Another Tender Mercy

Ever since the first week here I've had this weird desire to see at least one person I knew from home. I didn't think this was likely, but I was wrong! In June we were having a 'Meet the Branch' activity. I thought one of the members looked a lot like a seminary teacher I had as a freshmen but then I figured there was no way. Well when she introduced herself she said, "...I taught seminary in Provo." Then I blurted out, "Oh my goodness, you were my seminary teacher." We didn't have time to talk because we made the connection right before we had to rotate to meet other members in a different room. So later while we were having refreshments she came up and gave me a big hug and said she remembered me and Marie. (Marie was in the class as well and we had so much fun.)

It has been so fun to come to church and see a familiar face from my past. It's always fun to catch up on each other's week, and she gives the greatest hugs! Plus we're slowly recalling memories from 6 years a go. Well today she taught the Relief Society lesson and I had serious deja vu. It was so great. Later we saw each other at the Garden of Gethsemane and we talked for a little while. Who'd have thought that I'd have the opportunity to discuss the Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane with my seminary teacher who taught me the New Testament? I have been so blessed.

"Each life that touches our for good reflects thine own great mercy, Lord; Thou sendest blessings from above thru words and deeds of those who love." (Hymn #293)

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Last week I went to Bethlehem. At first I was having a hard time picturing the modern city of Bethlehem thousands of years a go. Then we walked through the older part of the city and I could see Joseph leading the donkey with Mary on it walking through the crowded, narrow streets seeking for refuge.

We went to the Nativity cave and it was...different. The nativity cave now has a big shrine built around it. It doesn't look like a cave at all because it's all decorated with big, gaudy ornamentations. I touched the exact spot where Christ was born. It was neat but definitely interesting. Talk about the plain and precious things being taken away.

My favorite part of the day was when we went to a nearby cave where St. Jerome, a monk, lived and translated the Bible into Latin. This translation was kind of a parent to other translations of what is now the King James Version of the Bible. All of the students and teachers (80+ people) crammed into this little cave and we sang Christmas carols. Because this cave isn't as 'famous' as the nativity cave it hadn't been all decorated. It was just a simple cave and so it was very easy to picture the humble nativity scene there. I'm so grateful for that night so long ago. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father would send his son Jesus Christ and I'm grateful Jesus Christ came to redeem and save us all.

When we were singing I thought a lot about all of the angels rejoicing and singing praises. I don't know exactly where I was this sacred night but I like to think I was looking down on that beautiful scene smiling and singing.

Classroom Etiquette by Becky Dayton

So you want to raise your hand?
• Wait until the teacher at least finishes his sentence. Likelihood is he’ll answer your question.
• If the teacher makes eye contact with you while your hand is raised and they keep talking then there’s no need to keep holding your hand up. The teacher saw it and obviously doesn’t want to answer your question. Just put your hand down. Maybe they’ll come back to you.
• Have you been paying attention in class? No? Then don’t raise your hand and have the teacher repeat something because you weren’t listening.
• Don’t ask questions/make statements just to make yourself look smart. (While I was reading The Odyssey I found…)
• Limit your questions. Everyone has questions and comments (most of us just don’t say them) so don’t take all the space.
• There’s no need to hold your hand straight up, a 90 degree angle will suffice.
• Ask yourself, “Does the whole class need to hear this question, or could it wait until after class?”
• Don’t, under any circumstance, raise your hand when there’s >1 min. left of class. Some of us have countdowns going on and you’re totally messing them up! This is especially uncalled for when there is a meal right after class.

So you want to sit behind me? Great just don’t:
• Scratch my back
• Play with my hair (I love this, just not in class)
• Jiggle my chair
• Stick your foot up on my chair. It’s just gross, Okay? Especially if you have bare feet.
• Answer questions the students ask the teachers. I’m pretty sure the teacher knows more than you do so just let them answer okay?
• Whisper constantly.
• Shush other people. You know the, “SHHHH!!!” The shushers always get to me…

So you are teaching the class. Here are a few pointers for you:
• Never snap at the students, it makes us want to hurt you.
• Don’t stop your lecture every time a student talks and say, “Listen to me. This is very important. I want you to do well on your final.” I’m sorry, but students are going to talk every once in a while, and if you stop every time one of them talks when there are 80+ students, well that’s just a waste of time.
• Don’t give us reading in size 8 font. This also makes us want to hurt you.
• Keep up with the breaks half way through they class. They make me happy.
• Don’t schedule midterms so they last for more than two weeks! Coordinate with other teachers. Okay?
• We do love those take home quizzes. Keep them coming.
• Don’t assign a 15 page (mostly single spaced paper) midterm for a two credit class. That’s just not nice.

So you are trying to stay awake. Here are a few suggestions:
• Write a poem
• Doodle
• MASH (classic)
• Actually take notes on what the teacher is saying…
The basic idea is to stay awake while at least paying ½ attention. Do things that will allow you to still take notes and listen. Don’t do things that will distract others. If you’re not going to pay attention at least keep it to yourself.

Most importantly never, ever blog during class. That’s just totally inappropriate. Seriously though don’t think I’m a bad student after reading this. I almost always pay attention in class. Not many people get the opportunity to take these classes and I know I’m very lucky. I’ll start trying harder. Tomorrow.

I Love the Hymns

I have so many things to say, and I've come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try I can't tell you everything. So I've decided to share a journal entry. My thoughts were all over the place, but I still wanted to share it:

It is a beautiful Sabbath morning and I'm in the Garden of Gethsemane. I've come here once before, but I was on the outskirts and I didn't stay for long. We just spent the last half hour singing Hymns. Now as I try to think of words to express my feelings I can only hear others testimonies that have been written down in Hymns.

"Because I have been blessed by thy great love dear Lord, I'll share they love again according to thy word."
I am so blessed to be here. I know that I'm only here because of the love others have shown to me. I'm here because of the love Jesus Christ proved when he suffered in this very garden thousands of years a go.

"Come cast your burdens on the Lord and trust his constant care."
How easy this is. Because of the Atonment I can truly cast any trial any heartache that comes my way on the Lord. He will take care of it. With his help I can be led home.

"To those who fall how kind thou art."
I am imperfect and I will always be imperfect. I've made so many mistakes and I know I'm not done making them. It's so comforting to know that even with my mistakes Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are ready to welcome me in with open arms. I'm so thankful for the gift of repentance, this gift of saving power.

"He shed a thousand drops for you. A thousand drops of precious blood." Sitting here and looking at the intricate details on the beautiful Olive Trees I can't help but feel extremely humbled to the point of almost feeling insignifact. I'm such a small part of all of this, but I know that my older brother Jesus Christ knows and loves me. He suffered here in this garden for me.

"He only could unlock the gate of Heav'n and let us in."
Christ was the only one perfect enough to redeem the world from sin. Christ is the only one who could provide an infinite Atonement. Heavenly Father sent His son for me. It is through this I can return to live with my Heavenly Father again.

"I believe in Christ, so come what may."
Life is hard, but I know it has to be. I know that with Christ nothing is impossible. I can bear any trial with Him at my side.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here. At least once a day I'm hit with this overhwelming feeling of gratitude. I don't know why I've been so blessed to have this experience, but I'm trying everyday to get the most out of it.

20 Reasons Why I Can't Be 20:

1. My mom has started using my age as a reason why I'm supposed to be mature. When I was a teenager my behavior was totally justified. Now not so much.
2. This past year I've read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Number the Stars, Angel's Don't Do Karate, The Twits, and Stories from Wayside School.
3. I can no longer quote Barnaby from Hello Dolly and say, "I'm only 19 1/2, for me it's not so urgent."
4. I insisted on an easter egg hunt this year even though the youngest at home was 18.
5. I still don't know how to cook. Most girls should have a pretty good understanding of cooking at 20, but I don't.
6. I'm VL. Not many 20 year olds are. Maybe I should be embarrassed about this, but I'm not.
7. Most 20 year olds don't play the High School Musical Sing Along on the Wii. I don't know why they don't. It's awesome. And for the record I totally creamed the little girls I babysit.
8. 1/3 of my movies are animated.
9. I still chase birds. I was in paradise in Venice.
10. Sometimes if I scoot all the way back in my chair at school then my feet hang down and I can swing them. I love doing that.
11. Justin Bieber is only 16. That's four years younger than me. But seriously the cute boys in movies that I watch are now younger than me. Maybe I need to start watching more mature movies. Speaking of which...
12. I love Disney Channel. As a matter of fact I almost always watch Disney Channel Movies the night they come out. I'm pretty distraught I'll miss the premiere of Camp Rock 2: Final Jam.
13. I have Noah, Noah on my ipod.
14. I love sleepovers. They're so much fun. Thanks to my awesome cousin Barbara when I'm at home I have at least one a week.
15. I still don't know how to do my hair. Aren't you supposed to figure that out by like 12? Also I still can't use finger nail polish without making a mess all over my hand/foot.
16. I still plug my nose when I swim.
17. Sometimes I catch myself skipping. But if you lived in a beautiful white mansion in Jerusalem you'd skip too.
18. I still have tea parties. Believe me when I say they are AWESOME!
19. I make an awesome teenager.
20. 20 is old. At least it is for me.

So there you have it. I don't want to grow up.

One Time I Killed a Lion

Another time I killed a bear... Then I waited around a well hoping to get myself an Isaac, but it didn't work. Then I discovered I'm a little claustrophobic.

Walk Like an Egyptian

Okay so I’ve actually never heard this whole song. I just know I heard this one phrase over and over again when I was in Egypt. There are so many things I want to say but I don’t have very much time so I’m going to try and sum it up saying the highlights and using excerpts from my journal.

We had many stops on the way to Egypt. At one point we stopped to have this hike. This is one of the wildernesses that the children of Israel would’ve wandered in. It was beautiful, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do 40 years here:

At another stop the tour guide took us away to a dessert. We played around in the sand like we were little kids. It was so much fun. The sand was very fine so it felt so good on our feet. After a while of goofing off the guide talked to us about how many sacred things have happened in the dessert. Then he sent us with a piece of paper off to find our own little spot in the dessert. I’ve always thought the dessert was such an ugly place, but as I sat there I really came to love it. I can understand how so many prophets would go to the dessert to escape from the world. There is such a beautiful solitude out there. I was very disappointed when the horn blew and we had to go back. This is the view I saw when I was all by myself in the dessert.

While in Egypt I went to…the Pyramids! It was so incredible. They’re so much bigger than I thought they would be. They’re huge! Also I was way impressed by how rigged and imperfect they are. The pictures and movies portray them as perfect buildings, but they aren’t all smooth. You can see the layers of stone and to me that seems like you can just see the history of it. We went inside one of the pyramids and it was crazy. The walkway to the tomb was very small and short. I started getting pretty claustrophobic, which hasn’t happened since the rainbow slide at Westridge. Once we got to the opening and saw the empty tomb we sat around and talked for a little bit. We sang, “I am a child of God.”It was really cool with the acoustics, but I felt sorry for the other people around. I love singing but I just feel like sometimes when we sing at some of the sites we’re interrupting other tourists’ experience.

After we saw the pyramids we headed to the Sphinx. On our way a man in a suit asked me, “What’s your name?” Well I was kind of creeped out so I just shook my head and walked away. Later on a girl came up to me and told me he was our security guard. Didn’t know that. Well the rest of the time he’d come up to me and say, “What’s your name? ha ha ha ha.” And the fun just continued…When I was in front of the Sphinx a little boy offered to take my picture. He organized the picture so it looked like I was kissing the Sphinx. How original I know. Well after that picture he started repositioning me. He pulled me forward and had me bend down. I was really confused as to what I was posing for. Was I leaning on the pyramid or over it? It just didn’t make sense. Well the little boy took the picture and started laughing hysterically. So then he handed me my camera and I saw this treasure:

One of my highlights of the trip was riding a camel along the Nile River. It was really fun to be in this line of 40 camels with a bunch of my friends. It was such an amazing experience. I loved seeing the beautiful green fields, and I was humbled as I saw these little huts that some people call homes. I’m so lucky, I’ve been so blessed. After the camel safari we had a Felucca ride down the Nile back to our hotel. It was so beautiful. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but it gives you an idea. If you look closely you can see the other ½ of our group riding camels.

So I decided that after this extremely long post I’m going to try and post more frequently and they’ll be shorter. The problem I have is there’s just so much that I want to say so I put it off and it turns into this project. Just know that I want to say so many more things, but I’ll try to summarize as best as I can.

Lately....(A picture narrative)

I walked on the wall that goes around the Old City. It was absolutely incredible. I could spend an hour in one spot looking at every angle and still be fascinated.

I went on an awesome field trip. We went to a bunch of different overlooks and saw the city from different views. We also saw many other places mentioned in the Old Testament including Bethlehem, Bethel and the Judean Wilderness. This picture shows a beautiful Jewish cemetary. There are so many cemetaries here, because the Jewish people want to be here when Christ comes.

I walked around Jerusalem. Okay I do that everyday. How lucky am I? Anyways, on this particular walk I saw the old steps to the temple. Aren't they beautiful?

I saw Dome of the Rock. I've loved going to places that other people find sacred. Sure it's not like going to the temple, but there is a nice spirit in these special places.
Speaking of places that other people find sacred...This is the Western Wall. It is one of my favorite places I've been to so far. People believe this wall was a wall of the temple. When I went I was so amazed at what I saw. Some people held on to the wall crying, others stood there rocking back and forth while reciting scripture, and others wrote prayers and stuck them in the wall. It was so beautiful to see everyone doing their own kind of worship. Friday night we came to this wall to join in the Jewish festivity of welcoming in the Sabbath and it was packed! The girl's side sang songs, but the boy's side was awesome! People over there were in a big circle jumping up and down and kicking their legs. It was so funny to see our white boys wearing kippahs intermixed with all of these Jewish soldiers in their circle. I sure wish we had a party every Saturday night like that to welcome in Sunday. But at our party I'd make sure the girls side had dancing!

On Saturday, which is Sunday out here, we went to the Garden Tomb. There were a lot of people there so we didn't have much time at the actual tomb. After we had all gone in we went to a pavilion in the gardens and sang Hymns. It was just incredible. The easiest way for me to bear my testimony is through song so I felt so lucky to be singing "He is Risen" to people walking around the gardens. I'm pretty sure that's the closest I'll get to bearing my testimony out here since we're not allowed to discuss the gospel at all.

Yesterday was a free day so I went to Tel Aviv and hung out at the beach all day. It felt so good. School out here has definitely been stressful so it was fun to go out and have a nice relaxing day. Also it was nice to be in the sun and not dripping sweat.

Today we went on a field trip to Jericho. I saw the oldest building ever made. (It's a tower that's now in the ground.) Then we hiked up to a beautiful monastery. This monastery was somehow built right in the middle of the mountain. How in earth did they do that without modern technology? After we looked around at the monastery we went to an overlook of the Judean Wilderness.
I leave for Egypt on Thursday. I'm way excited! Just know that I won't have access to a phone or computer but I'll try to post as soon as I get back in two weeks.

Jerusalem

Hello from Jerusalem. Let me start of by saying I have so many things I want to say and so little time so prepare for sloppy blogging!

It has been quite the crazy week. The flight over here was pretty long. I had figured an 11 hour flight wouldn't be bad with movies. You know how I love movies. Unfortunately 20 min. into The Blind Side my TV broke so I got to watch a dancing penguin and blinking text for the remainder of my flight. Come to find out I don't sleep well on planes. I didn't know that. Oh well.

We landed late in the afternoon on Wednesday. They wanted us to get off jet lag and so they wouldn't let us sleep. What's the best way to keep people awake? Meetings! Seriously I know they're necessary, but my goodness in between the 4 hr. orientation meeting and the 3 additional orientation meetings I've been dying!

Thursday morning I woke up at 5 so I ran around the grounds with a friend. Later on, we went into the Old City which is beautiful. Here are some of my first impressions:
-There are so many hills here. If it weren't for the cafeteria here I'd say I found a new great diet.
-The city smells bad. I can't identify it, it just smells. I'm so nervous I'll come back smelling like Jerusalem.
-There are merchants everywhere! They all know we're Mormons and they love us. Our instructors didn't want us to go out with our name tags on and let everyone know where we're from. Instead we went out wearing matching fanny packs and carrying around 2 liter bottles. The good news is we all came back with our money, none of us were dehydrated, and nobody knew that we were tourists. They thought we were locals.
-The kids here aren't nice. Some kid was mad I wouldn't buy his poster so he started throwing rocks at me. There are some clever new business tactics, huh? But it's not like the rocks sent me away I mean who wants a poster of Strawberry Shortcake?
-Everything here is built with beautiful stone. Someone in my ward told me the city glistens. He was right. If I keep my eyes on the building and not all the liter everywhere I'm way impressed by the beauty.
-There are so many different people here from so many different religions. I've loved looking at the different clothing, listening to the different languages, and observing different ways of worship.
-I can't believe how old this city is and how much history there is to it. There are so many remarkable things that have happened here.

Friday morning I had a great start. I blew out the fuse in our apartment. Then at lunch I spilled my tray and all the dishes broke. Did I mention the hot chocolate got all over my front? And everyone and their dog was in the cafeteria at that point? That wasn't embarrassing at all. At least everyone knows who I am? Oh yeah when I headed back to my apt to take a shower, yes it was that bad, I realized the shirt I was wearing had a big stain on it. Later we had class and then went into the city again. That night my friends dragged me into playing Scrabble. Not speed Scrabble, just Scrabble. Are there worse games? Yes; Risk, Monopoly, and any other game that involves lots of thinking. That's no game. Then we had a big dance party and watched a movie.

Today (Saturday) is the Sabbath. Church was absolutely amazing. Taking the sacrament while overlooking the Old City is an experience I wish everyone could have. My Relief Society president is Palestinian and from Bethlehem. She told so many neat stories I wish I could tell you, but time is running short. One of the things I wanted to do here in the Center is play the organ. I've never had the desire to play organ before (have you heard it?), but I wanted to play a Sacrament Hymn on this amazing instrument on the top of Mt. Scopus. It's the 2nd or 3rd best organ the church owns, so it's way nice. My new good friend was playing so he let me play a few hymns on it. (I don't think I was supposed to so he let me do it on his "practice time") It was awesome.

I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I wake up every morning and I pinch myself. Just kidding. I hate that saying so much. Why on earth would someone pinch themselves? That's just stupid. I do keep catching myself smiling just thinking about how amazing this is. Anyways, I love the people here. I've met everyone, but I don't have all the names down yet. I feel like I know so little here and I just want to know everything. Sorry this post is long, but you have no idea how many things I left out. I'd go back and edit but sit's time for a fireside.
Both of these pictures were taken a few hours a go in Orson Hyde Park just outside of the Garden of Gethsemene. I'll include more pictures next time but you must be warned...I look awful out here. There's enough humidity to make my hair go crazy and too little to have it curl nicely. Also "modest" here is very different so that's fun.