No one warned me...

...that Sabbaths would be so difficult,

as in... make me miss Jerusalem so much.

Every time someone mentions Christ in church I'm like, "!!!!!!"

It's like I have no memory of us ever talking about him before Jerusalem. He's just this new guy to me, and I love him a lot a lot a lot. And want to keep learning about him so much!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

And every time I see a painting of Christ in Jerusalem or Galilee, I'm like... "!!!!!!!"

Also, I admittedly have to stop myself from being rude and thinking that others can't possibly know about the real him as much as I do. I feel bad for feeling that way, but I do. I just know too many things now that I didn't before.

So from now on, Sabbaths might be a little hard, but for the same reason they'll also be pretty awesome.

Flowers from Capernaum

Fact:

I'm back in the States.

I miss Jerusalem (duh).

Sadie and Spencer picked me up at the airport. They're the reason I went, sooo... it was kind of perfect.

Sadie and I cried when we saw each other. That was kind of a big deal for us.

Bacon came back into my life today in the form of a JCW's BLT and it was DIVINE.

Somehow, our 5 hour flight felt 3 times longer than our 12 hour one. Also, we almost missed our flight because our layover was so short. I ran through the airport without a belt on. It was great!

I'm afraid to make my first Facebook status. I don't want to be back in that way yet.

I'm kind of afraid of my iPhone. I wouldn't turn it on for hours.

My Aunt Amy pulled together the most ADORABLE guest room for me to sleep in the next couple of weeks!

I forgot that I need to eat food. Amy offered me some dinner and I almost refused it, and then realized I needed to accept.. because.. I don't have an all-you-can-eat cafeteria at my fingertips anymore. Awkward.

I haven't taken a nap today. I will not let jet lag win!!

I'm sleeping in my old apartment tonight with my love Bronwyn. ♥

Everyone's telling me I'm tan. Everyone = Sadie and Bronwyn. It's exciting.

I left my laptop charger in Jerusalem. Yyyyyyyyyyyyup.

I just found out that Keith Urban is Australian. How did I not know this?

Me with my acceptance letter in August.

Me with my acceptance letter that I found while packing away my things in Jerusalem. Insert depression here.

While I'm obviously sad, it is good to be back. America is the greatest country on Earth for a reason. (FLUSHING TOILETS, duh!)

I love you Jerusalem. Thank you for everything. ♥ (And brace yourself for Jerusalem references and blog posts for the rest of your life. Okay cool.)

One week.

And I'll be home.

One year since Chloe got baptized :) :) :) On the Sea of Galilee

Scripture pictures (Synagogue at Capernaum)

Beams and motes :)

Saying goodbye to the Mediterranean Sea

Bonfires in Galilee

More mission calls! (My Annie-Anne is going to TOKYO!!)

Easter at the Garden Tomb

Church in Galilee

Hilarious demon marmots

Scripture pictures (Caesarea Philippi)

Friends hiking in Gamla

The Sunset Crew

Floating in the Dead Sea (SO COOL)

Covered in Dead Sea mud (totally bought some)

Hearing our echos at Masada

Watching Conference on the Sea of Galilee ♥ ♥ ♥

SORRYIDIED!

It's 3 AM.

It's our last night in Galilee.

Been here 10 days.

Been everywhere! Capernaum, Mt. of Beatitudes, Sea of Galilee (it's kind of in our backyard), and churches that commemorate every thing that ever happened in Galilee, pretty much. GAHHHHHHH. Awesome.

Swam in a ... river? fishing hole? thing? a few days ago where dozens of little fishies gave me a pedicure. IT WAS SO COOL.

I watched a session of general conference on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. So, that's amazing. (!!!!!!!)

We head back to the Jerusalem Center tomorrow, and I'm really excited about it. I miss that place.

2 1/2 weeks guys. 2 1/2 weeks. The desire to not miss anything mixed with the crummy internet here explains my lack of blogging. My apologies!

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♥ ♥ ♥

Today I walked where Jesus walked.

Just a few quick pics before I head off to slumber...

We had our Jewish Quarter (of the Old City) field trip today! Inside the Jewish Archaeological Park are steps that lead up to the temple mount and date to the time of Herod... AKA the time of Jesus. In other words, it is super likely that He walked up these steps when going to the temple.

Still mastering the awkward poses, don't worry.

The half arch you see used to be a functioning archway that people walked through to go to the temple. There is a picture of it in the back of your LDS scriptures! :)

Sitting on the original stone slab under the arch... this is the one spot that they can almost be 100% certain Christ stood at at one point. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME SOOOO AWESOME!!! Fun fact: Neil Armstrong stood here, and said in his biography that it meant more to him to stand here than to stand on the moon. HiIloveyouNeilyourock.

Well.

That was magical. Is this real life? Yes, yes it is. Less than a month left... it's going to be amazing. Heartbreakingly amazing.

Also, chatting with Sadie on Gmail chat is magical. And the best thing of my life. And distracts me waayyy too much but is so completely worth it. Laughter comes before grades my friends.

Also, I have some good news to share... *drumrolllllllllll* .............. I got hired as a TA for summer term!!! :) Some of you knew I applied to be a TA for a professor I had last semester. I just thought it would be a good thing to do right before I graduate, since I've been planning on graduating in August anyway. Well I GOT IT! I had a phone interview Monday night (afternoon for him) and he e-mailed me the next day with the good news. :) I'm really excited about it and happy to at least have a plan for my life until August! I will be TAing for SFL 335 - Family Adaptation and Resiliency.. AKA probably the most demanding class I ever took in college haha. But I actually loved the content so I'm really excited to learn it again without having to write the research paper. ;) And I LOVE the professor - he taught my capstone class and he's just really great and I'm excited to work with him!

ALSO... me and a bunch of Jeru peeps are doing the Dirty Dash in September. Signed up today. Can you say best reunion ever? I think so.

Yay life! Now I just need to decide where I'm going to live......

Alright. The next 2 days are going to be fun... must hit the hay. Wish I could share more. /: 

LIVE YOUR LIFE!!!! Night!

First Date

Matt took me on a romantic first date today to donate blood in our gym.

The only down side was that since we donated blood, we weren't allowed to fly for the next 24 hours. 

In other words, he had to cancel the magic carpet ride planned for the evening. Still bitter.

Bucket list item #872: Selfie while donating blood. Check!

(...just kidding... obviously.... hopefully...)

Do you ever wish you could see who gets your blood?? I do!

Is that weird? Maybe. Would it be awesome? OF COURSE!

Especially because I have O+, so my blood could go to aaannyyoonnneeee! ANYONE. EVER.

Okay I'm done.

Blood is great.

I love you all.

Goodnight. :)

Palm Sunday

Wow.

Today was just such an awesome day!!

It was our free day, but we were all encouraged to participate in the huge Palm Sunday walk. I did.. and it was awesome! But it wasn't until the afternoon. In the morning I went with a group of friends to a couple of churches, through the old city, and on top of some rooftops. :) One of the churches was an Episcopalian one and we stayed there for like an hour and a half for their Palm Sunday service! It was really beautiful and I loooooooooooove me some Episcopalians (shout out to Anna and Katie!!). But seriously, the church was gorgeous and if I wasn't Mormon I'd probably be an Episcopalian cuz I just love those guys. ;)

The Palm Sunday walk was soooo cool. There were soo many pilgrims there and just people from every where speaking all different languages and singing their own songs and waving palm branches in the air! It was so cool and so CROWDED. Our little group of JC students belted out hymns for a good 20 minutes, and other Christians joined in on the ones they recognized. There was one point when we started singing "How Great Thou Art" and I could see people all around joining in in their own languages and I just about died. It was so beautiful and precious and adorable and magical and happy and how it should be. It was so neat and I think people really liked hearing our hymns (compared to the marching band style music everywhere else or the little cheerleader girls doing Jesus cheers haha... AWESOME, but different than hymns). I just loved it. So many people gathering together to worship their Savior. It was also just nice to be around so many Christians! Doesn't happy very often. Loved it, loved it, loved it. ♥

So here are some pictures of my awesome day. :)

First church we stopped by... St. Stephen's, I believe. It was beautiful!

Sweet old woman speaking in French to Hannah for about 5 minutes... and apparently not caring that Hannah was just smiling and nodding the whole time and couldn't respond hahaha. So cute.

This cat. So cuddly. So dirty. So cute.

Next stop... the awesome Cathedral Church of St. George!

We first met outside in their courtyard, and they blessed the palm leaves.

After the service, as people are exiting. The service was in Arabic and English.. pretty cool!

Sometimes Spencer likes to be an angel.

The beams of light shining through the windows were soooo pretty!

Group pic in the courtyard.

Quick stop at Lina's... known to have the best hummus in Jerusalem!

... and it was dang good. This one had pine nuts in it. And was uhmazeing.

Walking through the Old City. ♥

On rooftops in the Old City!

Leaving the Old City... rare shot of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock in the same pic!

 

And then... Palm Sunday walk!

We walked from the top of the Mt. of Olives all the way back down into the Old City through Lion's Gate. It took a few hours because it was so crowded.

People watching as we approach Lion's Gate.

In front of the gate with my Palm leaf.. branch.. thing!

SUCH A GOOD DAY!

Back to the books tomorrow. And giving blood. Woo!

Happy Palm Sunday!