Sabbath and other thoughts

Temple Mount again!

I think that I am one of the luckiest girls in the whole world. I feel so blessed to be studying here in the Holy Land. I get to have an amazing group of people to do it with. I know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so glad that I decide to do this, instead of some of the other options that I had. I know that this trip is changing my life. I never thought I could or would learn so much, but I have! And it has only been two weeks, I feel like I would be content with the things that I have learned, but I still have 3 months in this beautiful country.

Random Senior Picture like Shot... :)

One of the beautiful City Streets in the Jewish Quarter

So on the Sabbath we had a member of the seventy here, visiting the Holy Land. He is the newest member of the seventy and he shared something with me that really was sweet. I got to talk with him for a few minutes after sacrament got out and he shared a scripture with us that I want to share with everyone. The Scripture is in Luke chapter two verse 19 “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” And then he said “Thank heavens for Mary.”  (When I think about Mary, all that I can think is that she is so amazing, because if I had to do half of what she did, I am not sure that I would be as faithful or as loving as she is) Then He challenged us to prepare each day, and ponder these things in our heart because one day soon we are going to the leaders of the church. He told us a story about President Monson and Elder Holland, he said that normally during the Leadership meeting that the seventy go to, they have many topics but the last one he went to there was only one topic and it was how we need to be preparing for leadership. He said that when you read the scriptures both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, you try and find how many temples they had. They only ever had a few temples, and now look at our time we have over 120 temples. Comparing that the few temples and now, you realizing how fast the gospel is growing and how we need to be preparing. The gospel is moving forward very quickly.  What he said has got me thinking about that things that I should be doing to prepare. I want to ready for whatever the Lord has in store for me. 

Ignore my crazy hair, but I just wanted to share these!

Latest Adventures

Wow! The past two weeks have be crazy and amazing. I love this place and I think that it will always have a special place in my heart even though I have only been here for such a short time, I feel like I have been here for so long! So one Sunday our free day (I think by the time I get used to the Sabbath being on Saturday, I will be back in the states) Also Random, but with the Jerusalem Center, the church started to allow other cultures to hold the Sabbath on other days. I guess when David O' McKay was the prophet the President of the Center asked if they could have the Sabbath on Saturday because of some problems that they have in the with culture (with stores and traveling etc.) He said no at first then he said yes after a letter was written to him listing all the reasons. That was the start of the change for a few places in the world.

 Anyways this past week, I got to go to the Temple Mount or the Dome of the Rock. It was pretty Beautiful place…

In front of the Dome of the Rock!

The Dome of the Rock is super amazing. I am not sure if I should take as a compliment, but one of the Guards asked if I was muslin and when we were in the shops on Sunday I also got asked if I was Belgian or from the middle east. Apparently I look like I could from everywhere! :D 

On the Roofs of the Jewish Quarter! Yes that black thing that looks like a belt is my fanny pack. I love looking like a tourist. 

More from the Temple Mount, the wall surrounding the Temple Mount is Beautiful.

Random: But I feel like everywhere in the Holy City, there are perfect places to take pictures, because everything is made of Limestone. I guess there is a law or mandate that states you have to have limestone covering all buildings, wish I think makes the city look put together. 

First week in Jerusalem!

Wow...This week has gone by so fast! I feel like I have seen so much and I have only been here a week. I already feel super close to everyone here at the center. So far I have gone into the city a few times. It is super amazing and beautiful. Everything is so ancient and old, with so much culture and history. 

Random Picture I took of the Jerusalem Center (It is a glorious place)

I think I already have a favorite part of the Holy city, which is the Jewish Quarter. It is just beautifully kept. I don't really know why but I really love learning about the Jewish Culture and people, but I just do. I am in a Hebrew class right now. I had my first class yesterday (which was pretty fun, kind of like a kindergarten class.) we sang songs learned words like. "Shalom"! and that means Hello, Goodbye and Peace. We also learned "Shabbat Shalom", which translates to hope you have a peaceful Sabbath. "Todah" means thank you. And from what the teacher said it should be easy for us to learn Hebrew after we have this class, because it is one of the easiest languages to learn.  Another reason I think that I like the Jewish Quarter so much, because we stopped and got this delicious candied nuts. I really want to go back and get some more. Another interesting thing about the Jews is how many times people have tried to destroy the Jews. We read an article about it for my Jewish Civilization Class. I thought it had only happened with the Nazis but it happened multiple times and they were removed from their homes many of times also. 

Some of the super fun amazing students here at the center! That is the Dome of the Rock behind us. 

The Arch of the Covenant! What? This is inside the Augusta Victoria Church.

Umm...what else have I done. I got to go the Garden of Gethsemane last Saturday. Saturday is our Sabbath day here in at the Jerusalem Center. It is very strange saying Saturday instead of Sunday, when you ask people how their day is going. We also got to visit the city this sabbath which was interesting, because it was Easter for the Orthodox Christians. There are so many religions here. Everyone wants their own piece of the Holy City. Everyone is different also, it is extremely interesting to see the cultures and languages spoken. There are people from all over the world here. 

All of us that were wearing coral/red/pink...At the look out point.

Amy, Lauren and I at the lookout near the Dome of the Rock, this trip that I found those super good candied nuts :D