Weekly Update :)

What a wonderful week it has been…again!!!  Seriously life doesn’t get much better than this.  Honestly!  Still everyday I am blown away with the fact that I am living in the Holy Land.  It is such an incredible blessing and opportunity that I will forever be grateful for.  

Sunday: Field Trip Day

We went on a Biblical land field trip adventure that included herding goats and sheep, grounding hyssop which is a super yummy spice, and making a yummy authentic made from scratch over a fire lunch that was lentil soup, mint tea, sweet and salty cracked wheat and of course some pita bread.  It was a fun day!  I really enjoyed the hands on aspect and a break from seeing piles of dirt and rocks called ancient ruins ;)  

Monday: Tel Aviv

What fun free day our Tel Aviv adventure turned out to be!  We left the Center at 9:00 am and didn’t get back until 11:30 pm…yes we were all exhausted but also so happy.  We packed a lot in!  After an hour bus ride we went straight to the beach.  Oh my goodness what an awesome beach!!!  The sand was SO soft and the water was literally like bath water temperature.  It was really hot and humid and I’m pretty sure I sweated off my sunscreen before it even did anything but luckily I didn’t get burned…at least not that bad…just a little pink.  We spent the morning at the beach and ate our sack lunches there before changing and heading off into the city.  We first ventured down to Jaffa which is the Old City of Tel Aviv.  It was a quaint little city with a lighthouse and fun alley ways to wander around along with a beautiful beach view.  Then we walked towards Tel Aviv again and went to Carmel Market.  It was like a huge outdoor market place that was fun to just wander around.  We got some really yummy fresh squeezed lemonade and gummy candies to enjoy on our adventures.  As we were walking around a group of teenagers came up to us and asked us to dance with them.  Haha they were doing a scavenger hunt thing and one of the things they had to do was dance with strangers and film it.  So we had a little dance party on the corner of the street with them.  It was quite hilarious!  We ended up just wandering the city which turned out to be really fun.  We found a yummy pita place for dinner and then walked to a different beach to watch the sunset.  It was absolutely beautiful and a perfect way to end such a great day.

Wednesday: City of David Field Trip

What a week with two field trips and an awesome free day!  The weather was so perfect for our walk to the city of David and it was even a little cool which was nice.  We even got a few drops of rain!  That was a miracle after Brother Judd kept telling us that we would never see rain while we were here during the summer.  Who knew that just at few drops of rain could get everyone so excited and happy about life!  The perfect weather didn’t last for long though and it did warm up but not too terribly hot luckily.  We wandered around some ruins and rock piles that had a meaning of some sort but they all just kind of blend together to me now.  The fun part of the day was doing Hezekiah’s tunnel.  This tunnel goes from one end of the city of David to the other…all under the city of Jerusalem now.  It was the ancient way of protecting the cities water from outsiders and still has water flowing through it today.  I rolled p my pants and had a headlight on my head and was rocking the total nerd status but hey it was totally worth it.  The beginning of the tunnel had water that came up just past my knee and then the rest of the tunnel was mid calf or lower.  For part of the tunnel we turned off our headlamps and it was pitch black.  Like seriously SO dark that you just had to feel your way forward through the tunnel and water.  The tunnel let out at the pool of Siloam where we had a great devotional about the story of Christ healing the blind man.  IT was a good reminder to me of not only physical healing but also spiritual healing.  

Then we kind of had another free day because after the devotional we were free to do whatever for the rest of the afternoon.  We ended up going to see Schindler’s grave and then made our way to the Jewish quarters to see the Third Temple Institute museum.  It was actually really interesting!  It was an audio tour through different rooms.  Each room had paintings and objects to describe/represent each part of the temple (court, holy place, holy of holies).  There was a lot of symbolism and interesting things that they have ready to put into the third temple whenever it is built.  We found holy bagels (literally the place was called Holy Bagel) and wandered around the Jewish and Armenian quarters.   While we were walking around we helped these 2 really cute girls carry some of their groceries back to their home.  They were adorable!  There was a definite language barrier but I’m glad we could help them.

Thursday: Breanna’s Birthday and Basketball

To celebrate Breanna’s birthday we used our break between classes to go over to West Jerusalem to the Shuk.  We indulged ourselves at Cookie Cream with super yummy cookie ice cream sandwiches and then wandered around the Shuk before having to make our way back to the Center for class.  After dinner we had our first annual women’s basketball game Judd vs. Esplin class.  Oh man it was rocking in that tiny gym!  With commentators, video footage of the whole game, Brother Judd and Esplin as referees, and fans from both classes there to cheer on their team it was a pumped up gym.  Let’s just say that my teach called a time out to take a winning picture on the court.  Haha so humble….but really though my team totally crushed the Esplin class.  Go Judd-ites!!!  It was a super fun night :)  That moment when my whole class swarms Brother Judd and pick him up like he’s bodysurfing was priceless.  His face was pure terror but he loved it!  If that wasn’t enough fun for the day we then went to a light show at the Tower of David that went through the different stages of Israel from ancient to modern times.  What a happy Thursday!

Friday: Relief Society Activity and Boys Basketball

We had a fun Relief Society activity where we learned how to make yummy Arabic dishes and sushi.  Then we had the boys basketball game and wow if Thursday night wasn’t rocking enough already….my goodness the boys were WAY intense!!!  BUT the energy the girls all brought to cheer on our team was so good!  Hailey and I printed off a picture of Brother Judd’s face and put in on our class life-size cardboard model of Goliath.  All of the girls in my class then carried the Judd Goliath into the gym chanting Judd, Judd, Judd, Judd.  Yep we were pretty intimidating!  We ended up losing by 2 points but it was still a fun, crazy, intense, sweaty night with announcers, more video footage, a legit cheerleading half time show and a dance party after.  

Saturday: Sabbath

I just got done laying outside on the terrace overlooking Jerusalem and studying my scriptures.  If you want a good study about worship I would suggest reading Doctrine and Covenants 93 or if you want to learn more about true conversion read Mosiah 27.  I love Sabbaths!