Some Final Thoughts

As it came time for us to leave, late in the afternoon on August 13th, I ran down to my empty room. All my luggage had been packed and taken away and my room mates were gone. I walked out onto my porch and looked out over my beloved home for the past summer one last time. It was a bittersweet experience. I have reflected much in the past few weeks as to why I needed to go to Jerusalem and what I was supposed to learn. I think the number one thing I'm going to take out of this experience is that God isn't that far away. I went to Israel with a prayer in my heart that I could become closer to God and my Savior. That is exactly what happened. I gained a greater love for other cultures, religions, and languages as I walked among some many of them in Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. I realized the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy by watching the Jewish people. I gained more confidence in myself by learning to trust more in my Savior. My love for others and my desire to serve grew as I spent time around 78 of the most wonderful people I've ever met. I love them all and was grateful to share my experience with them. There are many other things I learned, but I just want to end my expressing my gratitude for the opportunity of a lifetime I received this summer by going to Jerusalem. The experience I had there fits me like a glove. It was exactly what I needed at this time in my life. I'll not soon forget it. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning" Psalms 137:5

Walking the "Passion" of Christ: Part II

For our last field trip, we followed the path that Christ took in the last hours of His life, from Gethsemane to Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. Beginning in the early morning, our whole group of loud North American Mormons was told to walk in silence to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a short walk to there from the Center. The Catholics own their own Olive grove that most tourists visit, but our favorite place to visit is the walled off Greek Orthodox owned Olive grove across the street. It is much quieter and more suited for reflection and feeling the Spirit. There we gathered in our NT classes and learned about the last night of Christ's life, where He suffered for the sins of all Mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is so saddening to me that most Christians don't fully realize what happened at that location. I could see in my mind's eye, Christ descending from the gates of Jerusalem on the hill in front of us, and walking down into the Kidron Valley with His disciples. I looked toward the gate into the garden and could almost see Him come and walk through it, move slowly through the grove to a great Olive tree and then kneel down in prayer at the foot of it. It became so real as I looked out over the scene in front of me. We read from the words of Elder Bruce R. McKonkie's last General Conference address about the Atonement. It was very spiritual and touching. I remember being amazed that because of an act that Jesus preformed near to where I was sitting, I was able to come to realize the cleansing power of the Atonement years ago in a place on the other side of the world. That just blew me away, how all-encompassing the Atonement is. There is nothing that is too far from it's power and influence, no one that can't be saved by it's grace.
From the garden, Christ was carried by captors to the palace of Caiaphas, found today on Mt. Zion, just south of the Old City. A French Catholic church marks the location today, called "St. Peter Galliatu," galliatu being Latin for a cock's crow. This was the place where Peter was questioned three times if he knew Jesus and he denied every time. After the last time, he heard the cock crow, came in eye contact with Jesus, and went out from the palace and wept. In the basement of the church is found the traditional place of Christ's prison, where He was kept in Caiaphas's palace while they passed judgement on Him. Beautiful pastel mosaics covered the walls of the church with depictions of Christ's last night on Earth.
Jesus was next taken to Pilate, to Herod, and then back to Pilate. Pilate's old palace, the Antonia Fortress, no longer stands today, but there are the Catholic churches of St. Anne the Mother of Mary and the Church of Flagellation where Christ was flogged. St. Anne's church is located right next to the excavated Pools of Bethesda, which go deep into the ground. The church has the most amazing acoustics and we, as a group, sang one of my favorite hymns, "Oh Savior thou who wearest a crown of piercing thorn". The ceiling of the Church of Flagellation is decorated by a crown of thorns, commemorating this event. This it the start of the Via Dolorosa, the way of tears. Most Christians believe it ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but many prophets of our church have expressed feelings that it was near unto the Garden Tomb just north of the Old City walls. So we followed the prophets feelings and finished our trip at the Garden Tomb. We spoke of the Resurrection and many bore testimony of it there. It was a very touching way to end our trip. A tour guide we had at the beginning of the summer said that the greatest miracle of the Garden Tomb was that it was empty. It was empty because Christ is risen, overcoming all the troubles and temptations He waded through. He did it for us. I felt that strongly as we shared our testimonies and sang hymns in that quiet garden.

Walking the "Passion" of Christ

Throughout my time here in Jerusalem, I have looked forward to the last two field trips of our stay here in Jerusalem. They are entitled as the "last week of Jesus Christ's life". I have seen these field trips as opportunities to grow closer to my Savior than ever before. Now that these trips are past and as I reflect back on them, I feel that is exactly what happened.
To start off the last week of His life, Christ left from the small town of Bethany on the Mt. of Olives to Jerusalem. The Jews, thinking that their Messiah had come to deliver them from Roman occupation, hailed Him as their King and laid palms at the feet of the donkey He was riding. This is how the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday began. They still have a procession once a year from Bethany (they had to move the route because of the wall separating the West Bank from Jerusalem) to Jerusalem and all the participants carry palm branches. Bethany was the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, as well as the place where Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. I was surprised to learn there that Christ came to Lazarus 4 days after his passing. The scripture written in Latin on the walls of the Catholic church near the tomb sum it all up: "Ego sum resurrectio et vita." or in English, "I am the resurrection and the life." (John 11:25)
Because the separation wall splits Bethany and Bethphage, two towns just a few hundred feet apart, we had to drive all the way around the Mt. of Olives to reach our next destination. On the Mount of Olives there are many churches. We visited only a few of them. First we visited a church that commemorates the march of Jesus into Jerusalem, second, the Pater Noster church, and lastly, the Dominus Flevit church. "Pater Noster" is Latin for "Our Father". This was the site where Christ gave a sermon on the Mt. of Olives and gave the Lord's Prayer. On the walls of the church, written in dozens of different languages, is this prayer the Savior gave. My NT teacher had all the students who knew different languages, go around and read the prayer out loud for the rest of the class. I came last and read the Korean one. I am sad to say this, but my Korean has suffered a bit this summer because I haven't had many opportunities to use it. I haven't been able to study it either. So as I read the prayer, I remember feeling very relieved that no one knew I was making mistakes. However, right after I began, who else would show up but a bunch of Koreans. Apparently they stood and listened to me read it and beckoned all their friends over to listen. They were all flight attendants from Korean Air and were really excited to see a foreigner speaking their language. After I finished, I looked around the group and was suprised to hear cheering. Then I saw the group of Koreans. My face turned bright red. The Koreans pulled me over and took about a million pictures with me, much to the enjoyment of my classmates. It was a random, but funny experience.
So after a thousand pictures and plenty of harassment from my classmates, we moved on. The Dominus Flevit (Latin for "the Lord wept) church is located on the Mt. of Olives, directly across from the Dome of the Rock. It is the celebrated site where Christ looked out over the city and wept because of it's wickedness. The church is in the shape of a teardrop and has a great view of the Old City from it's main stained glass window. To finish off our trip for the day, we went to Mt. Zion, a place just south of the Old City, which was once within the walls of Jerusalem. At this place is found the traditional site of the Last Supper of Christ. We gathered there in a crowded, loud room and read from the scriptures about what happened at that last Passover meal. Those chapters from John that tell about this meal, chapters 13-17, are packed full of amazing things that I have never noticed before. If you want a brief summary of them, try reading through the words of the hymn, "A poor wayfaring man of grief". A kid in our group named Steven Williams, who has a great voice, sang a few verses of it for us. It was a touching thing to think of the Savior showing the greatest acts of service by washing His disciples feet, praying for them, and eventually dying for them. It just blew me away that He would show such care for the Apostles, fully knowing the great pain that He would face in just a few hours. Even at the time of greatest need, the Savior was turned outward to others, not to Himself. What a supreme example of humility and selflessness He is!

The Longest Day...

Today was our last full free day in Jerusalem. It was kind of long, but that was because I tried to make the most out of it. We had a great time! Leaving early in the morning, we went to the far side of the city, a part that I had never been to and walked through a ritzy neighborhood called Yemin Moshe with European style roads and houses. It made me feel like I was walking through Europe somewhere. From there, we made our way to the YMCA bell tower to ring the bells there with a member of our Branch, Brother Walter Whipple. He is the nicest guy around, the inspiration for Mom on getting her Masters and also is an accomplished Concert Organist. He plays the bells at the YMCA every Sunday at noon and invites the students to come. We play hymns that echo around the city, our little way sharing the gospel with others. After lunch and some shopping in the old city, we went to the headquarters for the Terra Sancta (Latin- "Holy Land"), the name of the Franciscan Monks who run the Catholic holy sites in Israel. There is a friendly little monk named Father Angello who gives Mormons tours of the building who took us back into a small room in the Terra Sancta building. He is a Filipino who was a multi-millionaire and lived in many different countries before becoming a Monk and taking his vows. The Franciscans, as well as the other orders of Monks and Nuns, have three vows represented by three knots on a rope belt they wear. They are: poverty (they aren't allowed to have private possessions), Chasity, and obedience. As Father Angello liked to explain the three vows, "no money, no honey, and there's nothing you can do about it." Anyway, the special room that he showed us was the storage area for all the precious things the Terra Sancta has come in possession of over the years. They included solid gold and solid silver candlesticks, crosses, mother-of-pearl murals of the last supper and crucifixion, the great royal cape that Napoleon wore when he was crowned Emperor, etc. The coolest thing he showed us, however, was a 700 year old book of Gregorian Chants. The book had to be lifted by two people and it was roughly 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 feet long. We were joined on the tour again by Brother Whipple, who is a music expert, and he sang through some of the chants with Father Angello. It was awesome to see and hear! To finish the day, we decided to join a group of people that were going out to West Jerusalem to eat dinner. On the way, we visited the Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch headquarters in the Old City. From there we went out to eat at a small restaurant and afterwards ate the most delicious gellato I've ever had in my life (berry cheesecake flavor). Then we hurried back to the Center and arrived just in time to hear our Elder's Quorum President give a forum address. He works for the Foreign Service and is on his first assignment, being the religious attache to the Jerusalem Consulate office. Interestingly enough, his major in college was International Relations and his minor was Middle Eastern Studies (the same thing I am interested in). He is the man who deals with all the different religions here in the Holy Land as the US representative. He is a great guy and I talked with him for about a half an hour afterward about how he got into his line of work. What he does just fascinates me and after seeing that I was full of questions, he gave me his e-mail address and told me he would answer any questions I had and, further more, put me in contact with anyone I needed to ask questions to. His advice was very helpful. Now we'll just see what the future holds.

In Memory of Cousin Monica...

I have had the privilege this summer of spending time with my cousin Monica. It has been a blast getting to know her better and just having a good time together. I wanted to post some pictures that we have taken together this summer just for fun.This was during our visit to the King Abdullah Mosque in Amman. Monica had to put on a cloak with the rest of the girls that made her look like a character from Harry Potter...
Standing in front of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
Standing on a wall overlooking the Shepherd's Fields. We were in the same bus group for the whole time this summer and so we were always together when we took field trips.Caesarea Maritama on the Mediterranean Sea.
Overlooking Wadi Rum at Petra.
Us at Petra.I think the heat at Jerash in Jordan got to our heads a bit when we took this picture...
After finding the rake, Monica had the brilliant idea to do the classic "farmer" pose. If only I had worn overalls that day.
Me and Monica's reenactment of the Battle of Armageddon at Tel Meggido in the Jezreel Valley.The two of us posing on top of Gamla in the Golan Heights.
Nimrod's Castle, Golan Heights.
Lastly, me and Monica with Karyn (yes Mom, the girl you sang in Singers with), Raven, Aubrey, Rachel, and Emily outside the Garden Tomb.
I have loved spending time with Monica. I taught a Missionary Preparation class after church on Sabbath and she came every week and shared wonderful thoughts from her mission with the people in the class. I have seen her befriend so many people here and she is like a big sister to most of the girls in our group. As for guys, she is way out of league for all those "young boys". Since she has graduated and is going on to bigger and better things, I realize that this is probably the last chance I would've had to get to know her. It has been great!

To the Lowest Place on Earth...

Well, now I can say that I have been to the lowest place on earth. Our final out-of-Jerusalem field trip was this past Monday and included visits to Masada, Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered), and swimming in the Dead Sea. It was super hot and exhausting, but a great way to finish our experience here in Jerusalem. Masada, which was our first stop, is built on top of a plateau (in terrain very similar to Southern Utah). Herod the Great built a great palace on it, with a complex water storage system to supply his royal baths. During the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans in 70 AD, the Sicarii (Hebrew for "dagger men") sought refuge there. The Sicarii were assassins and murderers. They held out for months against Roman siege. The Romans constructed a huge siege ramp up the side of the Plateau to reach it's walls (see picture: Underceej on the siege ramp:). In the past, the Israelis have used Masada for propaganda to show the resilience of the Jewish people. But recently, it has been discovered that the Jewish rebels on Masada were actually a bunch of people like the Secret Combinations of the Book of Mormon. Not exactly the role models they were looking for. Just before the Romans broke down the walls of the fortress, the Sicarii had gathered and decided to take their lives and the lives of their families. Archeologists discovered 10 pieces of broken pottery with the names of the rebels written on them: the last 10 men who had to draw lots to figure out who would kill who. We rode a cable car up and back from the top of the fortress, which reminded me of "Where Eagles Dare".
Once we were done at Masada, we traveled north along the Dead Sea to a small canyon that empties into the lake. The Israelis call it Ein Geti and it is the place in the Bible that David flees to in order to hide from Saul. The canyon is basically an oasis in the desert, a beautiful series of waterfalls and pools of clear water. It was beautiful and I was happy to escape the hot weather by swimming in the cool water. When we went from there to swim in the Dead Sea, I was even happier that I had got in the water at Ein Geti. Swimming in the Dead Sea was like jumping into a pool of gasoline. The water felt oily on my skin and made every cut, scrape, and rash on my body burn like the blazes. I got in for about 15 minutes, then got right back out and went to shower myself off. We got together as a group and covered ourselves with the famous Dead Sea mud too, so that meant that I needed to talk yet another shower to get it off. I didn't get back in the water though. Once was enough for me. :)
The last stop of the day was at Qumran, the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These scrolls are amazing and as they are all translated and revealed to the world, the position of the church concerning the Bible as incomplete will become more and more accepted. Many scrolls found at Qumran contain records not found in our Bible today. They were written by Jewish scribes of a radical group called the Essenes. They were a small sect that withdrew from Jewish society to purify themselves with prayer and by bathing many times a day in ritual baths. They believed that they were preparing themselves for the coming of the Messiah. During the Great Jewish Revolt when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, the Essenes were also wiped out. Before being wiped out, they hide all of their records in various caves next to their settlement in Qumran. All of these caves could easily be seen from the ruins of the town. These records were discovered in the '50's when two Bedouins were throwing rocks into one of the caves, trying to scare out some stray goats, and heard the smash of pottery as one of the rocks hit something inside. They investigated it and discovered the scrolls conserved in pots within the cave. Archaeologists have discovered scrolls in about 200 different caves in the area since then (picture: the cliffs around Qumran, you can see some of the caves).

The Shepherd Fields

"O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in they dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight."

We have just celebrated our Christmas in July. Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit the Shepherd's Fields by Bethlehem. It is a small garden on the top of a hill overlooking a large valley of rocks and grass, with the small town of Bethlehem on the opposite hill. There were no buildings in the valley, only on the hills, so one could look out across the view and be transported back two thousand years to the time of Christ. There on that hill, we reenacted the Christmas story with all the regular characters: Mary, Joseph (which I played), shepherds, angels, the 3 Wise Men, and even sheep. As we did so, we sang many hymns, including "O Little Town of Bethlehem". It was so cool to sing that song and look across the valley at the town of Bethlehem. It was even cooler to think over the words of the song, to envision stars shining down on that night of nights, but none as bright as the everlasting Light. After the small program, we had some time to bear testimonies and so I took the opportunity. I had the most amazing realization while doing so, that though I was at that magical place, I could be anywhere in the world and still feel the same spirit testify of Christ's birth. In fact, a year and a half ago, I had that spirit testify to me as I knocked doors, sang Christmas songs, and testified to Koreans on freezing cold December nights in Seoul. It is the same for everyone else. That is why I love the Book of Mormon so much. The people in that book, for the most part, never saw Christ. Yet they believed in Him. We have so much in common with them and it is such a blessing to have that additional witness of Christ. I'm so grateful I was able to have these thoughts come to me while overlooking that beautiful place near Bethlehem.