Our First Sabbath

Interesting enough, the Sabbath here in Jerusalem is on Saturdays. Today we had church from 10-1 and it was amazing. We first had sacrament meeting and heard some great talks on the spirit and reading the scriptures. Afterwards we went to Gospel Doctrine where we were taught by a student who is studying at Hebrew University. We were all surprised to find out that there are quite a few more members in our branch here besides the students on our study abroad trip. Last of all, we had Relief Society. Our Relief Society president is named Sister Sahar. She is an amazing lady and her conversion story is amazing. She is a local Palestinian lady who went to BYU and has a great background.
After church, we had free time. On Saturdays, they don't serve lunch so we were all pretty starving. Next week we will all have to stock up on snacks to make it through the afternoon. However, the Relief Society presidency came around and visited each of the girls room. It was nice to meet all of them.
Around 5pm we headed to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was amazing to see. We got there around closing time so it was a pretty quick trip but enjoyable too. We were able to go around the Garden, inside the gate. It was kind of funny. The people who work there know that we are the Mormons. So as we entered the site, they all said, "Mormons, Welcome!" It is great how high of a reputation us and our University here has. On our way back we stopped at the supposed burial site of Mary... It was pretty interesting. Today was another great day to add to this trip. I still can't believe I'm here and I'm falling more and more in love with this city each day.

Garden of Gethsemane with roommate Kimberly!  

Garden of Gethsemane

 :)

It Finally Arrived...

My luggage came... Enough said. I'm soo glad! Unfortunately my clothes were soaking wet and kinda smelled weird so luckily they made an exception for us five who lost our luggage to use the staff laundry room to wash and dry our clothes. Seriously, I feel soo much better knowing that my stuff is finally here.

Day 1

After an exhausting day of travel, today was amazing! After having a good breakfast we all headed to the forum for an assembly reviewing our orientation and listening to information about security and housing. Let me tell you, the leaders here are amazing! My parents know the couple who are in charge of the hosting committee, which I was placed on. So I am excited to work with them and It's always nice to know a few people while traveling outside of the country.
After the orientation meeting we were split up into smaller groups and so began our tour of East and West Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a beautiful city. It's very hilly and the architecture of the buildings is gorgeous. The culture here is very unique. Everyone is very modest and pretty friendly. I am excited to get a better feel of the city as we have more field trips and free time to explore.
Funny story... so as we are heading down the Kidron Valley, there were a bunch of crow looking birds flying around in the sky.  I noticed my arm got warm and looked down and, of course with my luck so far, a bird pooped on me. Awesome, right?

Nasty bird poop... not to mention it was on my roomate's 

shirt I was borrowing because of my missing luggage! 

Freaking out! 

Anyways we went around the old city and visited a few of the gates like Herod's Gate and Damascus Gate. We entered Damascus gate and went through all of these markets. It was so fun to see the difference in culture from the United States and of course to look at all of the artifacts and different things they sell there. We also got to visit an Austrian hospice that had a view of the entire city on top. It was gorgeous. We also went into the Church of the Holy Seplecture.  After touring around in East Jerusalem we headed to West Jerusalem. West Jerusalem is a lot more modern. We did a little shopping and got some Gelato. Jerusalem is gorgeous and I can't wait to get to know the city a little bit more!

Mmmm... Gelato! Our first purchase in Jerusalem! 

It was a great first day.

View from the Jerusalem Center

The Best of Luck

We finally arrived in Tel Aviv after a long day or so of traveling. My day of traveling was a quite the adventure. There were several travel groups and mine was a small group of 5. Our itenerary was Salt Lake to Denver to D.C. to Austria and finally to Tel Aviv. Two of my fears are losing my bags in a foreign country and missing a flight and both of these almost happened. Our Denver flight was quick and snappy. It was only about and hour and everything went smoothly, making it on time to the next flight. When we were about to land at the Dulles airport they told us the airport was too congested and we had to fly around for almost an hour, making us land a little over 20 mintues from our next flight's departure time. We hauled it once we landed, knowing we still had to take a tram over to Concourse B. Of course, when we arrived to the tram it said it wasn't going to depart for another 8 or 9 minutes. This made us all a little scared. Thank goodness it was only 5 of us or otherwise it would have been quite hectic. After the tram dropped us off we ran all the way down from A1 to B37. Fortunately they held the flight for us since a few other groups were on the same flight headed to Vienna, Austria. Then, of course, our flight got delayed for 2 hours because of thunder storm... Better safe than sorry, I guess. It was crazy and we were all sweaty from running through the airport but luckily we made it. So one of my number one travel fears almost happened.
When we arrived in Vienna they stamped our passports and we headed to baggage claim. All 5 of us in the Denver travel group waited and waited for our bags to come but they didn't show up. Long story short, my other fear of losing my bags in a foreign country was a success. We filed for missing luggage and made it through customs. It was a crazy day or more of traveling but we made if safely to Jerusalem. It was an awesome feeling driving over the hills of Judea and into the Old City and finally getting to see the Jerusalem Center, our home for the next 4 months. I can't wait for the amazing experience that has begun.

At the Vienna, Austria airport. 

View from apartment window- Dome of the Rock.

3 Days in Counting

Well folks, it's that time. In 3 days I'll officially be on a plane to Jerusalem for a study abroad through my school, Brigham Young University. I've been counting down the days for weeks and I can't believe it's already here. Packing has been just a joy. Let me tell ya, having a 50 pound limit while trying to pack for 4 months worth of traveling is pretty tough. It'll all be worth it though. What an experience it will be to walk where our Savior walked and to study his ministry, along with studying the Middle East! I can't wait. I won't have a phone or anything and probably won't be on Facebook much so this will be my journal/ blog for the next few months so be sure to follow along!

Here will be my home for the next 4 months...

Oh, and Happy Easter! Let us all be thankful that HE IS RISEN!  

"Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so." - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland