Mini-revelations

Hello, outside world! This week has been extremely awesome, as well as extremely full. I was planning on writing this blog post after our field trip to Jericho tomorrow, but there are so many things that have happened thus far that it honestly just makes sense to write it now before I write the longest blog post of the century.

I regret to admit that I neglected to take photos of food this past week--I'm still a little too uncomfortable with the idea of sticking my camera into other people's plates that it just didn't happen. I also feel the same way about portraits of random people--my friend Adam has been taking these awesome pictures of people in the city, but I still feel like too much of a tourist to be confident enough. In fact, today I saw these cute little Chassidic kids with the curls and the kippas and wanted to take their picture, but when I pulled out my camera they whipped their heads around, held out their hands and said "STOP! NO PICTURES!" So if I didn't have issues before about taking pictures of random people, I'm sure I do now.

Alright, so I'm sure that you all want to know a few things about where I went. I'm pretty sure the first stop was the rampart walk:

The rampart walk is a walk on top of the wall made by Suleimann the Magnificent in the 16th century--it goes around the whole city, although I think you can only go around one half of it at a time. I went with an awesome group and got more pictures of them to prove that I actually have friends here.

Next stop was Tomb of the Kings (sort of). My friend Morgan has been wanting to go to this sketchy place called Tomb of the Kings since we got here--apparently you knock loudly on this door in the middle of Sal-hadin street, and then you pay a few sheckles, climb under a wall, and then you're in this tomb with a bunch of dead guys. So cool. Anyway, he and Tyson and I were planning to go for a while, and we finally got our opportunity last week! We found the door, knocked loudly, and then found out that it was closed. We were pretty bummed, but managed to still have a wonderful time on Sal-hadin--we ate shwarma sandwiches, saw a cool Anglican church... It was still a pretty good day (side note: we talked to one of our professors about tomb of the kings, and he explained to us that the whole "we're closed" business is actually just the start of the bidding process--they say, "we're closed," and then you say, "well, I'll pay you 7 sheckels to get in." That sort of thing). We also were faced with some interesting questions, such as: how much does one pay for a tip at a sit-down Palestinian restaurant? Do you pay at the table and wait for your bill, or do you find a cashier place? I think we ended up being a little more generous than we needed to be, but no big deal. "The Mormons" have a very good reputation in the city, and we didn't want to mess it up.

Next was the Dome of the Rock! What a beautiful building. It's been the subject of so many of my photos already that it was lovely to get a more close-up view of the thing. Here are some of my favorite shots from that day:

On Friday, we had the chance to go to the Western Wall (my second time) to welcome in the Sabbath. I don't know about all of you, but when I think of "welcoming in the Sabbath," piety and reverence come to mind. Not so with [most of] the Jews in the Old City. I came at dusk with a scarf so that I could wear it around my head in case I needed to show more proper respect. I looked around and discovered that about two women out of two thousand were wearing scarves, so I took it off. I had a wonderful experience going up to the wall and running my fingers over stones that were thousands of years old, but my spiritual experience of reverence quickly came to an end as people everywhere began dancing and singing in groups. We befriended a large group of high schoolers who were studying in the city for the summer. They were extremely welcoming and frequently pulled us into their large dancing circles. I regret to say that we weren't allowed to bring cameras that night (Dad, I know you would've taken pictures anyway... I'm sorry that I failed you.), or else I would have shared pictures, of course.

This experience leads me to one of my first mini-revelations (I'm sure most of you noticed the title of this week's post). A few people came back from the "Shabbat party" with feelings of discomfort and even disgust--they didn't like the way that the Jews practiced the Sabbath so differently than the way we do here. And although I agree that I don't personally feel like church should be a party every Sunday, I still felt so much devotion and love from the Jewish people that I actually admired the way they started off their Sabbath. I feel like I have so much to learn from these different religions--I don't believe that they have the absolute complete truth, but its peoples have so much dedication and passion; their religions are a way of life, not a once-a-week thing. I know that it's already the same way for me personally, but I hope that others can see that as well.

My mini-revelation #2 happened on Sabbath yesterday. I had an extremely successful time in Singing Time with the kids--I had never seen them so well-behaved as they were when we sang our "quiet song"--and I think that we'll be able to do a lot of fun and wonderful activities and songs together. I'll be conducting our church's choir next Sabbath as well... That should be interesting (and hopefully very successful). There's a little boy whose family moved in for the summer who plays the violin (I saw him doing violin fingerings as he was singing yesterday), and it was decided with his parents that I'll be his teacher for the next three months! Hooray for teaching! Okay, onto mini-revelation #2 experience: we were going to go to the Garden Tomb (the place where they believe Christ's body was lain after He was crucified) with our Old Testament class, but there was a scheduling error and we weren't able to go. So some of my friends and I decided to go to the Garden of Gethsemane instead. We first went to the public garden, where all of the trees and flowers and pathways were blocked off. I was disappointed to be separated from the nature of the place (I know that sounds cheesey, but it's true), but I opened up my scriptures to Matthew's account of the Atonement to try and feel more connected. I finished that account after not feeling very much, and read the other Gospel accounts of the same event. Nothing. There was a loud tour group of Austrians that didn't really help with feeling the spirit of the place. But then, we found out that there's a private garden across the street where you have to ask specifically to be let in. So we did. And it was wonderful. I read some more stories about the Savior and prayed and had such a lovely time. But I also realized that although reading about the Atonement and praying helped me feel closer to Jesus Christ, it was the exact same things I would've had to have done in the States in order to feel closer to Him. Being in Jerusalem was different, because it allowed me to see the things that He probably saw, and to feel close to Him physically, but the spiritual closeness was no different. It was surprising. So all of you that are reading this and are desperately wanting to go to Jerusalem, I totally say "do it!" but I also need to say that you can feel the same spiritual closeness to Jesus Christ at home as you can in the Holy Land.

Mini-revelation #3 (apologies in advance to my Protestant friends for a Book of Mormon reference and for stating an obvious fact that all of you probably already know): I was thinking about the things that we've been learning in my Old Testament class when a scripture from the Book of Mormon came to mind. It's 1 Nephi 19:23, where Nephi says that he taught the five books of Moses and the words of Isaiah to the people in order to bring them closer to their Redeemer. He also famously instructs them to liken the scriptures unto themselves. Well, guess what? The scriptures that he's talking about (five books of Moses and Isaiah) that bring the people closer to Jesus Christ are essentially the Old Testament! Whenever I thought of the Old Testament, I mostly just thought of some good and occasionally sketchy stories that teach us good principles. But they should be taught to bring us closer to Christ. I'm sure everyone knows this, but it was such a revelatory moment for me! The Old Testament really does testify of Christ, and if you read carefully, you can find Him everywhere. I love it.

We had a Prince of Egypt party last night (I love the Jerusalem Center), and today was a free day and we went all over the city. Probably the highlight was playing the carillon (or the bells in a bell tower) for all of Jerusalem. No big deal.

...Actually, I was ecstatic. I played "O Savior Thou Who Wearest a Crown" and President Ohman even said that I did a good job. My life is complete. Or it will be after we go to Jericho tomorrow and see Turkey NEXT WEEK! Woohoo! I'll try and write a blog post before we leave next Sunday so that I'll be relatively up-to-date in my exploits. Enjoy some more pictures from today and take care!

David's Citadel

The YMCA in West Jerusalem!

One of the chapels we went to on our free day--its name is escaping me at the moment...

Yeah, so the Old City randomly has tractors and cars just drive up and down the streets. I'm always amazed that they can fit through such narrow passageways.

I love you all and I'm so grateful for your support. Take care, and drop me a line or two!

Your seasoned traveler,

Becca

PS: In further news, there was a poisonous Palestinian viper that was found in the building today... And it was right outside my room! Fun. I also tried Turkish Delight today--it wasn't really my favorite (but that might've been because it was Ginger flavored).
PPS:

Happy Mother's Day! Mom, I'm sorry that we can't be together today, but know that I love you and that you mean the world to me--I couldn't ask for a better mother. You're wonderful!