A few more days...

I feel like I haven't done a whole lot this last week. This is mostly due to midterms which ruin all Jerusalem Student’s lives, as well as the fact I got sick last week and still have a little tail end hanging on. So between studying frantically and lying in bed sick, not much spectacular has occurred. The exception to that was the field trip we went on yesterday. We went to the national park of Neot Kedumim. There we kind of did a biblical tour or some important plants found in the bible. These included olives, grapes, wheat, Barley, Figs, Hyssop, among other things and how they were used, where the bible mentions them, among other things. The tour guilds allowed us to heard some sheep, which was funny because we had no idea how. We looked on how olive oil was made and looked at olive trees. Olive trees will flip their leaves around to face up to reflect the sun when they’ve had enough of it. Also, the olive pit had oil so they used huge stone rollers to crush the pits. We looked at carob trees, grapes, pomegranate trees. We mashed our own Hyssop to make Zatar, a spice for food. We made some wheat “pop corn,” some hyssop tea, and our own pitas. It was fun. We saw a recreation of a primitive water wheel as well. At the end a Torah writer from Yemen came and showed us a 200 year old torah scroll, as well as the “secret” ingredients used to make the ink from the scroll. Pretty much they made the ink from most of the stuff we’d been looking at, from amber from a certain type of tree to little growths on oak trees to the skins of pomegranates. On the way out we saw a snake that had been crushed by the bus. It was silvery black and big! I’m afraid I don’t have many super cool pictures from Neot Kedumim, just mostly pictures and trees and what not. I’ll post something though.

Oh hey actually there was something pretty cool we did last week. We went into a big tunnel where the Israeli’s are doing excavations right next to the temple mount. A whole ton of the old wall of the original temple is still there on nearly every side. (The Jews pray at the western wall because it’s the only part that has been exposed in the past. There is a huge piece of stone called an Ashlar that is the largest stone in any ancient building ever! They don’t know how the people moved it there. There was other important features like Warren's gate. Also the other day we explored the underside of the Jerusalem center. There is an underbelly to the Jerusalem center where they have all the water filters, AC, pumps for fountains, as well as room for additional growth of the building.  Anyway, Shalom!

At Jappa or Jaffa with Tel Aviv behind me.

Sand Castle made at Tel Aviv last week.

After a hard day at the beach... Fools mock but they shall mourn!

BY a Huge Ashlar with some friends. The biggest stone ever used in construction starts at my left and goes back to that one guys head behind me. (Very scientific explanation). and of course it went in and up as well, which you can't see.

Herding some sheeps. Yeah, we're not Shepards.

Torah Scroll and secret Ingredients! 

Yemenis man reading a Torah.

Pit crusher!

Warren's Gate! (We're underground next to the Temple Mount.)

Burgers and getting burnt

We had a free day yesterday so 30 of us headed over to Tel Aviv, about an hour away from Jerusalem and on the Coast. The place is pretty famous for its beaches. Also it's the site of ancient Joppa, where Peter received the revelation to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. Three of us headed over to the old city, but since it was Sunday most of the churches and probably cool things to see were closed. However, there was an archeological excavation that had everything from super old bricks, to an Egyptian gateway, as well as stuff from other time periods. We headed back to the rest of the group to play in the water, build some sandcastles that were pretty cool, and chill on the beach. It was just about the right amount of time we spent on the beach. Afterward, we headed over to this place called Moses Burger, which had super good burgers but was kind of pricy. We then drove back to Jerusalem. Some people got completely fried and have spent all day sleeping and trying not to move. Luckily I laid on some SPF 70 a couple times and only a few random spots of my body were burned like my calf, scalp, and one part of my neck. We have midterms Thursday so I've spent like all day today with my head in books.

Bulentisms

Ok, these quotes are only funny if you imagine them with a turkish accent (imagine middle easternish), and if you know that our tour guilds name was Bulent Aslan (yes, Aslan means Lion in Turkish), and he uses "interesting" vocabulary quite a bit. Also he has a pony tail.

“Let’s make the touchdown!”(When crossing the strett)
-”Remember the alamo!” (When deciding where home base was.)
-”Let’s get permission from the shepherd and then we can pet the sheeps and lambs.” (Before troy, before petting sheeps)
-"Patience is the largest visdom.” “Don’t you mean ‘Patience is a virtue?’” “Visdom, virtue, they both start with ‘v’.” (At pergamumn, at the theatre)
-"Fill in the blanks.” (In crowds when he wanted us to scoot in)
-"Admire the old statue and the old lady”
- “I have stayed awake every night, all night, thinking about this question: my arms or my legs.” (On the buss driving to the airport)
-“There are some people on this bus who want to cut my legs!” (LAst couple days)
- “Are we on the way to the airport yet? No.” (Earlier in the day, the last day, when asked the answer to the question)
- “ We don’t want the fifth grader in his pink sweater to take the picture.”
- “We are about to do a very dangerous thing, cross the road.”
-”Make...
        ...prayers
        ...picnics
        …
-”O.K. Flolks lets kep on waLking”
-tea-ter=theatre
-buff-fet=buffet (All the time)
-”Tonight is another open buffet!”
-”Say hello to the pretty local lady.”
“And dat right der is the hospital where I was born. Tird floor. I do not remember it, but my mother does.” (First day driving on JFK avenue)
“Look at Fatih in his pink shirt, he is such a fag.” (Fatih is the tour guild for the other bus).
“Fatih is a fifth grader.”
“I use to beat up other kids when I was little.”
“You are from Fatih’s class. You have come over as a spy to cut off my ponytail and take it captive.” (TO Jennifer at Hagia SOfia)
Archeologs=Archeologists (Any time we were at an archeological site)
And for dessert, we will have craps...creps...crepes. (Announcing our dinner the last day)

“down in the valley is where they did their farming and cattleing”

“Over there is a poster of Aslan.  Now you know two famous Aslans.  That one was a politician, I am a tour guide.”

“bad boys bad boys what ya going do what you going do when they come for you”

“Stop asking me how long it will take to get there.  Do you see this traffic!!! (there was no traffic).
“Hey Jude.  Na na four more nas.” (Karaoke the last day.)

“And to the left you can see the spice man. hmmm. Spice Girls... Hot.” (In Bursa walking to hotel from Grand Mosque, Saint Sofia)

“This is going to be our alamo.” (All the time alamo= home base)

“See that sign of the Penguin? That is where they grow penguins.  We make them into Kebabs.” (In the buss the 2nd to last day)

“I would like to buy a hamburger.” (Last day, recording)

“Now we’re going to pass the mules.”
“Get out of here, go back with mules.”

“And on your left will be my dentist....Dentistanbul is what it’s called.... It’s like Dentist. And Istanbul.” (Driving to the airport the last day)
“You guys are just like my father... you want me to cut my hair.” (Waiting at Miletus)

watch it turns pink, now blue, nowwwwww green again! wow!
“look under that tree! That’s where the first Turk was born” (While someone was going bathroom on the right side of the bus)

“This is my brother” (Showing us a picture of a turkey bird)

“Aslan Pet Shop, that’s my uncle’s shop. He’s selling lions.” (Top of street at Bazzaar in Bursa)

“Make a small and sincere group!” (Everytime he wanted us to clump together)
“On the meantime. . . .”
“Testing. . . . testing. . . one two three. . . eins, zwei, drei, poli sci!!” (Testing the mike)
“Raise your hand if you can see my yellow jacket. . . . no one has their headsets on. . my jacket is not yellow.”
“This is where the bus will drop us off so you can get on your boat. . . called Titanic.”
“This is a torture!!”  (referring to the pretty girl rock song)
“You see how they are directing the cars to a certain place on the ferry, they have to make both sides equal or else we would become a submarine, and we do not want that.”
“I tried to warn him that a big wave was coming and he was younger than me and got away and I was the one that got wet!”

Old stuff is great, but Bedouins are Better

The day after turkey was a recovery day and we mostly just sat around (I did my blog). But the next day was sweet. We had a field trip into the Negev Desert. This is a true desert that many people think about when they think of the Middle East. Camels and sand! First, we went to visit help center for Bedouin women. The Bedouin can’t travel around anymore and are very poor, and women are usually the poorest. At this center they teach women to take wool (they use sheep wool but traditionally they used goat or camel) and make it into yarn, dye it, and make them into useful and pretty items. The place is run by a woman and somehow the guy in charge of our center is involved there as well. After that we visited on of the “unrecognized” Bedouin villages in Southern Israel. These are unrecognized by the Israeli government as places where people can settle and so there are villages of several thousand people (Bedouins) who don’t have water or electricity. If they build anything substantial the Israeli government will tear them down. In order to build cities, the Israeli government wants to have certain specifications for the village and requirements I guess the people just won’t conform too. I don’t know any of the specifics more than that. One reason we visited this village was the school that LDS philanthropies is paying for there. We got to go in, and it was a very small classroom with some plastic chairs and tables where women who are wearing the full body covering are learning Hebrew to help them out. That was neat to see.

Also, we went and visited two archeological sites, Tel Sheva and Tel Arad. While the Beersheba of Abraham was in today’s modern Beersheba, this “tel sheva” was the tel Sheba of the Solomon and what-not’s day.

Anyway, about the archeological sites…

There was a lot of cool things at these sites. At Beersheba/ Tel Sheva there was ruins of a city from the time between King Solomon and the Divided Monarchy. There was a well that dates to the Iron Age. There is like a three-gated gate where if one falls they have to go through 2 more. Lots of houses, as well as a large underground water storage unit that we were able to go down in and walk around- very large! Also, there are the remains of a “broad room temple” there. Also there are remains of a large horned alter that have been found there. I’ll talk more about the alter and the temple found there in a minute.

In Tel Arad, there are two sites. One is lower down and is a Canaanite city that dates to 3 or 4 millennia (early bronze age) BCE. There are the remains of a palace, residential neighborhoods, a well, walls, and a temple complex. It’s a double temple complex, with one part to do washings of some type, as well as another room where there is a stone that stands up strait. A stone that stood up strait represented diety. Remember, this is a Canaanite city. The other part is further up on the hill that contains an Israelite fortress from the 9^th to 6^th century BCE. There is also a large Hellenistic tower in the middle of it, The Israelite fortress still had quite a bit of wall, as well as… another temple. This one is more interesting and led to the realization that Tel Sheva also had a temple. At Tel Arad there is a “broad room” Israelite temple. This means that the temple looked a lot like Solomon’s temple, with three rooms, an alter of un-hewn stone, a holy place and holy of holies. In these temples the Holy place is very long side to side, and the Holy of Holies juts out of the back of the building in a little box. Archeologists take these two sites as evidence that there was temples and temple worship outside of the regular temple in Jerusalem, and that there they worshipped Jehovah. Now, I believe in Deuteronomy it says that you’re not allowed to have a temple outside of the one at Jerusalem, but some think that part was added later, because there are several temples outside Jerusalem in use during the time of Solomon. However, it’s clear that by the end at least (they were destroyed or covered up during the time of King Hezekiah) they weren’t worshipping in a correct manner because the alter at Tel Sheva is made from Hewn stone (prohibited in bible) as well as in the temple at Tel Arad, there are two stones standing strait up in the Holy of Holies, meaning there was two deities being worshipped there. Make of it as you want. There are some interesting implications for LDS folks though. One is that Mormons have gotten crap for building lots of temples, the objection being that there was only one temple in ancient times. Tel Arad and Sheva tell us that temples were built in probably many places, and that restriction may have been added later. Also, in the Book of Mormon, when Lehi leaves Jerusalem, he builds an alter and offers sacrifice. This wouldn’t have been allowed, unless of course that prohibition against building additional alters didn’t come to later. (The books of Moses originate at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 600 BCE.) Some interesting stuff!

The rest of this week has mostly been studying and going to class. (There is a lot of it!) On Friday a small group of us visited a Jewish Synagogue for Shabbat (the start of Sabbath). It was a reformed synagogue so probably the biggest difference to an outsider is the men and women aren’t separated, and things like they use cell phones on the Sabbath. They do a lot of singing, in fact the whole thing was singing! At one point you turn around and look at the doors to welcome in the Sabbath. Also, I want to add that at the end we sung “forever young” by John Denver in Hebrew. I guess it had some significance. There was some guys playing guitar and bongos that don’t usually come either our professor said. Our professor is an orthodox Jew (but will visit reformed with us) and so he walked home afterward with his children (driving is work as well.) 

Some Jokes…

I hear we’re going to have a race with the Bedouins. Yeah, we betta-win!

Did you like that joke? Wait I’ve got an even betta-one….

Horned alter replication at Tel Sheva (the real one is in a mesuem.)

Alter made out of un-hewn stones at Tel Arad. And an unfortunant sacrificial event...

In the Holy of Holies at Tel Arad. See the two stones to my left and right? They represent dieties.

How do Bedouins hide? Using Camel-flage! (Camouflage)

Lady making some weavings.

Day 7: The End!

The last day was great! However, it did start out a little bumpy when the hotel water went off of 6:10 in the morning, right when everyone was showing. It came back on like 15 minutes later, but was a huge inconvenience. I’m glad to be able to drink the water here in the Jerusalem center, because there you could only shower with it, not drink it. Anyway, we walked from our hotel up to the Grand Mosque in Bursa. (Bursa was the capital of turkey a long time ago as well.) Our tour guild talked a little about Islam there as well. All of the ladies in our group had to put on head scarf the headdress to cover your hair, to go in.

In Turkey visitors are allowed inside the mosques there. If fact in most places in the world they are. But here in Jerusalem they’re not. Several years ago, not too long ago, Yassar Arafat and others who were funding the mosques here in Jerusalem decided they were going to punish the world by not allowing anyone inside their mosques unless they could prove they were Muslim. The whole thing is very counterproductive. Example: the tour guild in Turkey could say Islam was a religion of equality and peace where they love everyone and I could believe him since we were sitting in his mosque and treated kindly as a guest. But in Jerusalem it’s harder to warm up to Islam when you can’t enter their mosques, learn about their religion, and see one of their beautiful places of worship. I’ll just have to wait until another time before I can go into the Dome of the Rock or other mosques here. Oh cool fact: on ancient temple mount they had tunnels and stuff to access the temple mount easier, and they’ve turned those into a mosque, so it’s an underground mosque on the temple mount, although we can’t currently go there.

ANYWAY, after that we were going to try and have an early lunch and get to Istanbul early to do more things but there was a scheduling conflict with the restaurant. I think our change of plans was heaven sent (our tour guild agreed) though, because we got to visit Iznik instead, the ancient city of Nicaea where the Nicene Creed was signed! There is an ancient church there that commemorated the signing of the document from the 6^th century. The church used to be just ruins until just a few years ago they put a tile roof on it so it was more attractive to visitors. The real place it was debated and signed is probably underwater know. It was pretty sweet to learn about the Nicene Creed at the place it was signed. I’d been hearing about that creed ever since I was a teenager.

So here is the deal about the Nicene Creed. Constantine, upon becoming emperor, saw that divisions in Christianity could wreck havoc on his kingdom, so he called the council to settle some things. At this time the churches in local areas were run by bishops, and often times each bishop would have a different opinion on things. At that time there was a group started by a guy named Arius that basically claimed that Christ wasn’t divine, that he was lesser like some kind of angel. The rest of the Bishops at the time could be divided into 2 categories: a Trinitarian group that believed God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost were three manifestations of the same being, and another group that believed in a triad of Gods, that God the Father, Christ, and the Holy Ghost were three separate personages. (A lot like Mormons.) Well, these two groups got together and found some common ground in believing that Christ was divine, and wrote a creed that would exclude the Arians. As our teacher pointed out, this document would preserve a belief in the divinity of Christ for many centuries, something that may not have survived without Constantine’s reforms. We can look at the glass as half full.  It was later on when an emperor would decide it was a crime to believe in a three-part Godhead, and only Trinitarians remained.

Except from the Creed:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty

Maker of all that is seen and unseen

And one Lord, Jesus Chirst,

The Son of God, begotten from the father,

Begotten not made, one with the Father, (excluding the Arian doctrine that he was made, not begotten)

Through whom all things came into being

Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down and became incarnate.

And the power of the Holy spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary…

Then we drove and ate lunch super fast, got on a ferry, and went to see the “Hagia Sofia” church. This church was build in 360 and is huge! Later, it was converted into a mosque. Because of this, much of the original artwork was preserved under the paint they painted over it. It was the largest church of its time, and I believe the 4^th largest church still! It was really neat, if for no other reason it was super old but still standing. You can fit the statue of liberty inside the main dome! There were some really old frescos that were neat to check out.

We also had some time to check out a marketplace, and had our farewell dinner- lots of seafood, since we were only a hundred meters from the sea. We then drove to the airport. We gave our tour guild some sheets of paper where we had written nice things about him. He seemed kind of embarrassed. We really liked our tour guild and the last few days he said some pretty hilarious things I think I’ll include. At one point some girls asked him “Would you rather cut off your arms and your legs?” while playing the “would you rather” game. Obviously he’d never played the game and started accusing students of wanting to “cut his legs” with a slight Turkish accent. It was funny. One time he showed us a picture of a turkey on an I-phone and said “this is my brother.” It was pretty funny. I’ll include some more.

Anyway, we got on the plane after undergoing some questioning at security, and our plane left at 11:40. We sat with some people from Israel and a tour guild who asked us a lot of questions. He asked my friend Justin “So tell me a little about your church.” Well, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints signed a non-proselyting agreement in order to build the Jerusalem center so we’re not allowed to answer those questions! Justin explained it to him but the guy thought it was pretty weird, even though he was Israeli. He kept pressuring Justin to say something, finally Justin changed the subject and asked him “So where do you live?” and the guy answered as a joke “the government won’t let me tell you,” but after that the conversation went well.

We got back to the center at about 3 in the morning (it was the only flight that could fit us all!)

Iznik, Niceae

Hagia Sofia

More Hagia Sofia

Day 6: Hot Springs, Earthquakes, a Church at a Bar

Today was a neat day. We went to the ancient city of Hierapolis. There are huge white pools caused by calcium deposits in the hot springs. So you have this huge hill covered in something that looks like white cotton candy. There was aslo this super-hot pools that had a resort-thing build around it. The city itself has hardly been excavated. There are several acres of rocks sticking out of the ground. It’s wet there, and it reminded me a little of Scotland or some wet country. A theatre was excavated that we also sat in and read from Revelations. IN revelations 3 John writes to the saints of Laodicea, which is within sight of where we were sitting in the theatre. Also, the city of Colossae was in the distance. The Lord tells the saints of Laodicea “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (NIV) This comparison makes sense when you find out that Hierapolis is famous for its hot springs, Colossae for its cold water, and Laodicea for neither. The saints were probably not living the gospel like they could have, so they were good for nothing, neither hot nor cold, and they needed to “be earnest and repent.” The area was also famous for healing due to the waters there. We drove a lot, and our teacher pointed out 2 or 3 cities also of the 7 churches found in revelation. We even stopped very briefly at one.
The church policy for the middle east (except for Israel) is to have sacrament meeting on Friday. So, Friday night we asked for a free room in the hotel. The room where we had it had a bar and I sat at it. Two firsts: church on Friday and at a bar. I was glad to see the two elders from our group who brought their white shirts and blessed and passes the sacrament, and it was a sorely needed respite from all the rushing of the trip. It was crazy to think we were nearly the only members of the church in that city- and probably made the better part of members in the country at the time. It was a reminder that there are countries out there where the church hasn’t gone yet.
Oh, also, the night before this we experienced an earth quake! I thought there was someone under my bed shaking it so I was freeked out but then I saw the table moving and realized in was just an earthquake. It was very mild, but a reminder of the natural disasters which sometime strike this land. At the theatre at Hierapolis we sang “how firm a foundation” which went along with the earthquake as well as the teachings in Revelations!

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said

Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

In every condition, -- in sickness, in health,

In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea, --

The Lord, the Almighty, they strength e'er shall be.

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand!

Unexcavated field at Hierapolis. There are acres of this!

Cotton Candy Castle (that's really what this place is called). Look carefully at the white pools in the forground: they're cool!

Someone's in hot water!

In the distance to the left,colossae and to the right, Laodicea, and below, brother Judd's head in Hierapolis. 

Springs arn't the only thing that's hot in Hieropolis! (Couldn't help it).

Thyateira, another church in Revelations.

Day 5: Let the scriptures come alive.

   Ok maybe I'm getting to creative with the title of these blogs. But bear with me. Ephesus is the best restored Roman city in Turkey, and maybe in the world. And we got to visit it! As I mentioned in my last blog, I was a little tired of ruins by the time we got there, but there was still lots of stuff to see and it was fun. There was a bathhouse, an ancient bathroom where they had a pool full of frogs originally so politicians and businessmen could make deals while sitting on the pot. There were statues of men, a giant ancient library, fountains, sarcophaguses, graveyards, markets, and more. There was a huge temple to Artemis there is Paul’s day, as well as a giant theatre where Paul’s companions were drug into it and were saved by the town clerk in Acts 19. Paul spent about three years in Ephesus, and was probably where John lived after his exile (according to tradition he brought Mary there after his exile to Patmos). There is evidence that the early Christian church divided up responsibility among its leaders. Peter went to Rome and presided there, John presided over Asia, (meaning Asia minor- the area of Turkey) and James in Jerusalem. Also, we sang some hymns sitting down in the theater, as well as on the theatre stage. There was an Asian group and I think German who clapped for us. Also there was a camel there but we couldn’t take pictures without paying for it.

   Before we sang, there was a lady from Highland, Utah there who saw our BYU shirts and talked to us. She said we stuck out because we were all smiling. The same thing was said by a merchant in the old city, and I think it’s neat that we stick out all the way here.

   We also visited Miletus, which I really enjoyed. It’s actually pretty much just a large theatre that’s there now, and an old temple out back. But, there are some neat teachings that are associated with the place. In Acts 20, Paul has the elders from Ephesus come down to Miletus for a priesthood meeting. There he recounts his service to them, predicts future persecution, and warns them of apostasy among the church leaders. "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Basically leaders in the church would lead the people astray in Ephesus. In 1 John 1:9 we can see an accurate fulfillment of this prophecy when a church leader wouldn’t even let members of his congregation talk to the apostles. Another teaching from Miletus is a saying of Jesus “it is better to give than to receive,” which is not found in the Gospels, only in Acts.

   At one place in the theatre there is an inscription that says “These seats are reserved for the Jew and the God-fearers” It could also be translated at “who are the God fearers.” If the first is correct it’s probably referring to Christians in the 2^nd century. It’s kind of a mystery because they are pretty good seats in the theatre, so it’s kind of weird to find seats for Jews/Christians in the theatre. Maybe they had really good relations there.

   At night we went to a pretty sweet hotel that was near ancient Hierapolis. In this little town there are several hot springs that bubble out this brown, hot water. Our hotel had its own hot springs, inside and out. It was pretty fun to get in the muddy hot springs, then in the pool, then go inside to the pool there, then to the hot spring inside the pool. They also had a Turkish bath and like a massage parlor but we weren’t allowed in there! It was fun and I got some good sleep.

Nike, the Goddess of Victory.

A Roman Forum and our guild talking in Ephesus.

Hey! (Roman Bathroom- no joke!)

Spudying in the Ephesus library.

Here reads "This space is reserved for the Jews and the God-fearers." Look at the writing on the steps!

Grievous wolves entering in amoung you and taking grievous pictures.

So, in Turkey they give stray animals shots, tag them, and let them loose. I guess the prophet Muhammed cut his cloak off so not to wake some kittens who were sleeping on it. We found this little of puppies in Miletus amounst the ruins. Lets hope they don't grow up into grievous wolves!

Theatre at Miletus.