Staff and Forum Speakers.

Sister Chadwick! We love her spunk and her sass! She hung out with us at Hebrew University once. 

Elias Feinzelberg. 90 year-old Holocaust survivor that came to speak to us. His story was inspiring. He is such a little jokester and sweet heart. He sent flowers to all of the women staff members.

My Hebrew Teacher Mrs Goldman. She is such a dedicated woman. She and I were good friends. We just finished our classes from her. Because of her, we can now recognize and sound out all of the Hebrew block and script letters and know about 30 expressions.

Mr. Ophir Yarden. Judaism teacher. Very nice accommodating man. We grew to love him and his family as we learned the history of Judaism, went to one of their synagogue sermons, had a passover meal with him, and went to Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum).

Seder Passover dinner. We loved it! Mr. Yarden's children. 

All of my wonderful professors! Professor Chadwick, Dr. Whitchurch, Dr. Muhlestein, and Dr. Allred. I loved them so much. They gave me so many insights and deeper understandings to the scriptures, for which I will be forever grateful. 

Olive Picking

The BYU Jerusalem Center has a lot of olive trees on its grounds solely to give all of us the experience of what it was like to press olives in Biblical times. The pictures follow the process of picking, smashing, and pressing the olives. It was so much fun and smelt so strong. Olives pomegranates, figs, honey, barely, and wheat were included main products from Jerusalem. 

City of David and Hezekiah's Tunnel

This field trip helped me understand the context of David and Solomon's reigns. And one of the more fun ones. David started reigning around 1000 BC and started Iron Age II B.

Our 3D presentation before the tour. . .

Dr. Whitchurch. He is our teacher and our District President. 

The base of the water towers that covered the Gihon spring. 

Inside Hezekiah's Tunnel! King Hezekiah built this during 715-701 BC to protect the water source from enemies like the Assyrians. Hezekiah was a very righteous king who fortified Jerusalem. He also sought the Lord through Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied that the Assyrians would attack, but the Lord would save Jerusalem. They came to attack, and an angel from God killed more than 100,000 Assyrians and the city was saved.  

This is me in the Tunnel. It runs underneath the city and is about a 20 minute walk. The water goes up to your thighs sometimes.

The tunnel probably emptied out into the Siloam Springs. 

Field trip to the city of David! It's located south of Jerusalem and is under where the temple used to be. Walked through the water system of Hezekiah's Tunnel (got wet up to our THIGHS) and ended at the Pool of Siloam which is where the blind man is healed because he follows Christ's instructions to go and wash. What I didn't know was how long this man's journey was to the pool! It's a good 30 mi...nute walk from the city of Jerusalem. Can you imagine a blind man feeling his way down the rocky terrain to the pool!? What faith! Sometimes we are asked to do hard tasks like that during our lives, but I know that as we follow Christ's instructions with faith, we can be assured that He keeps His promises at the end, and we can be healed with The Living Water. What can you learn from the blind man's faith? John 9:1-25. 

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-heals-a-man-born-blind?lang=eng

Neot Kedumim (Bible Girl's camp)

We got to herd sheep! We had this cute Hebrew tour guide named Sarah who took us around. We herded them and had to talk to them from behind. It helped us realize what the shepards of Christ's time had to deal with. Sarah emphasized the fact that if you tried to herd them from the front, you would just scare the sheep. You must lead from behind. We talked about modern day leaders and how the best ones lead from behind too. They're not in the front looking for their own interests. They are leading from the back!

Wells that were used during that time. 

This tree is the type of tree that the crown of thorns was made out of. .. but I can't remember the name of the tree. #embarrassing. . .

A Torah scribe! He has to be so careful not to make mistakes. Every thing that you see in this picture is made from kosher objects. 

Sarah!

We also made Pita! And Red lentil soup, like what the "pottage" was with Jacob and Esau. We also got to smash hyssop! So yummy. Pottage recipe: Fry onions, red lentils, fill with water. Cummin, paprika, salt pepper (and maybe oregano). 

Eilat!

RED SEA

This pic was taken looking outside the bus window, as we drove the 3.5 hours it took to get to the Red Sea from Jerusalem. This is very similar to the route that Nephi and Lehi took as they left Jerusalem to travel to the Promised Land. I assume it looked somewhat like this!

 SNORKELING. So fun. The water was perfect temperature. This was part of our committee's job to plan, and no staff came. WATER WAS SO SALTY. 

Clayton's Baklava wave

DAVID SLAYS GOLIAH

This was a cool field trip day! We were able to visit the Shephelah Valleys. These places included many events in the Bible, from the Exodus, the Israelite conquest, Philistines arriving by sea, Samson, Saul's reign, David and Goliah, Solomon's reign, Assyrian attack on Lachish, and Babylonian attack at Lachish. In this pic, we were at Lachish and the other class room was at Azekah (probably a 20-30 minute drive), and we flashed the mirrors back and forth and could see their signals! (This what they did during Biblical times with fires to warn each other of enemies). 

Some cool bell caves at Mareshah. 

This was also at Mareshah. It is an olive press that is found underground

Elah VALLEY! This is where the famous David and Goliath story took place. This is the brook where David took five stones and used his sling to PONE Goliath on the first throw. We got to try out our own slings and had WAY too much fun. 

View from Azekah

Bethshemesh and Sorek Valley! This is near where Samson grew up. There was an excavation in Galilee recently in which a 6th century synagogue full of murals of Samson was found

Today, know know what clicked for me? ISAIAH. It was such a cool enlightening moment. 2 Ne 20:27. I finally understand all of these stories and who attacked who! They aren't just words on a page anymore, they are prophesies that were fulfilled whose lands I have visited. I understand the Babylonian Attack in 586 at Lachish (and soon after Jerusalem was destroyed, which Nephi talks about), and the Assyerian attack in 701. Scriptures are coming to life! I am also learning a lot more about the arc of the covenant. Places that we visited here were really close to the route that the arc of the covenant took went the Philistines took it. Because of their disobedience, it started plaguing them. They tried to get rid of it. A little miracle is found in this story, a miracle that shows that God wants us to see His hand in our lives. They put the arc behind two cows to send it away. These cows had babies, and should have wanted to stay and milk their children, but the Lord led the cows away and directed them toward the Israelite city of Beth Shemesh to get the arc safely home. Quel petit miracle.