Babies, Halloween and Sheep Herding

Sunday -  October 27, 2013

            We had clinical at Red Crescent Women’s Hospital again. I was on the Labor and Delivery floor. We walked in right as we heard a baby start crying for the first time and a few seconds later they rushed it out to the incubator. I was soooo bummed that we had just missed a birth!! Luckily they were all happy and healthy. It was such a precious little baby. I was there with Lindsay and we took care of a few patients that had delivered earlier that morning. I am shocked at how generous and kind everyone is here. They continue to surprise and impress me. They have left an imprint on my heart that I hope I can continue to develop as a nurse and as a person back home. They fed us so much today even though they have nothing. We had chocolates to celebrate a new baby and more tea than anyone would every need in life. They gave us endless coffee and crackers. Everyone is willing to give you anything, even though they have nothing to give. I love the people here. I hope I can learn to be more generous and not so ‘attached’ to the things of this world that don’t even matter and I don’t even ‘own’. A little later throughout clinical, my prayers were answered and there was a delivery we got to see. She did it all natural and it was incredible. So much different than the movie they show in eighth grade health class and nursing school. It was a beautiful experience, and just as the C-section, the veil felt so thin. As soon as the baby came out the whole room was silent. We could all feel the spirit of that precious little baby and the strength he was receiving. It’s incredible to think of the life he has ahead of him. They placed him in a bed next to him mom as they cleaned everything up and I cried every time I caught her gazing at her son. What a moment! To look at this precious little creation that came straight from God and is part of you and part of the person you love with your whole heart. This sweet thing that doesn't know much about the world yet and has so many exciting adventures and experiences ahead of him. I can’t imagine what it will be like and it makes me so excited to hold a little mini-me some day and love them with my entire soul. I loved this moment.       

            After the hospital, everyone was studying back at the center because we had finals all week so I didn't get to go out as I had hoped to. Instead I studied and finished some homework and worked out. We've got ourselves a fun little circuit workout group and I have loved it!

Monday, October 28, 2013

            We had an awesome field trip today. It started out really boring and I thought it was going to be a drag of a day, but I was sooo wrong! Don’t judge a field trip by the first ten minutes. We went to a Biblical Garden Nature Reserve. We talked about the different plants here and their significance in the Bible. For example, did you know that a fig leaf has five parts so it looks like a hand? I bet that’s what Adam and Eve used to cover themselves up because it was like a hand covering them. Also, almonds have three layers around them that make them practically impenetrable. They take forever to grow and blossom which is why it is a miracle in that one scripture where they blossomed overnight. I tried to break through their shells, I got nowhere. Talk about a solid armor…Today was also great because we got to pet goats and sheep.

This guy was upset and kept ramming his head into this post

I had no idea about this but apparently goats love to eat other goats poop and pee as it comes out. I feel a pooem coming on…It was hilarious. I laughed so hard at that. Then we got to be shepherds and try to gather and heard the sheep and goats. It was neat to watch the groups do it. One group got them all gathered together and was herding them and then realized they have left one behind. Part of them thought, “We have most of them…let’s just keep going. It was hard enough to gather all these guys.” Then we realized what the Savior would have done and they went back for the one sheep. We need to look for the one and bring them back to the fold. It was also interesting to compare the goats and sheep. The sheep needed a shepherd and were more cowardly and directionless when they didn't have one. The goats were more independent and could do their own thing. As we herded the goats and sheep, the most useful ways to guide them was by leading and walking beside them. If we tried to yell or use force, it didn't work; they didn't want to be led that way. But when I would pet them and walk beside them and tell them they could do hard things, they would follow me.

I loved this field trip! Then it got even better!!! We got to grind our own hyssop which is a delicious herb and we used it for the lunch we made later on. This was one of my favorite parts of this entire trip!! We went into the “woods” that honestly made me feel back at home in Idaho. There were pine trees and needles and the breeze blew through. Oh I loved it! We got to build fires and cook over them. We made homemade pita bread and cooked it over the fire then dipped it in honey or olive oil and hyssop. We boiled some water over the fire and threw in the hyssop plants with some sugar and made tea. I cooked wheat on the fire in a pan until it was golden and then we poured honey over half and olive oil and salt over the other. That was a yummy snack. Then we made some stew that tasted delicious! It was so fun to play in the dirt and fire and to cook outside. I LOVED IT!!! I felt like I was home in the mountains. It was soooo much fun. Then we watched a Torah Scribe write down the Torah.

It was really interesting and there were so many specifics and little rules that it made me wonder about putting too much time in the details of preparing something rather than what you’re supposed to get out of the experience. It was an awesome field trip and a good break from studying (which was ALL we did when we got home).

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – October 29-31

            All I did these days were study and take finals. I played foosball in between finals or would go work out or play soccer/volleyball but that’s really all we did. We just studied and took tests. Sometimes we’d watch part of a movie or play a game but it was a very low key and boring week. Wednesday between tests I ran out to the mini Costco type of place here and bought candy for our Halloween party on Friday. I definitely got some free chocolate which made my day. Thursday night after dinner I went to West Jerusalem with Cam, Stephanie, Jonathan and Becca. We found a flea market and I bought a gem of a sweater that is so beautiful. We bought some crepes and even saw some chocolate shwarma. It was sooo good. When we got home we watched World War Z which was awesome because part of it took place in Jerusalem. It was fun to hear them mention Jaffa Gate and know exactly what that meant and looks like and to know I've walked through that tons of times!! It wasn't a very scary movie but it was really intense, which set me up perfectly to get scared half to death later that night. I was jumpy from the movie and after it was over I was in the computer lab with Ross and we were talking about our Halloween costumes. All the lights were off and as we were talking I heard a little rustle behind me so I slowly turned to look and I see, what appears to be a zombie, rise up off the floor and run at me all zombie-like and screaming at me all zombie-like and then grab me! I DIED A LITTLE!! I literally screamed out loud, at the top of my lungs for a solid five minutes, even after it had stopped and everyone was laughing. I just screamed. I had to go outside to calm down for a little too. Wow it was scary. Ends up it was just CJ, but I knew it was a zombie. I was jumpy the rest of the night and I got scared by Jared and Jonathan all throughout the night because I was already so jumpy. Didn't sleep well that night…

Friday – November 1

            Today was the last day of finals!!! YES! I’m so happy they’re over. All I have now is the field trip class, tons of nursing, and New Testament. So glad the other classes are over. Since we were so busy on Halloween, we decided to celebrate Halloween today. After finals I went out to the city with a group of people and we walked all over and got some juice from Shaban and ran into Nacer, our two favorite shop owners. Those guys are so nice! I got some stuff because I’m beginning to realize how little time I have left here. It’s going by so fast and I’m spending some of those weeks in Galilee and Jordan. I never want to leave!! But I am excited to come home and it’s the holidays! Anyways, we bought some Halloween candy and when I came home we were all getting ready for Halloween and ate dinner. This was one of my favorite Halloweens. We had a party in the garage and did trunk-or-treating for the Belnap kids. We literally just got out our suitcases and put the little candy we had bought in there. The kids LOVED it though! Our costumes were incredible because we had nothing to work with. They were the most creative and fun costumes ever. I was part of Eco-Team with Ross and Sean. Sean wore one of the big recycling bins we have here and Ross made a massive plastic bottle robe and headdress and I taped newspaper around my body and made a cape. I was Eco Woman, Ross was Eco Man and Sean was Paper Only Guy. It was so fun!!

Jenny, Julie, Emma, Becca and Karren dressed up like deer and they looked incredible. Everyone was really creative and looked great! We did trunk-or-treating and then ate a bunch of food and doughnuts and had a dance party for hours. We even had a fog machine. It was the time of my life! I got so sick though. I hadn’t had that much sugar in a long time and my body was NOT ready. I almost hurled it all out and had to run to my room to lie in my bed until I stopped sweating and thinking I was going to pass out. Holy cow. Sugar overload!! That’s never happened before. Once I felt good enough to stand up I got up and showered then watched the rest of Harry Potter and went to bed.

Sabbath - November 2

Church was incredible today. We had about 70 people here on tour groups and it was fun to talk to them. After church we went to the Garden of Gethsemane and it was nice to sit down for a while and think about things. This has been a very incredible trip and taught me a lot. The theme I learned from today was that if you want something or plan on doing something, you got to do it now. I learned that someday when I wake up I’m going to realize I’m still me. I feel like I have so many plans and dreams of who I hope to be like or what I hope to be like and the truth is that I can hope and plan for those things all I want but unless I start working on them now, I’m going to wake up a few years from now and those things I've planned for and hoped for won’t be there. They don’t just magically come. I don’t hit a certain age and I can suddenly be a great gardener. If I want to be a good gardener then I have to learn now. There’s a lot of little things I want to do and become and after today I have a renewed desire to start doing and learning them. One of those is knitting so as we finally finished watching the last session of General Conference tonight I practiced my knitting the whole time. I bought some knitting supplies a few weeks ago and I’m going to start trying to make some stuff. We’ll see how the first few turn out…lots of holes and gaping edges…that’s alright. It adds character. After the Conference we had choir practice for our Christmas show and then I played games with some people and had a card throwing practice with AJ. Then Nichel did yoga with us outside the Forum and I just had a relaxing night after that!