Jericho

Woah it's been a while! Sorry...buckle up for a lot of posts comin one after another!
We will start off with our field trip to Jericho - the oldest and lowest place on earth.
The city was way smaller than I expected, but it's so interesting to see what it really was like.
Neat.

We went up to the monestary of temptation - Supposedly the rock that Christ was tempted on was up there...I didn't have enough time to see it because another huge group was already in the room. It was quite the climb up there!

Here's the view from the balcony of Jericho (to the left a bit) and some caves people lived in in the cliff. ok awesome!

Eric, Eric, Madison, Jill, Katie, Marissa and I on the balcony

On the way back to Jerusalem we stopped at an overlook of the Judean Wilderness... I have no idea how people survived walking through there. I would get so bored! Not to mention there is no food, water, or shade anywhere!
Me and Emma

Check out that sweet camel! Some people were selling things at the overlook and offered a donkey or camel ride. I caved and bought a sweet necklace that apparantly is made out of camel bone! It was a fun trip!

random pictures with little info

Check out that crazy sunset! I was staring at the window at this one night during my Hebrew class. I even put my back toward the window so I wouldn't get distracted...so much for that.

This is Elias, one of the most incredible, happiest and most loving men I've ever met in my life. He is a Holocaust survivor and had such interesting and inspiring stories and things to tell us. Cutest man ever!

On one of our free days a bunch of us went to a park to play ultimate frisbee! I don't even have to explain how excited I was. It was pretty sketchy though because look at the ground...mostly dirt, rocks, and trash everywhere - luckily no one got hurt and it was a lot of fun! Hopefully we do that again - for my sake. haha I may or may not have been called the Pistol Pete of frisbee...just throwin that out there.

One night we (Emma, Gretchen and I) were bored so we tossed a frisbee in the hall. After a while we got the paper recycle bin and basically played frolf! We got a few more people interested and they came and tried too. For sure a good way to pass the time :)

We got to go the Western Wall one Friday night to welcome the Sabbath with the Jewish community. It is so interesting to see how the different Jewish people celebrated this. Some just sat there praying and others sang and danced! We joined in with some and a few of us put prayers into the wall as well - it was such a neat experience.

Uhh...Don't tell...But Emma and I were SO sad we didn't get candy before....so we ran and got some right before we were supposed to go to the bus. Sort of broke a few rules for those Peachy-o's and straws... but it was necessary and absolutely worth it

This is the Dormition Abbey. One of my favorite buildings I've been to so far - SO beautiful!This was inside the building...one of my favorite mosaics because it was unique. And African. haha I don't know - it was so stinkin' beautiful in there!

That is me and Bethlehem in the background - no big deal

Emma me and Marissa

Tomb of Samuel the Prophet

Basically all of the roofs here are NOT even and are like this. I dont know what Emma and I are even doing either... oops

Jill and me - can you believe this thing?

My new family :)

the gardens

Corina and me looking at the city from Orson Hyde Park

The private Garden of Gethsemane that I think they only let us students go intoThis is from the Mount of Olives (I live down the street) looking at some Olive Trees and the Old City as the sun started setting. LOVE IT!
I cannot believe that these beautiful and sacred gardens are just down the street from where I live! Am I the luckiest or what?

i can't believe i just walk around the Old City

This is Marissa Purser and I looking at the view of the Old City. Marissa is also from Murray and is a year above me in school - so we knew of each other and have the same groups of Murray friends...but I didn't really know her that well before. It has been fun to have at least one person I know here!This is the road right as you walk through Damascus gate, the gate we go through most often. This is a HUGE pile of different seasonings/spices with a little Dome of the Rock thing on top - can you believe that!? I've only had this stuff called Zatar on my bread...tasty stuff!

On our first free day (Sunday) we went on the Ramparts Walk, which is where you can walk on top of the wall surrounding the Old City. It really helped me figure out how the city is divided up into the different quarters. It took a while to walk around it all, but it is fascinating to see the city and everything surrounding it from up above.

This was just a hallway outside of the temple mount...neat

I'm sort of obsessed with the Dome of the Rock.
It is GORGEOUS!haha Peace in the middle east!

haha these guys were intense!

In front of the Western WallAnd these beauties were in West Jerusalem - the more modern area. haha Too bad they are both right feet...
I still can't believe that I'm really here! Seriously this is amazing and I am loving every second!

Well here I am...living in the Holy Land!

I left on Jan. 5th for the Holy Land! I was one of the lucky groups that had to meet at the airport around 8 - rather than 4 like some of the others - pshew! Glad I dodged that bullet. Praise you Delta. It's funny because we left later, only had one lay-over in JFK and we actually got into Jerusalem before any other groups! Spoiled? check.

The beautiful building with the arches is where I eat, sleep, go to school, church, fhe, forums - everything! Isn't that gorgeous!? Sorry the picture isn't fantastic...it was taken at night. But really though.

Here is the main entrance. They built the Center to be like temple quality - so true. It feels amazing in there and is gorgeous!

Room 411 - home sweet home.
You walk down hallways with little openings outside to get to each of the rooms.

This is our view of the Old City from our porch :)

The Jerusalem CenterSunset and the view of the Old City from the Center

My roommates Corina and Emma - They are SO great. We get along really well and they are always making me laugh. They are so fun to be with and are way easy to talk to. I'm really excited to get to know them more!

haha no big deal right? Just a street sign where I live. Hebrew, Arabic and English :)
I LOVE it here!

i want to go to there....take 2

I'm pretty sure all of you know already...but...yeah. I am going to live in Jerusalem this Winter/Spring!! I know, I know I just went on a study abroad...but hey, this is the time to do it right? My mind set for the Caribbean was "wait a minute...all of my friends are gone on missions...I want to do something too! This'll show 'em." And I had a blast, learned a lot, and it did change my life in some aspects.
Well...The Caribbean will look like NOTHING compared to the Jerusalem program! Serious....I'm about to change my life. :) It's funny actually because I had to apply for the Jerusalem Program the week after I got home from the Caribbean. I felt so so spoiled and like I probably didn't even deserve to give it a try. But...my justification is that I apply for these things- so it can't make you spoiled if you earn it right? ...ok I kind of sound like a brat. Next?

Alright, so in order to apply I had to fill out a bunch of papers, get ecclesiastical endorsements from my bishop and someone from my stake presidency, get papers signed by a notary, and write a couple of short essays. WOW it was stressful! Mainly because I put it off until it was crunch time - I was working on my paintings and final from my Caribbean study abroad all that week. I am SO lucky I have family and church leaders that were so willing to help me out.
I honestly had the mind set that I wouldn't get in. Lets be honest- so did my mom. haha It's a pretty intense program. So, the plan was to apply for Winter semester...probably not get it, and just keep trying. When I applied I didn't know what my address would be down in Provo, so I just put my home address in my information. I knew I was supposed to find out on a certain day because I would get a letter sent in the mail. So the fateful day was here and I called my mom a few times to see if the mail came... and there was NOTHIN! I won't lie right now- I was pretty upset. Later that day I met up with a bunch of different friends down here from Murray and found out that Marissa Purser (she's a year older than I am) got into the Jerusalem Program! No one but my roommates knew that I had applied- so I just sat there thinking... oh..I didn't get anything in the mail...guess I didn't get it... I was pretty bummed, but WAY excited for Marissa!Well, I should have thought this through before - but because my letter was sent to Murray it took longer. I got a phone call from Rob the next day and he started reading "Dear Lindsay, Congratulations! You have been given initial placement on the 2010 Winter Semester Program at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near easter Studies..."
I honestly couldn't believe it. I kept saying "stop...you're serious right now.. wait really? Don't even joke!" I think I literally went into shock. haha I later got the big white envelope from home that had my acceptance letter and more paperwork I need/ed to fill out along with a handbook. I also had to have an interview, but that was very relaxed and basically they just needed to ask more health related questions, and allowed me to ask questions about the program. I guess I should say that I will be there from Jan. 5 - April 22. I get to be there for EASTER! AH I am just so so excited!
I am studying Old and New Testament, Jewish and Arab and Islamic Civilization, Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Hebrew! Sure, school is going to kick me in the pants...but wow I'm stoked for it!
The only bummer about this whole thing is that i'm leaving again. I'm really sad to leave my roommates and my awesome ward down here. It's sort of a topic that's off limits because it kinda makes us sad that i'm leaving. BUT - Marissa's roommate is another girl from Murray - CC er..Jaclyn Cowley - who is going to take my spot in the apartment! Which is awesome for me, but more importantly, awesome for Christie because they are way good friends.
We're just living right over here.
I'm also sad because Brooke will be coming home from China a week before I leave. It could have been worse world- she almost came home the day before...death. Thank goodness she's the best and is coming home in time to play with me.
Oh and another downer...Right when boys are coming home from missions I leave... Well, they can get out of the weird stage while i'm gone - right? Here's hoping anyway
I obviously don't have to say that I'll miss my family... that goes without saying.
I don't know if you can see if very well, (it's a picture of a picture- sorry) but this picture says "Be virtuous, Be wise, Be ready" I have it on my bedside table and it just gets me so excited to go!
I'm ready....now I just have to work on the other two...