Hello Family!

This week has been interesting. So many amazing things have happened and we’ve gotten to see SO much. Last week, we went on our “South Kingdom/Judah” field trip, which was really amazing. It was actually a pretty short field trip compared to our field trip the week before that lasted the entire day.

We learned about the City of David and saw a wonderful view of Mount Moriah (the site of Solomon’s Temple) and the Kidron valley, and the Hinnom and the Tyropoeon Valley. It was nice to see everything from a distance to get some perspective.

Most of the time, it’s kind of hard to keep track of all the ruins we visit and the names and everything but it’s really awesome.

Ruins of Solomon.

Area G was what they called most of the ruins of Solomon’s temple, or at least the part that we saw.

Greg and me in our awesome 3-D Glasses!

We then saw a pretty hokey film of the history of Solomon’s temple and about what went on in the area.

Excited to enter Hezekiah's Tunnel!

Traveling through Hezekiah's Tunnel.

We tried to see how many people we could fit on a LITTLE stone. I was scared for my life.

After that, we explored Warren’s shaft and Hezekiah’s tunnel, which was SO awesome. We were literally waist deep in water through the entire thing. What an adventure! Took some pictures, and it was really cool to see the type of water system that they had back then (the Gihon water system). It was incredible to learn about the ways they obtained water and how efficient it was for the types of tools they had.

Pool of Siloam.

Right after that, we stepped foot where Jesus performed the miracle of healing the blind man, at the Pool of Siloam. I couldn’t believe it. How amazing that was!

I don’t know if I’ve told you guys yet, but I’ve been taking a temple prep class here. The whole class is full of girls which is kind of funny, but I think it’s because they don’t want all the return missionaries in there giving too many things away or something. It makes sense to me. Anyway, our branch president, President Okiishi is the teacher. He’s awesome. He seems to bring the Spirit so well every single week and it’s really amazing to learn new things about the temple each time. I’m really enjoying it so far.

Also, I forgot to tell you guys that on Valentines Day here at the JC, we all had a Valentine party. It was really fun. Each one of the guys walked into the room with a rose in hand for each of the JC girls. They all said they had to leave all of a sudden and in they walked, each of them with a rose in hand for EACH of the girls here. It was the sweetest thing ever. I love the guys here. For this party we had, there were a bunch of poetry readings (mostly people dedicating them to their valentines that we were assigned earlier that week), and they were all absolutely hilarious. There were a bunch of people that wrote songs and performed skits and stuff. Everything was really funny.

Valentine's Day. All the girls with the roses the guys gave us.

Anyway, that scary man at orientation in Provo the day we left for Jerusalem (that freaked us all out by telling us that we were all going to get robbed and raped and stuff, and that if we didn’t follow the rules we were going to get severely punished and that the classes here were going to kick our butts) actually came and visited the center for about a week. What a scary man! He didn’t really talk to anyone and he didn’t seem too friendly. But, he DID address us at our weekly announcements, and he seemed a little more friendly. Went up a few points in my eyes, but still really intimidated me while he was here visiting. Kind of funny to see him around here at the center.

Victoria Lund and I with some very attractive Israeli soldiers. No biggie.

We paid a visit to "Hell."

Western Wall. Many bar mitzvahs were going on this day. This is when the boy finally gets to read the Torah Scroll.

Separate entrance for men and women to enter the Western Wall area.

About a week ago, there was a group of about 15 of us students that had another one of the students basically take us on a tour around parts of the city. He is SO incredibly intelligent, and he knows a LOT about the Old Testament and about the scriptures in general. He took us to the Wailing Wall and gave us about an hour and a half lecture about the wall and its history. I couldn’t believe how much he knew! I felt really stupid. Haha.

Jonathan Arnell and Sam Carpenter pretending to be exhausted from our walk through the city.

He also took us to the Valley of Hinnon and Tyropoean and showed us a place called Hell. It was interesting. We saw the Mount of Offense, too. That was pretty interesting to learn about also.

Michelle Dietrich, Jill Baker, Marcus Griffith and Kate Thompson being amazing.

This last week, we also had our JC formal talent show. It was amazing how much talent everyone has here, in such a small group of 82 students. Such beautiful singing voices and people who played the violin and the piano and did ballroom dancing and it was just amazing! I loved it. I took videos of a few of them that I will probably post on facebook. Look for that.

For FHE tonight, we all went to the houses of the permanent branch members that had little kids running around. It was a lot of fun. Half of our group went over to the Sowders. What an awesome family. They had two little kids, Joni and Jackson. They were a lot of fun to play with, and they were just a great family. It was nice to spend a couple of hours with them.

The spot at which Christ may have struggled and touched the wall while He was carrying the Cross.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre mosaic.

Yesterday, there was a huge group of us that walked over to the Via Dolorosa and took a walk through the city down the route where Jesus carried the cross. I couldn’t believe that I was walking where Jesus walked. I couldn’t help but imagine what it would have been like to be an onlooker and see someone suffering so much like that and be scoffing at Him. Definitely an interesting experience. It really opened my eyes to how I would think about that point in His life.

Entrance to Garden of Gethsemane.

Garden of Gethsemane.

Today after church, a group of about five of us took about a fifteen minute walk over to the Garden of Gethsemane. The men that were guarding the Garden let us in just because we were Mormons. They LOVE the Mormons. It’s interesting. I couldn’t believe that I visited the spot where the greatest act of mankind was performed. What an amazing thing to be able to go there and feel of that experience and to know that He did that for me. I will never forget that.

This next week, we have midterms and FINALS. In the same week. It’s going to be insane. I am SO not looking forward to studying. I’ve got so much to do, and I’m nervous about trying to prepare for all these crazy hard tests. Hopefully I’ll be okay.

Anyway, hope you all are doing well. I love hearing back from you, no matter how short of a reply it is. It’s great to hear it. Love you all!

Jill

Hey everyone!

This week has been absolutely crazy. I feel really bad for not having written sooner. We've done so much and learned so much. We just got a couple mid-terms out of the way. Applying for jobs, trips to the Old City, and a couple of really cool field trips in between.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial Museum). There were so many things I learned and had no idea about before that museum visit. The museum was absolutely phenomenal. So well structured and planned, and every part of it meant something and symbolized something. It would have taken me months to get through that place trying to read everything. So many artifacts and stories. It was amazing. The worst camp was Auschiwitz (sp?). It was absolutely horrifying to hear all the stories of the people that suffered SO much. How can one group of people just decide that they would totally wipe out a whole ton of people like that?? It really almost made me sick to my stomach just hearing about all the stories and the way they went about everything. The people that put their own lives in danger to hide the Jews really touched me. Their stories were amazing. At the end, I just started bawling when we walked into the Childrens Memorial Museum and there were candles everywhere and the names of each of the children that were killed were being read over a speaker. Some children as young as 3, some as old as 13. It was mortifying. The whole time I was picturing what it would be like to see Kevin or David end up like that (even though they’re 16 and 18), and I could not stop crying. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like without them and for them to just be killed like that. It really made me think. I can’t even imagine. How terrible.

This particular piece represented the Jews, downtrodden on the Death March.

Each of the trees surrounding the museum stood for someone who risked their life to save a Jew.

This one represents Andrzej Kostrz. Poland.

Jews being strong during the Holocaust, despite all of the turmoil.

View of the Holocaust Museum.

Those people were persecuted SO much and went through so much. How did some of them even survive? Another thing that really sticks out in my mind is what the people looked like in the end, when they had a selection of pictures of survivors all laid out. How much they changed physically. Skin and bones after all they went through. And even though they had to undergo all that trauma and experience all that turmoil, some people still got married (sometimes to other individuals that they met right there in the camps), and they still lived out their lives. I was amazed. It really gives me a lot of perspective and makes me think about what I’m grateful for. What an amazing experience.

We also visited Mt. Herzl and took a tour which was led by our Judaism teacher, Mr. Yarden. We visited Ben Gurion’s grave, which was interesting to see. We also listened to some children’s Hebrew music that he had brought.




David and Goliath scene. EPIC.

Having some fun with my sling in the Valley of Elah. The place where it all went down. No biggie.

Lachish. Where they had battle ramps and a very important siege.

Jenni Perkins and I having some fun on the TEL. One of MANY that we would see throughout the trip. Ha.

The olive press.

Anyway, our next field trip consisted of Shephelah/Philistine life. We went to Beth Shemesh where we were shown the lifestyle and homes of ancient peoples. We saw a siege ramp that was built and also saw the remains of the types of houses they had in those days. We also saw the remains of a temple that had an altar for sacrifices. We went to Azekah, the valley of Elah (where David and Goliath had their battle), and the teachers gave us slings (haha) and let us practice with our slings and rocks right there in the valley where they had fought. It was AWESOME. We went to Bet Guvrin, Lachish, and Micah’s cave. They were all awesome. Micah’s cave doesn’t have much significance but it was awesome to explore.

Pretending to be doves in the dovecote.

Pretending to be a dove.

We also explored a “Columbarium cave” which served as a dovecote for raising pigeons for food, for cult purposes, and for manure which was used for fertilizer. That was pretty cool to explore and we took lots of weird pictures. We also saw an olive press and explored another really open cave, and sang a few hymns. It was AMAZING.

Piggyback rides in Tel Aviv.

After they took this picture with that statue, the shopkeeper came out and asked for money for the picture. Haha.

"Mom, can I get this one?"

One of my all-time favorite pictures from the trip.

DaLynn Brown and Dan Jones and me posing in front of the Tel Aviv landscape.

Jill Baker and Jill Wood at the beach.

Abraham and Isaac scene within this statue. Among many other Bible stories.

Look what I found at the market in Tel Aviv! Can I keep it?!

Group shot.

Sam Carpenter...

Danishes. YUM.

Another view of the market.

Man pretending to be Jesus in Tel Aviv. Bit sac-religious.

My roommate Kimberlee Ray.

Kramer even came with us to Tel Aviv!

Jonathan Arnell ("Tall blonde") doing a cool trick that he learned on his mission.

At dinner. Cafe Nimrod. Haha.

Last Sunday (on our free day), there were about 25 of us that took a trip to Tel Aviv, which is about an hour away from Jerusalem. It was so much fun! What a gorgeous place. It kind of reminded me of L.A. plus another European town (even though I’ve never been there) put together. I loved it. We went to the beach and took a lot of pictures. It felt really good to relax and just get to know people more. I got FRESHLY squeezed orange juice (which was indescribably amazing) and had dinner at a really nice place called (yes) Café Nimrod. Marie and I split a huge salad and some lasagna and gelato. It was all SO good.

Yesterday, Marie and two other people and I all went to West Jerusalem (which is kind of the more modern part of town), and I got FRESH juice again which tasted like the best smoothie I’ve ever had in my life. I asked the guy to make me his favorite kind and it was called Tutti Frutti or something like that. Best juice EVER. We also got gelato, which I’m loving more and more every day. It was all really fun. Kind of a short trip and we didn’t do a TON, but we did have to be back to class by 4.

We have church tomorrow! I LOVE having sacrament overlooking the Mount of Olives. Nothing like it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to adjust back to a normal room. Ha jk. Hopefully I can go to Gethsemane again. I’ve only been there once and that was the very first week we were here. It was amazing. Sunday is another free day. Haven’t figured out what to do yet, but hopefully I can go see some more sites. I’m in desperate need.

Anyway, I’m finding out every day here that it’s SO difficult to find a balance between study time and city/touring time and social time. Whenever I go out, I feel guilty for not doing homework and then when I stay here and study I feel guilty for not going out and seeing things. I can do it though... I love this place!

I really hope everything is going well with you guys. My phone card is almost done so I better go run up and get a new one so I can call you guys sometime next week. I talked to grandma for a bit a couple of weeks ago and she was absolutely shocked that I called. It was nice to talk to her. Also, I’m a little confused. I’ve tried calling Todd about 4 times now and he never answers. I wonder if he thinks it’s a solicitor or something. But Todd: please answer your phone if it says unknown or something like that!! I would like to talk to you. It’s been really nice being able to call each of you guys while I’m over here. It’s nice to know that everyone supports me and can live vicariously through me and my pictures and e-mails and everything, and I LOVE talking with each of you and hearing about your weeks. I pray for you all every day.

Love,
Jill