Good [insert whatever time of day it is for you]!
How are you all?
Have you finished my last email? It was quite long.
This one will be considerably shorter, hopefully, since there's less to report. Though I suspect that I'd be hard pressed to come up with more to report than that last email.
So, it's getting colder here (and has been raining some more, as it should around this time of year...it's what the Jews prayed for several weeks ago). Not as cold as Rexburg, I grant you, but cold for here...and this center can get very cold. The way everyone's bundling up here as if it's freezing is making me laugh (though I am in the warmer computer lab right now) and get into the Christmas spirit already. Ever since we went to Bethlehem a week ago I've been getting excited for Christmas. Or maybe it was when a group of us started practicing "Winter Wonderland" for the Christmas Concert. Either way... Yesterday morning, before going out to check off random sites in West Jerusalem and the Old City with Amanda and Baren (Amanda's name for Maren and Ben...it's either that or Men. Maren and Ben laugh at both), Maren and I listened to some Christmas songs on my iPod and my excitement peaked (for those of you who have seen me get really excited and impassioned about something...yes). Also, according to Brother Nickel, they'll decorate the center while we're in Galilee. We'll come back to a festive home! It's going to be amazing! I can't wait to see this place decorated! Oh dear...here I go again...
On another note, my roommates and I have what I would call a tradition of playing Uno at any free moment. For example, if we have only ten minutes between laundry exchange and lunch on Tuesdays, we'll pull out the Uno cards and play...or at least those who are in the room will. Once, right before our Arabic final, Rachel, Erin, and I (all of whom are in Arabic...Katelyn's in Hebrew) decided to practice our Arabic numbers with Uno. We had to say the word for each number when we played it. That was Erin's idea. She is a genius. Last night, after Katelyn and I were both done with our New Testament homework, we played Uno. It was cold, so we looked pretty ridiculous bundled up in our blankets on the floor, throwing down cards. It didn't help that we were both extremely tired and I get rather silly when I'm tired. Katelyn was laughing at me, and when Erin came in they both ended up laughing at me. I'm happy I can make people laugh. It was pretty funny. Though, in my tired state, everything's funny. Remarkably, though I was in bed by 11 PM as opposed to midnight or so, I still slept in to 7:45 this morning. It's a good thing that Erin came down after exercising and breakfast and woke me up, or else I would have been late for New Testament at 8. I missed breakfast as it was. Fortunately it wasn't French toast or pancakes today. Good times...
I guess that's my story for the day.
Now for a few of today's many scriptural insights, both the Sister Strathearn type and the Chadwick type.
Chadwick first: According to our homework assignment due tonight, the Sadducees, not the Pharisees, were Christ's mortal enemies. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were divided. the beyt Shammai division of the Pharisees were likewise against Christ, but the beyt Hillel division was not. Therefore, any case when the Pharisees are recorded as supporting or following Christ around they may be assumed to be beyt Hillel Pharisees. Isn't that interesting?
Now to fly back 700 years, 701 BCE is one of the most vitally significant dates in the entire history of the world. Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, took all of Israel and, contrary to most assumptions, almost all of Judah. All of the cities in the southern kingdom were taken and destroyed. Just over 200,000 of Judah's inhabitants, including people of all twelve tribes (the whole "lost ten tribes" thing isn't literal...all twelve were scattered. Just check 1 Nephi), were deported by the Assyrians and later scattered throughout the world as we know it. Only 20,000 people were left, because of God's miraculous saving of Jerusalem. This also included people of all 12 tribes, since many refugees fled the northern kingdom to Jerusalem and inhabited the Mishneh (including Lehi's grandparents from Manasseh). No matter what tribe they were from, they became known as Jews. Those who were "lost" were specifically lost because they ended up not remembering their heritage. That's the difference between Jews today (and now Mormons as well :)) and the rest of the world. Also, as Dr. Chadwick stressed in class, everyone in the whole world, every family, is literally descended from these tribes. There is no "adoption" into a tribe. In fact, we probably have multiple tribes in our lineage.
Just think! If the miraculous salvation of Jerusalem in 701 BCE hadn't occurred, we wouldn't have the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Restoration, the babe born and laid in a manger, or the Atonement. There would be no Jerusalem. There would be no Christianity. We wouldn't know that we were descendants from the Israelites. How sad that would be! But God did save Jerusalem. And if not for Jerusalem's sake, than for Christ's sake, to accomplish His mission.
So, funny story from class today. Dr Chadwick, in explaining Sennacherib's claim that he "never intended" to take Jerusalem, asked, "How do you explain that [namely that you failed to take Jerusalem] to history?" I laughed. But apparently I was the only one who found it funny, since no one else did. Good times...
Well, it's time for dinner already, and I've been sitting at this computer for about 5 hours writing this email and, mostly, finishing that 42 page reading that's due tonight. I should be going stir crazy, but we can't go out today, and I'm actually happy that I was able to pay attention for so long. Typically I either fall asleep or am distracted by people (the cons of being friends with everyone at the school...you can't really avoid them, particularly when you have to do homework in the social hub of the computer lab).
I didn't get to Sister Strathearn's spiritual insights (her kind are more personal and touching, rather than Chadwick's facts. Archaeologists...), but maybe next time.
Fare thee well!
November 13
It's been such a long while, or at least it feels like a long time, since I last sent you an email. Believe me, I've wanted to, but actually typing it has been difficult. So much and so little happens in this life over here that I hardly know what to write. So much because, well, I'm in the Holy Land of all places! But so little because, when I do have time to email, I have only class to report on unless I want to backtract on the multiple and crazy fieldtrip days...which means I don't know where to start. Excuses, excuses...but how do you describe this whole "lifetime" here?
Anyway.
We only have a third of our time left here. The thought of the end is bittersweet. I'm so excited for Christmas, seeing you all again, and comeing home. But at the same time, I will miss this place--the center, the city, and the people in both. I suppose that's life. Like I posted on my blog, once you wander and find the enchantment of wandering, you will forever after be only half whole. You will find that you must forever wander and return, torn between two worlds. I suppose this is necessary in our lives. It makes life beautiful in many ways, I'm sure.
This week we've been able to leave the center a lot more often. This has been really good for us all, and I've really appreciated that time, though it is rather exhausting to worry about where to go, who to go with, and how physically trying the last leg of the hill homeward is (We're on the other side of the Kidron valley from the Old City, so we have to go down and up both ways). What can I say? I'm a worrier. It's been great though, and I've gotten to do and see so many things this week, like the Tower of David, Christmas shopping, Dormition Abbey, and the Tomb of David. And I managed to do homework too, though my laptop has decided not to work (I'm in the computer lab writing this).
So, I'm friends with almost everyone here (they're all so great! Some of the best people I know...besides you all, of course), but there are a handful of people I hang out with more than others, if you haven't surmissed from my previous emails or the pictures I've posted on Facebook. Mainly Maren and Ben. Those two crack me up. Half the time we act like a bunch of children and the other half of the time they're acting like children as I'm trying to keep them in line. As Maren has commented, if we were the last three in the Hunger Games arena, she and Ben would both die ("Look! Berries! Let's eat them. One, two, three...") and I would survive ("Guys! Come on! Why are you eating those berries? Oh great! Now you're both dead!"). Good times... I have even gotten to the point that I laugh at being third wheel. I'm not always third wheel, and they both are nice to me and like me (and like picking on me...in a nice way...until we get to Petra where Maren puts sand in my hat in our sand war and Ben pours it down my back until I call truce...but even then...), so I'm good with and enjoy it. Like I said, it cracks me up. :)
Now I need to come up with another third situation to bring this email into a full circle. Why have an email entitled "Thirds" and only have two mentions of "third"?
Just thought of another third:
This is my third attempt at writing an email to you all according to my drafts. So, I suppose I can quickly share my other email beginnings:
End of October:
Hello All!This has been a crazy week! We are now about midway through our Finals for the first block of the semester. After this week, the only classes we'll be taking are Ancient Near Eastern Studies with Doctor Chadwick, New Testament (I'll switch from Brother Anderson to Sister Strathearn...who did her PhD on the New Testament! :)), and Doctor Whitchurch's Field Trip 1 credit course.Yesterday we crushed and pressed the olives we picked last week. I posted a couple of pictures of it on Facebook. Figured it was about time I post a few pictures.
The Sabbath after Jordan:
Marhaba! Shalom!It's been a while. How are you all?So, here's the run down:All finals week last week we were so busy that I rarely left the building. I survived though. It was a relief to be over. Now the only classes I'm taking are New Testament, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, and the Field Trip course. And of course I have everything else to do too, such as my Memories committee work, getting out to see stuff, and making the most of this experience. It's been a fantastic experience so far! Not easy, of course, but worth every minute, and I'll miss this place.Last Sunday, our free day, a group of us went to the Israel "Biblical" Zoo. To use my nine year-old journal catch phrase: It was fun! I had to go through the snake (including a large spider) exhibit at the start, but... "It was fun!" Emma, I'm torn trying to decide if you should have been there with me. You would have enjoyed it, but then again you probably would've teased me to death. I'm always struck by the abundance of monkeys and such creatures in zoos when they could have cool creatures like koalas or pandas. I did enjoy the kangaroos and elephants and numerous birds though.Monday through Thursday we were in Jordan. Probably the funniest part of that trip was the fact that the Jordan in our group constantly was taking videos of himself with anything that had the name Jordan on it. "As you can see, this is my bank." "This here is my flag." "Welcome to my river." Of course, the highlight of the trip was Petra. It was so great that, whenever anyone asked each other what their favorite part was, we all responded, "Well, besides Petra..." What was my favorite site/part? Well, besides Petra ;) it was the Jabbok River. Random, I know. But even in the little places we hardly hear about, Brother Anderson (who I had for OT) and now Sister Strathearn have brought to our notice some of the most inspiring and uplifting insights, and for Sister Strathearn in particular the insights come at such a flood that I have limited space and time to record them all in my journal. Jabbok is mentioned in Genesis 32:22, when Jacob is returning to the promised land, meets Esau, and wrestles with the Lord.Random tangent. I just found the Chamber of Secrets! It's been opened! This place really is Hogwarts.Back to Jacob. So...where was I? Oh yes, wrestling with the Lord. So I've been thinking about the temple a lot lately, and Sister Strathearn referred to the Jabbok river as an outdoor temple. That really stood out to me and made Jabbok river my favorite.
As I mentioned, ANE and NT are pretty much my only classes right now. So nice! But we still have a lot of homework, and I love both these classes, so I want to do a good job. ANE has particularly been interesting lately. I almost considered sending out an email with the subject line: "Jesus wasn't a carpenter, he wasn't born on April 6th 1 BC, and other theories blasphemous to most Mormons." Not that they're really blasphemous, but I think that Doctor Chadwick's theories and articles on those subjects are probably not always taken so well with the general, mainstream Mormon audience. They are fascinating though. I'll have to share them with you later. And last night we had a reading and writing assignment on Lehi's Jerusalem and house. Very fascinating! I could actually imagine it! And speaking of ancient Jerusalem, we went to the temple excavations today on a fieldtrip. It made me wish I could see the second temple in all of its glory. Imagining it just can't do it justice, I'm sure. But it is still really cool to see the piles of fallen stone from the destruction that were so heavy that it broke the pavingstones from falling, and to sit on the steps where Christ and his apostles would have so frequently walked going in and out of the temple complex.
October 13
Marhaba!
It's been a while. In fact, the last email I wrote was in Turkey, and I've been home from Turkey for weeks...or at least what feels like weeks. I'm not for sure how long exactly. That's how much Time has been playing with me.
Nevertheless, it’s probably about time that I send out another email.
We just got home from our Shfela field trip. The Shfela are the low hills. The Holy Land is divided geographically by the coastal plains (including Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Gaza, etc.), the Shfela (low hills, including five main valleys--e.g. the valley of Elah, where David fought and defeated Goliath), and the hill country (Jerusalem), before dropping off below sea level into the wilderness to the Jordan river.
Doctor Chadwick, the Ancient Near Eastern Studies professor, taught us a song to help us pronounce Shfela. To the tune of “My Boyfriend’s Back” we sing about David and Goliath and the Shfela. It’s really fun when all sixty of us students sing it with both melody and harmony. However, the whole "Shfela, Shfela, Goliath's back" part gets really stuck in your head and repeats over and over like a broken record. Trust me!
We learned how to sling stones, like David, though we also learned how long and how much practice it would have taken him to learn and perfect his skill, and he was most certainly not the underdog. He knew he could kill Goliath with, at most, five stones, particularly since he’d already killed a bear and lion.
One of my most favorite moments from this field trip was when we, Brother Anderson’s Old Testament class (they always divide us according to which religion class we’re in), used a mirror to signal Sister Straithern’s class from across the valleys (from a-tel-I-can't-remember-the-
School has been keeping us on our toes, though it’s not been quite as stressful this past week as our mid-term week was. Since half of our classes, at least, are over by October 31st, we had midterms at the end of our first quarter…which happened to be only a week after our busy week in Turkey. Crazy? Yes, but we all survived.
Since Turkey we have been to Jericho, a biblical preserve I can't never remember how to spell, and the Shfela. And that's just our field trips.
Yesterday we went to the Red Sea to swim and snorkel. It was an adventure, and meant we had two long days in a row, but was worth it. There was once when I, with a life jacket (since I, admittedly, am not a good swimmer), snorkeled all across the edge of the reef from one dock to the other. It wasn't too great a distance, but I felt proud of myself. I also had a good mask, so I didn't have to come up for air or to empty my mask of water every minute or so. It was so cool to see whole schools of fish. I particularly liked a grey and lavender striped fish and the "Dory" fish. Two other cool things from that experience were being able to see Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan while standing on the dock and a smoothie vending machine (yes, you heard me aright: a smoothie vending machine).
Now for a random and slightly funny story (sorry to repeat so much of what I talked about on the phone with you, Mom and Dad). So, after I had crossed the reef, I joined a few of my classmates/friends on the other dock to talk and think. I was still wearing my life jacket with my mask on my forehead. As usual with this particularly group of friends, we started to discuss what or who we remind each other of, so Ben remarked that, in the life vest and goggles, I looked like a writer who does something that has already been done before but still writes about it as if it was a new discovery, to which Maren compared me to Amelia Earhart. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what swimming across a reef in an overly large life jacket has to do with flying an airplane across the Atlantic and then getting lost and presumed dead, but I thought the comparison was funny at the time.
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