Jordan Day 2: Petra

I have been to another one of the 7 wonders of the world!!!! ( I have been to Chichen Izta) and I think by the end of this summer I will have been to 3 of the 7 because we are going to Italy and I think I will be able to see Colosseum. I am so excited. Next up the Great wall of China, Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, who knows!

Summer, me, and Coryne in Petra

The Treasury at Pertra

High Place at Petra

We found this when we took a detour...Pretty Cool right...

From Left to Right...Me, Dallin, Coryne, Summer, Bree, Maddy, Kacey, Jasmine, and Steven. (Amy and Kimmy are turned around in this picture)

Camel and I infront of the treasury at Pertra

One of the first things you see at as you walk up to Petra

Kelby and I eating lunch at the Basin Restaurant

With Love,
Sierra 

Jordan Day 1: Mt. Nebo, Madaba, and Machaerus

Our first day in Jordan was so fun! Our first stop was to Mount Nebo and Madaba. 

Mount Nebo

The walk up to Mount Nebo

Machaerus...this is where John the Baptist was beheaded

Kjersten and I at Machaerus

Shanelle, me and Morgan behind us you can see the fortress of Machaerus

When our bus broke down...by the end of the trip we went through 6 different buses. 

Middle of the desert where we broke down


With Love,
Sierra

Sorry this post was short...Wasn't really sure what to write...

Midterms, Finals and my Testimony...

So I should be studying but I have a lot of thoughts running though my head right now that I want to share...

I am so excited to be starting the New Testament! The main reason I came to Jerusalem Center was to learn about Christ life, to strengthen my testimony of the Savior and his mission on this Earth. Now I have a whole class focused on the life of Christ. My first New Testament class is tomorrow and I am so excited for it.

View from my Balcony of the Holy City 

Today our readings were in John and Luke. And it talked about how they are eyewitnesses of life and mission of Christ. I know I can not be an eyewitnesses but I can be still be a witness of him because I have had confirmation that he is the Light of the World and our Savior. 

In the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible for John 1:5...It states "And the light shineth in the world, and the world preceiveth it not." Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. He brought Hope back into the world. Through him you can receive that Light in your life. 

Because of him everything works out in the end and he fills the gap between us and our Father in Heaven. 

One of my favorite Apostles Elder Wirthlin, said the following in a talked called The Unspeakable Gift...

"Have you ever thought about the amount of light and energy generated by our sun? The amount is almost beyond comprehension. Yet the heat and light that we receive come as a free gift from God. This is another proof of the goodness of our Heavenly Father. 

The light from the sun breaks through space, bathing our planet as it encircles the sun with life-giving warmth and light. Without the sun, there could be no life on this planet; it would be forever barren, cold, and dark.

As the sun gives life and light to the earth, a spiritual light gives nourishment to our spirits. We call this the Light of Christ. The scriptures teach us that it “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” 2 Thus, all mankind can enjoy its blessings. The Light of Christ is the divine influence that allows every man, woman, and child to distinguish between good and evil. It encourages all to choose the right, to seek eternal truth, and to learn again the truths that we knew in our premortal existence but have forgotten in mortality." 

Today I have been thinking about this concept as I was walking in the sunlight...The light of Christ can reach us all if we just open our hearts, it will find a way in. I have found this to be very true in my life. And I am so thankful for the blessing that the Savior gave to me. He gave me hope and a way to get back to our Heavenly Father again. I am so thankful for the opportunity to learn about his life this semester and be able to visit the places that he taught and lived. I am very blessed to be on this Earth and to have all the opportunities that I have had and am having. I am thankful for my parents for their hard work that has allowed me so many blessings in my life (coming here being one of them.) I am very grateful to be alive! I just have this overwhelming feeling of love and thankfulness for all that I have been given. 

Another view from my Balcony 

Amen...


With Love, 
Sierra 

Trip to the Neot Kedumim June 19, 2013

June 19, 2013 was an eventful day...
Neot Kedumim was so fun! I feel like the field trips have been getting better and better, every one I love and the next one I love even more.

Today was full of adventure, we got to crush spices, herd sheep, make lentil soup and pita on a fire pit  out in the woods. We also got to learn how they write in Hebrew for holy books like the Torah. So Interesting and fun!

We also learned more about the story of Rebekah and Isaac. At the well, Rebekah would have had to have gotten over 200 buckets of water for the camels of Abraham from the well. (Camel need about 10 or 20 buckets each and he had about 10 camels with him.) You can see that the Lord must have really been leading the Servant of Abraham to Rebekah. Right before Rebekah got to the well, the servant of Abraham prayed to find her. In order for him to find the wife of Isaac. He asked the Lord that when the right women came along, he would ask her to get him water and if she would offer to get water for his camels also. That would be the confirmation that she was the right one. And now you can see how much work that would have been for Rebekah. You can also see that this would make it really clear that Rebekah was the one that the Lord choose for Isaac to marry. 

These sheep were so sweet. I loved them!

Pro-Sheep-herder back here. (After all my mom's maiden name is Sheppard) 

Call me the Sheep Whisperer....

I make my own spices...If you didn't know...

Torah Scribe, This job is generational (what I mean by that is you learn it from family members and it passed on through the line)
All the torahs are written by hand and it takes about a year or longer to finish on book.


Well hope you enjoy this post...

 With Love,
Sierra 

Eilat June 16, 2013

Today we got to Eilat to go Snorkeling! 

Such a relaxing day at the beach, I didn't take very many pictures. I wish I would have taken more, but I know a lot of other people took pictures. This beach was beautiful. 

We had a really long car ride, it was 4 hours there and then 4 hours back. But I feel like everyone is champs at the long bus rides, because we have dance parties and sleep, which is nice when you have to be ready by 5:15am. 

The beach we were on... This is the Red Sea, by the way

What we saw for the four hours of being on the road...

Me on the beach after a relaxing day of swimming, snorkeling, and sun bathing!

Today I got to see both the red sea and dead sea. In a few weeks we get to hangout at the Dead Sea, which I am super excited for!

Another forgotten Post! Negev Field Trip! May 13, 2013

The Negev is a desert in Southern Israel...In other words very hot! hahah. Negev comes from the Hebrew word for "dry"...So as you can imagine that is how we felt, but it was still so amazing!

This is at Beersheba ( This place is talked alot about in the bible, Abraham gave it to Isaac and many other things)
Kendal, Kaitlin, me and Lauren...Oh ya...that is Taylor (classic Taylor pose) 

This is Tel Arad...

Some Shepherd's and their Sheep!  ( People here still herd their sheep)

Me, Morgan, Hailee, Sarah, Amy and Julie at the Sidreh weaving center
This center is to help women rights, for education and things like that it was pretty cool. I got this little red and cream bag to support the Sidreh Bedouin Women.

Hope you enjoy!

With Love,
Sierra 

Jericho Field Trip! I realized that I totally forgot to post about this...May 27, 2013

Jericho was amazing, I think this is on my the top of my list of places that I love here in the Holy Land.

On our way to Jericho, We stopped on the road to Jericho, which is where the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The road to Jericho is a this road in the desert that is full of curves and turns, there are also a lot of caves and niches. So it is easy to imagine that this is a place that a lot of people could be robbed and left for dead.

Then another interesting thing that we learned was that Jericho is the lowest and oldest city on Earth, so on the road to Jericho you go from high of Jerusalem then to the lowest which is Jericho.

Me in the Middle of Jerusalem and Jericho
The Mount of Temptation is also on the road to Jericho. So when Christ was fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, He was at a low point but he was also in the lowest part of the land. I found this very interesting. Another random fact or thing that I noticed is when Christ is being tempted to change the stones into bread. The bread that they had at that time was like Pita bread (when I was a child I always imagined that Satan wanted a loaf of bread) but a lot of the stones in this area look like a pita bread, they are shaped like bread and I can imagine Satan telling Christ look at those stones they even look like bread it would be so easy for you to change those stones into bread. 

Overlook from the Road to Jericho

Behind me is the Quruntul Monastery 

Maddy and I at the Lowest and Oldest City on Earth!!!

These are the ruins at Jericho called Es-Sultan

If you look careful you can see Herod's Winter Palace in the Left Corner (Ruins of the Palace)

 Hope you enjoy this last minute forgotten blog post....

With Love, 

Sierra 

DAY IN THE CITY!!! June 10, 2013

I finally have had the whole day in the city, which is so nice I know I had a lot of homework, but it was totally worth it. I needed to get out of the center, because I had been spending was to much time inside. 

First Stop: Dormition Abbey 

This is where according to local tradition where the Virgin Mary died and Last Supper occurred nearby. It was beautiful! There were beautiful mosaic inside depicting Christ life. One thing that I love about the city of Jerusalem is the fact that you have so many different people that believe in Christ coming from all over to the world to see where the Savior of the world live and preached.

Dormition Abbey!

Luiza, Kacey, Maddy, Me and Jasmine at Dormition Abbey

Second Stop: Tower of David Museum

View from the Tower of David Museum

Inside of the Museum! Ruins of the time of David

Last Stop: Festival of Lights

Lauren and I at the Festival of Light (First time we were allowed into the old city at night)

Day was packed with so much fun! Such a good way to start the week!

With Love, 

Sierra