First Sabbath

Wow. What an amazing day it has been so far. These first few days I have been hoping to get in a groove/find my niche here in the city and I definitely think those prayers were answered today.

Before I continue I want to share something I was thinking about today. I got a text last night from a dear friend about my blog/experiences. It was so sweet and encouraging. She also told me how jealous she was of me and all the things I get to do. This message meant a lot to me but it also made me want to highlight something we all suffer from here on social media. When sharing things, whether it’s instagram, blogs, facebook, etc., we tend to pick out and distribute only the highlights-not the struggles. Don’t get me wrong, my first few days here have been amazing, but at the same time they have been surprisingly difficult. There have been tears, I have felt alone, and I have felt like I am in the wrong place. I am confident I am not the only one here that has felt that way. That’s how life goes. Do we want to share that? No. Those feelings are signs that we are weak, and we would never want anyone to see that side of us. Right?  The point is, as I continue sharing my experiences here in Jerusalem, I hope everyone can remember not everything is rainbows and sunshine. I think this is an important thing to remember when examining anyone’s content on any form of social media- I most definitely suffer from this disease of comparing my life to others and hope I can get better. It is hard. Okay, my rant is over.

So today we had church. Wow. Wow wow wow wow. We had it in the auditorium on the eighth floor with the huge windows that look out over the city. I can’t even explain what it feels like when someone says something about Christ- his suffering or his ministry- and you can look out into the city and pick exactly where he was. It is unreal, to say the least.

Today we had approximately 250 visitors (wow). Tourist season is definitely picking up here in Jerusalem. It was really neat. We have an overflow seating area that has audio streamed to it and we had to utilize it today, which is saying a lot. President Woods said we had about 400 in the congregation today. 400 Mormons in Israel in the same place. Wow. What a time to be here in the Holy Land.

One of the visitors was one of my favorite people, Sarah Darby. She was in my ward at the Isles in Provo. She is here vacationing with a friend’s family. I didn’t expect to see her in church today, I thought I had missed her being in Jerusalem by a few days. When she turned around and waved to me I thought I was going to lose it. I was so happy to see her. The comfort of a familiar face is hard to compare to anything else. Needless to say we talked and hugged and caught up before and after 'Sabbath school' and relief society. It was hard to see her go.

Speaking of comfort, that is one thing I absolutely love about the church. No matter where you go, it is exactly the same feeling and organization. It is comfortable for me, it is home. I felt so at home today and I am so grateful for that. As I sat in sacrament meeting today I decided to make a goal: when I have a family and we go on vacation I want to go to church wherever we are. I have never gone to church in a foreign place and regretted it. It is so inspiring to me to see the strength of members around the world who are so much stronger than I am and in much more difficult circumstances. So that is my goal- go to church around the world!

Today was a fast meeting so we got to share testimonies. We had so many visitors that passing the sacrament took 45 minutes. We only had 20 minutes to bear testimony but I think it was one of the greatest meetings I have been in. I think 5 people shared, but one man really stood out to me. This man was a thick, tan, 60-something Latino man. He went up to the stand with a pretty young girl who ended up translating for him. To start his testimony, he welcomed us to Jerusalem, which I thought was really beautiful for some reason. He spoke really well and had a beautiful accent. He lives here in Jerusalem and shared his testimony of Christ and especially of the truthfulness of the church. He was so impressive to me. I am always so struck by international members and their faith and perseverance. It is easy for me to believe in the Church, I am from Utah and see the blessings of it all around in me. Whether it is temples, my ward community, the beautiful school I go to, I am always aware of it’s presence.  I have religious freedom and never have to think twice about sharing the gospel or practicing my religion on Sundays. I am so lucky. Anyways, I loved this man’s testimony. The young woman (who ended up teaching relief society) translated so well and it was wonderful.

After sacrament was ‘Sabbath School,’ which still sounds a little funny to me. Our teacher was one of the students here at the center. Almost all of us have callings now. She did a great job and shared a video that really struck me. I think it is one of my favorite Mormon messages videos. You can find it here. I would definitely encourage you to watch.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng

Next was relief society, which was taught by Carmen, the girl who translated for the Latino man. What an inspiring lady. She just had a baby, Adam, and is a cute young mom. She is from Bolivia but moved to Israel to marry a Russian man on the internet. It sounds sketchy, I know, but it definitely wasn’t a mail-order bride kind of deal. You can tell they really love each other. Carmen says they both hate the story of how they met so they tell people they met on a trip to Paris, they think it sounds romantic. I thought it's cute. So Carmen speaks Spanish, English, and since moving to Israel six years ago has picked up Hebrew and Russian. Here is the thing that was so striking to me: After she explained her family situation I started to wonder if her husband was a member. Then I realized, if he wasn’t prior to their introduction and she moved here to Israel to be with him, she can’t convert him here. WOW. How crazy is that? I have never thought of this being a limitation. Can you imagine not being to teach the gospel to your very best friend, your companion? I can’t. It made me realize how INCREDIBLY lucky  I am to have the rights I have in the states. Carmen gave a great lesson about what ‘treasure’ means to us and I look forward to more lessons from her and getting to know her better.

After church I finally found Brother Fellows. He is the guy in the branch presidency that works at the consulate. It turns out he is over American visas for Israelis so he has a very interesting job. I got my church calling today! I have been called as the second counselor in the young womens presidency! On our application they ask about previous church callings and I was a YW teacher when I was in London so I think that has a lot to do with it. There are only two young women in the ward so it’s wayyy low key but I am looking forward to it. If nothing else it is fun to be their friend/someone to look to.

After that little meeting I went with a group to the Garden of Gethsemane. I was hoping to go to the Garden Tomb because I thought that would be a cool way to start the trip but I guess the church that runs it (the Lutherans or the protestants, I can’t remember) require you to take one of their tours before you can wander around freely. We aren’t doing that until Friday. So anyways we went to gethsemane. It was so cool. I am so glad we went. It was beautiful and a lot more garden-esque than I thought. I think I pictured it more as a grove of olive trees, but within these it were lots of flowers and little paths. There were also some plaques that had scripture. I really, really liked it. It is my new favorite place. You can't walk inside on those paths but I think I liked it like that. It kept it more sacred.

The Garden wasn’t far from the center which totally blew my mind. To my Logan people- it would be similar to walking from my house on Cliffside down to Riverside elementary on the Island. For my Provo people- it would be similar to walking from the Maeser building to Center Street. The location of the center is totally amazing.

The Garden is next to the Church of All Nations which looks beautiful. I am looking forward to going inside. Today we didn’t have enough time but I will definitely be back. There were lots of groups (Greek Orthodox again, I think) going through with what looked liked Brothers from the church. There is a busy road that runs next to the Garden that I thought was an interesting contrast to the peace inside. Funny story- we actually saw our first shepherd today. He caused quite  a ruckus when he had to get his flock through this street. It was hilarious. That was always how I pictured Jerusalem. Another thing I noticed were the olive trees themselves. Some of them are young and some are old, supposedly 2000 years old, so they would have been in Gethsemane at the time of the Atonement. Olive trees grow out, not up, and get pretty gnarly. The wrap around themselves and it looks almost painful. I thought this was very fitting for the atonement.

On the way back a random guy kind of swatted at one the girls in the group like he was trying to touch her. I don’t think she even noticed but I did and so did two boys with me. They freaked out. I just wanted to say thank you to boys that look out for girls. It is much appreciated and a very attractive quality.

I am kind of getting distracted now so I’m not doing as well with the detail! I’m sorry! I also want to apologize for grammatical errors and overall weirdness on here. I typically write when I am super tired or I am trying to rush through and won’t reread the post until it’s actually online. Oh well!

Again, thanks so much for the texts. I miss everyone and it’s so nice to hear from the real world! I don’t get wifi until I walk out of my bedroom so don’t worry about waking  me up J love to all!! 

first day of class

today was our first day of class!
first we had old testament with brother belnap. it was great. usually classes are two hours long which sounded  pretty daunting, but he is good. immediately after we had ANE (ancient near east) with dr seely and it was the same deal. he is a great teacher and super funny and it was easy to stay interested. i am super excited. we learned a lot about the west bank, basic geography, and also got a lot of prep info for our field trip on monday (my birthday)! we are going to various sites around jerusalem to get an overview/good views of the city.
after 4 hours of class we had lunch. today we had cold cuts and got to make our own sandwiches. the bread was super good. we also had a lot of nice cheeses. so so good. as usual there was a lot of fresh fruit. today was also the first day they put hummus out with the pita so i finally tried it. it was pretty good. they have this chocolate spread that is super good... the best way to describe it is like cake batter. they also have peanut butter out but i wasn't a huge fan. i think it's all natural peanut butter because it sticks to the roof of your mouth like none other. i am impressed by the food they serve us everyday. it is super good. i am doing good with portion control (pray for me lol). tomorrow is fast sunday. no food until 4:00 and i slept through dinner... so pray for me x2. hahaha.
after lunch we had meetings for security and our committees. first was security with mr. safadi. he is so funny. so is mr. alawi. they look really similar and have super, super dry senses of humor. they are my favorite. they are like arab body builders, they aren't super tall but they are thick. hahah i love them. so he (mr. safadi) went over safety for fires, earthquakes, bomb threats and missile threats. he is so well educated it was impressive. he was using all these different terms for different kinds of collapses during an earthquake. you can tell he has been through a lot of training for this kind of stuff and the entire center is incredibly well planned out. it seems like it is very prestigious thing to work here at the center. one of the front desk ladies is a lawyer, a mom, and a fashion blogger here in israel. i think she is a pretty big deal. she dresses well. wears lots of black, (which is a good indicator of someone with good fashion) hahah. so i endorse her fashion blogging.
we went into the bomb shelter again today to go over some things. the one on the sixth floor is equipped for NBC warfare- that's nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare. it's an intense system and 200 people could live in there for 8 months. i think if a nuclear strike hits i'd rather just die then have to deal with all the aftermath but it is cool to see all the precautions they have taken. i feel very safe here at the center. yesterday we also got our israeli cellphones and our access cards. the phones have the center and security on speed dial and we have to take them every where. as of this semester we also have a new deal where we get 500 free minutes to the states on those phones so that's so nice. we use our access cards every time we leave and enter the building so that security knows who is not in the building in case of emergency.
my favorite part of the day was our committee meeting. i am a co-chair on the service committee which is really cool. i actually signed up for it kind of as an accident. on the papers in provo it is called "humanitarian and hosting" and the description included giving tours of the center which is totally my jam- i love interacting with people. turns out students don't do that anymore but that is okay! i think i ended up with the coolest job.
the service couple in charge of us are the gunthers. they are from american fork and are so cute. sister gunther was a elementary school teacher and i guess i look just like one of her students grown up and it seems like she really likes me. it's so nice to have adult figures here that look out for you. she was the first person that pulled me aside individually and asked me how i was. that kind of stuff means a lot. so basically the service couple has a lot of connections throughout the city and we choose / get a feel for what the students want to do then set it up through them. we have various opportunities at preschools in the old city, a school for extremely handicapped children in ain gev, (how on earth you spell that, i have no idea), a blind school, a soccer facility here on the mount of olives, and more. it sounds really cool and i am excited. almost every friday we assemble kits here at the center. we went down to the garage today to see it and it was soooo nice. holy wow this place is nice. all the employees have decent cars and one even drives a chevy SUV which i thought was funny. so anyways the church is so smart. they put the jerusalem center logo on all the stuff they distribute (coloring books, etc.). we were talking today and class and one of the key things to being safe is associating ourselves with the center/byu/church and not america. people like the church here. doing service and having kids here to spread goodwill is so smart. both israelis and palestinians i think will always support the church and it's presence here as long as we are neutral. it is so smart. the church is so smart. they don't like america, but they like the mormons. i think that is so interesting. what an amazing missionary effort in a non-traditional missionary way. i am so glad i am on the service committee and get to spearhead the effort to spread that goodwill.

after the meetings galore i took a nap. a couple people went into the city but i knew that if i went i would literally collapse. i am still pretty jetlagged. like i said earlier i slept through dinner which may have been a really, really bad idea. we are all playing games now and it's fun. i really like the kids here. there is this one italian kid, brian. he reminds me of douglas weaver and is so funny. (hi wendy haha). anyways i am gonna go play but everyone have a great weekend! i will write tomorrow, our first sabbath! (we have church on sundays). pray that i don't die, i can't eat until four because it's fast meeting. see ya! xo

orientation walks! (with pictures!)

hi guys!

little preface- this post is a huge email to my mom, so sorry if there is anything personal that doesn't make sense to you. i was hesitant to post it because it's sooo freaking long but whatever. this also acts as my journal so i will be including a lot a lot of detail. here we go!

It is 10:15 here and I just got out of the shower. My roommate ariel is asleep and everyone else is still out studying. Our first day of class is tomorrow and we had a decent amount of reading for ANE (ancient near eastern studies). That is our heaviest class and it lasts our entire program.

So shortly after posting my first little blog entry I went and got breakfast. It was great. There is lots of cereals, fruits, some weird extremely liquid yogurt, French toast, eggs, and various breads and pita, which is always out. There is also a European table that has meats and cheeses like you would see at a continental breakfast. There is a nescafe machine that has hot chocolate, hot milk, sweet hot chocolate, and this bizarre drink that I guess is unique to Israel. I tried it and it was NASTY. Everyone else seemed to like it. It tasted like a bad accidental combination of hot milk and sugary medicine. It is really thick and is white, but not like pure milk white, it is kind of gray and soupy. Ew. So gross.

Because it is summer we get to eat outside and the view is absolutely beautiful. All the roses are blooming and they are my favorite. Along the backside of the center all the landscaping is roses and olive trees. It actually reminds me a ton of nana and grandpa’s house in las vegas which is nice, it feels kind of familiar to me and I cling to that because this place is definitely very foreign.

While we were eating we also had our first encounter with the resident cat. She is pretty thin and not the prettiest kitty I have seen but she is sweet. I think people have started calling her Gia. I haven’t fed her or petted her yet and all the faculty have really been pressing that on us but I think it is too late. Hahah. I guess cats are protected here so they are everywhere.

After breakfast we had a quick orientation meeting (AGAIN) in the ‘forum’ which is the less fancy auditorium on the sixth floor, where the classrooms are. The seats are orange and it has a large stage. It’s also next to a bomb shelter.  We have ANE in there and I get the feeling I won’t like that room much. The other classrooms are so nice. It really does feel like the center was built yesterday and we are the first students to use it. The building’s condition is unreal. We had a quick rundown on things that we have all heard a million times. Honestly since I have been here and been in some six hours of orientation I haven’t learned a single new thing. Everything they talk about is included in the packet that you are required to read when you apply for the program. Oh well.

After orientation we met on the first floor (the floor furthest down the mountain, closest to the bottom of the kidron valley) for our orientation walk. I am starting to get to know people better, and one of my friends made sure I got in the group with our old testament teacher, dr. belnap. I am glad we went with him because he was extremely knowledgable and could tell us a lot of historical things about what we were seeing. Some of the tour guides were just the facilitators wife, etc. although they have been here a lot and I think they are great people im glad I had someone who studied the area like dr. belnap. (btw- dr. belnap is here with his family. They live in an apartment  on the first floor and have 4 kids. They range from ages 4-13 and go to an international Anglican school ran by the church of England. They are super cute and gets TONS of attention. Their mom is also super sweet.)

We walked down the kidron valley and then back up towards the old city. The layout of Jerusalem is insane. I don’t know why people settled here cause it’s literally a bunch of hills. Hopefully this means I won’t gain any weight because holy crap, all we do is walk uphill. I was always taught that settlers chose valleys or something flat ya know? So yeah, it is definitely not the typical layout of a American settlement.

I forgot to say, before we set out dr. woods warned us that if we saw casually dressed men ‘stalking us’ not to worry, it was security. There are about 4-6 men (and one of their little sons today, he was probably 6 and thought he was a bad a and was super cute) that follow us around. We split into about 10 groups of 8 so we could travel more efficiently and they move between us. I guess they knew our exact route because they were never far away but they were never walking with our group for too long. It seems like they are very aware of the surroundings. Its cool.

Before we got to the old city, which is a lot further away than I thought it would be, this random arab guy came up to dr. belnap with a bag of bread. He was Palestinian and definitely not with our group. I was confused with how he handled him. He handed him the bag of bread without greeting and called him “brother belnap” as he handed it over. Like I said, so confused. It turns out this was one of our security guys and they had bread for all of us and will just approach us like that all the time. I love that he called him brother belnap. The bread was an oval shape and kind of looked like a pretzel but not as dark. It was covered in sesame seeds but the texture was more like a baguette, but it was very sweet. It came with two little rolls of paper. Inside the paper was a mixture of spices that you dip the bread in. it has a fancy name but I forgot it. It was mostly oregano and salt and was very good. Dr. belnap said a lot of the cities will smell very strongly of that stuff because it’s all over the ground; it’s very common. We sat on the steps of Damascus gate ( I think??) which was really pretty, and ate our bread. Then went into the old city!

I have another funny story. Before we went into the old city we started being approached by these old men. My group was the first one out so it’s not like they had seen the byu kids coming in front of us, they knew we were coming. I was super confused when he casually greeted dr. belnap and started whipping out business cards. It turns out these are the olive wood carvers located outside the old city. The three that approached us today cater especially to LDS customers. They were all very convincing when they said they were the ‘world famous shop’ or they ‘had the best prices’. It was so funny and kind of cliché to have these old arab men with thick accents trying to convince you to come to their shops. They made sure each one of us got business cards (very professional looking ones, I might add). They had maps of Jerusalem so you could properly locate their shop, and a “10% off discount” guarantee if you showed the card. The second shopkeeper, Omar, literally drove up to us, pulled over in the middle of a very crowded street and started handing out his card. He was very well dressed and spoke good English. Apparently he is the one all the apostles get their nativities from ( I have heard this from people back home, not him). The last man, Ali Baba (lol is that real life?) was waiting for us outside of the church of the holy sepulcher. Like I said, no idea how they knew exactly where we would be. I guess ali baba was featured in the special on KSL during conference so he has had a huge spike in business recently. I might buy from him just cause his name is ali baba.

So anyways- the old city. It is like an old roman city, enclosed by huge stone walls.  I don’t know what I was expecting but inside reminded me of the markets we went to in Thailand and Senegal. Very crowded, unorganized, some booths had lots of total junk, lots of smells. I guess I was anticipating something more European and quaint. It got more that way in the Christian quarter (we entered in the islam quarter).

Of course there are TONS of churches, mosques, random chapels in normal buildings, etc. one of the first places we went to was the Austrian hospice on via Delarosa. This translates to something like ‘trail of pain’ and is the traditional site of where jesus carried the cross. Keep in mind this trail has been changed three times, so it’s not terribly accurate, but it’s a cool concept I guess. There are 13 or so ‘stations’ along the trail that mark happenings of jesus’ walk to Golgotha or calvary. For example, one of them is where he stumbled, and there is a large stone where it is believed he left a handprint as he steadied himself. It is very worn away and a totally diferent color from everything else because so many people have touched it.

There are lots of pilgrims (mostly greek orthodox, from what I saw today) that come to interact with the sites. The Austrian hospice was built to house pilgirms. These days it has a cafeteria where you can come in and rest for free, and rooms you can still rent. The interior was pretty and very European which also made me feel a lot more comfortable. (it’s funny how all of the sudden western European things are ‘home’ to me, thank you London and mom). It has a beautiful view at the top which is probably my favorite so far. We weren’t allowed to take pictures today because this was supposed to be a brief tour just to introduce us to the area so I didn’t get too much.

After that we walked through a lot of stuff, and I know I am skipping a ton.. he made us walk through the butcher’s street which was nasty but It reminded us that the old city isn’t just  a tourist site, people survive off of what is carried there. We eventually made it to the church of the holy sepulcher, which I had no idea was such a big deal. Holy. Freaking. Crap. It doesn’t look like much from inside but it is a big deal. The church holds what was golgoth (where christ was crucified), one of the sites that is believed to be christ’s tomb, and more. There were tons of pilgrims that were interacting with this stone… they put oils on it everyday and they were literally rubbing every part of their body on it. I can’t remember it’s significance but it was something big. Dr. belnap said it was chill to touch it but said the church had no stance on whether it was legit or not.

There are tons of chapels throughout this church, which is jointly managed by the catholics, greek orthodox, Armenian, and I think two more branches of Christianity. One that I thought was especially interesting was this glass window that revealed the original bedrock from roman times. It is directly below Golgotha. It had a giant crack running down through it. Orthodox tradition believes that this crack was made from the blood of Christ running down through the ground to the grave of adam. They believe he was buried directly below where Christ was crucified. It was all very symbolic of conquering death and rebirth and was so interesting. I had never heard that story before. I hope I explained that decently well. I thought it was so interesting.

So I would say the church of the holy sepulcher is mostly greek orthodox so it has all these silver lantern things hanging everywhere and lots of incense. It is neat and super, super pretty. Very dark, very similar to a European cathedral. I was a huge fan. In the middle of this huge domed room is a huge 1^st century BC tomb that is believed to be the tomb of Christ. There were HUNDREDS of people in line to get in this tomb. They had police barricades set up. Super reverent right? The churches here definitely aren’t policed/regulated like the ones in Europe, which is kind of interesting to me because these should be the most sacred… right? Interesting stuff.

-side note- we also passed by the garden tomb but didn’t go in. traditional Lutherans and protestants accept the garden tomb as the tomb of Christ, although it wasn’t discovered until the 1800s and actually predates Christ by 200 years. this doesn’t totally discount it, it is not unusual to re-use tombs. Christians (Mormons included) like this site because it is an actual garden and fits our expectations much more. The church of the holy sepulcher definitely doesn’t!!

After this we started to make our way out of old Jerusalem. We dropped down into an area where they have excavated it so you are walking at the level where the roman walls are. This was cool again because it reminded me of London; they did this in one of the museums there. The Roman Empire is insane when you think of huge it was. WOW. In this area there were also a ton of really cool art galleries that I will definitely go back to. This area (Christian quarter) also had all the cool pottery, widows mites, and legit shops. I am anxious to back.

We exited through zion gate and climbed up the hill towards jaffa gate (I think?) these two gates have been modified recently so that cars can drive through. On our walk we had a beautiful view of west Jerusalem. It is so different from east jeru which is mostly Palestinians. I can’t wait to go over there. It was mostly destroyed in the wars of the 1900s so it is all new buildings and very European. There is also a new mall near jaffa gate. Dr. belnap explained all the middle eastern countries are very proud of their malls because it shows they are becoming advanced/westernized. Often when you are a tourist, the guides/locals will want to show you their newest mall.

Vans met us and took us back to the center. It was awesome not to have to hike back up there.

We had lunch, which was good as always. After that, more orientation. We were all so tired, but I’m guessing after tonight there’s no way we won’t be acclimated because they made us stay up. It was so dumb, like I said. More repetition of stuff we have known since we signed up.

Today we also met with our committees. Each student not only has a church calling but also a committee calling for the center. We really help this place run. Committees involve things like mail and linen, service (that’s me), activities, out of Jerusalem activities coordinator (everyone that leaves the city for the day has to coordinate with them), and more. They sound low key but they are actually really important. For example, a bunch of the nursing students are ‘bus docs’ and are in charge of first aid for each group when we are on field trips. They have special fanny packs they always carry around.

Today our apartments also met with the branch presidency. Dr woods (my fav) is the branch president. Dr nickel, the programs doctor is the first counselor. I am a huge fan of him, he reminds me of president Larsen. He is a big dude that wears one of those big silver rings on his right ring finger. He talks exactly like Pacha from Emperor’s New Groove (I would make that comparison). He is a retired ob/gyn which also made me feel more comfy. The second counselor is a guy that works at the US consulate. I forgot his name but he seemed like a cool guy. He is the only one that doesn’t live here at the center.

This mini meeting also forced me to learn a lot about my roomates. We met bailey, the red head from Hawaii at orientation. She sleeps next to me and is super cute. She just finished her freshman year so she is young. She is cute sweet girl, but turns out she is way into dirtbiking! How cool is that. Daniella is the girl from Colombia. She is studying applied mathematics at Idaho. Her parents are both converts and her dad is actually in the area 70 for Colombia or whatever that general area is. How cool is that. Ariel is only 17 and graduated high school when she was 16. She is a genius and is studying neurobiology or something. She was susie’s roommate back in provo so I kind of already knew that about her.

We had dinner (so much food, omg, pray for me) then had a get to know you activity in the gym. It was fun. The activities committee total organized it and they do a good job. The gym is huge, almost a full size bball court. It was a good time. I took three different naps today and almost fell asleep in class multiple times. It’s been a LONG day.

At some point in there we were also shown the video they show tourists when they come here. It’s funny cause it’s all about provo and make it sound super legit. It’s funny. but it’s actually true. Provo is legit. The church is legit. That is one thing I have felt overwhelmingly every time I walk into the center. The church is LEGIT. We have a powerful presence here in Jerusalem and that  says something. To make an investment in a community like this is to make a statement. It is impressive, to say the least. Another overwhelming feeling I have had is that America truly is a ‘new promised land’. Of course being here you can tell it’s something special and obviously jesus walked here. But, at the same time there is this weird pollution to it thanks to all the turmoil, violence, history.. It is hard to explain. It is sacred, but it is old. Something kind of hangs over it, I guess you could say. I feel like Jerusalem is still waiting for redemption. When I am in the states and interact with sites (church history, or even just being in salt lake) it feels so hopeful to me. I love it. It is pure and clean and ready for the future. I feel like Jerusalem has already had it’s moment and everyone is hanging onto that instead of looking towards the future. Maybe my perspective will change as I am here longer but for now those are my feelings. America is something special. It is the ‘new Jerusalem!’

thanks everyone for the sweet texts and the encouragement to blog! it is a little scary to share so much with everyone but it is fun to share it with friends who appreciate it :) text me! seriously. i miss people. my phone connects to wifi and i get imessage for free as soon as i walk out of my room. love to all xo!

breakfast view! 

the bread! (and my pants, is this a fashion blog yet?)

austrian hospice view, looking out over the dome of the rock in the background. if you can see the distant ridge line, that's jordan. 

view from the top of the austrian hospice. definitely, definitely one of my favorite places

holy sepulchre!

dome inside the church of the holy sepulchre. the silhouette you see is the believed tomb of christ

the famous jerusalem center arches!

beautiful view from the center. the roses are blooming and they are UNREAL. they won't last through the summer and i will for sure miss them.

i'm in JERUSALEM

hi all! it's been a bit but i am back!
i am here safe in JERUSALEM at the BYU center for near eastern studies. it is amazing. words can't describe it. pictures can't do it justice. i will try to tackle it later, but first, i will try to cover my journey here!
i started my longgg day of traveling more than 24 hours ago in salt lake city. it's now 5:35 am here (8 ish in Salt Lake) and i have been up since 2. hahaha. livin the dream. my dad walked me into the airport, i met my group, and slept the WHOLE WAY to new york. totally not intentional and i am paying for it now, but it was a dream. of course I walk out of my gate and right in front of me is the shake shack kiosk. fate? i think not. i resisted getting a burger and fries for dinner but did treat myself to a famous concrete before my flight left. it was so good and i totally recommend it!
we had a six hour layover in new york. sounds terrible, right? it really wasn't. the new delta terminal is amazing. it's like a great mall, complete with a jo malone shop and a MoMa gift store. totally not bad. i called some friends, my grandparents, facetimed christopher (hi christopher) and got to know some of the kids better. they are so so great and i can already tell we are gonna be lifelong friends. i am so lucky.
so, we get on the flight to tel aviv. it was unreal. crazy to think it was actually happening! i still can't believe i am here. there were tons and tons of jewish people on our flight. it was neat. throughout the flight i guess they would go to the back of the plane and pray out of this window. they had a special altar thing and everything. i don't know if delta set that up or if it just happened to work out, but either way it is neat to see people be so committed to something. it definitely makes you feel like praying morning and night actually isn't so hard.
i was a snob and switched my seat so i wasn't sitting by the group because i really wanted a window seta. (i know, i know, but i was just gonna sleep the whole time anyways!) it turned out to be a cool experience. i sat next to a young jewish couple moving from new york to jerusalem. they were both really pretty people and very sociable. they were also traveling with their 6 week old baby. this made me nervous but the baby was SO well behaved and the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. the lady asked me if i was heading to jerusalem for a birthright trip. i was surprised she thought i was jewish! i explained to her i was going with my school, a christian university, to study in jerusalem for 3 and a half months. all the flight attendants started to recognize us and became familiar with our itinerary because we were all wearing nametags. they really liked us and it was a cool experience overall.
again, i slept the WHOLE way to israel. i woke up over greece. i didn't even take  my sleeping pills. good idea? probably not. i will keep you updated. i woke up over greece and stayed awake as we crossed the mediterranean. one thing i noticed for the time i was awake on the plane was how family-oriented the jewish people are. it was really interesting. i felt like i was on a plane full of mormons because of all the babies/toddlers and modestly dressed women. i am anxious to learn more about the culture of both judaism and islam and hopefully connect it to my own social norms.
the airport in tel aviv is super nice. very clean. i felt safe. it smelled like shwarma which also made me really happy. i got hooked on shwarma in london and i am stoked to have it again here in israel.
so we proceed through passport clearance and go down to get checked bags. i guess i can't read the board that tells you where to get your bags because i went to three different ones before i got to the right one. i thought someone had stolen my bags. i had to go to lost and found to finally find out where they were. it turns out they scanned my baggage tag wrong and thought i was on another airline. i called my mom while i was waiting in line and thought i was going to have a huge emotional breakdown in the middle of this airport. everyone had already gone through to customs and i was the last one in the terminal. i tried calling provo and the jerusalem center and no one was picking up. i was a total mess. i was so scared. i prayed the whole time i was in line (which also ended up being the wrong line, oh wow) and i ended up getting my bags which had been placed on the wrong belt. thank you to my mom for calling the center to let them know i wasn't kidnapped, i just couldn't find my bags.

once i get through customs i get to this big open area with all these signs. again i am completely overwhelmed, and think the byu faculty have probably left me and think i am being sold into the slavery. oh my gosh i felt bad. then i see this nice white-haired man with a sign that says byu. he sees me too and starts walking towards me. i don't know if i have ever felt more relieved. i started apologizing profusely but all he says is "you looked like you were from byu. don't worry. there are still four more people behind you. you're ali right?" he knew exactly who i was and it was so comforting. he was so smiley. it's funny how people with the gospel in their lives really do have a light in their eyes. that man ended up being dr. woods, one of my teachers. so far he is my favorite person (i ate dinner with him).
we were split into two buses based on who our teacher for old testament is spring term. i have dr. belnap. the buses were so nice. the really nice mercedes ones. byu doesn't cheap out on anything. we waited for everyone to get through, then we were off to the center!
the drive was about an hour long and sadly it was pretty dark so we didn't see much. one thing we did see was tons of jewish people pulled off to the side of the road to say their prayers. again, how cool. i respect them so much for how devoted they are to their worship. they would get out of their cars and rock back and forth on their feet- just like you see at the wailing wall here in jerusalem.
another thing i noticed was 1) how green it is and 2) how modern it is. i guess i was expecting shepherds and nomads or something but that is definitely not the case. this country is very european. it has a light rail system and a clean bus system, nice looking cars, and everyone is very well-groomed. i feel bad for expecting less. another thing i noticed was how nice everything was. on the street lights there are these white/blue led fixtures. this is going to sounds dumb but it looks like something straight out of disney world. they are very ornate and sparkle like the castle does at christmas time. it was really pretty. the street lights are also covered in israeli flags, they are very patriotic. it was cool!
so finally we get to the center. it is between mount scopus and the mount of olives, right next to hebrew university, which is another great facility. we get out and all of the faculty is waiting for us- even though we were two hours late and it was about 10 o'clock at night. they were so sweet and everyone knew my name . big BIG shout out to hannah george, julia wheatley, and maddy gibby for making that happen. they were here last semester and told everyone who i was. they must have been OBSESSED with you guys because they won't stop talking about you. anyways. they took all of our luggage then we were ushered into the auditorium on the eighth (highest) floor. it is so nice. it would easily be one of the nicest concert halls in utah. the meeting was conducted by president whitchurch, the director of the program. he has done this four times. as he spoke, the giant curtains around him were opened, revealing the city. OMG. it was unreal. everyone talks about this moment and it was unreal. we had an organ piece by one of the senior service couples and it was very moving. she could easily play the organ for MoTab.
you guys. the center is so nice. i felt like i was walking into an oriental styled five star hotel. i can't even explain it. there are fountains and artwork, mosaics, and all this amazing detail. the architecture is amazing. we had a quick orientation with our teachers. for now i have belnap (old testament) and seely (ancient near east). we then had a quick tour of the building. all church meetings are on the eighth floor. this has got to be the nicest ward meeting house in the world. i am not exaggerating. the nursery meets in the bomb shelter on the 7th floor (lol) and our second bomb shelter is on the lower floors and has a laundry room. both bomb shelters have ping pong or fusbol tables, a typical public restroom, and some cots. one also has a filter for chemical warfare stuff. it has a backup generator as well as a handcrank. fun stuff.
somewhere in there we also had dinner. we eat in a cafeteria called the oasis. they had lots of vegetables, a nice salad bar some antipasto and interesting choices, bread and pita with nutella and peanut butter, brownies, a really good garbanzo bean dish, and three choices of meat. i had the chicken and it was so so good. i am stoked. we have a real chef and you can tell he really takes pride in what he makes for us. he was there waiting for us even though it was like 10:30 when we ate. there are also a bunch of juices and water outside. one of the choices is straight strawberry juice.
after all that we unpacked and "went to bed" i hardly slept, maybe two hours. the call to prayer started at 4 and lasted 30 minutes. it was cool! then there was a second one at 4:50. i think i will get used to it quickly. after a while i decided i would get up and just write this, so here i am! there is wifi in the common area just outside my room. i will try and describe the layout of the building better but it is really nice. wow wow wow wow. look it up online. i am gonna go eat breakfast now but i love you all!  i will be in the old city this morning but text me whenever, i will get it when i come home! i am safe and happy and well-fed! i miss you but i am happy to be here:) i will hopefully post more tonight! sorry this is so long! also i will try to get my pictures working:) much love!!

volunteering with make a wish

hi all! this post is terribly late, but last week i got the opportunity to go volunteer at the give kids the world village here in orlando and work with the terminally ill children that get to come to disney world thanks to the make a wish foundation! 
so every sunday and wednesday the college program buses kids over to the make a wish village to spend about 4 hours with the kids and their families. i went on a wednesday, so the activity was 'kids night out'. the parents drop off the kids (the sick kids and their siblings, whoever wants to participate) at about 5 o'clock for a night of fun. they get to pick a 'best friend' for the night (one of us 'voluntears') and we have lots of fun! 
so we first arrived at the village and it is amazing. the families stay in these brightly colored cottages on perfectly manicured streets surrounded by fairytale themed amusements. mini golf, a princess spa, remote controlled boats on a little lake, unlimited ice cream parlor, it's amazing. there were about a dozen 'voluntears' from the college program, and about 20 other adult volunteers that we combined with. i think they were just tourists visiting the orlando area that took time to serve, because they were from all around the country. we were briefed about what was going to take place that night, then taken to the recreation room to meet our new best friend! 
the process of picking a best friend is a lot like picking gym teams in elementary school. it is pretty funny. so all the kids walk in, and if they see a volunteer they like, you get picked! if you don't get picked by a child you serve food the whole night. kind of funny. but either way it is a great way to serve!! i got lucky and was picked! i didn't think i would be picked. it was adorable to watch the little kids come in. you can tell who some of the sick ones are, with their fragile little bodies or they shiny bald heads, but some kids you can't tell! and we aren't allowed to ask, this is their time to get away from the hospitals and questions, so the whole night you might never know if you are with a healthy kid or not! kind of crazy to think about, but it is for the best i think. that way you treat every kid the same! i didn't know for a majority of the night but it turned out that my best friend, hannah, was actually here because her 5 year old sister, JanaRae (cutest little thing ever) has critical heart problems. 
Hannah was great! she was a spunky 13 year old from Montana who dont talk english so good. hahah. she was funny! so first we just do whatever your best friend wants to do in the rec room. they have lots of arcade games, bumper cars and boats and trainsets and lots of stuff for little ones like puzzles and plushes. basically anything a kid could dream of. pool, big screen tvs, etc. Hannah wanted to play on the xbox so we did some car races for a while. as we were sitting there she really started opening up to me. it is funny to hear the heartaches of a 13 year old girl. she loves her boyfriend. she hates her mom because she doesnt have a cellphone. her best friend isn't talking to her because she has a crush on her boyfriend. all of lifes most complex problems :) i think she just wanted someone to listen so thats what i did! some good girl talk. 
after that we had dinner! it is all inclusive and they had tons of stuff. we had chicken nuggets and fries and they of course had the unlimited ice cream bar available. this is when i got to meet hannah's little sister, JanaRae, and her older sister, who was best friends with my roommate Brittany for the night. they also had two little brothers who were participating. they were all so cute. 
after dinner was my favorite part of the night, village idol! all the kids had the choice to sign up to perform a talent of their choice for everyone. it was adorable. the kids who didn't want to perform got to be judges and gave the cutest feedback. ah. it was just adorable. anyways. Hannah was really scared, but about halfway through she decided she wanted to sing! there was a BIG catch though, she would only do it if i did it too. hahaha. how do you say no to that?! those of you that know me well know that i am not a stage performer, let alone a singer. i was soooo not down to do this. but this is make a wish, you can't let them down! so you best believe i got up there on stage and sang selena gomez like a boss!! hahaha. she did great and you couldn't really hear me so i'd say it was a success! and she was super happy that she did it, and everyone was really encouraging to her and said she was gonna be a rockstar someday... anyways it was great. the kids loved loved loved it! 
after that we delivered the kids back to their parents! it was a great night! i know this was a terrible summary, i am pretty delirious right now (i am so sick, nyquil is my bff at the moment) but i am so glad brittany convinced me to go. there's some quote about how serving someone really is more beneficial to you than the person you are serving, and it is so true!! so basically, everyone go out and serve someone today!!! and if you have the opportunity, make a contribution to the make a wish foundation! they are amazing! 
love to all :) 

2 weeks away from "home"

hello all!
so these past two weeks i have been away from my "home" of fantasyland! last week i was in UTAH! and this week i have been deployed to work in downtown disney!
so last wednesday i texted my dad to say that i missed him and i hoped that he had a good day at work. pretty soon after i sent the text he called me and said "when can you come home?" so i am guessing he was missing me just a little :) i said that i wasn't really sure... it is pretty hard for me to get work off. he said that this weekend (now last weekend) would be great because it was amanda's birthday, he had work off, and he was going boating. always the boating. hahaha. but anyways, i knew that a lot of part-time people were really fighting to get hours, so i said i would call him back in a little and see what i could do. ten minutes later i had five days off and a potential plane ticket! and by 10 am the next morning i was in salt lake! THANK YOU DAD!
I had an amazing week back home and i seriously miss utah so much. i had gotten over the homesickness but now it is definitely back. poop. haha. Me and dad weren't able to pull off a plan so that we could surprise mom, but i did get to surprise amanda! her last region tennis match was at roy the day i got to utah so she saw me for the first time in the stands for her last high school game! i was worried i would throw off her groove but she played so good and ended up winning! go amanda! i also got to see her play in her region tournament which she did so well in... i am so proud of you amanda! i am so glad i got to see her play tennis because i missed all of her varsity time last year even though i was just in provo. for her birthday we spent the night at the grand america and shopped at city creek! we had so much fun! i freaking love the grand! we have stopped going at christmas but i think we will start again after this trip :)
the night we were in salt lake was also miss mackynzie's birthday party in provo so i drove down there and partied with my BYU ladies for a night! oh my goodness... I MISS BYU! I cannot wait to go back there in January! i just love the people there and the atmosphere and yeah. judge me! i love it! back in logan i got to see all my friends, eat betos, wear cozy clothes and not sweat to death.. it was the best! one of my very favorite things was the last day i was in town me and amanda drove up logan canyon to get raspberry shakes. it was so beautiful. oh my gosh i want to cry when i think of it. we made a stop at beaver and it had just rained a little bit... it smelled so good, the weather was perfect, and the leaves were sooo pretty. i have decided logan canyon is seriously my heaven on earth. i miss it like crazy. oh! almost forgot. i also got to go to the logan high homecoming game. super senior? never! go grizz! it was great :) (we won, duh.)

so after a lovely flight in first class (thank you delta american express!) and some held back tears on the cache valley express i was back in orlando. as soon as i got to wdw property i headed over to downtown disney costuming! had to get 2 new costumes for the shops where i am working which are D Street and the Disney Quest Emporium on the west side. oh my goodness. they are ugly. hahaha.
so D Street is like the hip adult apparel store. we have lots of art and star wars and marvel and stuff like that. it's also the headquarters for the vinylmation collectables. i had no idea what i was doing with those because i am only familiar with pin trading in fantasyland, but it is pretty similar. they come in sets... but there's a lot more mystery to it. there is also a lot of one-of-a-kind vinylmations. but yeah so basically it's really expensive and i would not suggest getting into it. there are some people that FREAK out about it. right when i came in for my shift one girl came in with this fancy shoe holder thing she converted to a vinylmation holder.. she had 48 in there! and these things aren't that small! so yeah we have a little mystery cupboard we trade with and there are all these rules cause people try and cheat the system and yeah. good stuff!
at d street there is also a cart i have to work, not too bad. my favorite position was probably the "create your own" table. we give little kids blank pieces of paper in the shape of a vinylmation and they color it. simple, but they really like it. when they are done we have them sign their name and hang it up on the wall for everyone to see! good stuff.
oh i almost forgot. this weekend in downtown disney was the frankenweenie weekend. it's the new tim burton movie coming out. d street was also the headquarters for all of that shiz so we had some super weird people coming in. sorry to be stereotyping but a lot of people who like that stuff are straight up scary. hahaha. but they had a meet and greet with jack and sally, so people were FREAKING out. it was the hugest line i have ever seen for a character, and i've seen lots. also there was a picture spot in some fake pet cemetery and special screenings at the AMC of other tim burton movies. so yeah. woo hoo.

so today I was in Disney Quest! Disney Quest is the interactive theme park located in downtown disney. the "emporium" is the exit shop for it. today. was. so. slow. and i worked for 10 hours! that is the longest shift i have ever had! oh my goodness! but i lived. there is nothing too interesting about it, except i did get rotated up to the 'gallery' once. i wasn't supposed to but i guess they were short or something? the gallery is actually in disney quest and you have to help with the rides a little bit. so as i said they are interactive so you get to create almost everything you do. so at the gallery you can boy a toy you designed, buy a dvd of you riding a ride you created, burn a cd of a song you made, or buy the drawing of a character you learned to draw in our little lessons. it was cool, but i literally sold one thing the whole time. so slow. but i guess it does do pretty well? i just had a slow day. while i was working there i met this really sweet lady named Patty. unlike so many people that work at disney on the 'front lines' she actually had a career and went to college. she was actually the CFO of a big company! she is a certified personal accountant and really successful. she now just works at home a little and has become a stay-at-home mom. well sort of. she picked up a part time job at disney to get all of her kids in the park! she was so cool to talk to. you could tell she was really bright and ambitious and now that she had achieved all of her goals she was ready to be a mom. we were good pals.
so overall working at downtown disney hasn't been that bad. by the way, being deployed means i am only there for a week! basically they are overstaffed and needed to move us out. downtown disney is SO different though. obviously they dont have tunnels and they dont really have backstage areas.. so i can walk through all of downtown disney in my costume and not get in trouble. that blew my mind. also, they call breaks 'breaks' here! and you can talk about them onstage! as well as going to the bathroom, when you get off.. etc. we would get in big trouble for that! yesterday one girl whipped out her phone during a slow time, i'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. hmmm, we also have to clock out on the dot here, in fantasyland we clock out 12 minutes early... thats about it! basically its tons more laid back and super, super slow. very different.
one more funny story before i sign off! so when i was working d street last night there was this guy walking around like all day. he was in funny bedazzled shorts, a rockstar button up shirt with some chest hair showing, and a nice little european looking hat. he looked like he was looking for something... i asked another cast member what was going on. i guess this guy literally comes like every weekend and just dances everywhere in downtown disney. wherever there is music, that's where you'll find him. later that night i was coming off my break at this underground scary place called nick's and he was dancing away with some drunk european ladies! it was so funny! so yeah, lots of crazy locals come to downtown i guess. good stuff!
hope everyone is doing well! happy 41st birthday to walt disney world today!