Below are pictures of the
Red Sea,
Arab night,
The Israel Museum (look for the stunner in the blue shirt, she is a beauty)
And the actual Jericho Road
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
aND ThEN You BLinK
It is funny how life pans out. Happy one second, sad the next. Poor one year and rich the following.
Chances, success, failures, trials, people, places, learning; these are the things that make up life, that give life sustenance, gives it personality. But every single thing, every aspect can change in the blink of an eye. There is no telling when those changes will come, whether they be for good or bad, whether they bring blessings or consequences, all we can do is do our best. Doing our best to remain strong, to remain humble, faithful, happy and trusting.
Life is fickle and we cannot control it but what we can control is how we react to it. A wise man has told me countless times that life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react. We control whether or not we get offended, we control whether or not we keep and strengthen our friendships and we control whether or not we have regrets.
Why go through life with a heavy heart thinking there is no hope. Why go through life punishing ourselves for what we did or didn't do. Why let opportunities past by because you think your are not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, funny enough or liked enough.
Why not choose to be happy, why not choose to succeed, why not choose to do the right thing, why not choose to enjoy the simple moments, why not choose to live life to its fullest.
You may be wondering why I am writing all of this and so here is the reason. Today one of the students in my program had one of their family members take their own life. Something no one is ever ready for and something that can change so many things. We cannot judge that person for we do not know his circumstances, we cannot know what the loved ones are going through because we are not them. However, what we can do is learn from it. Learn to enjoy the time that we have to be with loved ones, learn to trust in the plan of salvation given, so graciously, to us by our Heavenly Father. And learn to trust Him and believe that everything will work out in the end.
Don't miss out on the important things in life; faith, the Atonement, love, friendship, memories and time, they are what bring true happiness and joy. Remember life may be going one way or another and then you blink.
Chances, success, failures, trials, people, places, learning; these are the things that make up life, that give life sustenance, gives it personality. But every single thing, every aspect can change in the blink of an eye. There is no telling when those changes will come, whether they be for good or bad, whether they bring blessings or consequences, all we can do is do our best. Doing our best to remain strong, to remain humble, faithful, happy and trusting.
Life is fickle and we cannot control it but what we can control is how we react to it. A wise man has told me countless times that life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react. We control whether or not we get offended, we control whether or not we keep and strengthen our friendships and we control whether or not we have regrets.
Why go through life with a heavy heart thinking there is no hope. Why go through life punishing ourselves for what we did or didn't do. Why let opportunities past by because you think your are not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, funny enough or liked enough.
Why not choose to be happy, why not choose to succeed, why not choose to do the right thing, why not choose to enjoy the simple moments, why not choose to live life to its fullest.
You may be wondering why I am writing all of this and so here is the reason. Today one of the students in my program had one of their family members take their own life. Something no one is ever ready for and something that can change so many things. We cannot judge that person for we do not know his circumstances, we cannot know what the loved ones are going through because we are not them. However, what we can do is learn from it. Learn to enjoy the time that we have to be with loved ones, learn to trust in the plan of salvation given, so graciously, to us by our Heavenly Father. And learn to trust Him and believe that everything will work out in the end.
Don't miss out on the important things in life; faith, the Atonement, love, friendship, memories and time, they are what bring true happiness and joy. Remember life may be going one way or another and then you blink.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
HaHA WoW
Haha after the announcement of the age change for missionaries you won't believe the erruption in the forum of all the 19 year old girls here in Jerusalem. I don't think I have ever seen so many people cry during conference and then jump up and down afterward. It is like their whole life has changed and some just don't know how to react. It is hilarious. I still can't say if the mission is right for me but it was fun to see others receive answers/promptings that they may or may not have wanted.
Also how awesome was conference!! It is my favorite and always a sweet reminder that the Lord really does care about his children. There is nothing better then to receive answers to prayers, reminders of the important things and feel the love that the Lord has for me.
Also how awesome was conference!! It is my favorite and always a sweet reminder that the Lord really does care about his children. There is nothing better then to receive answers to prayers, reminders of the important things and feel the love that the Lord has for me.
Monday, October 1, 2012
UpDAtE!
Ok kind of an update. I decided I am not going to do day by day because we are now getting into midterms so it would be rather boring to write about and even more so to read about. So I will just give tidbits on the cool stuff that happens.
First off...Turkey
Holy Moly what a cool place. I highly suggest everyone to make Istanbul a priority on your "places to go" list. It is so pretty and beautiful and awesome and taken 2 was filmed there...anyway yeah, do it for sure. Well while we were in Turkey we did a lot of site seeing. Basically we went to the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation and to places Paul visited during his missions to Asia Minor. There are some cool ruins. I will have post pictures later because I don't have all the ones that I want to share yet. Anyway Turkey is pretty much awesome, though its food is ummm...a bit interesting...lets just say the Turkey Trots were very popular during the week. Not to mention that Turkish toilets are very very different than American toilets...hole in the ground anyone :) Honestly that picture of the cat and the holes in the cement is not that far off. So that was turkey in a nut shell and I will hopefully have some more pictures to share later.
Next Jericho
Ok this was probably one of my favorite field trips we have done so far. We literally went to where the road would have been and still is and had this great devotional on the Good Samaritan. My professor brought up the point that we all will have Jericho Roads in our lives and it is up to us to decide which side of the road we will be on. The devotional was obviously longer and it definitely made me think and was actually really spiritual so I am bringing a rock home from it.
Third Seder dinner
It was pretty fun to see the rituals of the Jews even though it wasn't anywhere close to the Passover and the food was awesome. It was interesting though that I had a thought about how the Jews and even the Muslims are a little bit "stuck in the past" so to speak. They don't believe in modern revelation or living prophets and it made me so happy to know that we have both and we will get to hear it this coming weekend. I cannot tell you how excited I am for conference, even though we only get to watch the two morning sessions.
Fourth David and Goliath valley
Haha so we basically went to the valley where the battle took place and did sling shots for like an hour. It was awesome and by the end I got pretty good at it.
And that just about sums it up for today.
First off...Turkey
Holy Moly what a cool place. I highly suggest everyone to make Istanbul a priority on your "places to go" list. It is so pretty and beautiful and awesome and taken 2 was filmed there...anyway yeah, do it for sure. Well while we were in Turkey we did a lot of site seeing. Basically we went to the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation and to places Paul visited during his missions to Asia Minor. There are some cool ruins. I will have post pictures later because I don't have all the ones that I want to share yet. Anyway Turkey is pretty much awesome, though its food is ummm...a bit interesting...lets just say the Turkey Trots were very popular during the week. Not to mention that Turkish toilets are very very different than American toilets...hole in the ground anyone :) Honestly that picture of the cat and the holes in the cement is not that far off. So that was turkey in a nut shell and I will hopefully have some more pictures to share later.
Next Jericho
Ok this was probably one of my favorite field trips we have done so far. We literally went to where the road would have been and still is and had this great devotional on the Good Samaritan. My professor brought up the point that we all will have Jericho Roads in our lives and it is up to us to decide which side of the road we will be on. The devotional was obviously longer and it definitely made me think and was actually really spiritual so I am bringing a rock home from it.
Third Seder dinner
It was pretty fun to see the rituals of the Jews even though it wasn't anywhere close to the Passover and the food was awesome. It was interesting though that I had a thought about how the Jews and even the Muslims are a little bit "stuck in the past" so to speak. They don't believe in modern revelation or living prophets and it made me so happy to know that we have both and we will get to hear it this coming weekend. I cannot tell you how excited I am for conference, even though we only get to watch the two morning sessions.
Fourth David and Goliath valley
Haha so we basically went to the valley where the battle took place and did sling shots for like an hour. It was awesome and by the end I got pretty good at it.
And that just about sums it up for today.
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