Week 1 Update :)

I don’t even know where to begin!  It has been an absolutely amazing, jammed packed, exhausting, uplifting, busy, incredible week.  I will at least try and give you some of the highlights :)  If you have any specific questions or things you want to know feel free to just email me: marissa.brockbank@gmail.com  I’d be happy to answer them!  

Alrighty here we go…

Sunday are free days since Saturday is the Sabbath here.  There was a group of us that walked literally across Jerusalem to the west side (like a nice 2.5 hour walk) to go to the Israel Museum.  Fortunately the walk really didn’t seem that long and we got ourselves really oriented with that city and got to see cool things along the way too.  For my Ancient Near Eastern Studies class we needed to go to this museum and do a little (well actually really long) checklist of things to see while were were there.  It was interesting to be able to see so many things on display that we have talked about in class or will talk about in class.  There was even a Dead Sea Scroll exhibit that was amazing to see!  After the museum we got a van to take us to the Old City and from there we spilt into smaller groups to wander around the Old City which was really fun. Then from there we walked back to the Center and called it a day.  My goodness I thought the Y hike was hard….haha I do it like literally 10 times a day here!  Luckily I’m practically at sea level so I’m not dying but there are literally hills everywhere you go.  

Monday’s are field trip days.  This past Monday we had our “Jerusalem Overlook” field trip.  We went to all sorts of different places around the outskirts of Jerusalem to see it from different angles which was neat.  One of the spots we went to was Bethlehem.  While we were there we sang “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains” which we changed to “Near, Near Away on Judea’s Hills.”  My favorite overlook was from the Seven Arches Hotel.  My favorite lecture was at Tayelet Haas Promenade where Brother Ludlow explained the story of Abraham and Isaac beautifully.  My favorite church was the Augusta Victoria Tower Church where we got to climb up 200+ steps into the bell tower to overlook Jerusalem and then sing in their chapel which had absolutely amazing acoustics.  It literally sounded like heaven in there when we all sang “Nearer My God to Thee.”  My favorite place to sing and do a little bit of undercover missionary work since there is a no proselyting rule here that we strictly follow was the Garden Tomb.  We were able to sing hymns about Jesus Christ off in a corner of the garden but other groups getting a tour could definitely hear us.  My favorite was when we sang “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”  The spirit was so strong!  I am grateful for the knowledge I have of the resurrection.  

Tuesday was a full day of classes and eating and sitting.  The classes I am in right now are Old Testament (my favorite by far!), Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Palestine/Muslim History, Israel/Jewish History, and Arabic.  It is quite the load!  But so good too.  That night I got extended the call to be an FHE mom.  Yay!

Wednesday afternoon between a break of classes and dinner I went out into the city with a group to the Tower of David Museum that we all had free tickets to.  Then we split into smaller groups again and my group went and did part of the Rampart’s Wall Walk.  For this you get to walk around the top of the wall around the Old City which was really cool.  We only did half of the walk due to time but it was really good.  On our way walking back to the Center we were walking out of Lion’s Gate and we hear this group of merchant men calling out to us “Hey Mormon girls, we have a good deal for you.  Come come!  We give best deals to Mormons.”  BTW we hear this a lot…like literally every time we are in the city…but these merchants actually seemed sincere.  They were all like go to Joseph because he sells good prices to Mormons.  Ends up that Joseph wasn’t there but his dad Ayaman was.  We ended up talking to him for awhile.  I find it so fascinating to hear local people’s stories.  There are some pretty amazing backgrounds that I learn so much from.  He ended up giving us these yummy slushy passion fruit drinks for 5 shekels (definitely a steal…like only $1.75).  They were so yummy!   That night we had a devotional/forum about the history of the Jerusalem Center.  I never realized how much effort, time and energy went into getting this building and program here.  It was literally miracle after miracle that this place was able to be built.  I’m so grateful I get to be apart of the Jerusalem Center legacy.

Thursday I ended up doing homework and getting caught up in-between classes.  It felt good to catch up on some things and hopefully it will bless me this upcoming week.  I ate lunch with my Israel teacher, Ophir.  He talked to my committee about the Sedar Passover meal that we are in charge of recreating in June.  It was really interesting to talk to him about it.  That night I ended up going to the guitar quartet concert that they had at the Center which was really good.

Friday I was out reading my scriptures on the seventh floor patio in between class and lunch and these 2 Hebrew University students came up and talked to me for awhile.  Once again I couldn’t really answer any of their questions they had about the church but we ended up having a really good conversation and I asked a lot of questions instead.  Last night I went into the city with some girls in the group and it ended up being a great night.  We kinda just went without a plan and it all worked out perfectly which was a blessing.  So Friday’s are the Muslim’s holy day and the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown which we all forgot about until we got into the city and everything was closing or already closed.  Haha oops we learned our lesson there!  Anyway we ended up walking over to West Jerusalem in hopes to find some food for dinner.  It looked like we were out of luck for awhile but I spotted a restaurant that was still open.  Blessings!  It ended up being a falafel shop which I have been wanting to try so it was perfect.  Falafel’s are seriously so so so good!!!  Like seriously so good!  We didn’t have a boy in our group so we had to be back to the center by sundown but while we were walking back we all had the need for some dried fruit.  Another  rule though is that you can’t be in the Old City after a certain time either but luckily we made it in time to find a dried fruit stand that was still open and made it back to the Center just in time to watch the sunset over the city.  It was a perfect evening!

Today is the Sabbath and we actually had Jerusalem District Conference.  It consists of 4 branches (Galilee, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, Jerusalem) and 1 group (Bersheva).  The faith of these members amazes me!  It was neat to be all together and the conference was probably one of the best conferences I have ever gone to.  The theme was peace and how to find it in different ways.  It was so good!  I sang in the student choir which was also a good experience too.  

Fun (mostly random) facts:

-There are like never any clouds here…it’s always blue skies

-The light switches are upside down so if you want to turn the light on you push down and if you want if off you push up.

-The call to prayer is the best things to hear.  I love hearing it throughout the city wherever you are.  It’s a good reminder!

-“Hello” means get out of the way

-To get anywhere you are going to have to walk up a hill.  Even in the Center you have to do stairs to get anywhere especially living on the second floor with all the classrooms and cafeteria on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors.  

-Traffic and crazy drivers are a real thing here.  Tailgating is the norm along with honking.

Well done!  You just read a freaking novel!  Sorry it was so long.  Haha I just got a little carried away. I just absolutely LOVE it here!!!!   Love you all!