Little Wonders

I know I am a child of God, who loves me


Today was the first set of finals; We completed our Old Testament. Fully expecting to do well on a test then not is sometimes a let down. But not today. Even though my "written/tangible" test was not up to par what I learned far out weighs anything that can be scored out of 100. I will tell you what I've learned
1. That God punishes for a Purpose- He wants us to return unto him so when we stray he has to keep us in line. His mission is to bring us all back to him.
2. In Daniel when Shadrach, mishach, and Abednego are cast into the furnace they say: I know that God can deliver us; BUT IF NOT... the three most important word ever spoken. We all know God can relieve us of our trials, he gave them to us so he can take them away just as fast. But IF NOT we must understand he is giving us this trial for reasons we sometimes won't understand at the moment. Just trust in God and he will provide.
3. I know almost every king when they reigned, they main influences within the kingdoms, and with what prophet they lived; for each Judah, Israel, Assyria, Syria, and Babylon.
4. I can tell you that the Book of Isaiah is more for us than it was for the people of his time
5. Jeremiah talks about broken cisterns- anything you put before the living waters (christ) you will die of lack of water. Always put the living waters first.
6. I know that every prophet that is called of God goes through what we call a "sod" which includes the steps being visited by a diving being, their reaction is they can't complete the task, they are then purged, and finally do and see marvelous things.
7. I can tell you that when Nehamiah comes back from Persia to build the temple he won't let the Samaritans in because they are not pure breed... this causes problems
8. I can list you almost every symbolic action of Jeramiah and Ezekiel- Just remember Ezekiel does the really weird ones like cutting his hair all off and splitting it into thirds..... But each symbolic action is easy to understand and draws a lot of peoples attention. (God knows what he's doing)
9 I can list you reasons to the commonalities of Elijah, Elisah, and Christ how they preformed some of the same type of Miracles.
10. I can tell you I have a testimony of the Bible and that it is vital to understanding the book of Mormon, that in the last days the sticks of Judah and Ephrium will come together (aka bible and book of mormon) I urge all to read the amazing stories of the Old Testament you won't regret it, feast upon the words they will open doors that you never though you could open. I am so blessed regardless the grade I got.

Four days in Jordan

(pictures for Jordan will come soon)

It's been a while; all in good reason. It's been super busy around here my body doesn't feel like it's caught up to my fast moving days... We got home yesterday afternoon. Jordan is a very exciting place it was so much fun. Here are something I learned while in Jordan

1. Always wear a hat; because when it's 95 degrees and your bang cover half your forehead the next day only half your forehead will be sunburned... oh the opportunities bangs give us

2. Hiking through petra to the high place and the monastery in a skirt is a must.... A little breeze once in while makes a HUGE difference.

3. Boys over the age of 20 with bedouin made musical instraments are more loud and obnoxious than kids (granted we were on a bus for hours at a time... we couldn't send them into a different room)

4. When sleeping on the bus you must come to grips that someone will snap a picture of you with your mouth hanging WIDE open

5. Just like the children of Israel and Moses on mt Nebo (the story of the serpents) if we look to that which is lifted up (on a staff or on a cross) we will live.

6. Pack extra socks

7. Don't ride the horses or camels... the have flees

8. The river Jordan is a very spiritual place.. Making me realize the significance of Baptism and hose important those first covenants we make with God are. I learned that having my dad baptize me was a huge blessing; thank you dad I love you!!!

9. Make up... Straightened hair.... cute cloths.... and merely glistening are a thing of America (It's too hot to look cute; and if you are you sweat it all off anyway)

10. I am so blessed to be a part of this Gospel It's changed my life in so many ways. I know I don't know anything of what this gospel is truly about.... But I'm learning it EVERY DAY!!!!

These are the "moms" of the JC The BEST women I have ever met. I get mom hugs from them all the time. We make cookies with them.. have friday night raids of Chips and Salsa with them. Couldn't ask for better woman to comfort me in the absence of my own WONDERFUL mummy.
Morgan Crockett: He is Gary; Rindercella's god.... Drag Queen? This kid (he is actually standing with me now) we talk in sound effects with face distortion more than we do actual words. We could sit and laugh all day long. He is sooo great; and obviously VERY confident with himself :)
Becca Winters- Just look at her.... need I say more? I should say all these pictures are coming from our informal talent show... a night of serious laughter and inside jokes. This girl is one of the most musically gifted people I know... There are a lot of them here

Jarom... I don't remember his last name but he was my prancing hince... He stole the whole production we did for the talent show. He was so funny.. I had to work my hardest to match his energy on that stage.. Right after this picture was taken we started to laugh (this was all done in pantomime so we had to be so over expressive and Jarom defiantly was)

Just another Entry

This is uh... hyssop. It's super good. I will bring some home to eat
This is how pomegranates are made, that is a pomegranate flower and you can see the bulb of the pomegranate right below it
This is me making my hyssop... Can you see my beautiful Red neck tan lines? a tad depressing but in a swim suit it's mostly funny

I can say this past week has just been a riot, I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute I have had. On Sunday we went on a field trip to Neot Kedumim, it is in the Shvalah or the lower hills. What did we do, do you ask? Well lets just say I can totally be a bedouin woman (but only for like a couple of hours) We got there and had a small lesson on Jacob and Rachel at the well. Then we went over and got to smash up our own Hyssop (which is a symbolism of purification.) So we took the leaves and smashed them all up and made our own spice. Hyssop has a faint mint taste and is delicious, I would know this because each of us were asked to give “tithe” of a small portion of the hyssop we smashed so that we could eat it later. After hyssop we went and herd sheep. Thanks to the practice I had as a young child helping the Jones and Hirchi’s with their cows I was the stinking best herder EVER, that was said by everyone so I’m not just boasting about myself.. But I kinda am. After the sheep we went to a camp site and made shepherds bread (aka Pita bread) by hand, yes there were like 20 dirty hands kneading that dough, then we cooked it on an open fire, and had that with tea and hyssop and a wheat dessert. IT was wheat seeds cooked with oil and honey, it was delicious. So thats Sunday

Monday we went to Tel Aviv to the beach, oh gosh the most beautiful beach ever, the sand was like silk, the water was crystal clear, and my face and shoulders like a red lobster. It was fantastic.

Classes this week have been great, in OT we are learning about Elijah and Elisah.

In Judaism we are learning about the First, Second and Third...etc Aliya

In Palestinian we are talking about the PLO the Fatah and the Intifadas

In Ancient Middle East Studies we are learning about the ages like middle bronze age I, II...53 can I just say there are a lot of ages and not enough space in my noggin to remember them all.

Tonight is... ba da da da TALENT SHOW (the informal one) all I know is there is a lot of boy band dancing from the boys in our class, and lots of... funny. Everyone is super excited to see it tonight.

Well we are off to get a shwarma for Lunch for which I have been salivating for since yesterday.. mmm mmm delish!!!

eyes

As webster Dictionary describes Eyes
Used to describe the power of someones vision, and in descriptions of the manner of the direction of someones gaze.

As I was laying on the grass atop the 8th floor of the Jerusalem Center (JC) I had my face burried in my arms with my eyes closed, my nose brushing against the warm damp grass smelling the all to familiar smells of home. Not only were the smells familiar but the sounds, the birds chirping, the occasional crow letting out an ugly....crow, and the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the neighborhood directly below me. Now if I had just been placed on that hill of grass not knowing my ware abouts I would feel safe; almost as if I was laying on my own grass on Roueche Lane. It's when my eyes flick open restoring my vision and the direction of my gaze catches the gloden glimmer of the Dome of the Rock that I come to realize I'm somewhere else. I realized today at the moment my eyes flicked open that I have had my eyes closed for the past month. They've been closed by "The Man," the outside world and it's forces that place nothing but stress and frenzy in my short life. Here I am in the most traveled to country in the world, studying the bible, archaeology, and the histories of Judaism and Palestinians and all I can think about is

• Classes I need to take when I get back to school
• Where to live next fall
• Do I need to get a Job next fall?
• What's going on back home?
• Do I need to stay in and do homework in order to get good grades, in order to have a good GPA in order to possibly transfer to BYU provo?
  

Do you see what I mean? My priorities are so skewed. This month has had it's moments of enlightenment, it's moments of deep desire to "open my eyes" but I haven't done a thing about it. Even though there are times where my eyes have been opened the man just sticks the blinders back on. It's a cycle that literally will eat you alive. It's bad when I decide to stay in the center to study when I could be out doing far better "studying" on the streets with real life people who can actually give me apart of themselves that I don't have the desire to get from books. So here is what I say to that
STICK IT TO THE MAN!!!
I write this for the public to see so, that I have an obligation to myself to "do what I want" I know I don't want to stay in and study when I could be out meeting a family of Israelies who invite me to dinner. For if my eyes are closed, my choices are altered, and my blessing from God are also Altered. Not in a bad way but it's the idea of Good, better, best....
STICK IT TO THE MAN!!