One last note...

Just wanted to let everyone know that here at the Jerusalem center we're doing fine and if anyone was worried don't! Plus we're leaving to Turkey tomorrow!

Camera pics and conflicts.

There has been some unrest here the last couple days; nothing that the security is not used to, but we’ve had to stay inside yesterday and today. With Israeli Independence Day on Monday, many Palestinians have taken yesterday and today to protest the Israeli State and everything that’s going on here. Some dumpsters have been lit on fire, some Molotov cocktails have been thrown, some loud bands, and police blocking off parts of the city to stem any unrest. We were actually warned about it before it happened and told to stay inside; I suppose the security people at the Jerusalem center get tips and have a good idea when something is going to be an “incident” in the city.

There is a sharp divide between the Israelis and Palestinians. This divide was illustrated to me Monday night. Before we left, I went outside and listened to what I thought was the call to prayer. However, it had a much different rhythm and was recited in an extremely mournful voice. Turns out it was to remember catastrophe of the Arab nations being defeated by Israeli. The Palestinians blared it from their loudspeakers. However, while this same tone was coming through several loudspeakers around the center, in the distance, in west Jerusalem, the Israeli part, was the sound of trumpeting ram horns, blown in celebration of Israeli Independence Day that night. They actually sounded quite beautiful together, but also very thought provoking.

At the festival for Israeli Independence on Monday night, there were lots of people, several concerts at several different places in the city, and lots of little booths; kind of like a big outdoor fair. Lots of the teenagers had this silly-string like stuff that they called “snow.” Basically they sprayed on you and you were covered in white foam. Some of the girls in our group got attacked by one or two such ruffians. I got a shwarma, basically like a wrap with lamb, and we got some ice cream. At the end we all met up and watched fireworks go off. They were like 40 minutes late shooting them off. Our Hebrew teacher, who is Jewish, says Jews have their own time zone; a.k.a. they start everything late. Sounds like another religion I know of…. (Mormon Standard Time.) Overall it was a fun night!

The next day we had lots of free time as well so several of us decided to visit some “required” places we need to visit for a class. One of them was Zedekiah’s Cave, a huge cave beneath Jerusalem covered up in the time of the Ottomans, and rediscovered in the 19^th century. Not much is known about it, though rumors of it being a secret meeting place for Masons, as well as being a cave that King Zedekiah escaped through to Jericho in his flight from the Babylonians. It’s a sizeable cave/ tunnel (not to be confused with Hezekiah’s tunnel) that goes right underneath the old city.

Another thing we did is we walked on the old ramparts of the city (built by King Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman) and took lots of pictures. It took longer than you might think, stopping for photos and all that. There was an Australian couple taking pictures with a little bunny rabbit for their grandchildren (kind of like a Where’s Waldo kind of thing with pictures.) Also, there were several sports courts built up against the wall. At one point some Palestinian youth threw us a basketball and we all tried to make it from the old wall really high up. Most of us missed. However, there were also some courts for soccer built at the level of the wall on top of other buildings so we watched through the fence at some of them for awhile. We eventually tired or it, and went home for dinner!

We had Elder Piper of the Quorum of the Seventy come talk eat with us. He was here in the Holy Land reorganizing the branch in Tiberius, I believe. He talked a little about his family. He lived around the world as an adult and his children speak tons of languages. One is even involved in translating the Book of Mormon into some language I’ve never heard of.  He also gave us some counsel which I’ve recorded elsewhere.

Wednesday we went down to grab some American dollars for our trip to Turkey from Aladdins, and we stopped by the Garden Tomb. From the small Evangelical garden and complex they have around it you can also see what may have been Golgotha. (see picture) This spot could have been Golgotha because 1) the place looks like a skull 2) it’s outside the walls of the city (unlike the Church of the Holy Sepulture) 3) and it’s by a main road (where they would have crucified someone). Anyway, there was a big line to get into the tomb, so we actually didn’t go in, we had to get back for a class, but it was memorable.

The last couple days here have mostly been spent inside. Thursday and Friday we had 5 and 6 hours of class (one day would have been 7 hours of class but two hours cancelled, thank goodness). I spend a whole lot of time reading and doing homework between that, which means I often have to go study rather than “hang out”. However, doing all my homework is one of my goals while here, so I’m not frustrated. Several of our classes have focused or talked about Turkey or the Ottoman empire the last several days since we’ll be leaving for a week to Turkey. I can’t wait to tell you call about it. We’ll be the first group in like 20 years to go to Turkey rather than Egypt, which is a good thing since there have been riots in Egypt this week.  We’ll get back in a week so hope I’ll have lots to tell.

I also want to say that we had a real treat Wednesday night when a member of the Palestinian Parliament came and spoke to us. He was Christian, which is rare for a Palestinian (most are Muslim.) He was an incredibly amazing individual. My impression of him was that he was humble, very Christian, and a very wise man.  We got to learn about the conflict from the Palestinian point of view. 

On the walls of the Old City.

Twilight: Jerusalem.
 (In Zedekiah's Tunnel).

Ridding Jerusalem of some Infidels.

A view from the wall.

With some friends (mount of Olives in Background)

A likely site for Golgotha (See the skull?)

A very brief history of the Palestinian conflict: In WWI, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and Britain occupied the area now known as Israel and Palestine. Britain eventually decided to create a national homeland for the Jews. (One reason was to have a friendly country near the Suez Canal in Egypt). To do this they kicked out a ton of Palestinians from the area now known as Israel, and encouraged immigration. In 1948, as soon as Britain left Israel, the neighboring Arab countries invaded. Israel repelled them. Also, later, in 1967 (the six day war) the Arab countries around Israel invaded again. Outnumbered 3 to 1, Israel survived and took over parts of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. This area is now known as the West Bank, and mostly Palestinian Muslims live there, although there are some Israeli settlements. Israel doesn’t want to give all of it up for defense purposes, (the original Israel was 20 miles wide at one point- easily cut in half by invading forces.) The West Bank is under Israeli military control, but Israel allows a local government, the PLO  or Palestinian authority, to regulate most workings of the West Bank. Israel has now built a wall between the West Bank and Israel to quell violence but it’s also divided the country even more. Israel is mostly Jewish, with the exception of Jerusalem, which contains Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Jews in West. 

Those walls came a tumbling down....

I decided I'd post some pics from the last couple days. Yesterday we had a free day and we walked all around Jerusalem for 8 or 9 hours. First off we went to the Dome of the Rock! I'd been really excited for it. Unfortunantly, the experience was marred by a vendor and a soldier who were up on the temple mount. They basically told the girls in our small group that they were immodest and had to buy a shawl. The thing was, our girls were dressed a lot more modestly than most of the tourists who were on the temple mount. Also, they did it to several other groups of BYU-J students, all who were dressed modestly but they came up with stupid reasons why they had to buy a shawl. The merchant indicated they would have to leave if they didn't buy a shawl and there was a soldier there as well who backed up the merchant. Anyway, it was a bad way to start off our visit to the third most holy site of Islam. I felt like they were targeting women because they don't have respect for them. But the dome of the rock was pretty, and the rest of the day was good. We headed out into West Jerusalem then, and would end up nearly walking across the whole city. We stopped by the Great Synagogue, Hekhal Shlomo, I believe, a more modern synagogue built in commemoration of the Holocaust, among other things. The then walked all the way to the parliament, the Knesset, unfortunantly, because Independence day was the next day, it ended up being closed. We didn't know because it's supposed to be open on Sunday. Oh well. A lot of walking... We walked through the artists quarter before going back to the old city, and we also went to an Armenian church, as well as the Church of the Holy Sepulchral. Also did a small amount of shopping. I was so tired I couldn't stand up by the end of the day.
Today was a sweet day, however. We went to an overlook above the St. George monastery. This is built in the canyon where the road to Jericho used to be; the one the Lord referred to in the parable of the good Samaritan. There is a Roman aqueduct there that is still standing (well, parts of it.) There was a little flock of goats there that eat the old dried grass. We could also see the traditional site of the mount of temptation from there, as well as the Dead Sea and Jericho. Jericho is the the lowest (850 feet below sea level) and perhaps oldest city on earth!. We then went into Jericho, which is in the West Bank. (They keep telling we're not going into the West Bank, and then taking us there anyway!) The flags all changed to Palestinian. We saw the "traditional" site of the zacchaeus tree (look up the story in the bible) but of course that wasn't the real tree. Then we went to the site of ancient Jericho! Ancient Jericho is built above a spring that Elisha healed in 2 Kings 2:21, and which both ancient and modern Jerusalem gets it's water. We got to go into the building that houses it. Ancient Jericho is found in a tell, or a mound where an ancient building was. In the tell there is a tower at is over 10,000 years old; the oldest building yet found! Later on, there was "glacis" (pronounced "glossy") which is a stone foundation for a wall, basically, and a middle bronze age wall that had fallen down beside it. (Joshua was from the late bronze age, but it's probably the wall stood for several hundred years, as Jerusalem's current walls have.) ANYWAY, basically it's probable that this was the wall that fell down in Joshua's time when he took Jericho.
Jericho is also the site of a city in Christ's time. We visited the ruins of Herod's summer palace. Before Herod had it it was Cleopatra's of Egypt as well. Basically it was huge and extremely ornate.  We learned about all the horrible things Herod did. Basically, he was like the most wicked man ever to live. Caesar said it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son (he killed his own son, wives, brother in law, and lots of other people, including the children in Bethlehem. ) This was also the site where Herod died, from several venereal and  other strange diseases. As recorded in the New Testament:
"But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life." (Matt 2:19-20)
One last thought. Saturday, at church, we had a fast and testimony meeting. There was a Portuguese man in a tour group who came up to bear his testimony. He said he thought by coming to Jerusalem he would have lots of spiritual experiences. He thought he would be able to feel the spirit more. But he didn't. He thought maybe there was something wrong, until he came to the Jerusalem center. Then he said he felt the spirit. I can really agree with his statements. There is really nothing spiritual about Jerusalem, as far as my personal spirituality is concerned. It is really neat to visit all these sites and I'm certainly increasing my knowledge about the Holy Land. However, personal spirituality is still based on prayer, scripture reading, going to church, and keeping the commandments- same as anywhere else. It doesn't matter if you're in Utah, Washington, or Israel, it's the same. Shalom!

You can see the ancient Roman aqueduct below me. This valley was the road to Jericho!

Yeah, just chilin' in the West Bank.

Jericho is also known as "little Egypt" due to it's heat and palm trees.

No I don't want to buy anything, but I think you're donkey is cool.

I am standing in Herod's pleasure palace- the baths are right behind me.

That triangular mound to the right of me are the remains of bricks from the middle bronze age wall- the walls of Jericho! Um, don't know what I'm doing with my hand...

Dome of the Rock!

Some guy.

Knesset

This tower (in the hole) has been dated to 8,000 BCE. Oldest structure yet found on earth. Also included in the picture is what scientists think is the hottest man on earth... ladies agree.

Boker Tov! More pics...

This olive tree is over 2000 years old- from the time of Christ. And, it's located in the same location as the Garden of Gethsemane. The new testament said Christ went to Gethsemane, "olive press," and sweat as it were great drops of blood. This tree is from that Olive Grove!

Some peeps.

My face, and the dome of the rock in the background!

The temple mount is right over this wall. This wall was built in the time of the Ottomans. The area below it contains a ton of graves. Christ will come and set foot on the hill opposite this so many people want to be buried here. Not just Christians but Jews and Muslims as well due to it's proximity to the temple mount. (P.S. This picture is taken from the Church of all Nations which houses the Olive trees from Gethsemane seen above.)

Update- Israeli Defense ministry.

Tonight we had a forum where the Israeli Defense Ministry Spokesman came and basically gave us the Israeli Government point of view of peace talks in the Middle East. While I wish I could have learned more about the situation before he came and lectured to our group of 80, it was really interesting and quite an opportunity to listen to someone distinguished and important in the Israeli Government. I can't wait to hear the Palestinian point of view, but this was still a really neat opportunity. Other than that today we visited Hebrew University and I studied the rest of today. The academic program here is difficult and I made the decision to do my homework while here. (A difficult decision since we have to choose between going out into Jerusalem and doing homework.) I decided to try and keep my GPA somewhat intact. Also, we visited the western wall a couple days ago.  I was overwhelmed with the feeling of the place being "holy."  It was a neat experience. Christ called the temple his "Father's house," and the western wall is the only remaining part of it left. Well, signing off, shalom!

First set of pics

Jerusalem Sunset!

Hurva Synagogue

A Grotto near Bethlehem. It was possibly in one like this where Christ was born.

Dome of the Rock. View from lookout near the University.

Columns from a road several hundred years after Christ.

Outside Jerusalem's Old city's walls. Built in 1500's or something by  Ottomans I believe.

Western Wall; Considered Holy by Jews and, in my my opinion, should be by Christians as well.

A few days and a few thoughts...

Wow! What an awesome couple days. There are so many things to mention. We celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday in the Jerusalem center like much of Jerusalem. I was asked to prepare and bless the sacrament our first Sunday here. It was neat to think that it was in this city where that ordinance was first introduced, and it was a great experience to participate in that ordinance. In the chapel (which doubles as an auditorium for performances, lectures) you can look over the old city and see the spot where they think that upper room was where the Savior introduced the sacrament. After church, we went down to the Church of all Nations built on the spot where the Garden of Gethsemane was. There is a garden inside the grounds of the church where there are some Olive trees that are 2,000 years old and were probably there when Christ went to pray before his crucifixion. There was a nice old monk there who let us in. Also, I saw my first mass being performed there inside the church. They were doing it in Spanish for some reason but the man was speaking really fast and in a chanting voice, so it wasn’t very clear and I couldn’t understand most of it. But I think it was my first time being in a catholic church. Returning to the Jerusalem Center that day I really realized the need for women to travel together, and men to be with women after dark. Palestinian men have a very different culture and even though our women are extremely modest by western standards (even by BYU standards) the men still cat call and make very licentious faces. It’s a culture of young men who don’t have a lot of interaction with women and whose view of western women is that they’re very “loose.” I felt intimidated and was glad to be offering women some added protection. (Note: Women here shouldn’t travel alone, especially close to night. There have been incidents of assault here against BYU-Jerusalem students in the past. Just something we have to deal with.)

But don’t let that get you down. The next day we had our first Old Testament class, as well as an ancient middle eastern course. Even though this study abroad is a semester long, we have class nearly every day of the week and sometimes two hours a day for one class to make up for field trips and more classes toward the end. Afterwards, we got to go out and explore the city for ourselves. We went to Alladin the money changer to change dollars into shekels, then we just explored around. We didn’t have anywhere specific in mind, but we did go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher briefly, where 7 religions believe Christ was crucified and buried. We also met Shaban, a merchant who is tight with the students here and even has scripture cases in the back. He offers things for a lot cheaper than a lot of vendors.

Monday we had a great fieldtrip where we visited the Church of the Redeemer, and Evangelical Lutheran church built near BYU Jerusalem. We climbed to the top of the tower there. All the churches here are beautiful in their own right, most of pretty different. We also went to Nabi Samwil, a traditional site of the burial of Samuel. (Although he was probably buried in a different spot.) There is a Muslim mosque on top of a Jewish Synagogue. Technically we were in the West Bank, which is the only time we’ll be there this semester from what I understand.  From that lookout, we could see Gibeon , the city found in Joshua 9:3. You can still see the hill where the city was built. We read about several battles that took place there including one where God sends hailstones to defeat the Amorites, and the Sun stands still. Also we visited the modern ruins of a palace for the King of Jordan. From there we could Gibeah found in 1 Samuel 13:2. We also learned about lots of battles and where they took place. Ummm, we also went to a couple other look out points. A funny note is the U.N. building here is built upon the Mount of Evil Counsel, a name given to a hill for some random reason by the Romans or someone a long time ago. A really neat part was we went to a lookout point over Bethlehem. Since it’s in the West Bank we won’t be going there, but it was certainly a positive experience to stand on a hill overlooking it (it’s pretty small, but a modern city still) and sing “Oh little town of Bethlehem” and other Christmas Hymns while looking where Christ was buried.

Today, we had our first Hebrew language class as well as a class entitled “Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel.” They are both taught by Jews, very devout from what I can tell, and they should prove interesting. This afternoon we went to a church that believes the Virgin Mary was born there, as well as Hurva Synagogue, a Synagogue that has been destroyed and rebuilt three times (Hurva means ruins, I think). It was pretty modern looking inside, and pretty new. Its dome is easily recognized as a white dome in Jerusalem. The tour guild was very opinionated- very pro Israeli, but was also entertaining. He told a story how his cousin snuck into a Mosque and replaced the tape for the call to prayer with the Beatles song “All you need is love.” This mosque was located in the Jewish quarter of the city, so after that the Muslims moved out and stopped worshipping there. Kind of sad but a funny story. It’s been a really great experience so far. It’s going to be challenging balancing the difficult class work with exploring Jerusalem as well as with social, physical and other demands. But I’m looking forward to growing and learning a lot. However, just because I’m in Jerusalem doesn’t mean I’m suddenly somehow more spiritual.  Kneeling to prayer at night I realize I have the same access to God here as I did back in Provo, or Washington. Nothing’s changed. We’ll be going to Turkey in like 2 weeks, which will be super awesome.  Also we’ve got tons of great experiences ahead. Take care ya’all!