A Dream Come True

Oh Jerusalem. 

If only I could express all that I've learned from being here and what this land has grown to mean to me.

Hope

 Beauty

Love

Joy

Friendship

 Strength

Testimony

I know without a doubt that Jesus is the Christ. 

I'm so incredibly blessed to have walked where He walked. 

This was the trip of a lifetime, but I know that one doesn't have to come all the way to Israel to gain a testimony of Christ. More important than where the Atonement happened, is that it happened. 

He is risen!

Please Pass The Salt

The Dead Sea

Lowest spot on earth

No outlet

Contains no life

6 million tons of water evaporate off the Dead Sea daily

You could read a newspaper while floating!

Israeli and Jordanian industries mine the Dead Sea for such minerals as potash, bromine, gypsum, and salt.

Because of these minerals, the water is basically poisonous. We were warned not to put our heads under the water. If you consume too much of it it has the potential to be fatal.

We covered ourselves with mud... in addition to the fun that comes with getting dirty, it made our skin pretty soft after we washed it off.

It was amazing how concentrated the water was. If you stuck your hand in it for just a few seconds, you'd find a pile of salt deposited on your skin as soon as it dried. I walked around the rest of the field trip looking like I had dandruff because of the salt.

Galilee

 

 Here it is... 

the view from my backyard.

The beautiful Sea of Galilee. 

Good company, beautiful scenery, learning about significant historical events, and gaining a wealth of knowledge.

Galilee will forever hold a special place in my heart.

A Day of Gratitude

We got back from Galilee on Thanksgiving Day right before dinner... little did we know a great surprise awaited us! The service couples and faculty wives went to so much trouble to make our Thanksgiving feast special. The cafeteria was decorated and apparently the cooks had been slaving away for days.

Dr. Chapman offered a prayer of thanks and Sister Chapman read us the story of the first pilgrim Thanksgiving dinner. Although the food was a little different and there was no pumpkin pie, you could tell they went to a lot of effort to make it as American and authentic as possible. It was nice to have a little taste of home and I appreciate the thoughtfulness and preparation that went into making everything so enjoyable. 

I made this to help me reflect on what I'm grateful for and to more fully realize all the blessings I've been given. I'm one lucky girl... there's so much to be thankful for!

Somber Remembrance

 

Yad Veshem Holocaust Museum

"A name and a memorial" 

This site was built to memorialize and remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the dark and tragic period of Hitler's rule. 25% of those killed were children.

Hall of Remembrance
Has the names of 21 Nazi death camps engraved on the floor.
At the center of the Hall is a casket of ashes from the cremation ovens taken from the concentration camps.
The eternal flame signifies that those who perished during the Holocaust will never be forgotten.
When important officials from other nations visit Israel, this is the first place they are usually taken after they land at the airport. They come to pay tribute by laying a wreath on the tomb of the unknown Jew. You could say it's equivalent to the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

At the very end of the museum was a large room filled with pictures, along with rows and rows of binders containing the names of those who perished. Although I'm really grateful that I was able to see the museum, it left my heart really heavy and aching as I thought of the agony that occurred.

The shoes, the photographs, the names in those binders, the concentration camp clothes, and the artifacts I saw all had a human life attached to them. I tried to imagine what horrors those eyes had seen, and what the lives of those precious individuals had been like before the Holocaust.

They were normal people. They had emotions... they had families... they had jobs... they were human. 
They didn't deserve this.

Mount Herzl
The tomb of Herzl, the leader of the Zionist movement, was brought to Jerusalem as a shrine for secular Jews to worship.

 

It was a windy and cold day... this is what we looked like most of the time as Ophir lectured us. Huddling together to keep warm=precious bonding   :)

 

Mount Herzl was beautiful with all the greenery, but I spotted this lone little tree with yellow leaves and it made me so happy! It's the only tree I've seen in Jerusalem that's had its leaves change color.

Hurrah for a little piece of fall!