BeTHeSDa and AwESomENess!!

Me and My awesome "I am sweating and hot, fly away" hair....oh at the pools

 The supposed Pools (area)

 Inside the Church

 The door to the Church

--> Ok just deal with the sideways picture, I am too lazy right now to fix it

September 11, 2012

Wow today was awesome. Classes were good, I learned new things, went over old things and gain more understanding about how the Lord works. Never thought I would say this but the Old Testament is really fascinating and I am really enjoying the class. Having an awesome teacher never hurts either. But as cool as classes were I want to get to the really cool part. A couple of girls and I went into the city to do some shopping. Haha me actually wanting to go shopping...this city really changes people (ok not really in that regard) Anyway we went to Omar's woodwork place and looked at the amazing woodcarvings he has there. Boy are they incredible!! I wish I took a picture. I guess I can always go back. Well to make a long story short I fell in love with a Nativity and ended buying it. Call me impulsive but hey when I find something I love, I really love it and since it doesn't happen very often I throw all caution to the wind and just go for it. But it is beautiful and I can't wait to put it out for Christmas. Again I wish I took a picture but I didn't and he shipped it for me so I will have to post one when I get home. Once we were done and picked our mouths back up off of the floor, we headed out again. Around this time we met up with others from the JC and we decided to go so the Pools of Bethesda. Wow, can I say it again....WOW!!! what an amazing place. Not only are the ruins cool (we got some pretty awesome pictures) but the church close by is absolutely breathtaking. Plus it has world renown acoustics so of course we sang a bunch of hymns. The echo is so intense and it sounded like there were like a hundred of us in there. Not to brag or anything but we were pretty amazing :) We even got the priest or Father, or whatever he was, to come out and listen to us. We sang a ton of songs, so I can't remember them all, but my favorites were How Great Thou Art and Nearer My God to Thee. There is just something about those two songs that is hard to explain and they just fill you up with an incredible spirit and feeling. It was beautiful. I will definitely be going back multiple times during the semester.

September 12, 2012

Well today was definitely a school day. Our schedule is not completely concrete so our class times are all over the place. So I had OT class at 8:00 in the morning, Palestine history at 10, a Turkey orientation at 3, Arabic at 5 and a Turkey slide show, to get us excited to go, at 7:30. So it was pretty much a go go go day but for studying. I did, however, work in a nap, singing and obviously writing emails and this so it wasn't all that bad. It just isn't a very fun day to write about and so I will leave it at that.

So Mom wrote an email to me a few days ago and in it she said "it is the most amazing thought to ponder when you think of the worlds without end that have been created by the Lord and the numberless inhabitants that have looked forward to that pivotal point in time...and to think that of all the worlds you could have been born upon, you, Aliseea Harbertson, stand on THE WORLD, in THE PLACE and can actually walk were He walked and experience many of the things He experienced....and that you, Alissea Harbertson have been blessed to be born under the covenant and have been taught His Gospel and know and understand "Where you came from...Why you are here...and Where you are going."  AND also that you have the great privilege to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion to bare witness to you every time you open your heart to feel His influence!  Oh it is so totally AMAZING!" And I have been thinking a lot about that, especially today at church. It kind of blows my mind that I do get to experience this. I wish I could put into words the things that I have felt since being here. There are just so much emotions that have been going through my mind and body. Even the most random of scripture will cause this burning in my heart, that just makes it race and I can't even describe exactly how it makes me feel, or why I am feeling it or what it means. All I know it is a wonderful feeling and one I hope I can continue to feel here and the rest of my life. The Church is true, the Atonement is real, the Holy Ghost guides and the Father and the Son loves.