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
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