Not so Permanent Retainer

This is my house!!!

This last week has definitely had it's ups and downs. I had no idea how much time would be spent reading for all these classes. I don't think I've ever read this much in my entire life! Sometimes it seems a bit much and outrageous, but I'm trying to look at things optimistically and not get myself down. 
Fast Sabbath in Jerusalem was an incredible experience.  I will never forget it! The Sacrament was a very sacred experience. The windows in the auditorium are huge and the Old City is the backdrop of the podium. I can see the Old City and the Wall and the Dome of the Rock. I walked through the Old City, the same place that Christ walked through as He carried the cross. I'm going to the Garden of Gethsemane where Christ suffered for my sins. I'm living were Christ lived, where Christ bled and died for me. Can you believe that!?!

The Sacrament was unforgettable. The Spirit confirmed in me that Christ truly did bleed and die for me. FOR ME! For me here in this place I'm living. 

After church, we went to the Garden Tomb. It's owned by the Catholics and may be the tomb Christ was buried in and it also has Golgatha, the skull rock, in the beautiful gardens around the tomb. It was a gorgeous garden with an amazing Spirit! I sat in there forever and read my scriptures. It was such a peaceful place and very quiet despite being in the middle of Jerusalem right by the Old City where it's very busy and loud. We're not for sure that's the tomb Christ was laid in. President Kimball said that this spot "feels good here" and I think other prophets have said similar things, but we don't know for sure. If anything, it looked similar. I learned that it's not the exact location that matters because I feel like everything is all speculation anyways, but it's what was done that is important. 

As I sat there I read from the Four Gospels about Christ's resurrection. It was an awesome experience! As I read in Matthew 28:6 something soo cool happened! I read, "He is not here: for he is risen," and a beautiful yellow flower fell down into my lap. It was a wonderful reminder of spring, rebirth, the atonement, and the resurrection. Things die, but will live again because of Christ's sacrifice. It was like the flower was bearing it's testimony to me and shouting "He lives!". Christ does live and I know that. 

So I picked up that little yellow flower and smelt it forever and adored how happy and yellow it was and then I put it in my scriptures for later!

Me and my wonderful roommates!

Sunday was a free day for everyone here but nursing students. They all went out and explored the city, but we had to stay back for classes. That was kind of the theme of the week. We had class until 1 in the afternoon and then we all went out together to the Old City. We were able to go to the Western or Wailing Wall and in to the Temple Mount and see the Dome of the Rock. That is such a beautiful building and very sacred to the Muslims. The Jewish people don't go in there because they believe the Ark of the Covenant is in there somewhere and they don't want to accidentally step on it. The Western Wall is as close as the Jews get. It was really neat to see how they worshipped and put so much devotion in the wall.

Western Wall

This is one of the holiest sites to the Muslims

The Dome of the Rock

After that, we shopped around the Old City which is sooo much fun. There's tons of little shops everywhere. We went to this store, Alibaba's. He's the best. He loves the Mormons and every BYU group goes to his shop and he's friends with all the faculty. So he sells things cheap so we don't have to barter. As soon as we walked in he said, "Oh the Mormons! Come in come in! I love the Mormons. Here drink this juice." And he gave us lemon pomegranate juice that was divine. Then we all sat around the shop and talked with him and shopped and he made each of us girls some rings that are really great! He's awesome. I bought a slingshot so if anyone starts attacking us I'll be ready. Actually, the real reason I bought it was because I got so excited about teaching primary someday and pulling it out and all the kids would have these huge eyes and I'd tell them it's from Jerusalem and teach them how to do it and we'd beat a paper Goliath hanging somewhere. That was my first thought. I can't wait! I'm so excited for that!!!

Monday we had a field trip. We made a big circle around Jerusalem to try to get our bearings. Our first stop was the Augusta Victoria Church and Hospital. This is one of the places I will get to do clinical at. It has a huge bell tower with 220 stairs that we climbed to get to the top and see out all over the land and all the way to the Dead Sea. It was awesome. It's incredible how much desert there is. Just rolling hills of desert! We sat in the gorgeous chapel and observed how even though this wasn't a church of our faith, everything testified of Christ just as it says in Moses 6:63.

 It was beautiful. Then we went to the 7 Arches hotel overlook and saw the gigantic cemetery and the City of David. 

We went South to a mountain where we could see a lot of the geography that is talked about in the Bible like the Kidron Valley, City of David and many others. I loved that lookout because we connected it to Abraham. When Abraham was coming up to sacrifice Isaac he came from the South and as he came to the top of the hill we were on, it was the first place you could see Jerusalem from. This is mentioned in the scriptures in Genesis 22:4. It was awesome to think that my ancestor came over this hillside I was on and saw Jerusalem "afar off" as I did right then. I wonder how he felt as he looked out and saw the city and contemplated what was going to happen. 

After that we went to an overlook of Bethlehem. We are going to Bethlehem later in the semester and I'm so excited for that. That's the reason I came on this trip. I heard someone talk about their experience here and as they talked about sitting in a shepherd's field in Bethlehem, reading the story of Christ's birth, I was overcome with the Spirit and knew I had to come on the Jerusalem study abroad. Something that stood out to me here was that thorn bushes covered the hillside overlooking Bethlehem. This was another example of Moses 6:63 and how everything testifies of Christ. He lives and everything testifies of that! It's incredible! Then we circled to the North and stopped by Nadi Samuel. It was a really fun field trip and I'm finally starting to get my bearings around here. It's amazing to connect the scriptures to the areas that I'm in! 

Bethlehem

The Dead Sea is way out in the distance right behind the mountains

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were very uneventful. I didn't leave the center at all because I have been so busy with homework. My most exciting times of the day are meal times because that's when I don't have homework to do. They say it dies down and that all the classes are front loaded. I hope so because these few days were rough. The only exciting part was Wednesday night when I was flossing and my permanent retainer popped off my bottom teeth. How crazy is that?!? Since when does that happen, especially in Jerusalem! It was pretty chaotic all Thursday trying to figure out if I should go to an orthodontist here or just leave it. All I've really done is homework these last few days which is no fun. I gotta get out of this center more! 

Friday morning was full of homework and classes. After lunch we did a service project and made school kits for children. We had a blast racing down the assembly line and dancing all over the place. I loved it!! Then Jenny, Julie and I played soccer with a bunch of people here and it was a blast. Problem is, they don't believe in AC in the gym. That's a huge mistake. That place is pungent! After soccer, the entire group went on a walk to the Western Wall. On the walk there, there was definitely a young boy that threw a rock right behind me and hit a car. I like to think he was throwing it at the car and not me... but it was an amazing experience. We sat there and I wrote a prayer on a note that will forever be in that place! I was amazed to see their devotion and that they weren't afraid to stand up for their religion. I hope that I can do that. I loved that example. They practice their religion without fear of what others think. Then we came back and watched a movie on the bean bags in the Shekel Shack and did some homework. I'm excited for the Sabbath tomorrow! Today was a good day to end my crazy week on.