My mission call!

Hey, everyone! Galilee was the best experience of my life thus far - I can't wait to tell you about it. However, I think that there is some pressing news that I need to cover first. Tonight I opened the next chapter of the following 18 months of my life. I got my mission call! After a hectic opening process involving the mail coming five hours late, google video not working, and my brother taking a Chinese test during the time that I was wanting to call him, I was finally able to read it and see where I was called to serve. 

I'm going to... the Taiwan Taipei mission! I leave on October 26th for 18 months where I'll speak Mandarin Chinese. It's going to be a blast. I'm still kind of freaking out about it, honestly... and that's an understatement. All I know is that I'm excited to serve and to see what good I can do for the people in Taiwan. I love you all and I'll be sure to fill you in on Galilee when I get the chance. Take care in the meantime!

Love,

Soon-to-be Sister Winters

It's Christmas in July!

Hey, everybody! This past week was great. I'm done with my two hardest classes, I saw some super-fun sites, and I celebrated two holidays this past week!

Eilat (the snorkeling trip) was so much fun. The beach was alright (pretty rocky), but the coral reef was beautiful and the fish were plentiful! We also stopped at a dairy farm kibbutz thing with possibly the best ice cream I've ever tasted. We also played some super-fun games on the bus on the way back, so if that's not the best way to end the day, I don't know what is. I didn't bring my camera for fear of it being stolen or sunk... sorry about that.

Alright, so last Monday we celebrated the 4th of July and Christmas... on the same day! We took a field trip to Bethlehem all day, which was wonderful. Lots of fun things to see--one of Herod's palaces, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem University, Shepherds' Fields--plus I got 20 olive wood ornaments for 20 bucks! Not a bad deal. Anyway, my favorite part of the day was going to Shepherds' Fields... we're pretty sure that if angels didn't appear to shepherds in that field, then it was one that was extremely similar. Anyway, we all had a devotional and got some alone time afterwards--I went to a patch of field by myself and took a video while I read the verses in Luke 2 about the angels appearing to the shepherds. It was pretty neat. Oh, and playing my violin there was special as well. The day was one that I won't soon forget.

Oh, American knock-offs...

Peace!

We got to talk to some of the Bethlehem University students and ask them questions... it was awesome.

The stones in these mosaics in the Bethlehem University chapel are naturally these colors

Climbing around Herod's palace

Jefferson and Herod's upper palace (we're at his lower one in this picture)

Shepherds' Fields

Alright, let's see... After Monday I had a test and a paper to worry about, so we didn't go out into the city as much (although I did discover a big open marketplace in West Jerusalem... that was awesome). So I'll just skip to Friday, where we had our 4th (more like 8th) of July celebration! We sat outside and ate American food and listened to American music and threw an American carnival and just had an American good ol' time. I got a little photo-happy that night (especially with the face paint)... feel free to skim through these if you're not as interested.

American food is the best.

How much more patriotic can you get?

My semi-candid, courtesy of Morgan Crockett

Okay, prepare yourselves for a lot of facepaint...

...We had a lot of fun, as you can see. It was such a great night!

Yesterday, I played violin and conducted our choir for Glenn Beck's family... apparently they were there at our church with us, which is interesting. Today we did a little bit of service at Auguste Victoria hospital--we played games with some children who were there for a day camp. True to Rebecca Winters fashion, I had a little helping of humble pie while I was there... I was fully expecting my games to be the best... After all, I was the one who had a class on elementary music education, not anyone else. Yet, the games that the kids enjoyed the most were London Bridge, Duck Duck Goose, and face paint. Go figure. Oh well, we still had a blast--here are some pictures:

Too much fun with Duck Duck Goose

I also went on a big group date with a few kids here at the Jerusalem Center today! That was really fun. We had a photo scavenger hunt out in the city... kind of a "stereotypical Mormon" date idea, but still really fun. Highlights included having a fake break-up fight:

Being awkward while eating free hummus on the street:

Getting ice cream from a bald man:

And having my date sample whiskey ice cream... whoops.

Alright, that is it for this week! I'll be in Galilee for the next 11 days, starting tomorrow. Supposedly it's the highlight of the trip, and since I can't imagine life getting much better than this, I'm pretty dang excited! I'll have internet, so if I get a certain mission call that I'm expecting in a week or so, you'll all be the first to know. Thanks for being great, and be good.

Love,
Becca

Wait... What are missions?

Hey, everyone! Life is wonderful, but I'm not going to write about it just yet. I've been thinking a little bit [more like a lot] about my mission papers, and I realized that not everyone in my blogging audience knows everything there is to know about Mormon missionaries. This article (click on "this article") does a fantastic job of defining what I'll be doing very soon--let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy, and take some time to stop and smell the roses until the next post!

A rose outside my bedroom

You all are wonderful. Thanks for your support.

Love,

Becca

Music, Mitzvahs, and Missions!

Hello again! This post will be much more true to normal style. Alright, so here are some exciting things that happened this past week:

Exams. Okay, so exams weren't exciting, but they went pretty well. I still have a couple left, so please continue to keep me in your prayers!

Bucket List item. I checked off another item from the Bucket List! I officially played the Harry Potter theme song in the bell tower for all of Jerusalem to hear. My life is complete.

Bar Mitzvahs. On Thursday morning, we didn't have any class (since the morning was devoted to studying for our Old Testament final). So what did we do? We went over to the Western Wall and watched Bar Mitzvahs take place! They have them every Monday and Thursday mornings, but we always have class. It was such a great experience--the Old City was practically empty, all of the pastries in the city were hot and fly-free, and it was wonderful to see these little boys everywhere reading the Torah by such an important religious site. I've been to a couple of Bat Mitzvahs (for girls) before, so I was at least somewhat familiar with the concept behind the idea. What I didn't remember from previous ceremonies was the candy being thrown from the women's side of the area over to where the boy was carrying the Torah. That was pretty fun. It was also great to be a music nerd and note the tonal differences of the Torah depending on the Jewish denomination involved (the Israeli ones were also significantly different from the ones that I remember in America--cool, right?). Anyway, here are some pictures from the trip:

A boy wearing a tefillin and watching his friend read the Torah

Bar mitzvah boy carrying the Torah

Three very lovely Jerusalem Center ladies

Thanking his female friends (who couldn't be in the men's section with him) after the ceremony

A different denomination

Reading the Torah

Another exciting thing happened today: I got to go to some residential areas in the Christian Quarter of the Old City that are specifically designated for people age 65+.

It was wonderful! My favorite part was at the end, where we got to go inside this lady's house and sing (or, in my case, play) hymns for her and for her mother. They absolutely loved it and kissed me on the cheek when it was done. It made me so happy--I can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks! Here are a couple of photos of me with my new-found friends:

So, in essence, life is fantastic. And it gets even better! Tomorrow we're going snorkeling in Eilat (and for the Mormons who are reading this, we're taking the trail of Lehi's family to get down there to the Red Sea!). We're also stopping at a kibbutz on the way back for dinner--don't see how life gets much better than that. But wait, there's more! On the fourth of July, we'll be taking a trip down to Bethlehem, complete with an evening devotional in Shepherds' Fields with music (including some violin numbers played by yours truly). I'm also planning on trying my hand as a street performer sometime this week... Should be interesting.

Oh, and I guess there's something else as well... My mission papers are IN! They should have arrived in Salt Lake City today, so I should find out in the next 2-3 weeks where I'll be going. Crazy! It all feels so surreal that I have no idea where I'll be spending the next year and a half of my future. It's exciting stuff, though! I wouldn't have it any other way.

Alright, that should be enough for now! Thanks for reading and for keeping me posted on your lives--I appreciate it so much. Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Becca