West Bank & Bethlehem

Yesterday we went to the West Bank to visit Bethlehem. On my mission, one unexpected habit I formed was graffiti watching. Walking the streets I became acquainted with various local artists and I grew to appreciate really good graffiti.

Just beyond the Separation Wall, there is some fantastic graffiti expressing opinion and meaning about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These two I really liked.

The others are of me in the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, sitting where Christ was allegedly laid in the manger. It's about as close as it get's to a contemplative picture of me since I've been out here. I posted it because I wanted blog some of my thoughts since I've been out, and not just post four pictures and some fragmented sentences.

First of all, I'll share a spiritual experience I had in Shepherd's Field last night in Bethlehem. The last picture doesn't do justice, but we spent a few hours from dusk into the evening having a devotional and a lesson. After some classic mormon musical numbers, and a wonderful lesson from Luke 2, we were given free time to write in journals or otherwise enjoy the moment. I have never been a good journal writer, so I just grabbed my scriptures and a flashlight and wandered off to find myself a rock upon which I could read. Well, we had already read the Luke story of the birth of Christ, so I thought I'd just flip open the New Testament and read about whatever comes up from an inspirational gust of wind. The problem being this: since seminary, I have glued several small pieces of paper into my scriptures, and therefore they always open up to the same few sections which I deemed not inspiration.

I remembered a chapter in the Book of Mormon where some prophet has a vision about the Virgin Mary. I soon found 1 Nephi 11, where Nephi prays to have the visions given to Lehi. The spirit tells him he will show Nephi the vision of the Tree of Life, and also unprovokingly states he will show Nephi about the Condescension of God.

The Spirit asks Nephi if he understands the Condescension of God, and he replies, that he knows God loves his children, but doesn't know about the Condescension. This struck me. Nephi who has killed a man in obedience to God, had seemingly no knowledge of Christ, or at least didn't understand that God came to the Earth, ministered among men, was judged and crucified for the world's sins. It is hard for me to imagine having a testimony so strong with no idea about God's Condescension.

Nephi then gets the Readers Digest version of Christ's life, start to finish in vision. Excusing the secular analogy, I imagined it to be similar to a movie trailer; all the good stuff crammed into two and a half minutes. I don't think I could fathom seeing the most spiritually significant events this world has ever seen packed so tightly together. It is truly a beautiful story, whether it's told in great detail and variation in the New Testament or packed into a vision seen by a faithful man from the Book of Mormon.

1 Nephi 11

I was an unexpectedly moving experience for me, to be out there learning and reading on the hills of Bethlehem.

more more more

This Obelisk has a twin sister in France. Been there, saw that

My little camel leading friend Mahammud.

King Tut's tomb. Valley of the King's was really sweet, filled with tombs of Pharaohs



The beautiful Mosque of Muhammad Ali at the Citadel.

Karnak Temple

When we first rolled into Karnak Temple, the first thing we see are these dancers. They've got dance in their blood.





Here's an obelisk, I thought it was cool picture.








Nice 'glyphs.






And last but not least, man meditating. All this in the Karnak Temple.

Egypt: Cairo and Luxor

Well, I made it back from Egypt in one piece. I don't think I'll ever go back. Not that I didn't love it, because I did, it was amazing to see these wonders of the world in the flesh, and really fascinating to learn about the ancient Egyptian culture. It is considered a 3rd world country, and Cairo is filthy. Here's some pictures of Pyramids and a giant Ramses III.

Beer-Sheva, Negev Desert, and Avdat

This first picture is an ancient tell near Beer-Sheva, which was a defensive stronghold and administrative capital in ancient times. Near Ben Guirion's grave, here is a great view of the Negev Desert. You can see where the river (used) to flow through the green area there. Finally, striking some poses at Avdat, which was a settlement in the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. Negev Desert). This place was a center for spice trade by the ancient Nabataens. More pictures to follow about Egypt tonight.

Dome of the Rock, Orson Hyde, Gethsemane

The Dome of the Rock. This view isn't from my balcony although I can see it from there. In fact, I've seen the Dome of the Rock from about every angle except up close. You can only get up on the Temple Mount during a short window of time, but I'll get there. There's so much to see. The next picture of the yellow flower is from the Orson Hyde Park, and, doesn't really show much of the park. I didn't like any of my other pictures of it. The last picture is in the Garden of Gethsemane. We went there today, since it's Shabbat. Off to Egypt, see you when I get back.

Slinging stones in Elah Valley

First of all, here's a little boy. He was playing in his backyard while we walked around the rampart walls. I still haven't achieved my goal of playing soccer with some local kids, which I'll get to when we get back from Egypt. The next three pictures are of my slinging stones in Elah Valley where David slew Goliath and stopped the Philistines from moving upwards towards Bethelehem. So far, that was one of my favorite moments and a friend captured it for me in three pictures one after another. I actually got pretty good at slinging; I think I'll buy one and take it home to remind me of the days when I would always buy that same yellow plastic slingshot from Ken's Kash in Oakley, over and over. One more post follows then I'm off to bed and Egypt.

The Holy Land

So I've been in Jerusalem for almost two weeks now. Once I got here, my computer decided to stop loading my profile in windows so I took that as a sign and accepted the fact that I probably wouldn't blog my adventures. Well, I fixed it, and now goes.

This picture is on top of a tell outside of Jerusalem a little bit, and the modern looking city is a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Apparently, the Jews are really good at gathering together and pretty much building a city overnight. This is in a sense the way the Jewish people are taking back Palestine.



This pictures is a Muslim mosque just inside the rampart walls of the Old City.

The other two pictures are of the separation wall as it's being built and another through a crack in the Old City Wall.

I'll try to post some more pictures before I go to bed -- tomorrow we head to Egypt for a week.

Love it here, more will follow.

Awesome Annens & Aunts

Aunt Martha & Jessica http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/265025/136/
Ashley in an "Aunt Kathryn's" specialty prom dress.