BeACh, NeGEv, and DeAD!

September 9, 2012

TEL AVIV BABY!!! yeah, that is what I did today. We went to the beach and swam in Mediterranean!! How awesome is that!? The day was perfect; warm water, soft smooth beach, mostly clear skies, nice breeze, great company, very minimal shopping (though I did buy some things which are awesome). We took a van and got there between 9:00-9:30 (wasn't really paying attention) and then just spent the day playing in the water and the humungous waves (holy cow I don't think I have ever had that much water up my nose), playing pass on the beach, making pyramids and sand castles, taking pictures and then we just wandered through the city (both Tel Aviv and Joppa) and the markets that they had there. We were going to rent bikes and just ride up the coast but we couldn't figure out one electronic bike rental place because there wasn't anyone there to help us and then we couldn't find any other place so we couldn't do that. Maybe in turkey we will be able to (fingers crossed). It got pretty hot around 1:00ish so we bought a passion fruit drink, which was delicious and refreshing and awesome and yummy. It probably would have tasted just like any other passion fruit drink any other time, but the fact that we were all thirsty, hot and tired by this point, it made it soooo good. We left around 4:00ish and got back to the center around 5:00. I took a shower and then had dinner, went and studied for as long as I could keep my eyes open and ended up falling asleep at 9:30. Yeah I was pretty tired

September 10, 2012

Field Trip!! To the Negev which is about an hour south of Jerusalem. I think New Mexico has found its rival in ugliness. There is absolutely nothing out there. It is just hot, dry and sandy, with a few shrubs/trees here and there. The field trip was cool though. We first went to a bedouin village where they hand-make things from goat, camel and sheep hair/wool. I wish I had brought more money because they had these awesome rugs and bags. But I didn't bring enough and their credit card read thing wasn't working so I couldn't buy them. Bummer. Next, we went to these ruins of the old cities of Arad and Beersheva. Some dated back to like 700-500 BC, but others dated back to pre-Abraham period like 3000-2500 BC. The one in Beersheva had this huge cistern that we got to walk through and it was pretty amazing. It was really dark inside so I couldn't take any really good pictures in it. The other place had a huge well and all I could think about, while looking and while having the teacher explain things, was the new batman and the prison he had to escape. Yeah I know where I priorities are. As we were walking through and listening to the history, it was interesting to learn of the temples in the cities of Arad. The “newer” city in Arad had a temple that was made to mimic the one in Jerusalem. It had an altar, holy place and a Holy of Holies. But we learned in the scriptures that they weren't doing things properly and that it wasn't sanctioned by the Lord. In the older city (the one dating to pre-Abraham time) it had twin temples right next to each other. One had a hole to hold water (it is assumed), and an altar. The other had a good size stone at one end that (again assumed) was to symbolize a deity, with benches surrounding the walls. They are not sure what exactly their worship entailed but it was cool to think that we were looking at ancient forms of worship perhaps before the bible began. I love history. It just proves that people have been “people” all throughout history and not these mystery beings with different ways of thinking and actions. Maybe it is just me, but I used to have this weird way of thinking about bible people and not really seeing them as people. Kind of like when you think of a third world country and think they can't possibly know what technology is because they live in the jungle with no contact with the outer world. Of course that is not the case at all and it is just my naivety speaking. Anyway it was pretty cool, plus we got to drive pass the Dead Sea on our way back. It is actually really beautiful. A very rich blue with white crush in areas because of the salt. There were no boats on it at all (which isn't surprising but was kind of weird). The surrounding area was barren, brown and not much to look at. At this point we started talking about Lehi and Nephi and the circumstances surrounding their departure from Jerusalem. I have never really thought about the environment that they had to travel through and now that I have seen it I completely understand why Laman, Lemuel, Sariah, and the family of Ishmael had issues and at times lacked faith. We always say that they were such whimps or whatever but in actuality I think we are more like them than we would like to admit. It would seem (of course not from experience) that going through a place like the Judean Wilderness would bring out the worst in people. Switching gears now it also makes me appreciate Nephi and his willingness to do whatever the Lord asked, all the more. He must have had an extreme amount of faith to be willing to turn back and have to travel that hot, dry land four more times. I hope someday that I will have enough faith in my Heavenly Father and His Son to be able to do whatever is asked of me without complaining or even having a bad thought. Nephi really set the bar high and I have a long way to go before I get to that level. I guess as long as I am going up, that is what counts.

Ok for the pictures I have got some from the Garden Tomb and Tel Aviv. I haven't downloaded the ones from the field trip yet because they were on my other camera. Also hopefully I will be able to get more of me in the pictures since we will be able to share photos once we get back from Turkey.

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