The Star that Launched a Thousand Faces
Double Fieldtrip!! Boudle Freldtip!! Now that school is mostly dead we have so much more time to trip the FIELDS but first:
Sunday!
the CHILLEST free day ever. I was wondering to myself what I'd done and couldn't come up with anything until I checked my journal and remembered that I did nothing. I came down with a cold last sabbath and figured it would be smarter to take a sick day than go hard. So I stayed in and worked on my NaNoWriMo novel hahahahaha. because what is homework?????
Monday: What's this?
the only place that's allowed to have christmas lights up year round is, you got it, Bethlehem. We had our second venture into the West Bank to see all the ancient Christian churches!
We first made a stop to the Herodion, Herod's bomb shelter castle. When Masada is just too far. I think I talked about the Herodion (I just checked and the answer is no) but Herod saw a hill and was like, not big enough and stole a bunch of dirt from another mountain just to make a bigger mountain to build his house on.
once upon a time it might have been cool to live there, but now??? just dirt
Also I'm posting this here too because I just want someone to get my stupid joke. We were looking at some of the cisterns under the castle and I saw this staircase and only had one thought:
We then went into Bethlehem proper and visited the church of the Nativity which is the oldest still functioning church in the world!!! It's currently under a lot of renovations though. It was built in the 4th century though by Constantine's mom!
We also got to see the 14 pointed star that started the Crimean War
We looked at the church next door to it after which is the Catholic church (church of the nativity is orthodox) and after that we went to the Milk Grotto which sorry I really really don't want to be disrespectful but literally anytime I hear, say or think "milk grotto" I think of that episode of MBMBAM where they talk about shower milk.
After we looked at the churches we got free time and a group of us wandered up to the Lutheran church in Bethlehem and had a wonderful conversation with a woman that works there who let us into the chapel. It was so neat to get to know her and a little bit more about what life is like for her in Bethlehem
At the end of the day we went out to some fields and had an amazing devotional. It was a testimony meeting with a few songs (I sang "I wonder as I wander" accompanied by guitar). It was so amazing because we knew we were pressed for time so everyone who got up and shared their testimony did just that and only that, their testimony. How nice would it be if every fast and testimony meeting could be like that. I left Bethlehem feeling very spiritually fed.
Tuesday!
not very exciting, I felt so wrecked after bethlehem from being sick that I took it easy, also we had a test the next day and I needed to study for that obvi
Wednesday:
THE BEST THINGS. We had our informal talent show. It was so much fun. Every act was seriously so good!!! I think it helps that I like everyone here pretty much so when I hear they are going I'm excited to see them even if I don't have high expectations for their performance. That being said, there were for real some great, GREAT performances.
I sang Prima Donna from Phantom of the Opera with a little JC twist at the beginning. Here is a video I didn't upload it to youtube but it's on my google drive for now. Someday when I get back to America that might change but here it is for now. A lot of the skit is very JC specific humor so sorry if you feel a little lost.
Thursday:
Christian Quarter Fieldtrip! We saw lots of churches and I had an insane idea to do a musical tour of my fave churches hahahah and I think we're really going to do it :0000 Our first stop was the church of St. Savior which is GORGEOUS. It's kind of the hq of the catholic church in the holy land.
We also got to see a door from back when the church was also a pilgrim's hostel where pilgrims would carve their names. What is extra cool about it is there may or may not be a carving from Orson Hyde when he visited to dedicate the holy land (we don't know since it only says Hyde)
We went to Church of the Holy Sepulchre after that and for the first time in anyone's entire life it was actually pretty chill there??? We were able to go into the Edicule without having to wait seven hours.
After that we went to the Alexander Nevsky church which is sort of the Russian Orthodox Holy Sepulchre. The art there was beautiful and I want a print of all of it
After that we went to Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and saw some cool excavations underneath and a neat little cloister!
We also went to the Church of St. Mark which is Syriac Orthodox and had a very interesting lecture from a nun there. She was such a character but I loved it. They have an icon that they claim was painted by St. Luke
Friday
A relatively mellow day for those of us at the JC, however not so for the rest of Jeru. As many of you might have heard there was a particularly deadly attack in the Old City at Lion's gate that then led to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound/Temple Mount. Five people were killed as a result. This is really sad, but attacks like these (while not usually to this level of severity/death toll) happen with unfortunate regularity.
I'm only getting into this because The Deseret News published an article that to me was incredibly fear-mongering, sensationalist and inaccurate. I won't link to the article because I don't support that kind of journalism, but it took this tragic event and twisted it into something Mormon-centric by framing it in the context that we here at the center were safe in spite of the attack. Yes, we were safe, and I'm very grateful for that, but what happened isn't about us and frankly? Shame on the Deseret News for not being able to see outside such a narrow lens.
The rest of Friday was very good. We worked on our service project making school kits and alter that night I had the opportunity to attend an orthodox synagogue for Friday night services welcoming in the Sabbath. It was such a great experience. I wish I........ understood Hebrew, but I still enjoyed the experience a lot.
Sabbath
Today! Church was wonderful. We had a million GAs visiting because July is their month off but I also got to see my cousins (who I refer as Aunt and Uncle because the generations in my family are weird) Rick and Pam! It was so neat to see them and catch up!
It has been a great day today full of song and the spirit. To pump all of you guys up, here's a snapchat I sent to my sister that is possibly the best snapchat I've ever made. I show to you all now so that in your hour of greatest need you can look at it and find the strength to go on:
coming up next week (..or whenever I get the chance to post next): Galilee!!!
Sunday!
the CHILLEST free day ever. I was wondering to myself what I'd done and couldn't come up with anything until I checked my journal and remembered that I did nothing. I came down with a cold last sabbath and figured it would be smarter to take a sick day than go hard. So I stayed in and worked on my NaNoWriMo novel hahahahaha. because what is homework?????
Monday: What's this?
 |
| got this photo from sportsalcohol.com thanks google image search |
the only place that's allowed to have christmas lights up year round is, you got it, Bethlehem. We had our second venture into the West Bank to see all the ancient Christian churches!
We first made a stop to the Herodion, Herod's bomb shelter castle. When Masada is just too far. I think I talked about the Herodion (I just checked and the answer is no) but Herod saw a hill and was like, not big enough and stole a bunch of dirt from another mountain just to make a bigger mountain to build his house on.
 |
| photo not by me |
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| nice view tho |
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| some great rocks |
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| me with some great rocks |
 |
| when you hit smooth preview but you forgot to add edgeloops (someone, ANYONE PLEASE understand me) |
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| these floor mosaics are from the FOURTH CENTURY!!!! |
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| clearly I am stoked and not in any way dying of the one day plague |
After we looked at the churches we got free time and a group of us wandered up to the Lutheran church in Bethlehem and had a wonderful conversation with a woman that works there who let us into the chapel. It was so neat to get to know her and a little bit more about what life is like for her in Bethlehem
 |
| I don't 100% remember but I'm pretty sure the arabic says "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace goodwill to men" from Luke 2 |
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| you can't see in this pic but a lot of the stained glass had people in traditional bible clothes but for some reason wearing those german hats |
Tuesday!
not very exciting, I felt so wrecked after bethlehem from being sick that I took it easy, also we had a test the next day and I needed to study for that obvi
Wednesday:
THE BEST THINGS. We had our informal talent show. It was so much fun. Every act was seriously so good!!! I think it helps that I like everyone here pretty much so when I hear they are going I'm excited to see them even if I don't have high expectations for their performance. That being said, there were for real some great, GREAT performances.
I sang Prima Donna from Phantom of the Opera with a little JC twist at the beginning. Here is a video I didn't upload it to youtube but it's on my google drive for now. Someday when I get back to America that might change but here it is for now. A lot of the skit is very JC specific humor so sorry if you feel a little lost.
Thursday:
Christian Quarter Fieldtrip! We saw lots of churches and I had an insane idea to do a musical tour of my fave churches hahahah and I think we're really going to do it :0000 Our first stop was the church of St. Savior which is GORGEOUS. It's kind of the hq of the catholic church in the holy land.
We went to Church of the Holy Sepulchre after that and for the first time in anyone's entire life it was actually pretty chill there??? We were able to go into the Edicule without having to wait seven hours.
After that we went to the Alexander Nevsky church which is sort of the Russian Orthodox Holy Sepulchre. The art there was beautiful and I want a print of all of it
After that we went to Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and saw some cool excavations underneath and a neat little cloister!
 |
| this is the cloister |
Friday
A relatively mellow day for those of us at the JC, however not so for the rest of Jeru. As many of you might have heard there was a particularly deadly attack in the Old City at Lion's gate that then led to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound/Temple Mount. Five people were killed as a result. This is really sad, but attacks like these (while not usually to this level of severity/death toll) happen with unfortunate regularity.
I'm only getting into this because The Deseret News published an article that to me was incredibly fear-mongering, sensationalist and inaccurate. I won't link to the article because I don't support that kind of journalism, but it took this tragic event and twisted it into something Mormon-centric by framing it in the context that we here at the center were safe in spite of the attack. Yes, we were safe, and I'm very grateful for that, but what happened isn't about us and frankly? Shame on the Deseret News for not being able to see outside such a narrow lens.
The rest of Friday was very good. We worked on our service project making school kits and alter that night I had the opportunity to attend an orthodox synagogue for Friday night services welcoming in the Sabbath. It was such a great experience. I wish I........ understood Hebrew, but I still enjoyed the experience a lot.
Sabbath
Today! Church was wonderful. We had a million GAs visiting because July is their month off but I also got to see my cousins (who I refer as Aunt and Uncle because the generations in my family are weird) Rick and Pam! It was so neat to see them and catch up!
It has been a great day today full of song and the spirit. To pump all of you guys up, here's a snapchat I sent to my sister that is possibly the best snapchat I've ever made. I show to you all now so that in your hour of greatest need you can look at it and find the strength to go on:
coming up next week (..or whenever I get the chance to post next): Galilee!!!
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