"...To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim."

I have returned. I have eaten my burger, drunk my root beer, stared wide-eyed at the overwhelming green of New Hampshire, and marvelled at the speed of fully functional wifi. 

I'll leave the explanation of my last few days in Israel to the photos, but I'll try to articulate what I have learned and how I have changed on this study abroad. I'll try to minimize the cheesiness as much as I can. 

A few things I have learned: 

1. The world would end if I ever lost my camera, external hard drive, or journal. 
2. It is more than possible to have best friends who are 6 years older than I am.
3. Arabic products are cheaper than Israeli products. Every time. 
4. Teachers need friends too. 
5. A Shakshukalawach is the best thing I ever have and probably ever will eat. 
6. Dr. David Rolph Seely has excellent taste in absolutely everything - books, cars, music, people, etc. 
7. The views from the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are worth saving until the last day. 
8. There is something to learn and appreciate about absolutely everyone.
9. My passion for learning can and should be applied to my faith.
10. Sometimes, the times when I feel closest to God are when I am trying to expand my intellect and apply what I learn in class and on field trips.


I have changed how I approach my academics. I have changed how I view the media. I have changed how I orient myself in an unfamiliar place. I have changed how I study the scriptures. I have changed how I pray. I have changed how I view the blessings I have enjoyed my entire life and continue to be blessed with. I have changed how I view my family. I have changed. Don't get me wrong, I'm still the car loving, classic rock grooving, long legged girl that left for an adventure 4 months ago. But I have changed. I think that all of us on this program have changed. And I think that that change is a positive one - a milestone in our lifelong journeys of progression and evolution. 

Jerusalem has become a sacred place to me. This is where I have felt the spirit so strongly so many times. This is where I have been edified. This is where I have strengthened relationships that I have learned so much from. This is where my gratitude for Christ has become most tangible and easily verbalized. This is where I have worked to expand my intellect, increase my spiritual sensitivity, and social receptivity to people I have really come to love. 

"He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt..." {John 1:39}

My heart echoes the words of Jeffrey R. Holland as he stood in our beloved auditorium: "You do not need to come the the Holy Land to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. But it ought to count for something." 

I hope that I continue to make my experiences count for something for the rest of my life. 

West Jerusalem

Hallelujah from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Attended Sunday morning mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Found the EXACT corner that Michael Jackson's bum sat at Masada - a cliffside fortress by the Dead Sea

Swim time with Sam in the mountain spring of Ein Gedi while hiking through the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea

Strangest sensation of all time = floating in the Dead Sea

Seth let me smell his last Shabbat Challah bread. 

Gates above the original gates where Christ made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem

Last close-up glimpses of the Dome of the Rock

Last visit to the Western Wall

"Somewhere over this big wall way up high there's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby" West Bank side of the Separation wall at Bethany

Me and Liza at Gethsemane

Bishop of the church at the Pool of Bethesda

We promise it wasn't a date, Whitchurch. 

Goodbye, Damascus gate

Last supper at Lena's with Ben, Chelsea, and Sam

Top of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Last Jerusalem moon

G A L I LE E - adventures and thin places

I apologize for the delay, but we have been full steam ahead ever since our return to Jerusalem as we finish up classes and head into finals. Guys. Galilee was incredible. [There are lots of Hyperlinks in here if anyone wants to read more about the places I visited.]


DAY ONE

We left early early on the 21st and made a few pitstops on our way to Galilee. First stop was Nazareth where we visited the Synagogue Church (traditional site of where Christ began His public, Messianic ministry) and the Church of the Annunciation (commemorating the Virgin Mary). This church was unbelievable. The architecture is supposed to represent an upside down lily - a symbol of Mary's purity. In the outer courtyard, they have artistic representations of Mary from countries all of over the world. After Nazareth, we drove up to Mount Arbel - a gorgeous outlook point where you can see all of the Sea of Galilee. Here, we were given 30 minutes to just be by ourselves and think. I thought about what I wanted to get out of this trip both intellectually and spiritually. Quiet time to just be by yourself is a rare commodity on this program and I loved having time to reflect on my experiences on this program thus far and also prepare myself for the trip ahead. 

Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth

Sneak shot courtesy of Taylor Smith at Mt. Arbel

Roman toilets...

DAY TWO 

Started the day with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee to a museum where we saw a 2000 year old fishing boat! A fishing boat from the time of Christ. Found in the Sea of Galilee. How cool is that?! Next we headed to a new excavation site in Magdala (Mary Magdelene's hometown) and then to the Mount of Beatitudes where we had a really incredible lesson on the Sermon on the Mount. Then we went to St. Peter's Primacy, which commemorates Peter walking on the Sea of Galilee and then Capernaum. 

"Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm." - Matt 8:26

Mount of Beatitudes

DAY THREE

We had class in the morning, relaxed outside during the afternoon, and then had a traditional fisherman's dinner at a restaurant on the Kibbutz where we stayed. After, we drove to Tiberius and got to walk around the harbor and eat at Dr. Belnap's favorite ice cream place!

Our fishy friends

Tiberius at night

DAY FOUR 

Gamla field trip! Gamla is an unfortified city on a ravine and it was a HOT hike. Galilee is humid, folks. Hot and humid. But the views were incredible and we saw some great ruins and dolmens - portal tombs that are usually only found in Indo-European cultures. 

DAY FIVE 

Another class day, but after all of the students went on a gorgeous hike to a waterfall. Our hike was guided by this skinny skinny old guy with a neck beard. 

This way to natur, folks.

DAY SIX

Sabbath on the Sea of Galilee. What an incredible day. On our way to church, we stopped at a site on the Jordan River commemorating Christ's baptismal site. There were a bunch of people getting re-baptised in the river. We went to the Tiberius Branch building overlooking Galilee and had a great sacrament meeting. When we got back to the kibbutz, our mission prep class got together and sat and talked on the beach for a couple hours. All of us have our calls now! I'm heading to Berlin, Jenna to Korea, Theresa to Japan, Liza to Paraguay, Alyssa to Argentina, and Seth to Columbia, OH! We are so excited to serve. 

GERMAN! Jordan River baptismal site

Guest book at the Tiberius Branch

My adoptive sister EMMA. Cutest girl around.

Sabbath sunset

DAY SEVEN

Mount of Transfiguration and TEL MEGIDDO. Yes. Megiddo. As in the Battle of Armageddon. We had some sweet battle scenes which made me miss my Markie boy a lot! That night we had a bonfire with everyone in the program and celebrated Jenny's birthday at midnight!

Battle of Armageddon rehearsal.

TABBY. aka Princess Sophia

[Day 8 consisted of class and beach time]

DAY NINE

Started the day with a drive up to an old Israeli shooting outpost overlooking Syria. We found some underground bunkers and I felt like I was exploring a hatch in Lost. Really really cool. Dr. Seely put it best: "You are now breathing air from Syria. How many people can say that they have inhaled Syrian air?!" Then it was off to explore Nimrod's Castle - an awesome Crusader castle. Next, we went to Caesarea Philippi where Tabby Belnap (my teacher's little daughter) and I played princesses. Next was Tel Dan. Tel Dan was really great because we got to see a mud brick gate (mud brick? ancient gates? Dr. Belnap's two favorite things!) that Abraham walked through as he searched for Lot. The last stop of the day was a Canaanite city called Hazor.

Nimrod's Castle

Special gift from Tabby Belnap herself

That would be a burned out Syrian tank on the Lebanese border. Yup.

Mud brick gate at Tel Dan

At the shooting outpost on the Syrian border.

DAY TEN

Possibly my favorite day of the entire trip. We headed to the Mediterranean port of Akko and let me tell ya it was so pretty. Whitewashed buildings with blue doors and windows around the entire city. I pulled a total Indiana Jones and got some rubbings of Crusader tombs!!! We stopped at the Turkish bathhouse and then had free time to explore. We found a tiny underground synagogue and got falafels for lunch to replace our gross cheese and mayo sandwiches in the sack lunches. Then we went to Sepphoris and saw some beautiful beautiful mosaics. 

Marketplace at Akko

Fuel

"Mona Lisa" mosaic at Sepphoris.

Prickly pears!

DAY ELEVEN

Our final day in Galilee. First stop was Mt. Carmel, the traditional site of where Elijah fought the priests of Baal. Then we drove to Haifa! Haifa is very green and overlooks the Mediterranean. We went to a cemetery where two missionaries to a German colony in Haifa who died in the field are buried. We sang "Called to Serve" and "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" and I thought a lot about my call to serve in Berlin. Folks. I. AM. SO. EXCITED. I got rubbings of the names of the two missionaries and the words "FUR UND FUR"('through and through") on another grave of a German settler. Our last stop of our Galilee trip was Herod's coastal city of Ceasarea Maritima. This is the city where the first Gentiles were baptised. We arrived back in Jerusalem in time for dinner.

Haifa!

Caesarea!

Model or IDF soldier at a bus station?

Galilee had a much different pace from Jerusalem - much slower, laid back, and easy going. I loved that we were allowed to be outside on the beach at night so it really did feel like summer! I got to really talk to different people on the program and get to know them even better. I can tell why Christ loved Galilee so much. I feel like I have started to get a better glimpse into what Christ is like: His personality, not just His characteristics. In our Field Trip Prep session with Dr. Seely before we left for Galilee, he talked to us about "thin places" - a Celtic concept of places where the distance between Heaven and earth seems a little smaller. I think that I've always felt that way about certain places or moments, but this term describes it perfectly. For me, a thin place is when I feel completely and utterly happy right where I am. Really living in the moment. I've had several of these on this trip - looking at the Dome of the Rock on the terrace at night, walking through empty and starlit Jaffa Street on the night of Shabbat, watching a grown man weep in the arms of an embracing Patriarch after a mass at the Syriac Church, opening my mission call on the Mount of Olives, standing awestruck on top of the Monastery at Petra, floating in complete bliss on the Red Sea, or star gazing on the shores of the sea where Christ walked. I am grateful for thin places. I am grateful for the chance I had to spend some time in Galilee.