my israeli birthday week!

hello! i am a couple days late, but the past week has been tons of CLASS! one night i went to bed at 9:30 after class ending at 9 (unheard of if you know me well). because of some israeli holidays our class schedule got moved around a bit and that day we had class from 8 am-9 pm, it was insane. so yeah. it has been crazy.
i celebrated my 21st birthday on monday! it was amazing! mondays are our field trip days. this field trip was our jerusalem overlook field trip. we went to various vistas around the city to help get ourselves better oriented with the city and even the whole country. jerusalem is very hilly, it's not a valley like a typical settlement in utah or the states. there are also no high mountains. sooo, if you get to a high point, you can see for miles! because israel is such a small country we could even see jordan at some points.
because our group is so large, we split into two groups, depending on who your teacher is for old testament. we started at opposite ends of a loop around jerusalem then met in the middle.
my group started at a hotel called seven arches. there were tons of tourists there and a guy with a camel ripping everyone off to get a picture with it. it was hilarious. hahah. so cliche. next we went up to august victoria which is a german church/hospital/school up on the hill above us. literally, it is right above the center. the germans have a ton of churches here thanks to kaiser wilhelm who wanted a presence in the holy land. the church was beautiful. it was very european but they made an effort to incorporate middle eastern color schemes in their design. they also had a cool replica of the ark of the covenant in the back. ah they had a lot of cool stuff. i really like augusta victoria.

(throwing up 21 to remember my bday in the holy land)

we split into two groups here, half of us went up the HUGE tower and had an amazing view of the city. we could see all the way to Jordan, our neighboring country. we then switched and sat in the nave of the chapel and sang hymns. it was so cool. before we sang, one of our professors explained that while we can't proselyte during our time here, one way we can do missionary work is through music. apparently the community loves it when we sing, and there's no doubt the spirit is linked to music. anyways, the acoustics were amazing and it was a super cool experience.

i think the next stop we headed to was 'nabi samuel'. this is believed to be the birthplace of samuel the prophet. this was an interesting sight because both muslim and jews consider it sacred. it has been a mosque, but is now a synagogue. i think at some point it was actually split between the two religions but since israel conquered the area it is just a synangogue. this was my first experience in a jewish place of worship and it was interesting. men and women are completely split, we couldn't even see them. we could hear them though! the place where they worship is in  the basement of this particular building. there is a cenotaph (an empty tomb) that they put their heads on, kiss, or touch, while they pray. i still don't really understand if they are praying to it or if it is just a sacred place to them. the cenotaph was actually covered with this thick sheet kind of thing, so we couldn't even see it. it had hebrew on it, as well as the seven main crops here in israel. they're dates, figs, pomegranates, wheat, barley, grapes and olives. outside of the building is a bunch of ruins. they date all the way back to the crusades.. the crusades happened freaking 2000 years ago. isn't that crazy?? i guess nabi samuel is the point that king richard the lion hearted of england got to when they were trying to conquer jerusalem. he got to this point and was super excited because they could finally see the city... but he never got further. this spot definitely has a lot of history

next we headed over to a monastery on the other side of the city. i forgot to mention, monday was israel's memorial day. it was a very somber day. israeli holidays start at sundown of the day before, so it started with some cannon like things being shot at sunset. they sound kind of like gunshots so it's kind of scary but i've gotten used to it. i feel like there are loud bangs every single night. not always sure what they are... welcome to israel right? so, for memorial day at 11 am they set off this alarm system throughout the city. the entire city stops and stands for a moment of silence. when i say the entire city, i mean the entire city. all traffic stopped and everyone got out of their cars. it was insane.
the next site, the monastery hill was my favorite spot. it was a hike to get to the top, but from there we could see bethlehem. there also happened to be a shepherd with a flock of sheep and goats at the top. it was so cool. shepherds are my jam. they are my favorite. this site was also super cool because there was a ton of razor wire, bunkers, and trenches left over from the jordanians from the conflict in the sixties. significant sites in jerusalem are so interesting to me because they are still very much alive. the modern politics are so interesting. at the bottom of the hill was also an olive grove... i love olive groves.

our last stop on our little field trip was a lookout over the city. i guess it's believed to be on the path that abraham took with isaac when he was on his way to sacrifice isaac. it was a cool view. we took a lot of group pictures here, but my favorite part was the ice cream truck that brother belnap let me grab a treat from. i was hoping for a white chocolate magnum bar, but sadly the little vendor guy couldn't find any. he pulled out every single ice cream bar he had, and i chose a traditional vanilla/chocolate bar with some brownie bits in it. it was so good and a fun birthday treat! it was definitely a unique, special birthday and i will never forget it!

chocolate i got from the birthday committee! they were so sweet and made sure i was well taken care of. i got sang to at least seven times, had a poster waiting for me when i woke up,  got a nice little crown at breakfast, and of course some chocolate! i really had a great day. 

when we got back, we had family home evening, which is kind of funny to me since we are all so tight knit anyways. we met in the library and just played get-to-know-you games. then we had some downtime, i organized pictures and hung out in the manna-cabana (student run snack area lounge thing) then went to bed. i had such a great day. thank you so much to the people back home that reached out to me.. but more than anything the people here made it so memorable. dr. belnap made sure i got sung to on the bus, let me take a million ridiculous pictures, everyone made a huge fuss over me even though they dont even know me.. everyone here is so sweet and i am so blessed. just being here to meet the people is worth the price of the program.



so for most of the week we have had a ridiculous amount of CLASS. on tuesday we literally had class from 8 am to 9 pm. it. is. intense. most of our class periods are two hours long and that is a lot to handle. luckily... i love every single one of my classes. i am not just saying that. you know those classes you take and you just love it because you can feel that you are learning something and it's genuinely interesting? that's how all of my classes are. we have two professors that are locals here and they are amazing. they teach our 1) palestine/islam class and 2) judaism/israel class. they are very sought after and super engaging. i love them both. our palestine teacher is dr. bashir bashir. he has studied all over america and england including places like harvard and oxford. he is in his late thirties and is unmarried (but looking, he told us). he is so funny. he always starts his thoughts with 'my friends..' he has the most amazing vocabulary ever. you can tell he is so smart. he is a non-practicing muslim and is fascinated with religion. our student group is unique because for the first time.. we can discuss mormonism with him. this sounds like a minor thing but i feel like this is a big, big deal. (by small and simple things great things come to pass right?) it was funny, i guess for a long time he has wanted to know about mormonism, mostly so he could teach us better, but the administration won't let him because of our non-proselytizing agreement. finally he kind of just said 'screw it, this is so stupid' (he literally said that to our class) hahah. and the rest is history! it was so funny when he was describing how dumb he thought it was that he couldn't talk about it with us. it has been so so so interesting to discuss the gospel with him. i live for this kind of stuff. he has great questions and you can tell he has done his homework- so cool. i am so excited for this class.
(side note- the other day after i wrote this paragraph he made a comment about all the mormons he has taught here. he said something to the effect of 'One thing I can always tell about you guys is how eager you are to talk about your religion and share it with people. I could tell it was so hard for you to hold back and that it was your favorite thing to talk about.' I thought that was so cool he could see that desire in our eyes. He also said something about how no other religion is like that. I thought that was very telling!)

our other teacher is opher yarden. he is originally from the states but emigrated to israel and married a swedish woman. he has a small family and is also really well educated. he reminds me of an evil scientist that wears a kipa. hahah. but seriously! he is bald and kind of small and wears collared shirts with the top two buttons undone. he is a funny guy. i think he thinks we are all nuts. he asked us all to share an interesting thing about ourselves and being the zooby mormons that we are most people shared these really weird things about family history or being related to abe lincoln.. etc. it was funny and weird... and i would think we were weird too. both of our teachers also teach at hebrew university next door and other prestigious places throughout the city. we are so lucky to have them!

tuesday was israeli independence day (fireworks!) so our class schedule was a little off and gave us a bit of a free day on wednesday. (doesn't make much sense, i know) i headed to one of the nice malls in west jerusalem with some friends who needed some things you can't exactly get in the old city. going to malls in foreign countries to me is so interesting. this one was pretty american... except that nothing was in the english alphabet and there were pigeons flying around. it is the most overwhelming thing when you realize you literally can't understand anything. it's one thing to have things be in french or spanish, but when you can't even read the letters that's a whole different level. the mall had h&m, zara, adidas, nike, some british stores i recognized, but nothing too standout-ish / uniquely isreali. i did get some jewelry in a fun boutique but nothing super notable.

to get from place to place, we have vans take us everywhere. they're organized through security on the eighth floor and are very efficient. our van was kind of late this day, and when he came he yelled out the window 'mormons!' so that we would go over to him. it was so funny to me. hahah. i love how we are recognized here. i also got my first schwarma in the food court and it was pretty good. not as good as taza's in london, but pretty good. hopefully we will get there. ;)

this week i also had my first arabic class. oh my goodness. if i learn anything in that class it will be a miracle. when you come to the jerusalem you get to choose if you take hebrew or arabic, and i obviously chose the latter. our teacher is so funny. i have learned nothing, but have had the best time. he is the director of a local high school and doesn't take our class seriously at all, it is so refreshing! everything here is so serious. he teases us so much and spends all his time trying to help us make the 'kh' sound in the back of our throats. it kind of sounds like a cat hissing and is used a lot in arabic, but not in the english language at all. it's hard to describe in words but oh my gosh, he is so funny. he got our names all memorized really quick and calls me 'ehli'. there is also a girl in my class from georgia. her name is charlotte. he calls her 'miss georgia' in a thick arabic accent. it's so funny. i wish i could record it and share it more. it is so fun.

this wednesday we had our first forum. typically we have distinguished political leaders, but this time we had dr. whitchurch, our program director. he shared the story of how we obtained the land for the center. it was crazy. i will spare you all since this post is forever long, but i strongly, strongly encourage everyone to find the story somehow. basically this place was not for sale or even on the list of options for the church, but the prophet stood here and said something like 'this is the place.' a bunch of jewish people were really really mad, and it was a total miracle. i'm totally short-selling you but you get the idea. look it up! i'm looking forward to future forums.

this week there have been crazy intense rainstorms. mulitple places across the city have flooded, including the kidron valley below us. it was so incredibly cool to watch the thunderstorms roll in over the hills. i will never, ever get over the view we have from our patios. plus the smell of desert rain is hard to beat. i happened to be talking to christopher that night and stood outside the whole time. i got drenched, but it was so cool. at some points there was definitely a chance that i was gonna get struck by lightning but it was worth it :)

after hours and hours and hours of more class and reading, we found some extra time to head into the city again on friday. the boys had to get kipas for our night at the western wall so we headed into the jewish quarter. this was my first time back in the old city since our orientation walk on the first day (like i said, SCHOOL is off the chain). i'm not gonna lie, my first experience in the old city kind of freaked me out, but i am a huge fan of the jewish quarter. it is a lot cleaner and has nice cafes and shops. at the entry to the jewish quarter is this art gallery with THE most beautiful mosaics and gates. i think the jewish community really makes it a point to keep their quarter clean. i will definitely be going back!

we also got to go into another german church, the church of the redeemer. here in jeru there are very strict building codes. everything has to be built from the same white/yellow stone you see in all of my pictures. this makes the european churches interesting because they aren't as ornate as what you are used to seeing in their home countries. in keeping with this plain look, this church had the most interesting stained glass windows. they were mostly green and blue and were very geometric, nothing like the crazy stories or portraits you see in europe. they were so beautiful. it was so clean and straightforward. i really liked that church. they also had a beautiful organ above the chapel that was being played. it was very peaceful, especially after walking in from the streets of the old city.
oh! i forgot. before we went into the city on friday, we had our first group humanitarian project that me & my committee are in charge of. typically we make kits but we don't have our supplies yet, so we did a cleanup of the the jc property. since we are in a palestinian neighborhood the trash pickup system isn't very good because israeli government doesn't come pick it up. there is tons of litter everywhere. there are lots of little kids in the neighborhood that love the JC kids, so we met them for the first time. at the bottom of the property there is a playground that they hang around, as well as right by the gate. the boys don't talk to us much, as a matter of fact they mostly throw things at us, but it was fun to talk to the girls, they are so cute. they were 6 & 7 i think, and they speak awesome english. they are smart. one of the girls name is nadine. i can't remember the other. there was also another girl, she was older, about 13, and she went and got gloves and helped us! i have seen her for a couple days in a row now walking around and she is almost always wearing a byu shirt. it is cool to see the friendships the JC kids have made.
it turns out we went way further down then we were supposed to and ended up cleaning this playground at the bottom of the property. i thought it was ours, but i guess not? i will find out and let you know. it made security a little nervous, but the gunthers, the service couple in charge of us, were so happy it was 100% worth it. they are so sweet. i love them. it's been two days now and the property is already trashed but it was an awesome project. if nothing else all the people driving down the street saw that we cared and wanted to help the neighborhood look nicer.

friday night we headed to the western wall to bring in sabbath with the jewish worshippers. like i said, in israeli culture the day/holiday the day starts at sundown. the western wall is pretty intense. there is a big security checkpoint before you get there. we had to go through scanners like at an airport and they went through our bags. there is a boys entrance and a girls entrance. just like at nabi samuel, we were seperated. because it was the sabbath we were all dressed kind of nice (girls in skirts, boys in collared shirts) and all the boys wore kipas. there were TONS of people there. there were some that were pretty casual, and some that were very dressed up. there were also lots of very orthodox worshippers. there were the stereotypical orthodox jews with the curls and tophats and suitcoats, then there was a whole new level i hadn't seen before. they have the curls and the nice suit outfit, but their hats were insane. they are shaped like a donut and made out of fur. they look straight out of russia! (and apparently they are). on the girls side, there were tons and tons of girls from the states that were there on birthright trips. can i just say israeli girls are BEAUTIFUL. i met a lot of girls in Agoura when i went down to visit Erika (freshman roommate) but holy crumbs. they are so pretty. it was cool to see how many young people were there and how seriously the took it. when our group met to go back home we all talked about how impressed we were with how young so many of the people were. it is cool to see young people be so devout.
it was so cool to watch all the people worship. a lot of people write prayers then find a crack in the wall to tuck them into. the jewish people consider this an incredibly spiritual place because this is as close as they will get to the temple mount until the Redeemer comes. they don't want to accidentally enter the holy of holies on the temple mount, so they just go to the wall. it is cool to see that they have such spiritual experiences. a lot of the girls were very emotional. it was cool. similar to how we get at testimony meetings. they all have a torah or borrow one from a some shelves or carts they have on the side of the area. it's hard to explain what it looks like. towards the front of the crowd near the wall there is a lot of praying. they rock back and forth like you expect. a lot of them bring a chair up right to the wall and rest their head there. they really get in the zone. it is impressive. some people just touch or kiss the wall then walk back out. some of the orthodox people won't turn their back to the wall so they walk out backwards. i had no idea what was going on at first so that was kind of a funny thing to figure out. hahah. picture me just looking weird at all the people backing out of this HUGE crowd. hahah. i'm a very dumb american tourist sometimes.
we met this group of israeli high school girls and they latched onto us and we started talking a lot. it was fascinating. they were in town just for the sabbath. on the sabbath jews don't believe in doing any work, so they wouldnt drive home that night, they were staying in jerusalem for the night. the most interesting part is that they were from an illegal jewish settlement across the green line. i asked if their parents were asked to settle there. the girls were very quick to reply that no, their families wanted to be there and were even honored to be in the settlement. it was so interesting to me. (these settlements have been declared illegal by the UN. they are in palestinian territory and are israel's attempt to expand their territory. they will send in settlers to build new cities. it is a lot like colonization)
this was our first and only time in the old city past dark so we had a security escort the whole way. i will never get over the security thing. it is so funny to me. they followed us in cars then would hop out randomly and funnel us through certain places. they are great. once we got home we had the grand opening party of the 'manna cabana'! the manna cabana is the student run snack bar. they have otter pops, chocolate bars, soda, etc. we also have a movie night every friday and it was super fun. i love all the people here so much. i can already tell it will be hard to leave them.

the next day was the sabbath! holy crap, i can't believe we have already had our second church meeting. it was district conference (stake conference) and people from all over israel came. so cool. we had a lot of people there that didn't speak english so a lot of the kids on the program did translations on headsets. it was super well organized. the foreign people were so thankful and it was so cool. all the members of the district presidency spoke and one of them was middle eastern. how cool is that? i have said this before but i have so much respect for foreign members of the church. my favorite part of the conference was when we chose to sustain the general authorities of the church. it was amazing to think how close i live to these men and the amazing buildings and institutions we have in utah. if you ever want to be thankful for utah, just leave it for a little bit. the lady that i talked about last week, carmen, also brought her husband. how exciting! i'm not sure what it all means but she was so happy to have him there. she talked in conference and did a great job. they had a lot of women talk and they were such strong members. it was so cool.


after church we headed to the garden tomb. this is the thing i have been looking forward to most and it didn't disappoint. it is just outside of the old city and is owned by a coalition of christian churches. the current director is british and our tour guide was as well. he explained the argument for the authenticity of the garden tomb (orthodox believe the crucifixion and burial of Christ was where the church of the holy sepulcher now sits). he never really said that he believed that this was the spot for sure, but what he did emphasize was his knowledge that the tomb is empty, and that jesus christ did in fact die for us. he wasn't mormon, but it was so neat to hear him bear his testimony. i love british people. they are so well spoken. after he gave his little spill we were free to roam the garden. there were a lot of different groups throughout the garden (it was surprisingly big), it has a couple different seating areas for groups. most of them were tour groups and would start singing. before the director left he told us how much he liked it when the byu kids sang. he said the first sabbath he was hear as director he was in his office and had the window open when he heard beautiful singing outside. he joked that he thought he had died and gone to heaven. he urged us to sing as much as we wanted to. we sang some resurrection hymns as a group then the boys decided to sing some more. it was beautiful. seriously. everyone in the garden stopped and listened to us. music is definitely our missionary work here in the holy land. i think the people in the garden thought we were a professional choir that were brought into the garden just to sing.
after the singing we finally started walking around. the garden is beautiful and really well kept. i loved it. it is my favorite place so far. i went down into the tomb and we had to wait in a really long line because of all the tour groups. while we were waiting a spanish lady pulled one of our girls aside. "where are you from?" she asked. our girl (chelsea) explained that we were from the states and were mormon. the lady started to tear up. she gave her a huge hug and said "i could tell you were different." it was so cool. there are a lot of little plaques throughout the garden on traditional israeli pottery. i love the colors and designs here. it's really mediterranean and colorful.

(it's empty!)

towards the back of the garden is where they believe golgotha was. there is a skull face in the mountain and it is pretty intense. i can totally see it the crucifixion happening there. i had no idea that the tomb was so close to christ's burial place. the garden had such a special spirit about it and all the people there were very reverant. it was so cool. such a different feel from the holy sepulcher. i honestly felt like all the people were in there were mormon too, everyone had a special spirit about them. basically i love the garden tomb! it will definitely be my go-to.
the rest of the day was mostly writing this monstrous post and skyping my mom and.. my three besties in california. hahaha. i skyped christopher, danny and stephen and i felt like i was right there in the room with them eating ice cream.

wow my brain is fried. i have been writing this post for a week and i'm so sorry it's so long. i will try not to get this far behind again. i just covered a whole week! i will keep you updated on everything this week! ;) love to all and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

service in the holy land

hi guys!
hopefully this post will be short. i am so tired!!
so i explained  a couple days ago i am on the service committee. today that was put into action! myself and 7 other kids (four of them work with me on the committee) went to st vincent's school in ain kerem.  ain kerem is a upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of west jerusalem. it is very european/mediterranean. i was a fan! st vincent's is a school for handicapped children. most of them are israeli. they live and attend school at the center and rarely see their parents. it is pretty sad, but the center is surprisingly nice. it had a lot of hospital like elements and i felt kind of at home. it definitely had a strong european influence, as well as lots of winnie the pooh plushes, which also helped.
the reason we go to st vincent is a girl named miriam. if i understand correctly, she is austrian (?).. but she is member of the local branch here and is in charge of the young adults at st vincent. the center pays for a van to take us to and from ain karem. we are dropped off near a place called mary's spring kind of on the main street then walk up a hill to the school. it is in such a beautiful location, they are lucky! it is at the edge of the city so it overlooks the rolling hills that surround jerusalem. wow it is pretty. it is hard to capture in a picture or explain in words. it is super green over there and lots of flowers.
after entering the gate and walking the grounds, we met the kids and were split into two groups. we worked with the young adults who are no longer in school. they are extremely handicapped and pretty vegetative. none of them could speak. one could nod, only one wasn't in a wheelchair. most of them suffered visual impairments and only one didn't eat/drink through a tube. (moral of the story-count your blessings) so like i said we were split into two groups. half of the group made paper maîche in the art room, and my half wheeled our kids out into the garden. there were a couple different 'sections', the sound garden, the smell garden, then the playground. in the sound garden there were cymbals, chimes, and triangles hanging from the trees and we played with that. if the kids could move their arms they would play with the instruments as well. my friends, osher (pronounced 'osha'), was very docile and couldnt really move her arms so she just enjoyed the sounds. after that we went through the smell garden. they have lots of herbs and flowers growing that the kids could smell. we would pick various things and hold it up to their noses. osher really liked the lemon, it made her smile. after that we took them to a playground area that was nice and shady. here we played with bubbles and play-doh. osha can't really move her hands so i would take a ball of play-doh and kind of knead it in her hand for her. for the grand finale we put the kids in a circle and played with a parachute, just like we do in the states as elementary school kids. i think they really liked it. they would get all smiley and look up and watch the colors. it was a cool experience! i was impressed by the facility and their caretakers.

after that we decided to spend some extra time in ain kerem. there are a lot of beautiful christian churches there. before we made it to the school we actually got lost and stumbled upon the church of the visitation completely on accident. i'm glad we did, we went back there and it was beautiful! it is perched up on a hill and had some really pretty chapels and gardens. there were lots of levels to it- it was almost a compound. we got there right as it closed but the monks who were running it were kind enough to let us in. they were sweet.

so i guess this church actually sits on the place where elizabeth, john the baptist's mother, hid john the baptist when the decree was issued to kill all babies under three (this was when they were trying to kill a young christ, remember?) i had never heard this story but i guess she was fleeing jerusalem and couldn't find a place to hide baby john, then she said a prayer and this rock opened up for her and gave them sanctuary. cool story. this mosaic was in one of the chapels. 

we headed back down the hill and stopped at one of the european looking cafes. they had a gelato counter and wowwowowowoowowowow. it was so good. i got lemon mint and guava. the lemon mint was AMAZING. it had huge chunks of mint in it and was so refreshing on a hot day. a lot of the shops had english names so you can tell it's more western. it was interesting. we popped in a art gallery while we waited for the van to come get us and the man moderating it (who also happened to be the artist) spoke good english. he had a small cot in the back of the building and it looked like he lived there. we also tried to go to this other famous church called 'our lady of zion' or something, but it was closed because it is sunday. hopefully we will get another chance. the gallery had some really cool oil paintings that i might make an investment in sooo we will see about that too. it really was a super pretty area. i was proud of our little outing by ourselves. 

so i had these really good intentions and was gonna get all my homework done/ go do the ramparts walk or something but i actually got kind of sick today so i stayed in and was out like a rock. 

tomorrow is our first field trip so that is exciting! it is also my birthday sooo wahooooo! haha i am trying to find something to do in west jerusalem or something. anyways. i hope everyone has a great day! xo

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.