Pictures!

Hey everyone! I am waiting in the airport on my way to TURKEY! I am so excited I can't even tell you! This is one part of the semester that I was really waiting for and it is finally here.
Anyways life has been great here. Yesterday I was able to go to the Pools of Bethesda. They were so pretty and for most of the week I've just been going to school and exploring the city. This week we also went to the Arad, Bersheva, and saw the Dead Sea but we haven't been able to swim in it.

This is my first encounter with schwarma... its lamb, salat, raddishes, some kind of amazing sauce in a pita. Its so good. 

Our view of the city from the center at sunset as promised...

The Garden Tomb: the best part of this semester. It was so pretty. 

Last week though a bunch of us went down to Tel Aviv and went swimming in the Mediterranean and then explored Old Jaffa where I had my first experience with a passion fruit smoothie. It was my first time at a warm beach. I even got to play soccer on the beach. Best day ever. It was so must fun! Anyways here are some pictures for you all...  

The Garden of Gethsemene

So to start off with yesterday... I went to the western wall with all my fellow students to see how the Jewish practitioners begin their Sabbath day. It was a pretty cool experience to see so many different denominations gathering together to worship. Some friends and I had to push our way to the front to get close to the wall and put the prayers we had written into the crevices in the wall. It was a pretty cool experience. I always admire people who are so devout in their faith. They split the men and the women up before they go into the area where the wailing wall is. The men were dancing and singing which sounded cool but I couldn't see because of the wall between the two sections. If anyone doesn't know what the wailing wall is... it is usually wrongly called the wailing wall and believed to be a wall of the second temple of the Jews built by Herod the Great. It is actually the western outer wall of the temple grounds built by Herod the Great so it is old. On the other side is where the Dome of the Rock was built a while after the temple was destroyed. So cool. so many cultures in one place. I'm in heaven.

This morning we had district conference for our church meeting. There were people from the three different branches in Israel; Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Galilee. I met a women names Spencer (that's her last name but she said that is what people have been calling her since she was 19) who was from Galilee. It took her about 3 hours to get here. She said that her church building looks over the Sea of Galilee and it is the best view ever. It must be pretty great because I thought the Jerusalem Center had the best view: it perfectly frames the city. There is one window that you see as you walk down the stairs that frames the city. It seriously takes my breath away every time. I don't think Ill ever get used to it. Anyways one women that talked in church was from Russia. The meeting was all in English but she couldn't speak English so one of the students here had to translate (he served his mission in a Russian speaking mission) and we had guys in back translating what was being said into Spanish through receivers. I have never experienced that before. Pretty Sweet! Shout out to all the return missionaries that spend so long learning and continue to serve!

Today was probably one of my favorite days so far! After church we went to the Garden Tomb. A lot of the religious sites here cannot be proved to be where the stories actually occurred but nonetheless its what the tomb would've looked liked or similar to. It was a really small tomb. Think of my closet and that's about how big it is maybe smaller, and the ceiling is really low. there were so many people there singing. People from all over the world and it was awesome to hear and so pretty. We sang hymns while of the girls we are here with accompanied it with her violin. It was pretty sweet. Not something that I ever dreamed I would do. I never dreamed of being at the tomb singing hymns like "He is Risen" and "Nearer My God to Thee" (the latter being my favorite). People sat in chairs in front of us and just listened and people just stopped walking and some sang quietly along. We had a lot of people coming up to us afterwards to thank us and tell us how beautiful it was. It was such an awesome experience and such an amazing, eye opening, heart churning experience to be there. I hope during the semester to keep visiting this site as often as possible. It was worth all the money, heartache, time, everything just to be there today.

Pictures!

Yep this is the old city. This is the view from the center. Pretty awesome. Maybe I'll catch a sunset and post that sometime cause its pretty breathtaking.

So here are a couple pictures for everyone that's been asking. I hiked an hour and got lost to download these pictures so be grateful. Just kidding.

The Begining of Discovering Jerusalem...

The beginning of discovering Jerusalem...
I still feel pretty jet lagged but hopefully itll get better soon. i can't believe its 9:00 here and only noon at home. so weird especially since I feel like its midnight and I should be cozy in bed. Anyways today we had a tour of Jerusalem. It is so different here than it is in Denver. I have been looking at pictures for the past 8 months but nothing can really prepare you for the real thing. The traffic is pretty crazy here and there is a lot of honking and crazy drivers you have to watch out for. We started in East Jerusalem which is the Muslim quarter of the city. It is pretty cool to walk around and see the different signs all over the city that have the Arabic symbols, then Hebrew, then English. As we walked up the hill we could see the wall that separated the old city from the rest of Jerusalem.The wall has been rebuilt over and over again but there are still remnants of the wall during Christs time that you can pick out if you look closely. We entered the Old city through Damascus gate (which reminded me of the talk by Pres. Uchtdorf called "waiting on the road to Damascus" its a gooden). It was interesting because there is a railing that you can look off of before you enter the gate and you can see how far down the wall actually goes and see how much the wall has been rebuilt. A person can even see the gate that was in place during the time of Herod (which is significantly deeper than the gate that stands now). This part of the city was pretty much how I imagined all of Jerusalem. The streets are pretty narrow and there are vendors all over the place selling anything you could imagine. It is interesting to see how many different religions and people have tried to lay clam on even just a small piece of the historical city. There is the Dome of the Rock, the church of the holy Sepulchre, and an Austrian christian church also. I finally found out what the church of the Holy Sepulchre is. It is were many Christians believe that Christ was buried and resurrected. it is also believed to be the middle of the earth. There are many different factions that claim different parts of the church. Each faction lives in that part of the church because the law is if they leave they forfeit their right to be there. When we went into the church it was interesting to see the devotees singing and worshiping in their own manner. even though it is different from my beliefs I thought it was pretty cool to see them worshiping the Savior and their devotion to him.

As we exited the Old City we entered the West Quarter which is the Jewish section of the city. It was kinda crazy how different it is from the East Side. Everything is a lot newer. So weird that you can walk a couple steps and be in a different time...

One of my favorite parts was walking by the entrance to the road leading to the Garden Tomb. I confess I haven't been able to go inside yet but it was cool even just to stand there and feel the difference between it and the rest of the bustling city. So cool I can't wait to go there!

So that's pretty much the highlight of my day! Oh, and I got to sit outside and look out over the city as I read my homework... not to rub it in or anything...

Lifes good!

I'm in Jerusalem

I am in Jerusalem! I seriously cannot describe how it feels. Its pretty surreal right now... We got into the airport when I went through customs the guy checking my passport looked at me and then at the picture and shook his head indicating it didn't look like me and made me take my glasses off. Then nodded that it was me. It was pretty funny. The coolest thing was finally getting to the center. My room has a porch that has a gorgeous view of the city. We all watched the sunset over the city. I wish I could post pictures. Also we heard the Muslim prayers in the courtyard as we went to class. I was going crazy with anthro-nerd excitement (pretty great description huh?). Plus the internet was in Hebrew when I first opened it so that was kinda weird but exciting. Anyways I'm way Jet lagged so that's the synopsis of the day. essentially I gazed with a dropped jaw at one of the oldest, most desired cities in the world!

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

So tomorrow I will be leaving to study for three and a half months in Jerusalem. I have been counting down the days for this moment for months and I have worked hard for this moment. Its been a long journey to get here, but it has been worth it. So this blog is to let everyone know who is interested, what going on, what adventures I have been having, and what I have been learning. I am not allowed to use most social networking sites. Though I want to talk to everyone I will not be able to and hope that this will suffice. I will miss you all but I will be submerged in a different culture, learning more about me, and most importantly I will be walking where the Savior walked. So, I'll see you all in a couple months!

Love,
Maddie