Chocolate Oreo McFlurry

December 6-7, 2013

We had today completely free which was so nice! I lounged around that morning and ate breakfast then studied and took a quiz. After that we ate lunch and had a service activity. Those are my favorite. We listened to Christmas music and danced all over. I was towel duty, again. After that we went to the Old City for a few hours before dinner and we just went to our usual spots in the Old City. It was fun to see the shop owners again and they were all super excited to see us. After dinner we watched a movie and did laundry. It was a pretty good recovery day from Galilee.

Sabbath was such a fun day today! Church was really good and Brooke gave me a great idea to teach the young women about standing as a witness of God by doing a mock trial. They loved it and they did so good! It was really funny. Testimony meeting was bittersweet knowing that it was our last one there. I’m not ready to leave. And yet I am so ready to leave. I’m going to miss everyone so much. That’s the part that will be the hardest. After church I wasn’t feeling well and Sister Nickel took such good care of me and got me some hot water and lemon and some medicine. I was going to go out to the Garden Tomb or Garden of Gethsemane but Nichel and I had to strike again with the crafts. This time we made the biggest Christmas tree this place has ever seen. We set up shop in the Shekel Shack, put on The Santa Clause and started painting tons of printing paper green. We laid it out on the open ground to dry while we painted ornaments, cut snowflakes, and painted paper silver to make a chain and star. While Nichel cut out snowflakes I taped the tree together and cut it out. It’s huge. It’s over ten feet tall! We have a row of 6, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, and 1. It’s massive. It took forever. Four hours exactly. We taped everything on and then hung it up in the Shekel Shack. It reaches the lights and is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. That was my entire Sabbath afternoon. We watched the Santa Clause 1 and 2 during that time. Good things take time I guess. But goodness it brings me so much joy!! Then we had dinner and a fireside about the Dead Sea Scrolls from Brother Seeley who helped decode them. It was a fun time. After that we watched another Christmas movie and went to bed.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Today was my first full free day in Jerusalem!! Clinical is over!! I had that one free Sunday where we snorkeled in Elat, but I’ve never spent a full free day here in Jerusalem. After breakfast I went with a group to the Temple Mount. We got a few pictures and then it closed for prayers. After that we went to the Western Wall and said a few prayers.

Saying some prayers at the Western Wall

As we were there a MASSIVE rainstorm hit that dumped buckets and buckets on us. We were drenched. We sprinted through the Jewish quarter to find cover in the Jewish bakery but it was no hope, we were soaking. The streets were literally flooded and came up to my ankles. There was nothing we could do but just keep walking and get wetter and wetter. We made it to the bakery after wading through ponds and there were a bunch of us there seeking cover. I shared another one of those delicious chocolate cakes that I cried over (everyone calls them Cali Cakes now) and we waited for the rain to let up a little. We stopped by Shaban’s and Nacer’s shop and then we went to lunch that was supposed to be delicious according to the New York Times, but it was DISGUSTING! I tried a little bit of hummus and falafel and it was awful. I just stuck with the expensive Diet Coke I got and called it lunch. A bunch of people went back home because we were soaking and freezing. I decided to stay out with Jamie, Jordan, Kristen and Emily and meet up with a group of guys coming from the center to go to the Suk, an open air market in West Jerusalem. They caught up to us and it started raining pretty hard again. I was soaking and so cold and felt like a drowned puppy. Sean and AJ both gave me their coats because I was shivering. It didn’t help much that I’ve been sick with the black lung for the last few days. We wandered around til we found the Suk. It mainly had food and it was a pretty cool place but we were all freezing cold. We went back to the main street in West Jerusalem and then got some pizza, a crepe and hung out around the city and McDonald’s til the bus came back to get us. I was so cold. It was such a fun free day but I was beyond freezing.

Monday, December 9, 2013

We went on an awesome field trip today! We drove down to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. It’s right along the Dead Sea. Which I guess is self-explanatory thanks to the name. But there were lots of caves there and of course some ruins. It was kind of warm out which I loved.

Cave where some Dead Sea Scrolls were found

Then we went to Masada which was another one of Herod’s palaces. This place was AMAZING!! It’s on the top of this massive mountain and we took a tram up there. We were put into groups and had to do a self-guided tour worksheet. I was with Beno and Tyler and together we created team Calerno! (Cali, Tyler and Beno). We dominated that place. It had gorgeous overlooks and was breathtakingly beautiful. I loved it!

Michael Jackson sat here. We commemorated by singing Thriller and Beat It

Siege Ramp

Team Calerno!

I rode the tram down and there was a McDonald’s there and I bought a Chocolate Oreo McFlurry. I can’t even begin to explain the joy and happiness that filled my entire heart, mind, body, soul and life as I ate that thing. It tasted like America. It was America. I’m coming home in a week and a half. There are so many foods I miss. I want a juicy, non-Kosher burger covered in bacon. I want to eat at Chik-fil-A. I want some Mexican food. I haven’t had that in four months. Even Taco Bell sounds incredible. Baja chalupa. Doritos Locos Tacos – nacho cheese style. Junior Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy’s. Wendy’s chocolate frosty. A massive smothered burrito from Café Rio. A pork salad from Café Rio. Diet Pepsi. Dad’s homemade popcorn. CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. Oh gosh!! Don’t get me started on sweets!!!!!!!!!!! I need American sugar and sweets. Homemade chocolate chip cookies. BROWNIES!! Ahhhh!! Brownies from the box. Cookie dough!! Brownie batter! Funfetti cake batter and then the real cake. Oh and yellow cake with chocolate frosting from the can. There’s so many beautiful things I’m missing in this world right now. Fanci Freeze. I want to go to Fanci Freeze. I want the Super Burger that has a nice slice of ham on top and is dripping in juices. I want the baby chocolate with Reese’s milkshake on the side and a massive side of tater tots!! Dipped in fry sauce. YES!!! A molten chocolate cake from Chili’s. I want Italian food. I haven’t had that in forever either. Teriyaki chicken fettuccine from Smoky Mountain Pizza and Pasta. Greasy hot pizza from Guidos. Pasta Bake. Fried lasagna appetizer from Olive Garden. Oh man, Olive Garden breadsticks!! Hot chocolate from the Cocomotion. Homemade tacos. Oh goodness, it all sounds so good. I could go on forever!

Anyways, I ate an Oreo Chocolate McFlurry and it was delicious. After that we drove to the En Gedi Nature Preserve and hiked along a wadi to some waterfalls. There were these little deer there that were so cute. AJ and I found a snail and named him Richard Parker 7. We let him go off one of the big waterfalls. It was a gorgeous hike through the stream and I loved wading in the water. It was beautiful!

That's the Dead Sea in the background

Then we drove to the Dead Sea and went floating! This was the most unreal moment of my life. I couldn’t believe it. I kept thinking I was going to drown but I just kept floating effortlessly. The salt was poisoning. A drop got on my lip and cut it open. It helped me find cuts I didn’t know I had like one on my neck that is now swollen and hurting. This was so awesome and I imagine it feels similar on the moon with no gravity. Such an unreal experience! We found the mud pots and covered ourselves in the mud then got in the water. My skin is as soft as a baby’s bum. The water wasn’t too cold for it being December 9^th! We floated around and read newspapers on top of the water. Such a fun time!

After that we came home and showered real quick before dinner and then watched the Christmas Devotional. That was a very good meeting. I loved it! It always makes me so excited for Christmas. It helped me remember my Savior and how blessed I am to be here where he was. I know he was here and the things I read about in the scriptures happened here where I walk every day. I can feel the Spirit and it testifies to me of my Savior and his love for each one of us. That’s what matters most during this time of year.

Tuesday-Friday, December 10-13, 2013

Tuesday morning we had New Testament class and then we had a nursing party. Sister Garbett made some delicious pumpkin muffins, hot chocolate and a bunch of fruit. We celebrated Lauren getting married and talked about what we’ve learned here. It was fun to sit with everyone and reminisce. After lunch I went out with Sean, Alex, Alex, Makena, Ross and Jonathan. We went to an Ultra-Orthodox neighborhood that was quite the experience. As soon as we started walking down the street a guy came up and started yelling and waving his hands at us. We had no idea what he was saying so we walked around him and kept going. Everyone seemed to be running everywhere and they all had the big hats and black coats with long curls in the front and beards. I felt completely removed from anywhere else I’d been here. We found an awesome bakery there called Brooklyn Bakery and it was DELICIOUS! I got a brownie and Ross got a triple chocolate muffin. We shared half and half. I was in heaven. They were SOOO GOOD!! We made our way back and did homework and watched a movie.

Ross and I with our DELICIOUS chocolate goodies!

Wednesday we did so much homework. We had class and then worked on finals and studying. I didn’t have as much studying to do since I don’t have one of the classes so I just annoyed everyone by watching a movie, playing basketball, and doing whatever I wanted to! It was pretty nice. It was raining all day long today so no one went out and we all just stayed in and studied.

Thursday morning I woke up and it was SNOWING!! What!?! I didn’t even know that was possible! Jerusalem is gorgeous dressed in snow. We had a massively long nursing test in a room with big windows so I kept getting distracted by the snowfall. It was beautiful. I took a few breaks to go throw a snowball or take pictures. After the test Lindsay and I made a snowman with the Belnap kids and had a snowball fight.

It's a Christmas Miracle!!!

Then I got into a big snowball fight after lunch with AJ, Alex and Jordan. It was just target practice really. Then I went out to the city with Ryan, Nick, Jamie, Jordan, Alena, Rachel, and Kristin. It was still snowing and was slushy everywhere. We had to dodge puddles and little Palestinian kids throwing snowballs. Oh yeah, remember that one time when I got in a massive snowball fight with some Palestinian kids in Jerusalem. Oh yup, I remember that! Probably will never happen again. As we walked down the hill a group of about ten six-year-olds came running at us with hands behind their backs. Nick and Ryan grabbed snowballs and a war broke out. All the girls started running except me. I grabbed snow and took aim. I side arm pegged one kid in the face. It was a fun war. They followed us up the hill and that is the one and only time I will ever sprint up that steep thing. As we walked up the rest of the hill, Alena and I got hit in the back of the head with a snowball really hard. I turned around but the kids were at the bottom. We looked all over but couldn’t find them. We got hit again and realized some adults were throwing snowballs off the roof of their house. It was hilarious. As we walked past Herod’s gate we got in another war! This time it was with a group of teenage boys. They got us good. Again, all the girls ran except me. Nick, Ryan and I fought back and we were soaking. The snow was super wet and there was no point in trying to avoid puddles now. They followed us for about half a mile and kept pegging us with snowballs. We walked around the Old City and stopped at some guys shop that had a fire out front. They gave us chestnuts roasted on the open fire. Nichel and I sang the song to them and we stayed there to warm up for a bit and talk. They were so nice!

Then we went to Shaban’s to warm up and he gave us some hot tea. The entire city is shut down but Shaban stayed open because he knew we would come. He was right! We started sprinting back home because we started regaining feeling in our feet and they hurt so bad to walk on. We flagged down a bus and made it back to the center. I sprinted to my room, overly excited to get warm only to find my door locked. I went to the neighbors and got in their dry clothes and stood in their tub to get feeling back in my feet. It was freezing!! After that I spent all day in the center doing homework, playing basketball and watching Harry Potter. It snowed a ton all day long! It’s so beautiful!

Me, Sean and Alex

 Friday. Snow day. There has been a MASSIVE storm yesterday and today. It has dropped about a foot of snow and is still blizzarding full force. It’s absolutely beautiful but the building is so cold and there is tons of snow everywhere. This is the biggest storm that has hit Jerusalem in the last 50 years. I can’t believe how much snow there is. And it just keeps coming. We were pretty snowed in today. It’s also our last day of finals. I’m done. I’m all done with classes here now! What a feeling!!! I didn’t really study which has been nice. I did my New Testament take home final and turned it in. Nichel and I took a blanket to class because it’s so cold and is snowing like crazy. Then we spent a few minutes studying for our next final, ate lunch, then went and took it. After that we all celebrated our freedom by writing thank you cards to everyone here at the center. We were in the Shekel Shack listening to Christmas music and eating snacks. It was fun. Then I played volleyball and foosball. I’ve got all the time in the world now! We watched part of a movie and ate dinner before we had our Christmas Choir concert. The concert was fun and it was awesome to sing in the auditorium with huge windows that look out over the snow covered city and watch the blizzard fall. It was really fun. I got to play the jingle bells when we sang carols with the audience (which was everyone at the center since it was too snowy for the public to come). But the jingle bells look like a little child’s pacifier. I got a lot of slack for that one. After the concert we were still snowed in and freezing so we watched some movies, played games, played in the gym and went to bed. 

Saturday, December 14, 2013
This was my last Sabbath in Jerusalem. It was so sad. It was such a special sacrament meeting as I looked out over snowy Jerusalem. I felt the Spirit testify so strongly of Christ's life. I know He lives and that He loves each one of us. I am grateful for this opportunity to have learned about his life while here in the Holy Land. I had a very special experience today and it was hard to say goodbye to everyone.
We had a Branch Christmas Party after with treats that had the most delicious hummus. Then we watched A Christmas Story and had a party with Sister Woods. She knitted each of us girls a head band. She is so sweet! I am grateful for her example and love. We took some pictures outside on our last Sabbath here.
We had an amazing program in the auditorium about the Last Supper. The entire Old City got covered in fog and we couldn't see it and then all the power went out in Jerusalem. We were running on generators so it came back on but we couldn't see out the windows at all. It was a really neat experience and the Spirit was very strong and continued to testify of Christ and the sacrifice he made for us.

Nichel, Kristin, Me and Makena

Ross and I matched perfectly today!

Walking on Water

Friday, November 29, 2013

I had class again today and there was no chocolate cake at breakfast. I think I’ve figured out the system though. They have it every single day the problem is that I have breakfast later when it’s a day we stay here for class so those days I don’t get any. I will gladly sacrifice my sleep to get a piece of that each day. It’s divine. Maybe I should wake up early to work out…

Yah, we had class pretty much all morning long. For our hour and a half break I went to the beach to read outside which was a great time. Then we went to lunch and I took some more of those ice cream things that taste like pez and put them in my freezer so AJ, Alex and I can enjoy them later. After lunch we went on an awesome hike. There were just a few of us, well 47, which is a little over half. We had a guide that came with us and we drove back into the Golan Heights and ended up being about 2 miles from the Syria border. It wasn’t a very long hike and not too long but it was gorgeous. We hiked through a mountain ravine and there was a river/stream all through the bottom that we followed. The guide would stop for rest breaks and have us figure out riddles. He was a funny guy. There was bamboo growing all alongside the water and I half expected a panda to pop out. The trail took us to the top of a gorgeous waterfall that was probably around 50 feet or so. I had pooh stick races with Jane and her stick beat mine off the edge. I was a little disappointed. The wind was blowing the water up and it was freezing cold!! Today wasn’t as hot as it has been and the wind was blowing with cloud coverage. So I was not about to get in. We hiked down to the bottom of the waterfall where there was a gorgeous little swimming hole. I held my ground and was determined to stay warm and dry. I caved. It looked painful, freezing, and a little bit like death but something within me knew I would be more upset if I didn’t do it. Gosh. Why!? So I jumped in with some coaxing by Sean and it was awful. A full on ice bath! I was shivering up a storm and hating/loving every second of it. I swam to the waterfall and back and then called it good. I got out and didn’t have a towel or anything to change into except my shirt and shorts I wore there and I decided that was better than nothing. I asked if I could borrow AJ’s towel to dry off and he offered to hold it for me while I changed. I thought that was a great idea and so he looked off to the side and held his towel around me with my clothes on his arm while I changed. It was hilarious! It got even better because our guide came up right next to AJ and AJ said, “I promise I’m not looking!” The guide responded that he didn’t care but that the girls were coming to change over here while the guys went to the other side. He walked away and we just laughed so hard because I was standing there in a towel and the whole situation was just hilarious and awkward. That’s a memory I will never forget! It still makes me laugh so loud when I think about it! The hike out was freezing and Alex gave me his jacket which helped so much. The sun was setting as we hiked out and it was absolutely gorgeous. It looked a little bit like Jurassic Park in the really green fertile places. We came back in time for dinner and then I did some nursing homework on a hammock at the beach and then we all cuddled in hammocks and looked at the stars. To end the night, Karren and I sat down on the shore to watch Alex, Alex, Sean and Jordan awkwardly dance in the moonlight. Oh it was hilarious and my cheeks and stomach hurt from laughing. Those guys are too good!! It was so funny!

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Whitney, Me and Sarah

We got to go to church in Tiberias today and see some members from our district. The church house is on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and is a gorgeous overlook because it’s so high up. It was beautiful! The church house is literally a house. They’ve changed things around so it has a big meeting room; well I guess it would be the living room. The rooms in the basement are made into classrooms. It was a beautiful home/church. There were just a handful of members there that day and I sat by some that spoke Spanish. They are from Uruguay and they were fun to talk to and sing los himnos with. The members here speak English, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, German, Russian and a few other languages. It was quite the experience to hear the sacrament prayers read in Hebrew. The musical number was a woman that sang Silent Night in Arabic. That was gorgeous. She is helping translate the hymns to Arabic and has done 17 already. That hymn touched me and I thought about all the Palestinian and Jewish friends I have made here. My heart aches for them. I want them to know the truth. I want them to know what I know. I want them to have true happiness. My heart aches for the conflict here. I want these people to know the truth and have hope. These people are all so nice and need to know the gospel. It has the ability to change them. I can imagine my beautiful friends being completely changed through the gospel and it makes me so happy.

On our way back from church we stopped by a baptismal site along the Jordan River.

Nichel and I

It was very beautiful and there were massive catfish in the water. Jack and Sam Belnap showed me all the spider webs and it was a very pretty area. Then we came back to the Kibbutz and I took a nap on the beach and read my scriptures. It was a great Sabbath!

The Belnap kids. I love them! Tabby might fall in...

Sunday, DECEMBER 1, 2013

IT’S DECEMBER!!!!!!! YES!! Today we woke up to a massive wind storm outside that blew out the power. So I showered and got ready in the dark. Then we ate breakfast and I discovered that my chocolate cake theory is flawed. Dang it. Today should have been a chocolate cake day because I woke up early for a field trip, but it wasn’t out. I don’t know what to do now. I don’t know what to expect in life anymore. This was tragic. I love that chocolate cake.

We went to Mount Tabor this morning which is a traditional site for the transfiguration of Christ found in Matthew 17. There was a gorgeous church there with a little chapel for Moses and one for Elijah. It looks out over the Jezreel Valley, where Armageddon is supposed to take place. It was a really cool spot, but very windy and cold. I almost blew away with the wind! It had some gorgeous gardens too.

This has been the warmest and driest rainy season in the last 60 years, or so I hear. I don’t mind it because I’m loving the warm weather. Today didn’t give me much hope though; there’s a storm a brewin’ out there! We went back inside the church and sang some Christmas carols which was an amazing experience. The acoustics were magnificent and we moved a few people in other tour groups, a nun and the pastor to tears. The pastor told Brother Belnap he didn’t know that when he allowed us to sing that he was allowing angels to sing. They wanted us to stay and sing more but we couldn’t. It was a neat experience.

Then we went to Tel Maggido right in the Jezreel Valley. This is a settlement that is in prime position and because of that has been sieged and taken over about 25 times. This place was even windier than the first!! I couldn’t fight it off and hid behind a palm tree for a while because I was sick of getting dirt in my eyes.  We all stood on the edge and would lean as far as we could into the wind and it held us. It was sooo windy! As Nichel, Whitney and I waited for people to catch up to us we sat on some ruins and sang every Christmas song we could think of. We had a few uprisings of people trying to silence us, but the Spirit of Christmas always prevails. There was an awesome altar, stone mangers that reminded me of the nativity (of course Neesh, Whitney and I sang Away in a Manger here despite the pleadings for us not to), and a giant grain silo type of structure. We all stood in a circle around the grain silo and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to sing the song from The Grinch where they are standing around the Christmas tree. I was standing with Whitney on my left and Joey (who hates touching) on my right and Brother Belnap on the other side of Joey. Despite my positioning so close to Brother Belnap, I began to sing that song out loud and sway back and forth. Neesh immediately caught on and did it across from me. When it got to the line about “as long as we are hand in hand” I reached out and Whitney grabbed my hand but Joey would have nothing to do with it! It was such a funny moment and I will always remember that site. Nichel and I had to beat up Michael and Joey for trying to stone us and stop our Christmas caroling. I don’t get it. It’s December first! We left this place through a massive cistern that we got to walk through. We all squished onto the bus for a little drive because there was a group of tourists whose bus had broken down so we put them on ours. They were just going around the corner and up the hill so it wasn’t too bad. When we got home I did homework and played with Richard Parker 2 and went to dinner.

Ancient Manger

Monday - Tuesday, December 2-3, 2013

No chocolate cake at breakfast. What is this world coming to?! We had class today and in between classes Nichel and I went for a run along the Sea of Galilee and then we sat by the beach and skipped rocks and then I laid on my bed watching football. It was an awesome two hour break! Then we had class and lunch and then I went straight to the beach! We swam for a while and I was the token hot potato for Nick, Ryan and Kolby. You get used to things like that when you’re small. Neesh and I tried to take down the Jeppeson twins, but that didn’t work. We just played and had a ton of fun out there til the sun went down and it got freezing. I just sat on the beach and talked with a bunch of people. Then Kirk wrapped me on his back in this African swaddle he learned on his mission and carried me all around the beach. It was a blast! After dinner we had a bonfire with Smores. This day literally could not be better! The Smores were so good. It tasted like home. The fire was so fun to be around and I had a great time knocking Alex and AJ over in their chairs as they tried to balance. It turned into a huge fight that ended with me stuck under Alex’s chair being tickled to death. After the fire I was walking over to the hammocks on the beach to go Cyber Monday shopping. I ran into Jenny where the two paths come together. We got there at the exact same time from different paths and we were both carrying our laptops and looking at our phones. We looked up and saw each other at the same time, doing the same thing and we laughed so hard! Then we found out we were both going to the hammocks to shop online. So we naturally went together where we then discovered our credit card numbers are very very similar. What can I say, I’m the third twin! Today was such a good day!!

Tuesday we woke up, had no chocolate cake for breakfast, and went to Har Bental that had a bunker from when Israel fought Saudi Arabia. We looked down into Syria and were about a half a kilometer from it. We played all through the bunker and tunnels and had so much fun zombie hunting.

That land out there somewhere is Syria

Then we went to Nimrod’s Castle which was gorgeous and up in these foresty hills that were so pretty. We didn’t have much time here so we just sprinted to the top and back, but it had an amazing view and I loved it.

Then we went to Banias which is a big waterfall nearby. This whole area we went to today was in a forest type of area, so different from the rest of Israel. I loved it and it made me feel at home. We hiked around here and saw the waterfall. It was breathtaking. It made me think of Idaho. Then we went to Cesarea Phillipi and saw the cave and where the waterfalls would be if the water was higher. The fall leaves stole all my attention and it was a gorgeous place.

Cesarea Phillipi

Then we went to Tel Dan where we hiked along a river that feeds down to the Dead Sea. I LOVED HIKING ALONG THE RIVER! It felt like home. It was home!!  I had so much fun here. It started sprinkling which made it even better!

Our fearless leader, Brother Belnap

That's Lebanon, about 15 notches away

We went to a lookout and could see into Lebanon. We were about a kilometer away from it, but if you’re measuring in my terms, we were about 15 notches. I made a dumb joke. Well, it wasn’t a joke and that’s the worst part. I just said something dumb. We were staring off into Lebanon and Brother Belnap (who I know deep down loves me despite the rolling of the eyes and always picking on me) asked us how far away we thought it was. I was standing on a big rock right next to him and shout out that it looks like it’s “15 notches ahead Sir!!” He just shook his head and said, “15 notches? That doesn’t even make sense.” Then I hung my head in shame and tried to figure out why that didn’t make sense to anyone but me. Caralee and AJ helped me realize that I meant 15 knots ahead and that that measures speed, not distance. What a mistake! So AJ and I developed our own system of measurement. A notch is the length of our tour bus, so I was nearly correct in my guess of 15 notches. And a leage (like leagues under the sea) is 5 notches. So we measure mountains, tells, gates, etc. the rest of the trip.

We saw a gate that is likely to be the one Abraham walked through. And then we walked a little further to another gate. This was the next place where Belnap rolled his eyes at me and wished I was in a different class. He was talking and I saw this massive red star-shaped balloon fly off in the distance so I shouted as loud as I could, “Look! A shooting star!” Everyone loved it, except BelnapI also dropped the handful of acorns I had been collecting all day when I was reading a scripture he asked me to read. I dropped them right in front of them which would explain the next set of eye rolling. . Someday he’ll like me. After that he let us wade around in a little pond that was freezing cold but it was a nice break from all these sites. The last site of the day was Hazor which I don’t remember too much about because it was POURING buckets of rain. Apparently the rainy season is starting now. We saw some migratory cranes which was awesome and some wild pigs. It made me jealous that I missed pig hunting on Thanksgiving. I was just drenched and cold at this site so that’s about all I remember. Oh, that and the gorgeous sunset! We came back to the Kibbutz and had dinner and class. I worked on nursing stuff all night. I wasn’t feeling too well and was getting a sore throat so I took Nyquil and was lying in my bed drinking some nice herbal tea when I hear someone whisper my name multiple times. I thought it was just the Nyquil speaking but it kept happening. I finally jumped out of bed and looked out the window and AJ, Alex and Jordan were there. They came by for our nightly ice cream social. When we eat lunch at the Kibbutz they have these yogurt type of ice creams that taste better frozen so I always sneak out about 5 and put them in the freezer for AJ, Alex and I. Then at night we sit on the back porch and eat our Strawberry Pez ice cream together and talk. It’s been great. We’ve done it every night. I had up to 15 ice creams at one point. It’s getting into a bad habit though. Yesterday at lunch I got scared that I wouldn’t have enough the rest of the trip since we have sack lunches the rest of the time so I took 10! I don’t even know how they got in my backpack! It’s becoming a bad habit…

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

There’s still no chocolate cake. This is getting out of hand. I asked the cook and I couldn’t understand his response. He either said they will never have it again or they won’t have it today. I’m not sure, but I’m sick of getting my hopes up and then suffering from the heartbreak all day. It’s a hard life. Today we went to Chorazin which had a bunch of ruins made out of basalt. Belnap was in one of his incredibly fun and hilarious moods and we ended up interrupting the other class’s spiritual experience because Belnap wanted to do this inside joke with the teachers and had our class stand up at the same time and yell “We believe in the Resurrection!” The other class was incredibly confused but the professors laughed and Belnap was hilarious as he tried to get the perfect moment to interrupt and copied whatever Brother Woods was saying or told us useless stuff. I love him! Then we went to Sepphoris which had some awesome mosaics on the floor. AJ, Alex and I explored all over and saw a bunch of the mosaics and then we went back and had a picnic by the bus. I love the mosaics. They are so pretty and I want to make one when I’m back home. Then we went to Akko for the rest of the day which was on the coast. It was beautiful to see the Mediterranean Sea again! We watched an incredible video about how this place was founded and everything that happened there. Then we wondered around the big castle and saw where they would have had feasts and the Fleur de Lis on a column. Brother Belnap made a special stop by the ancient lavatories just for me. I know deep down he likes me! It was a pretty cool place.

Alex and I enjoying the Royal Lavatories

We walked through a tunnel and I never had to duck. Benefit of being short! We came out and sat down on the benches in the sun and that was so relaxing! We went into an ancient bath house and watched a hilarious movie that told us the story of the bath houses. They had these giant receiver things that we had to wear and some big headphones. We came back out and walked around the city and through another tunnel which brought us out right by the Sea. It was so beautiful! We had free time so AJ, Alex and I ran to the ledge that looks out over the water. AJ taught me all about swells and we got sprayed by the mist.

AJ should be a model

We hiked along there til we found the massive whale with a hole in its belly so you could climb in and look like Jonah and the Whale. On our way there, we tried to cut through this restaurant and the guy kept yelling at us to get out. We tried to press on, but he was a bit excessive. We just wandered around and had fun alone the waterfront. We came home and AJ and I read Hunger Games the whole bus ride back. When we got home I found out that one of my friends was in a plane crash with his fiancé and her family and that they hadn’t found the plane yet. My heart broke for them and their families. Please keep them in your prayers. It was a rough night but I am so grateful for all of the people here and the amazing help they are for me. That night we had another bonfire and I loved the smores. I ate so much chocolate! It started raining really hard so it thinned out fast. I went puddle jumping then took a hot shower and went to bed after finishing off the last of the strawberry pez ice cream with Alex, AJ, Sean and Jordan.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

            We woke up and had to check out today which was such a bummer. And they didn’t have the chocolate cake. I give up. On our way back to Jerusalem we stopped by Mount Carmel. Apparently it’s a really cool overlook and you can see everything, but the rainy season finally started so we couldn’t see a thing. We were stuck in a massive fog cloud and it was raining like crazy. I took my blanket with me to this site because it was freezing. I’m gunna die back home at how cold it is!

Nichel and I were freezing!

The streets were literally flooding as we drove through them to the  Bahai Temple and Gardens in Haifa. They were gorgeous. While we were there I was wandering through some trees and saw the biggest snails I’ve ever seen in my entire life! AJ and I grabbed three of them and put them on the railing to watch them while Whitchurch taught us things. We named them Richard Parker 4, 5, and 6. They were fun while it lasted, then we had to go. Richard Parker 4 climbed over Richard Parker 5 and knocked them both off the railing. It was fun to watch them.

Richard Parker 4, Richard Parker 5, and Richard Parker 6. Love them.

Then we went to the cemetery at the bottom of the hill that had the grave of Jacob Spori, a missionary there. Brother Woods took us to this creepy bathroom in the middle of an alley that I have no idea how they even discovered that place. But that’s alright, it was an emergency and we all had to go. Then we drove to Cesarea on the coast. It was gorgeous. We first stopped by an aqueduct and it was soooo beautiful! The Sea was warm and I found a bunch of sea glass.

Then we drove to Herod’s Palace at Cesarea. We watched another cool movie and then got to explore. I walked around a few ruins and then tried to throw sea shells back into the sea. The wind was so strong it sent them right back at me. AJ and I tried to get pictures with the waves crashing up the wall and splashing over us and his turned out great but mine ended with my butt getting soaking wet and I felt like I peed my pants. Then me, Karren, Alex, Julie, Emily and AJ searched through the sea shell covered shore for sea glass. We found some massive chunks and so many different colors. I kept finding dead crabs. That was probably my favorite part. It was so fun to treasure hunt through the sea shells. We spent all our time there.

Then we drove back home to Jerusalem, for the last time. My time here is ending fast which is terrifying. It’s bittersweet to say I’m going home to Jerusalem for the last time. It was fun to see the security guards again. They’re so much fun! The center was all decorated for Christmas which made me and Nichel almost start crying. It’s perfect. We ate dinner at the Oasis and talked with the cooks who we missed terribly! We watched Elf that night and I helped usher for a jazz concert here. I listened for a little bit then had to go finish watching Elf. It’s freezing here suddenly and I swear they don’t turn the heat on here in the center!