Tel Aviv... AKA HAPPINESS

I am still SOOOOOO behind on blogging... but I just had to blog about our magical amazing free day we had in Tel Aviv over the weekend. Oh my gosh. HAPPINESS. JUST SO MUCH HAPPINESS. I was a happy little school girl this day. Tel Aviv is only one hour from Jerusalem - I could hardly believe that the entire day! It felt like a different country! Almost all of the students took part in this free day excursion and almost all of us stayed the entire day. We checked out flea markets, ate lunch on the grass overlooking the sea, ate gelato, visited churches, rode bikes, ate at restaurants, and oh yeah... SWAM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! ♥ !! (Well, I let others who more desperately wanted to swim borrow my suit.. a lot of us didn't bring suits because we weren't sure if it was swim season or not, or if the weather would be bad. But I got in up to my thighs hahaha, and we'll for sure go again and I'll go all out!)

THIS DAY WAS JUST BLISSFUL. We played in the water for hours and then I was with a group that rented bikes for 3 hours and it was seriously perfect. We rode up and down the boardwalk and covered so much ground and it was just so beautiful and we saw the sunset and s;djflksje;lif;slkdjflskjdf;lksdjf! Happiness. It felt so good to be so carefree and happy all day! We all needed this to get us through finals next week, haha. It will be a fun time...

I don't really have time to write captions, but they aren't really necessary. Just look and feel my happiness that was this day. ♥ ♥ ♥.

Little Trinkets

So basically, I'm obsessed with trinkets lately.

(BUY ALL THE TRINKETS!)

Here are a couple I've purchased, as well as a painting that was just an immediate "Yes!" when I saw it at Shabbon's.

The camel is from Petra.. commemorating my first ever camel ride. :)))

The lamp is just beautiful. And it's turquoise, so like, of course. It's from Rita's... he's Shabbon's cousin and his shop is right across the street.. road.. cobblestone walkway.. alley.. thing!

And now I am off to volunteer with 3 other girls at a women's hospital... 2 of us will be serving lunch and 2 of us will be helping women in labor and little babies... haha, quite different experiences! I'll let you know which one I get. ;)

So uhhh...

...sorry I died.

School is a beast.

But life is great! ... when I'm not dozing off in class, sacrificing sleep for HW, writing papers, studying my brains out, or reading things I won't remember. ;)

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit harsh.

Except not, cuz.... ask anyone here and they'll say the same. Haha.

We're all kind of dying. Finding the balance between not failing (literally) all of our classes and experiencing the amazing city we live in has kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind of been a source of stress for some all of us.

But all is well. And in a few short (and insane) weeks, we will go from having 5 classes to only 2!! WE ARE ALL SO EXCITED!!! The end.

Gethsemane

So pretty much every Sabbath here, people go to either the Garden Tomb or Gethsemane after church just because they can.

Yeah. Let's just take a second to reflect on how cool that is.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Okay cool.

To get to Gethsemane, we have to walk through the Orson Hyde Garden.

Like the plaque says, Orson Hyde was an LDS missionary in Jerusalem in the 1840s. My favorite line of this paragraph is the last one... because there actually isn't an LDS church in there, haha. Foreshadowing maybe?? ;)

Overlooking Jerusalem. The wall surrounding the Dome of the Rock is the eastern wall of the Old City.

I kinda like it here.

Seriously... the BEST roommates I could ask for here. They were made for me.

Entrance to Gethsemane!

The Garden of Gethsemane today is literally a fenced off garden that is pretty small and in a courtyard area of the Church of All Nations. We couldn't actually go inside...but these two pictures show how big it was.

Inside the Church of All Nations. So pretty!

 

I had seen this church a bunch of times from up on the hill by the Old City and it always looked so grand and huge and I wanted to visit it so bad!! I didn't realize til I took pictures of it outside that this was it. :)

Walking back home... past beautiful fields of olive trees..... (AKA TOTALLY where the real Gethsemane was ;))

Dinner time! Maybe one day I'll finally get to blogging about Jordan. ;)

No harm can befall with my Comforter near

Some quick thoughts... for I am running on 4 hours of sleep. And only got 4 hours the night before that. And am about to start a paper that's due in the morning. I will get 7 hours of sleep if it kills me!!

I love it here.

I'm already mildly depressed about how quickly April 25th is approaching.

I'm being humbled and strengthened.

Opportunities to work on my 2013 resolution of being more vulnerable have already presented themselves and have already paid off. AKA it's okay and important to ask others for help. Regularly. And if tears are involved, so be it. You do not need to do anything alone. It's scary to ask for help and to open up, but the rewards are immediate and wonderful.

When you take the time out to study the scriptures, the Lord takes the time to bless you. Don't make overwhelming goals - 15 minutes a day is fine if it's sincere.

Faith and hope, kids. Faith and hope.

I'M IN JERUSALEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The God of the Old Testament is not crazy, and the stories of the Old Testament aren't either. You just have to read them in context with an open heart and give them a chance. There are actually incredible lessons in them. Basically, trust in God, and everything will work out. We have been able to pull that lesson out of pretty much every story.

Remember how I'm going to study the New Testament in Galilee???

How is it already February 12th?? Truly I cannot express how much I want time to slow down. If a genie appeared to me right now and granted me one wish, I would wish that this was an 8 month program. Or ya know, 12. :(

Sometimes being an instrument in the Lord's hands means experiencing trials solely for the purpose of being able to show compassion and understanding for others later. I'm learning that. And I'm grateful.

The Lord is my Shepherd; no want shall I know.
I feed in green pastures; safe-folded I rest.
He leadeth my soul where the still waters flow,
Restores me when wand’ring, redeems when oppressed,

Thru the valley and shadow of death though I stray,
Since thou art my Guardian, no evil I fear.
Thy rod shall defend me, thy staff be my stay.
No harm can befall with my Comforter near.

I'm happy. I'm happy to be here. And I'm so happy to say that.

At the Jordan River, where my best friend was baptized. :)

Mass Apology

...for not responding to your e-mails.

Midterms are in full force.

And I have a 25 page study guide to become great friends with before tomorrow morning.

And that's only for Old Testament....

*quiet sobbing*

E-mails shall flood your inboxes on Saturday!

C-C-C-Catch Up!

  At least a little one..

You guys. It is killing. me. How many pictures I am forced to leave out.

But anything is better than nothing... soooooo here we go!

In line to see the Dome of the Rock on a free day! Some local kids wanted to take pictures with us... it was pretty funny. :) "Hey, Americans!!"

Dome of the Rock with my roommates! We were here with a big group but then spent the rest of the day exploring just us 4.

One from Ashley's camera... love it!

Sooo can I take all those gorgeous tiles and keep them forever? K cool thanks.

We paid to walk along the walls of the Old City! Such awesome views.

We get pretty nerdily excited every time we see the Jerusalem Center from afar. ♥

The Old City in a nutshell.

Next day (Monday.. field trip day always)! Me and Montana in the Negev (southern Israel) watching some tribal women weave. :) (Yeah this was a long time ago and I don't remember names or details. And my field trip manual is down in my room.. sooo..)

Sweetness.

She was cute. :) And SADIE everyone compliments me on the scarf you gave me. :) It kept me warm this day!

The little ornament I bought from them!

Next stop.... Beersheba! I think! Abraham came through here... I think. I'm not dumb I promise, I'm just so tired and we do field trips so not in order of what we learn. Also, we went underground to see an ancient water system. Thus the hard hats.

Replica of an ancient sacrifice alter they found hurrr.

Next stop... a tel! That I don't remember the name of. Guys I'm appreciating this experience I promise....

Next stop... another tel! Tel Adar? Maybe? Ashley is showing how much we love tels.

Totally different day: tour of the underneath of the Center! Everyone signs their names down there. SO COOL! Sadie I saw Cory's and had to put mine under his. :) I also saw Ian's and Piers'! And like three others I knew! I looked so hard for yours!

Another field trip day: Montana and I in the hills of Jericho!! We are either on or near the Mt. of Temptation... probably. ;)

Contemplative time. Thinking of Christ's 40 day fast. ♥

Jericho - The oldest city of the world!

Behold... the Neolithic Tower. AKA the oldest structure IN THE WORLD. 9000 BC baby. 9000 BC!!!!

Okay I need to go not fail my classes now. :)