Herod's Palace, the Judean Wilderness, and Jericho

Yep. I finally visited THE JUDEAN WILDERNESS AND JERICHO! It was so cool! Also we went to go see the ruins of King Herod's palace and we saw where his pools were. We had to take a security guard to Jericho since it's on the West Bank (and as you may know there’s a ton of tension there). Our group is one of the first groups to that BYU-J has been able to go visit the West Bank since they opened back up a couple years ago. Anyways, it was really cool. Jericho was built in 8,000 B.C., one of the oldest ruins still on this earth (even older than the Pyramids of Giza). Much of the ruins were built out of mud brick so it had been decaying drastically over time… but it was still there!

My favorite part though was seeing the Judean Wilderness. One word to describe it - MAJESTIC! It was so beautiful and it was only a desert. But there were deserted mountains as far as I could see that were part of the Judean Wilderness. It just makes me wonder how long it took Christ to walk through it to Jerusalem (which is probably a pretty far walk). We could see Jerusalem, but in the far far distance. There were local merchants trying to sell us products, along with their cute kids trying to get a good price off of some people. They also had donkeys that people could ride there but it would be pretty dangerous, considering how steep it is and also the fact that we were on an overlook of a cliff. Anyways, while my class was observing the wilderness desert, I thought of the song “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” as we read the story of the Good Samaritan, since it took place in the Judean Wilderness. It was a really cool experience.

 Judean Wilderness

 Hiking across the Judean Wilderness

 I was scared the donkey was going to bite me

 The ruins of King Herod's Winter Palace

 This is a pretty common site outside of the city of Jerusalem

 Teaching the Old Testament while overlooking Jericho

 Jericho. The city was built in 8,000 B.C.

Old Testament class field trip group

Weaving and Ruins

On our way to our destination, we stopped at a weaving factory and took a tour (Note: Mom, you would have loved it). These women, that don’t have much of an education, make their money on their weaving wool into blankets, pillows, tapestries, and other products. They first have to spin the wool to get it into nice thin strands, then they can dye it, then they put it on a loom and sit on their knees all day weaving away. It was super fun to see how they made their products.

Tel Arad was full of ancient ruins that showed how people lived, how they got water in their watering system, where they lived, and how they worshiped. As we were touring the place, two workers were uncovering stones in the temple. My professor pointed out the sacrificial alter and the Holy of Holies. Most of the ancient people used their houses to store their personal belongings, but they mainly spent their time out doors or in social places.

Tel Be'er Sheva was my favorite. It had more ruins and this time, we got to see the rooms divided up into very tiny places in the home. One of the coolest parts was walking down the original steps into a cistern (that used to be full of water) and going through a tunnel they used for their watering system.

 Dying the wool

 Traditional Dress at the Weaving Factory

 Tel Arad Temple

 Tel Be'er Sheva

Be'er Sheva cistern (walking down the original steps)

Ringing the Bells

Every Sunday, we have free time all day (since our Sabbath is on Saturdays here) and so usually everyone finds a group and goes to the Old City and explores the rest of Jerusalem. This morning I went to Dome of the Rock. Unfortunately we couldn’t go in but it was amazing to be on the grounds of the synagogue that was built in 538 B.C. Up close, it looks brand new. The intricate designs are still bright and vibrant. Up close, I saw more detail then I ever thought there was. It really is a spectacular building.

The most fun part of my day though was playing the bells in the YMCA bell tower. So each semester, BYU students get a chance to sign up to play the bells and many people don’t know how much fun it is. So to play the bells, there’s this keyboard that has many notes you can press down hard and it will ring the bells up the stairs. First of all, there are 206 stairs you climb up to get to the top of the tower and then there’s a great overlook of Jerusalem. It is beautiful. On one of the levels though is a room that has a keyboard where you press the keys to play the bells. We got to pick hymns and primary songs and we had one person on treble clef and one person on bass clef. It was so much fun and such a good experience. We were able to play 2 songs each for like an hour and a half. Yep. 6,000 people heard me play the bells. I think it’s pretty awesome. I’ve always been moderately confident in my piano skills but I doubted myself at first since you would play the song on a practice bell keyboard only once before you would then play that song on the real bell keyboard, and it would be bad if you messed up. So it was a little intimidating, but it turned out really well. It was incredible to climb up the stairs to the overlook of Jerusalem while the bells were ringing in the tower hymns of praise. And it finally hit me today. I’m living in Jerusalem! I have always dreamed of going on this study abroad my whole life and it’s finally happening. Anyways, listening to LDS hymns and primary songs while viewing all of Jerusalem was an unbelievable experience. This was definitely an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Dome of the Rock

YMCA Bell Tower

Playing the bell keyboard

Hard Work and Play Time

This week has been the most amazing week ever! I have been to so many holy sites and seen thousands of years worth of history all in one city. I never thought Jerusalem had as much history as it does. So this week has been crazy since it was the first full week of all my classes. I’m taking Arabic, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Arab and Islamic Civilization (Palestine), Jewish Civilization (Israeli), Old Testament, New Testament, and the Jerusalem Field Trips that we’ll be tested on later. I feel like every minute is spent reading and any spare time is spent in the Old City (Eastern Jerusalem), which isn’t a lot. I love it though. Waking up to the prayer call some mornings and always looking out my window to see the beautiful morning view of the Holy Land. I love it. And seriously, the people here are amazing. The students are all really nice and friendly. Also, the culture in the Holy Land is really cool. The Palestinians we see in Eastern Jerusalem are the friendliest people and will also do anything to get you in their shop (haha).

For our first forum, we had the associate director give the history behind the Jerusalem Building and I had no idea of the amount of work, endless effort and time that went into obtaining the land on Mt. Scopus to be used for the “Mormon University.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was the area authority over Jerusalem when they wanted to build the Jerusalem Center (JC) building. It took a year and a half to just sign all the papers to obtain the land. Then once building, they had to deal with all the protests and change a lot of policies, but they eventually built it. Also, there’s chiseled stone on the walls all over the center, which gives the walls a rough texture but cool design. Every single one of the stones on the walls was hand chipped by local workers that took 2 years to complete. There is so much hard work and dedication and history behind this building. I am so lucky to be here. For those who didn’t know, the JC has 8 floors and it contains a gym, 2-3 floors of housing, cafeteria, seminar rooms, forum room, auditorium, and much more I have yet to explore.

Saturday was our Sabbath day and so we had church in the morning and then we got to go see the Garden Tomb. It was so peaceful there, but it was a lot smaller inside then what I imagined. Historians aren’t certain that it was Christ’s tomb in that exact spot but there is a lot of evidence that the tomb was from the days of Christ. Also, we didn’t have an LDS tour guide but he knew so much (he was actually a Canadian pastor) but he brought up a good point. It’s not the stones that Jesus walked on or laid upon that we should be worshipping but it’s a reminder of what He did. He sacrificed himself for the atonement. Before leaving, all 82 of the Jerusalem students sang the hymn “Nearer My God to Thee” outside with many cultural and religious people listening. It was such an amazing, spiritual experience. The spirit was so strong in that place; it was unbelievable. I’ll tell you more about it later as I go more times (since it’s only about a 20 minute walk from the Jerusalem Center).

Monday was my first field trip here and we went around Jerusalem to many churches and look out points of the city. It was gorgeous to see many ruins and see how different religions worship. I have said this before, but I love seeing the love and dedication these people have for God.

There are about four or five different quarters in the old city. So one area will be the Christian quarter while another is a Muslim quarter. There is so much to look at in the old city and some shops will have pieces of artwork or objects that are thousands of years old. Each shop has a different feel to it and has it’s own hidden treasures. Anyone could explore the old city for weeks and still find new and hidden places full of the shops, smells, and spices.

View of Jerusalem from my balcony

Jerusalem Center on Mount Scopus

Living quarters in the Old City

View of Jerusalem on our field trip

Auguste Victoria and the Church of the Ascension

A parrot I found in a shop in the Old City

Zedekiah's Cave (under the Old City)

Crusader ruins (thousands of years old)

Playing soccer with local boys right outside the Old City walls