Wow... wow wow wow.... I'm so sorry

Well things have been super crazy.  I just got back from Egypt a few days ago and am still recovering from the hectic travel schedule.  But I while I'm gathering Egypt pictures (since my camera broke the day we left) I thought I would just put up some older pics of my trip to Jericho and tell you about the Garden Tomb.

We went to the site of Ancient Jericho, which was WAY cool.  They even found remains of a fallen wall that dates back to ancient Jericho and the times of Joshua!! We even got to sing the famous 'Joshua and the Battle of Jericho'.  On top of those already amazing things to see, we were able to see the oldest man-made structure on the entire earth, which is an age old Neolithic Tower.  VERY COOL! But, at 850 feet below sea level, this was one HOT PLACE!! I have never sweat that much in my LIFE!! It was crazy.... Here are the pics I have at the moment

It's been too long....

I've know you've all been waiting for and well, here it is boys, here it is girls, here's the post!! Well it's been almost an entire week since I've posted, and I have just got a bajillion things to fill you in on!!

Monday 9/6/2010 - This was was kinda crazy, we woke up early, and then we went on what the Jerusalem center calls, a Geography Field Trip, which last a few hours.  It was actually really cool because we got to go all around the outskirts of Jerusalem, and see it from a variety of viewpoints.  It really gave me a better understanding of the area around Jerusalem, and how it all connects and flows together.  We got to see a lot of cool things, such as Bethlehem from a distance, the supposed site of Samuel's burial (although we have since discovered that it is NOT the birthplace of the prophet), and the famous ancient town of Gideon.

Gideon is where Joshua asked God to make the sun stand still over Gideon, so that he could capture their enemies before nightfall, and here I am, at Gideon!


We also got the chance to see Jerusalem from a southern perspective, and here that was.....\


It was really awesome, fun day, fun field trip, and great time altogether.  A+ We got back to the center, and got to meet our Family Home Evening groups out.  And guess what? Jenni Carlisle's best friend Tarah Ogzewalla is in my FHE group, she is so fun!! And my friend Johnathon Webb is the only other guy in my group, but we get along really well, so that's good.  I'm excited for the adventures that lie ahead of our FHE group.

Tuesday 9/7/2010 -
Tuesday was a lot of classes.  We had Old Testament, Jewish Studies, Arabic, and Islamic Studies, needless to say it felt like we were in the JC For a long time, but it was still really fun.  These classes will be eye opening, and its interesting to get various perspectives on various issues as well...

Wednesday 9/8/2010 -
Wednesday was a lot of class again, which is probably why I didn't feel so inclined to blog that much.  We did have a pretty cool forum address that night where a lady from the US Consulate who talked to us about US/Middle East relations, and she was actually pretty interesting.

Thursday 9/9/2010 -
Thursday was awesome, we had Old Testament in the morning, then me Johnathon, Katie, Brandt, Tara, and Melia went out to the Old City.  We went and visited Gethsemane, Absolom's Tomb, the South-east corner of the Old City Wall, the Western Wall, and then had lunch in the Christian Corridor of the Old City, and got some really nice shwarma's (doner/kabab, whatever you wanna call them).  It was a great day, and super fun.
We came back to the center, and watched a movie about Egypt, preparing us for our trip there NEXT WEEK!!  It wasn't the best documentary, but it was pretty fun to watch, and realize that I was going to be there in a matter of days, I've always wanted to go and see they pyramids and Egypt, and now I get the chance!

Rampart Tour & Zedekiah's Cave

Well it was yet another great day here in Jerusalem, and I can't wait to tell you all about it.  Well we woke up this morning, got breakfast, and then went into Old Jerusalem, and took a tour of the ramparts on top of the city wall.  It was almost like walking the Great Wall of China, I mean these walls were HUGE!! It only cost us 8 shackels (approx. $2), and it was worth the price!  We got to see some very cool views of the Old City, and we especially got a great view of Golgotha.

Here's the tricky thing with Jerusalem.  Not only do 3 of the worlds largest religions in the world hold this place to be holy, but simply within the Christian sect, there are many disputes over various sites, mostly due to the fact that Biblical ages were just so long ago.  A lot of people believed Christ did this here, but then a bunch of people will say he did the same thing somewhere else, so you have to follow the spirit on things, and decide for yourself.  We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher yesterday, which is supposedly Golgotha, and the burial site of Christ, but today, I just felt very strongly that a different site just north of the city wall, was the spot where Golgotha was.  I stopped atop the ramparts for a few minutes, and looked over the wall at this hill just a few hundred yards from where I stood, and looked at the graves that have recently been added to its top.  I recognized the view from various Biblical pictures I had seen, and as I stood there the words to a familiar hymn came to me, 'There is a green hill far away, without a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all".  And all I can really relate to you is that after pondering in my mind and my heart, I felt like this was the place that Christ was crucified.  It was a really special and spiritual experience, one which I cannot easily put into words.  It was a tender mercy because in a land where so much is disputed, I felt like I was able to come to my own conclusion, as we all must do with these sites.  So, although I may not convince people that this spot was where Christ was crucified, I at least no for myself, what I believe to be true.



After our tour of the ramparts, we walked around the Old City for a while, we went to Zedekiah's cave.  This is a HUGE cave that lies directly under the Old City and stretches for about 5 city blocks, and this was AWESOME!!! First of all it was great because we were able to just be in the shade, and enjoy the nice cool temperature for a while, but it was also just amazing to walk in and walk around.  It is supposedly the cite where people quarried stone for Solomon's Temple, and was used for subsequent temples as well.  It was just really cool to see this huge cave that dates back more than 3,000 years old, and would have been a place that Christ and other prophets would have visited in Jerusalem.

We then got to exchange some money, and headed over to West Jerusalem, and got some lunch... and guess what?!?! I GOT A DONER!!!  YAHOOOO!!  It was so awesome! Well, I got a coke zero in a bottle with it, which just took the cake! It made me think of when I was in Berlin with Mitch, Mom, and Uncle Dave... so much fun!

We took at taxi back to the center which was so nice, as we were pretty far away from it.  We got back and got to do homework, eat dinner, and BLOG!! Having so much fun, and loving everything we do!! I am so grateful for this awesome experience, and wish you all could come and see this amazing city!!  Love you all, peace and blessings!

First Sabbath in the Holy City

Well, I hope you're gearing up for a great Sunday, we just had our Sabbath day, which was Saturday, and it was great.  We had church here at the Jerusalem Center, and it was awesome, we even got to sing some prelude with our new huge choir, and it was great.  It was just such a cool experience to sing hymns about the Savior in Jerusalem.  We got to rest, and break our fast, and then got to go and visit the Old City, where we went to visit the Church of the Holy Sepluchre.  If you want to learn more about it visit here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_holy_sepulchre

It is supposedly the sight of the crucifixion of Christ, the preparing of his body, and his subsequent burial.  It is co-owned by 6 different churches, and we got to witness vespers and songs done by some monks there, and I got some pretty cool video of it too!  We didn't get to spend a lot of time there, because we had to get back before dark, but it was awesome, just to walk around the old city, and enjoy the sights and sounds of old Jerusalem.  Here is a picture of the church we visited...

A first glance of the city..

Well, even though its the close of Friday, I haven't had time to log on and fill you in all everything we've been doing.  Thursday was a great day, we went on a 4 hour tour of Jerusalem in the morning, and it was awesome.  We got to see the layout of the old city, visit the various sectors, visit Jaffa Gate, head to West Jerusalem, and just have a great time.  We got to meet our religion and history teachers, and they seem like they will be really good.  And we've spent a lot of time getting to know the various other students in the program as well.  It was really fun to get to know people, and just experience life here in the Jerusalem Center, which btw... is AMAZING!! It's basically a resort, kinda like Hogwarts, except for the middle east.

Friday, we had classes in the morning, Old Testamant, mostly about Abraham and Isaac, and then we had our first Ancient Near Eastern Studies Class, which we talked mostly about geography in, which was great.  We then got to meet in our committees for the center.  I am the chair of the Talent Show committee.... it will be so hard, i just don't know how to put on a show!! haha.. NOT!! We are having a variety show, in October, and a formal Talent Show in November, along with a really fun slew of crazy activities along the way.  Like tonight, we had an opening social and dance here at the center, and it was AWESOME!! I got to teach everybody the 'Waka Waka' dance by Shakira, and we dance it all as a group, and its soooo fun!! Everybody loves it.  We decided we are going to dance it everywhere we go, like Egypt, Jordan etc.. wherever we go... I mean this song healed a world!!!  It was so fun.  I love having such a small group (under 80), so that we can all get to know each other and basically become a huge happy family.

It is Ramadan right now, so Muslism fast from sunrise to sunset, and have a 'call to prayer' every 5 hours or so, which they blast on speakers throughout the entire city.  It wakes us up every morning at 4:30, and at first I hated it, but now I just love it, because of the cool experience it provides us. It was the last friday of Ramadan, so the old city of Jerusalem was completely packed, and that coupled with the fact that tomorrow is the Sabbath, made it basically unable for us to travel into Jerusalem today, but that's ok, we've got 4 months.  One day in the cener here and there won't kill us, it was so much fun.

I am loving it, every time I stare outside of the huge windows, I can't believe i'm ACTUALLY HERE!!!  It is such a cool experience, I never want it to end, and wish everybody could come here and enjoy it!

Ps.  This is my crib.....btw....

And then one day, Jerusalem met James

WE MADE IT!!! We got to Jerusalem!!! And what an amazing adventure it truly is!!! Let me fill you in on all the details so far!! We flew from SLC to Denver, Denver to Washington DC, Washington DC to Vienna, Austria, then Vienna to Tel Aviv, Israel, then took a bus form Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  (Jerusalem is too hilly for an airport).  It was a really long flight and travel time, i think it was 18 hours plane time... ugh... With hours and hours of layovers.  It was so much fun though, our travel group had 11 of us in it, 3 guys, and 8 girls, and we bonded so much, and became really good friends really fast, it was great. Got picked up in Tel Aviv by the Jerusalem Center buses, and got shipped here.  Once here we got a tour, had dinner, and a meeting, and now we are just moving out.  One amazing thing about the beautiful Jerusalem center, is not only that it is an amazing building, but each room has a stunning view of the old city, and Jerusalem... well I am pretty tired, so I will go to sleep but leave you a picture of my view from our back porch is.. ya be jealous...