazil
3. Taj Mahal in India
4. Great Wall of China
5. Petra in Jordan (Where I went today)
6. Machu Pichu in Peru (I’ve been to this one!)
7. Colosseum in Italy (I am going there in 2 1/2 months!)

Anyway, I have a goal to go to all seven during my life, and after this trip I will have been to three.

Back to Petra.  When we first got there we walked in and it was beautiful.
When you walk into Petra, you go through the siq (a mile long slot canyon) and then it opens up to the stunning view of the treasury of Petra.  It is such a cool experience to walk through the canyon and then it opens up and you see one of the 7 wonders of the world.  The treasury is just so huge, and so magnificent, and so . . . . nothing I had ever seen before.

AND THEN I GOT TO RIDE A CAMEL!!!!  It was the coolest thing. Like I don’t know what it is about camels but you ride on them and you are just dying laughing.  It is sooooo fun. I want to be a camel jockey when I grow up.  That is my new career plan.  Just kidding.  Anyway, back to Petra.  Petra was super hot.  Like we are talking middle of the desert, no shade, 95-98 degrees F all day.  I drank 5 liters of water this day.  So like 2 1/2 bottles of pop worth of water.  And I sweated out like 90% of it.  Ya, it was a sweaty day.  So when we got there we hiked to the high place, and played around on the rocks.  To get there you had to go up 700 rock steps.  In the 95 degree F heat.  Yup, talk about mission prep.

Then we went and hiked up to the monastery.  800 rock steps this time.  But really it was a blast!  Then we went and had the most tasty lunch of our lives (haha, it was a decent lunch but I was super super hungry so it tasted abnormally good).  Then we walked around some of the other rock formation building things until time was up.  We walked to the base of the canyon and then rode horses out!!  And then all sweaty 40 of us loaded up on a bus and drove for 3 hours back to Amman.  Gross, I know.  But we made it fine.  The one thing you learn about traveling is that you just deal and everything turns out great.  That is actually a really good life lesson.

 The treasury of Petra.  

ME AND A BACTRIAN CAMEL!!  (bactrian = 1 hump, dromedary = 2 humps)
In the background is the treasury.  This is what you see when you walk out of the siq into the main part of Petra.

 I am telling you.  Camel riding = pure joy.  I have no idea why.  It just is hilarious. 

 Yup, still on the camel.

 Lovin my camel.

 When the camels sit down they sit down front legs first, and it tilts forward and you almost fall off.  It is hilarious to watch.

 The high place (where the Pagan God worshipers of Petra did sacrifices)

Me and my friends at the high place.  L to R . . . .  me, Taylor Smith, Valerie Gundersen, Paige Nelson, Jody Hirshi, Ben Lehnart, Jessica Hart, Jacob Embley

 The middle of the wilderness/at the top of the high place.

 Petra looks like this everywhere you turn.  It is a city carved completely into rock.

 More rock buildings.

 A little Bedouin boy selling things.  There are tons of little kids selling things in the hot hot heat.  It made us feel so bad.

 The monastery at Petra.

 Me and Carson Bennet at the monastery.

 Me and the monastery.