i love my life

I love my life. Plain and simple. This past week has been crazy. We’ve had field trips, adventures, and a little bit too much studying. It was finals week here, so a lot of days were spent inside the center studying. It’s hard to study when Jerusalem is right outside your window. Now, finals are finished (except one paper….) and the stress level in the center is a lot lower. I think we tend to make each other more stressed out than is really necessary. Some finals were failed, others we’re barely passed…but they’re over and we’re happy. Now we only have two classes for the rest of the time here, so we are going to live it up every minute. The best part about finals week was getting a little too silly and also having a lot of deep conversations.

On Monday we went to Hezekiah’s tunnel! It was definitely my favorite field trip so far. We saw some ruins around the City of David and then got ready for the tunnel! We saw a movie in 3D and it was super cool because I already learned a lot about the reasons for the tunnel so I felt way smart. Then we went underground and walked in some freezing cold water (FELT SO GOOD!). We turned off our headlamps and tried to go without light, but we kept bumping into the walls and each other and it was so great. At the end of the tunnel we got out to the Pools of Siloam. This was the place that Christ healed the blind man. On our way out we walked up another tunnel (without water), which had some original steps that Christ would have walked on. I walked where Jesus walked!

On Tuesday I took and failed an Israel test. YAY! and studied forever and ever for old testament. Wednesday I took an old testament test. Thursday...I can't remember what I did, probably studied. and on Friday I took another test. 

Tel-Aviv tomorrow and Jordan on Monday!!!!! 

me and the roomies missing annie :( in front of al-aqsa mosque!

me, nate, and maddie gettin ready for hezekiah's tunnel!

maddie, beccca and me rocking the head lamps inside Hezekiah's

maddie, nate, and me at the pools of siloam!

these pants and this fence are my favorite colors.

welcome to my world. this is right inside Damascus gate. I walk this everyday! love love love it.

shephelah

We had a great field trip to the Shephelah yesterday. We visited these 5 valley's...Aijalon, Sorek, Elah, Guvrim, and Lachish. I love our field trips. It's crazy how we can visit some burning hot, desolate land and feel the spirit. Our professor's are so great at explaining the scriptural and historical events from each location and then giving an awesome devotional that always brings the spirit right in.

me and joe at one of the valleys.

 this valley is where samson was from...i think its Elah but don't quote me. The ark of the covenant was at this very location! joe ludlow skipped school today and came on our field trip so he may or may not appear in most of my pictures.

david cramer and david burbidge

 This is at another valley...i wan't to say Sorek... This is the valley where David slew (is that a real word?) Goliath. That's what makes this pic of me and the David's so appropriate. They love David days. Today they wore crowns to class while we talked about the rise of King David in 1 Samuel.

just slinging a rock, like David. If I fought Goliath I would be dead real fast. My rock kept going backwards. 

i look so awkward. maddie, steph, and me

this is how you properly dismount from standing on an antiquity. dont tell dr. jackson. 

 At Lachish we got to stand in an ancient  Holy of Holies. We learned how important this was to their worship and had a great devotional. Except it was so hot that I can't remember much.

saving joe from a big cliff. this kid is great. 

just posin at the bell caves.

rachel, karen, joe, steph, and me

 These pictures don't really show how great these caves were. First, monday was like 1000000 degrees. So going underground was the greatest thing ever. I'm considering moving into these caves for the rest of the summer (it's REALLY getting hot here). Usually i'm not one for breaking into song (mostly just hymns) in public, but this was a really great place for singing.

me, meg, lane, and steph

Life is good.

this week

this week has been crazy and I feel like pictures are the only way to describe it. 

me and chloe at King Herod's winter palace. I wrote a whole three pages on this lovely mound of dirt. 

avery, rachelle, steph, and maddie at Elijah's spring

just hiking through the desert. we sat down in the wilderness and talked about how Christ wandered somewhere around here for forty days. Can you imagine being in this wilderness for that long? I barely survived for an hour.

 Our field trip on Monday was to Jericho. There we saw a lovely tell (mound of dirt), a few ruins of Herod's palace, springs of Elijah, and the wilderness. Brother Ludlow (otherwise known as j-rowdy) told us not to set our expectations too high because there's really nothing there. I can say i've been to the oldest city in the world though...sweeet.

hahaha dwight got a haircut and then the guy started threading his eyebrows. classic.

me and joe at arab night. he's 13 going on 22. too many college girls around here for him. 

roomies at arab night! steph, annie, me, and lane

 arab night was a thrill. The men who recite the quar'an and call to prayer at Al-Aqsa mosque. Al-aqsa is the second? most important place after Mecca in the Islamic religion. I love the sound of that call to prayer and it was SO cool to hear it live, especially by such famous men. Then I had some of the most delicious food the Oasis has ever served.

just learning some arab dances. which of course turned into a real dance party with  dj aj. I feel like everything turns into a dance party around here. Perfect for me. 

me and heather at Gethsemene. 

big group at Gethsemene

 Yesterday for the Sabbath big group of us visited Gethsemene. I was so happy that after a whole month here I FINALLY made it there! It was beautiful but very touristy. We got permission to enter a secret garden across the street next Sabbath! (no tourists and more natural looking olive trees!)


This happened TODAY. I'm so on top of things. 


My alarm went off at 3:45 this morning and I couldn't figure out why. Then I remembered. It's the Jewish holiday Shavout today. A huge group of about 75 students went to the Western Wall to watch them worship. Our Israel teacher got permission for us to go, so we figured it would be cool. Right as the sun came up, all the Jews started praying. It was really neat to see so many people there praying, but I don't think I would get up at 4AM for it again. It was perfect timing though, because then we were first in line to see.....DOME OF THE ROCK!

melissa, me, and analise at the Dome!

not posing at the dome. (we got in trouble for posing). analise, lane, me, bekah, aj, devery.

 The dome has really strange hours and long lines, so it's hard work getting in. We were first in line today and it was great! We were literally the only ones up on the temple mount. I've never seen anything quite like it.

After the dome we ran back to the center to grab breakfast and then went to a Pentecostal church. It's Pentecost today so they had a fun church service full of singing and praising!

After Pentecostal church we went to the Israel museum to finish an assignment for our ANE class. It was cool but we were all so tired so we just checked everything off the list. I definitely plan on going back because they have some real art there!!!!

me and rachel at a replica of the old city at the time of Herod

just an Oldenberg statue. no big deal, just learned about  this in my humanities class! (i was SUPER excited).

at another piece I learned about in Humanities! nobody else shared my excitement.

 Then we decided it would be cool to walk to ben yohouda.

we walked forever and ever and ever and ever. and West Jerusalem was closed for the Jewish holiday. So we walked back to the old city (total of two hours walking), ate pizza, and then went home.

Long day. But i hit four religions. jewish holiday, dome of the rock (islam), pentecostal, and Mormon of course.

livin my life

karen, steph, and i on our first field trip!

me and devery shared a waffle at the waffle bar. i want to eat there every minute of everyday.

kenzie and i in zedekiah's cave!

were super cool

we got to write our names under the center!

friends since kindergarten. 

best treat so far.

we like to pose at the "7 to 11"

just the view from our house

dp. good.