26 Days And Counting!

With only 26 days left until Josh gets here time is flying by! We now have been here for almost two months and find ourselves with only a month to go. Time has gone by very fast and we have been kept super busy with school and field studies.

Last weekend we had our four day field study in Galilee. It was an awesome time to head back and revisit some old sites and also go and explore some new ones. A lot of what we have been learning has been dealing with the old testament but on this trip we had a chance to focus on a little more of the New Testament. We covered a lot of ground all the way from Caesarea on the coast up to Mt. Hermon and next to the border of Syria. We learned a lot about Jesus and his ministry and the districts in which he worked and had his ministry.



After getting home Tuesday night from the field study in Galilee the next morning Mark, Chris, and I headed out to go backpacking on Mt. Carmel. We arrived in Haifa a little late and as a result climbed Mt. Carmel as the sun was setting and somewhat in the Dark. We made camp that night and were awakened by a great view of the Mt. Carmel range. That day was filled with hiking around the hills and trudging through deep thickets to get out towards the coast. We eventually got out and then made our way towards the beach to spend the night on the sands of the Mediterranean. We witnessed an awesome sunset, had a bonfire, and then climbed into bed. The stay on the beach was little sketchy. I looked it up online and found that it was a good place to stay but still we were a little nervous.



That night we had to wait awhile to set up camp because a man was hanging around where we were going to sleep and it made us a little nervous. The man finally went away so we decided to stay. That night we were woken up at 2:30 am by some lights from another tent which was down the beach from us. We all settled back in and I heard someone walk right next to our tent. We looked out to make sure we were safe and we discovered a man dressed in black peeking into the other tent. He ran away once but then circled around our tent and went back. It was a little creepy because he would look inside the windows of the tent and sit and watch the people inside. About 10 minutes later he made a sound and the people heard him, he ran away, so Chris and I went down and talked to the other people in the tent to make sure they knew about the creeper. Needless to say the man never came back and we headed back to bed. It was an awesome trip, not only were we backpacking which I love, but we were doing it in Israel, on Mt. Carmel where Elijah was! Pretty sweet!



The remaining weeks are packed with events every week. We are hopefully planning another backpacking trip, then traveling to Jordan, followed by passover, then Josh comes, Then finals, finally our trip to Egypt, and then lastly Germany and home! The next two months will be exciting, filled with learning and I am sure will fly by!

Walking Where Jesus Walked!

This morning Mark, and I along with 3 other guys got up early and headed to the temple mount. In Jerusalem there are two main areas of the temple: the wailing wall and the temple mount. The temple mount was where the temple used to stand and is only open from 7:30 - 8:30 am and 12:30 - 1:30 so we had to get there early to beat all the groups.

It was amazing! To actually be on the spot where the temple used to stand and Jesus used to preach was an incredible feeling. After walking through security and once we walked through the long corridor leading up to the gate we were opened to a very large open area where the court of the gentiles and the colonnaded walkway used to be. We walked all around and up to the dome of the rock and even though it is Muslim it is quite extraordinary.

Up until a couple years ago no one besides Muslims were allowed up on the temple mount but they recently opened it back up. Today people are allowed up there but only Muslims are allowed in the dome of the rock.

As I was walking around the dome of the rock I really wanted to see inside but all the doors were closed, so i went up and would try to peak through the cracks and get a look, I could only see a little though. After walking all the way around I saw two open doors where Muslims could enter in and I started walking towards to get a better look inside but a man standing there yelled at me and told me to go! Figuring I probably should do what he says because I didn't really know what was going on I walked away and about 10 minutes later as we were about to leave the other 3 guys were watching this guy and they saw him walk away. They quickly walked over towards the two doors and one of our guys ducked a step into the doorway and got a look inside. The man quickly came back and yelled at him but it was worth it! As we were leaving he explained to us what he had seen inside and gave us a description into something most people never get to see.

The experience was awesome! To actually have walked up on the temple mount is something that most people can't say they have done. It now becomes one of the things on the list to do when Josh comes in April!!!




Tonight I was able to Skype with Amy and I got the privileged to see Drew and Matthew. I miss hanging out with the boys and am loving how they are looking so much bigger! I was also very happy to see pictures of Josh and Jen's new baby, Asher! Who looks identical to Jay when he was a baby. Seeing the family and the nephews is a good taste of home and makes me excited to head back in May, but also encourages me to make the most of this opportunity!

A busy week!

This past weekend was filled with field studies and Homework.
On Friday Mark, Chris, and I had to the chance to go to the Israel Museum and the Bible lands museum and get a glimpse of a very cool model of Jerusalem during the time of Christ as well as see some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was awesome to get a better lay of the city which Jesus would have actually walked through!

Here is the model of Jerusalem in the time of Christ



























On Saturday our 2nd Temple Class went on a field study to two of Herod's fortresses in the desert. One was called Hyrcanus and is a huge mountain out in the desert. After that we headed to another fortress called Cyprus which is directly above Jericho, the air was clear and gave us an amazing view of the city and off into the hills of Moab. Because we had some extra time Dr. Write took us to a monastery called St. George Monastery. It was a sweet place built write into the cliff. It commemorates where Elijah was fed by Ravens and was cool to see even though it probably didn't happen here.

Standing of top of Hyrcanus, one of Herod's many palaces














Dr. Wright teaching us on top Cyprus another of Herod's fortresses right next to Jericho













On Sunday all of us spent our time writing several papers that were due for our midterms this coming week. This coming week we have three field studies. One today where we traveled to a synagogue and learned all about how a service works, one on Friday night where we will get to have shabbat dinner at a synagogue and then Saturday through Tuesday we have a four day field study in the Galilee. It should be a pretty sweet week!

Here are some pictures from the Negev field study

Me in front of the En Gedi falls


















Our group walking through the Wadi Zin



















Our group layering ourselves with mud from the Dead Sea!














Looking up from the bottom tier of Masadda

An Exciting week!

This past week has been filled with a lot of exciting stuff.


To start off march 6-7 Chris and I headed off into the Jerusalem Forest for a 20 mile hike to Bet Shemesh and back. We got there late because we missed the first train but nonetheless we were able to hike for 4 hours that night in the dark because the moon was so bright! It was one of the coolest things I have ever done! We hiked up a mountain top and tied up our hammocks made a fire and went to sleep. The next morning we were up to see an amazing sunrise and then finished the hike by 12 in the afternoon. It was an amazing backpacking trip. Who can say they have hiked through the Sorek Wadi half the width of Israel into Jerusalem! It actually got a little scary at times like when a wild boar ran out in front of us and scared us half to death but it was awesome!


The Next day we headed out for a three day field study in the Negev. It was an amazing couple of days of learning and exploring. Here are a list of some of the places that we went: Bet Shemesh, Azekah, Lachish, Ashkelon, Ber Sheva, Arad, Wadi Zin, Masada, En Gedi, Dead Sea, and Qumran.

I had been to several of these places before but it was awesome to learn the geography of them as well as visit some new places. We got to swim or really just float in the Dead Sea and cliff jump at En Gedi. It was great to go and explore many of these places in a deeper way and prepare for when Josh comes to give him the tour of Israel! I can't wait!

I continue to be amazed by how much information there is to learn about this land and about the Bible. The more information I learn to more I understand that it goes deeper and deeper beyond what I imagined before. I have grown a deeper desire to tell people what I have learned so that they can grow in their knowledge of the Bible and deepen their relationship with our Savior. What a blessing to be here!

This coming weekend we only have a field study on Saturday so we have a couple days off to take it easy and get things done. I look forward to hanging out in Jerusalem, heading to work at a sifting project by the temple mount, and having a Shabbat Shalom!

I could only put up a couple pictures right now because of the internet Ill try and remember to post some more when we have a better connection.

Weekend in Review

After getting back from our camping trip we awoke to the power being out. Because of this and it being Shabbat we took the day pretty easy taking naps and watching movies on our laptops.

Sunday we had our Samaria field study. For this field study we had to chance to go see Shechem, Shiloh, Mt Gerazin, and the Samaritan village. Even with it raining the whole day it was an awesome day of learning. None of us had ever traveled to these places when we were here before so it was a great experience. We also had to privilege to go to the settlement on top of Mount Gerazin where the Samaritans still live to this day. We got to meet real Samaritans and we even got to talk to a priest about their beliefs. We also got invited back to go see their passover service where they actually sacrifice a lamb for each family!

I had a great birthday traveling around Israel. There was another girl here who had the same birthday so we even go made some deserts for everyone while we were on the field study. That night some of us went out for ice cream and also celebrated Chris's birthday and Krystal's!

Today another week of classes has started and this coming week Mark, Chris, and I are taking another camping trip to the Jerusalem forest by the recommendation of Dr. Wright and then on Saturday we head out for a three day field study in the Negev where we are suppose to get some weather around the 80s!

Camping in Nahariyya

This weekend we had the opportunity to go camping with several people from our college.


Before we left we checked the weather and we found out that there was a forecast for rain for the whole weekend, but since this was one of our only free three day periods we decided to go anyways.

We planned out trip to be one with a couple people but it soon grew to a pretty good sized group. We traveled to the northern most city in Israel on the coast called Nahariyya. It is a popular vacation spot for the summer months and even though it is still winter here we thought we would head down to the coast maybe catch some good weather and camp out on the beach within the property of a hostile we found online.

We left on Thursday at about 3:00 and we already delayed by the many trains and buses that we had to take to get us to our destination. By the time we reached Nahariyya we were already couple hours behind our planned arrival time but nonetheless the town was bustling and it was a lot of fun to walk around the small city and also along the beach.

At about 9 pm we figured we should start heading to our camping spot and set up our tents, which JUC thankfully provided for us, in case it started raining. We decided that we would walk along the beach and try to find a place to camp. After about 15 minutes we decided that the places we were wouldn't be too safe to stay since they were very close to the city so we decided to try and find the hostile. This was easier said than done. We had to walk up the coast three miles and find it in the dark. To make a long story short after walking two and a half hours we finally through talking to several people found the campground but unfortunately it was closed so we headed back to the beach. We found a safe spot within about 20 meters of the Mediterranean and set up the tents. We dug troughs around our tents to help hold the rain out and went to bed.

At about 6 am we were awaken to the crack of thunder and the flash of lightning. This went on for awhile and was a little bit scary since we were so close to the beach and the storm was right on top of us. It stopped after about half and hour but unfortunately I got soaked from rain getting into the tent. we went back to sleep and at about 9 am the real storm started. The wind picked up almost instantaneously. Our tent started to be blown in and I had to stand and hold it back and one time it even threw me to the ground. We quickly took down our tents and walked in the pouring rain about half a mile to a apartment building where we decided to take a bus and head back into town to get a hotel. By this time everything we had was completely soaked!

Once we got back into town we decided that we would head back to Jerusalem because we were completely soaked and Shabbat was approaching and there was nothing to do within a rainy town of Nahariyya when everything shuts down. Thankfully even though the buses had already shut down we were able to get Sheruts back to Jerusalem and even made it back for Shabbat dinner

Overall the trip was a blast and totally worth it! As I told Mark as we were walking in the pouring rain, "This really stinks now but once it is over this will make for a great story!" It was amazing to camp right next to the Mediterranean on the beach. We learned that when they say it is going to rain in Israel it is going to RAIN! You can expect thunder and lightning and cold weather to come with it. I wish I had time tell the full story of all that we did and experienced on the trip but it would take too long now so Ill have to tell you when I get home!

Once again our internet is super slow so i will put up some pictures when it gets a little faster.