SAL

Update on life

2007-08-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well life has been crazy these past few months since I updated my blog. I finished my job as a nanny and am now employed by the William S. Hart school district here in SC as a substitute teacher. I have also applied to a credentialing program at a local university, but I have not heard back from them yet. So once I hear from the program I will be going to school full time and working full time as well as trying to balance a serious relationship. Justin and I have been dating for almost a year now. Each day is better than the previous. Even if we don't do anything but sit around and talk, I just love to be with him all the time. We have gone on a couple of cool trips recently though. We went up north to the Sacramento area for a friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago and then this last weekend we went to Newport Beach where Justin's grandparents were staying and hung out with them and his parents for the weekend. We did all sorts of fun stuff which included Joe's crab shack, skateboarding, fashion island, church, bicycling and stick biscuits. We've also done other cool things like going to a Dodger game with some friends and just hanging out with our friends. Now we are back and real life has resumed once again with jobs and other such fun activities . . . My parents also came up with Mary, Jacob and Rachel for the fourth of July. We all went out the the beach and hung out for the day and then went to a great seafood place for dinner, it was a lot of fun and always great to see my family. So, those are the most recent happenings in my life hope you all enjoyed cause it will prolly be another 6 months before I update the blog again but we'll see . . .

Fun Times

2007-02-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

There has been much going on in my life recently. First of all, I have decided that I want to be a high school biology teacher so I am now looking to credential for a year before I can officially be a teacher. In the meantime, I am going to be taking my CBEST in order to be a substitute teacher while I work on my credential. I praise the Lord for the direction that He has given me in this decision. Also, life has been busy with getting together with friends, doing homework and hanging out with Justin. For Valentine's day, Justin took me to see Wicked, the broadway musical. It was amazing! One of the best musicals that I have ever seen in my life. I would go and see it again in a heartbeat. Most recently we went up to Washington for 5 days in order to relax and take a little vacation. We had a great time going to Pike's place market and hanging out in Seattle. We also went to Bodies, The Exhibition which was extremely fascinating. It is a huge display of real human bodies that were dissected to show different organ systems and then preserved in order to be viewed by the public. It was very interesting, but definitely not for those of a weak constitution. The Lord has blessed me greatly in all things and I can do nothing but give Him the praise and the glory for His abundant grace and blessings in my life.

Latest Happenings

2007-01-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

At the Clippers vs. Warriors Game After a Chris Tomlin Concert

Snowboarding

So not too much has been going on in my life recently. I moved out of my parents house into an apartment with friends and have been hanging out with friends and my wonderful boyfriend. It has been great to get back into normal life although there are many things that I miss about Israel. I have also been on the job hunt recently, looking for a real life job using my biology degree. So far I have received two call backs after sending out about 20 resumes. We will see what the Lord has in store for me, I am praying that He will lead me to the place where I can be most effectively used for Him. So here are a few pictures of what I have been up to lately, hope you enjoy!

Wedding Pics

2006-12-28T23:22:00.000-08:00

Ice Skating

Christina and I

The Four Cousins

Minnesota Trip

2006-12-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

So, three days after I arrived back in the US, I flew out to Minnesota for my cousin's wedding. Becca and I flew back to go to the wedding on the 16th of December. We left VERY early in the morning on Thursday to catch a flight to Minneapolis. Once we arrived we were picked up by my cousin Donella who took us back to her house to wait for my grandfather to come and pick us up and take us up to Brainerd. We arrived in Brainerd in time to "help" decorate the church a little for the wedding. I don't think we helped much, we mostly stood around and wondered what we were supposed to be doing. That night, my cousin Christina, Becca and I all went to Crystal's (bride) apartment to stay the night. We slept in the next morning and then went to Seth's (groom) brother's house where we had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs. From there Christina, Becca and I went shopping while Crystal went to the rehersal and dinner. We met up with her again at the church where she and Seth opened their wedding and Christmas presents from the people that were present. The next day was the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. Crystal was absolutely gorgeous! I am so excited for the two of them, they are going to be an amazing couple that brings much glory to God through their relationship. Congratulations you two! Once the wedding was over, we all went to Uncle Bernie's house for a dinner and to stay the night. After dinner we went ice skating on the frozen pond behind their house. That was a blast! It was a little difficult to see where we were skating, but it was awesome. The night was absolutely gorgeous, there were a million and one stars out and not a cloud in the sky. The next morning we went to church and then went back to the house where we had lunch and then went ice skating again that afternoon. Uncle Bernie also treated us to what they call "tornado rides." He hooked up a sledding saucer to the back of his 4-wheeler and then drug us behind the 4-wheeler on the ice. It was soooo much fun! We then played games and just hung out with everyone until it was time to go to bed. The next day we left to go to Minneapolis for our flight home. On the way down we stopped at Cabella's and then proceeded down to Donella's house where we had pizza with a bunch of our family and then headed to the airport for our flight home.
Becca and I had a great time, Thank you to everyone who hauled us around, fed us and gave us a place to stay we appreciate it very much. So, that is the summation of my travels in the past week. I am thouroughly sick of plane rides and traveling, but I praise the Lord that I have had the opportunity to go to Israel and then to Minnesota. Hopefully I will be staying put in California for a while, but we will see what the Lord has in mind . . .

Egypt Pictures 2

2006-12-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

Abby and I on the Felucca ride

One of the pillars at the Karnak Temple

On top of Mount Siani

Egypt Pictures

2006-12-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

Luxor Temple at night

At the Giza pyramids

After we first crossed the border

Egypt Trip

2006-12-04T03:44:00.000-08:00

Here in amazing experience called IBEX we get 10 days off of school to travel to wherever we want (obviously within reason, I don't think our professors would approve of us going to the Gaza strip or Baghdad or some other such place) So Abby, Jen, Joe and I went to Egypt. There were 12 people total that went to Egypt, but we split into groups of 4 for convenience purposes (have you ever tried to decide where to go or eat in a group of 12 different opinions . . .) This trip was planned completely by the students and done by the students. In other words, our professors did not go with us and lead us around by the hand and tell us what to do and what not to do. So, the planning for our group consisted of well we have a sheruit picking us up at 6 am on Saturday morning and is taking us to the border, but after that we had no hotel reservations or any other planned transportation. This was purposeful on our part because in Egypt you never know what is going to happen and so you have to be VERY flexible. The first day of our trip was spent traveling down to Cairo. We were picked up by a sheruit at 6 am which then took us to the border between Eilat and Taba, this took us about 4 1/2 hours. We went across the border with relative ease, it took us about 2 hours to get all 12 of us across amidst security checks and having to show our passports to 25 different people. Once we were across the border it was kinda like, "Alright, well what do we do now?" We knew we had to get a sheruit to Cairo, but we didn't know where to go to get one, we don't speak Arabic and we have NO clue what the going rate is for a sheruit ride from Taba to Cairo is and in Egypt, you have to barter for EVERYTHING and the first 5 prices that they give you are pretty much ridiculous. So, we ended up getting a sheruit, by the grace of God for a very good price. The sheruit ride was about 6 hours from Taba to Cairo. With the help of a very nice Egyptian Tourist Policeman, we were able to find a nice hotel in Cairo and check in. By this time it is about 8 pm, but we hadn't really eaten anything since that morning so we went on a hunt for some food on the streets of Cairo. That was a very interesting experience. Cairo is loud, dirty, crowded with lots of nasty men staring. We were unsuccessful in our quest so we ended up coming back to the hotel restaurant where we had a great traditional Egyptian meal. We then played cards until it was time for bed. The next day we found our way to the Cairo Museum where we were able to see all sorts of amazing artifacts. We went into the mummy rooms and saw many of the different Pharaoh's that we had been learning about in our classes or had heard about from our history classes. We were also able to see all of the King Tut artifacts and much much more. We then caught a taxi ride to the Giza pyramids. Taxi rides in Cairo are . . . interesting . . . You pretty much fear for your life and crossing the street is definitely taking your life into your hands. Well, we got to the pyramids where we rented camels for 3 hours and took a camel ride around the pyramids with our guides. It was amazing to see the pyramids. They are HUGE! With a little bakshsish (bribe) we were able to climb part of the way up one of the small pyramids. We then went to TGI Fridays for dinner where we met up with one of the other groups. We ended up hanging out there for quite a while. After much laughter and some great food we navigated our way to the train station where we caught the all night train down to Luxor. I thought the train ride was pretty cool, but like everything in Egypt it was quite an experience, we took the first class cabin and even in first class we had mice running around at our feet and in the bathrooms . . .well let's just say that the floor moved with every movement of the train. Anyways, we arrived in Luxor at about noon the next day. With the help of another very nice Tourist Policeman we were able to find a 3 star hotel (by Egyptian standards)to stay in. The hotel was also quite an experience, that night Abby and I slept without moving and without the covers because we didn't want to touch them. Once we had checked into the hotel we walked to the Karnak temple. This was AMAZING! The temple covers 60 acres. In one part there are 135 columns, each of which would take about 10 people spreading out their arms to reach all the way around. We were able to explore the temple and managed to get yelled at by the people at the temple for climbing on something that we shouldn't have, but there wasn't a sign and the door was open . . . Once the Karnak temple closed, we split up and a few of us went to McDonalds for dinner. It is incredible how good McDonalds tastes when you haven't had American food for about 2 1/2 months! After dinner we went to the Luxor temple. It was dark by this time so they had the temple lit up and it was beautiful. We spent a couple of hours exploring and taking many pictures and again managed to get yelled at for climbing. Abby, Jen, Joe and I then went back to the hotel again and played cards until bedtime again. The next day, we took a motorboat across the Nile and got a taxi ride to the Valley of the Kings. That was really awesome as well. We were able to go into 3 different tombs and see all of the beautifully painted heiroglyphics. Once we were done exploring we hiked over the mountain that seperated us from Hatshepsut Temple on the other side. We then spent the rest of the morning there exploring and taking more pictures. We then walked from the Hatshepsut temple to Hatshepsut restaurant a couple of miles away where we had lunch. After lunch we went to Medinet Habu, which is another huge temple. There we again explored and took many pictures. We then walked to the Colosse which are two massive statues. Once we had seen them we walked back to the Nile where we took a Felucca ride (kind of like a sailboat) on the Nile during sunset. It was beautiful! That night we caught the all night bus from Luxor to Suez. This was a crazy experience! First of all, the bus is filthy, none of us wanted to touch anything. Second, the bus driver put on this 'fascinating' Jean Claude Van Dame movie. Third, the driver was all over the road, (we were going around blind corners on the opposite side of the road) also he would lay on the horn, which was super loud (so forget sleeping), all the time. Lastly, we would make frequent stops where everyone else who was on the bus would get off and smoke a couple of cigarettes. We finally made it to Suez safely at about 7 am. From there we caught a sheruit down to Mt. Siani. Once we were there we bought some snacks at a 'grocery' store and then proceeded to climb Mt. Siani. We found out later that this is the hardest hike in the Middle East because it is 3,750 steps straight up to the top. It was insane, but we made it! We watched the sunset from the top of the mountain and then hiked down a little ways to a bedouin 'campground' where we rented blankets and matresses. Mt. Siani is FREEZING, literally, so we needed these blankets and matresses for the night. However, these matresses were nasty and the blankets were, well they pretty much took them off the camels and gave them to us. So that night we all slept huddled together to try and preserve body heat because it was so cold. We slept so close that Jen was pretty much laying on top of me for most of the night, we literally couldn't roll over. The stars are incredible from up there though, so it was worth it. The next morning we watched the sunrise and read the passages from the Bible about Moses receiving the ten commandments and of Elijah running to Siani. We then hiked down the mountain and caught a sheruit to Taba where we crossed the border back into Israel. We were all excited to be back in Israel. After 3 days of not showering, 2 nights of not much sleep, smelly camel blankets and being fed up with the nasty men and tired of being hassled wherever we went, we were all excited to be back. That afternoon we caught the bus up to Jerusalem and then the bus back to the Moshav. So that was our crazy, exciting and tiring trip to Egypt. We saw the Lord's grace every day in keeping us safe when we had no idea what we were doing and bringing people in our path to help us. All the glory belongs to Him. Well thanks for reading I hope that I was able to communicate well the insanity. If you want to hear more, I would be happy to talk to you when I get home, which will be in one week. For now I have to go and study for finals. YIKES!

Galilee Pictures 2

2006-11-28T03:56:00.000-08:00

At Belvoir

At Beit Shean

Lauren and I at the Jordan River

Galilee Pictures

2006-11-28T03:30:00.000-08:00

Michelle, Emily and I at the Lebanese border with Mount Hermon in the background

In a first century Tomb

Sunset from the top of ancient Roman aqueducts in Cesarea

Galilee Trip

2006-11-28T00:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I got an email from my aunt claiming that I never update my blog, so this is to prove her wrong ;)

We spent 8 days in Galilee from October 29th to November 5th. On the first day we left early in the morning and went to Aphek, where Paul was taken on the way to Cesarea to stand trial. We then went to the Ha'aretz Museum. It was really cool to see an amazing collection of ancient coins and glass as well as a section that showed us how things were made in ancient times. We then went to Cesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. It was amazingly beautiful. I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life. That night we stayed near Dor on the Mediterranean Coast. The next day we went up onto Mount Carmel where we stopped at the place where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. We also did an overview of the Jezreel Valley. From there we went down into the Jezreel Valley and went to Megiddo. We also went to En Harod where Gideon chose his 300 men to defeat the Arameans (I believe it was the Arameans). The last stop of the day was Nazareth. It was amazing to see the place that Jesus grew up. While we were there we went to Nazareth Village where we were able to see how things would have been in the time of Christ. We then went to En Gedi where we stayed for the rest of our time in Galilee. The next day we went up to the border between Israel and Lebanon, where some of the war this summer was fought. We also went to ancient Dan where Jeroboam set up one of his rival worship centers to Jerusalem and where he put up one of the golden calves. We then went to the border with Syria where we could see the Damascus road at about the place where Paul had his conversion experience. The next day we went around the sea of Galilee. We went to Bethsaida, Capernaum, Chorazin and the Mt. of Beatitudes. Going to the place where Jesus gave the sermon on the Mount brought the sermon alive to me. While we were there we read most of the sermon. It was powerful and moving. We then went to the church of St. Peter's primacy, which is at the spot where Peter confessed Christ as Lord. We then drove to the top of Mt. Arbel where we did an overview of the life of Christ. From there we hiked down the mountain. Once we got past the point where we had to climb down ladders that were put into the rocks, a few of us decided that we were going to run the rest of the way down. It was a ton of fun, especially when it started to rain. When we got to the bottom we went and took a boat ride from Tiberas to the En Gev fish restaurant where most of us ordered St. Peter's fish, which is the kind of fish that Peter caught that had the Denarius in its mouth. It was probably the most ugly fish that I have seen, but it tasted good. In the middle of the boat ride over, we stopped the boat and Uncle Randy read us the accounts of Jesus walking on the water and also of Jesus calming the storm. It was an incredible experience to actually be on the sea of Galilee and be able to look out and see where these events occurred. On Thursday, I had the amazing priviledge of being baptized in the sea of Galilee. I was so excited to be able to finally proclaim my belief in Christ publicly. There were three of us that were baptized that morning. We then went on a hike through the Nahal Yehudiya. It was an amazing hike. At one point we stopped and got to jump off a 20 foot cliff into water. It was sooooo much fun. We had to climb down cliffs and then swim for a few hundred feet in a couple of places during the hike, it was freezing but completely worth it! Once we got back and got warmed up we had a half day field trip for my Modern Israel class. It was pretty cool, we got to go to different Kibbutzim that were part of the founding of the state of Israel. The next day Abby and I had a free day because the Regional Explorations class had an all day hike. So we were able to sleep in for a little bit. We then spent the rest of the morning playing with some of the professors children in the sea of Galilee. The second half of the day we layed in the sun and took naps and just relaxed, it was a great day. On Shabbat most of the IBEXers went and floated down the Jordan River for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun, but was also freezing. The rest of the day we just hung out with people and played games and such. Sunday we left En Gev and went to Belvoir, where there was a crusader castle. It was a lot of fun to climb all over the castle since a lot of it was still fairly intact. The last stop in the trip was Beit Shean. From there we drove back to the Moshav and back to classes the next day. The Galilee trip was a lot of fun. I learned so much about the life of Christ and it really helped me to understand the New Testament better. I praise the Lord for the opportunity to be here and to learn about the land of the Bible and the understanding that I have gained from being here. I also praise the Lord for the lessons that He has taught me while I have been here. We did many other things and went to many other places, but if I were to write them all this blog entry would be forever long. I will post again soon and tell everyone all about our amazing and crazy trip to Egypt. Thanks for sticking with me and reading my fragmented thoughts.

Yad Vashem

2006-10-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Today our IBEX group went into Jerusalem and visited Yad Vahsem, which is the memorial museum for the Holocaust here in Israel. I have been to several other Holocaust museums and memorials, but this was the most powerful. I was struck again by the unbelievable human cruelty and depravity that was displayed so evidently by the Holocaust. It also caused me to think if I would have done anything about the slaughter of the Jews if I had lived in that time. Up until now I had not thought about it very seriously, but rather had assumed that I would resist the Nazis and help the Jews, after all I am a good person right? However, now I realize even more the motivations and hesitancies of the common people and why they did nothing. They were comfortable with their posessions and were scared of what would happen to them. Some people even outright hated the Jews. If I were not a Christian I can honestly say that I might not have done anything because I to would be too scared as to what would happen to me. This scared me and caused me to realize just how selfish and depraved that I am. I also believe that what one of our professors, Bill, said was true and really hit a chord with me. He said that God is not to blame for what happened because God is good at all times. Then why did this happen? His explanation is that God removed His hand of restraint for that time so that we would be able to see what happens when mankind rejects God. I can only praise God that He has not completely abandoned us and left us to our own ways. I don’t believe that mankind would ever have made it as far as we have today without God protecting us and showing grace every second of every day to us. Another powerful symbol was the Children’s memorial. To think that 1.5 million children were murdered simply because of their race is mind boggling. I don’t understand how people could do such a thing to innocent children. What kind of hatred and coldness would drive a person to do such a thing? All I could think of was my little sister Rachel being one of those children and what that would feel like to know that she was murdered cruelly. Then I realized that each of those children had people just like me who loved each child and mourned for their death. That was incredibly difficult and painful to grasp. All in all the trip to Yad Vashem today helped me to grasp better the pain and the suffering that the Jewish people went through in the Holocaust and still are dealing with today. It also helped me to see even better why the state of Israel is absolutely essential for the Jewish people. They have no where else to go. The people of Europe murdered their families and everywhere else they are persecuted and face anti-Semitism of all sorts. How are they to trust these people again? I always knew that you had understand the Holocaust in order to understand the Jewish way of thinking today, but now I feel as though I am able to see the world a little bit better through their eyes.

2006-10-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the shore of the Red Sea

Negev Pictures

2006-10-17T02:25:00.001-07:00

Dead Sea Mud

Abby and I on top of Masada

The Tabernacle

Negev Pictures

2006-10-17T02:25:00.000-07:00

At the Boardwalk in Eilat

Jamie and I at Tel-Arad

Abby and I at Beer-sheva

Negev Trip

2006-10-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

So I recently got back from a four day trip to the region of the Negev desert. We left on Wednesday early in the morning. We went first to Qumran where the dead sea scrolls were found. While we were there we were able to hike up to one of the caves that the scrolls were found in. From there we went to En gedi to get an overview of the land. We then went to the Dead sea where we went swimming. It was amazing how much you float and how bad the water tastes. We got to smear the mud there all over us. After a quick shower and a sprint back to the bus to make it on time, we drove to Masada where most of us hiked up the snake trail to the top. It was a very hard hike, but the view from the top was completely worth it. We spent a couple of hours on top looking at all the different Herodian ruins that were there. We then went to Arad where we stayed at a youth hostel for the night, we had some free time after we had dinner so a bunch of us walked down to the mall in the city and I had the most amazing ice cream of all time, it was supposed to be butterscotch, but it didn't really taste like it. The next day we went to ancient Arad where we walked on streets that were 5,500 years old, it was amazing. We then went to Beer-Sheva where Abraham dug a well and planted a tree and did various other things. We also went to Sde Boqer where David Ben-Gurion (the first prime minister of Israel) lived for a while and then died. At the end of the day we went to Oboda/Avdat which was on the Nabatean Spice route. It was super cool because there were tombs all over the place and we got to climb around in the tombs and explore. We then went to Maktesh Ramon where we stayed the night in another hostel. We had chapel that night on a wooden overhang on the cliff. On Friday we went down into the Maktesh to a caravanseri where the Nabateans would have stopped on their way from Yemen to Gaza, bringing the frankencinse. While we were there, Uncle Randy burned some frankencinse for us so we would know what it smelled like. From there we went to the middle of the wilderness of Paran where we all got off the bus and walked a ways away by ourselves and read Deuteronomy 8 and meditated on what it means. It is so encouraging to see how real to life the Bible is becoming to me. It was also amazing to see the love and care of the Lord for His people even while they were being punished by wandering in the wilderness. I can also say that I can not look down on the Israelites for their complaining because I would have been the head of the complaining committee. The wilderness is nothing but dry, brown rocks, heat and flies. It is definitely barren and a great place for the Lord to humble His people and teach them that it is Him and Him alone that sustains and cares for them. Once we were all back on the bus we had lunch and then went to the Haibar Nature Reserve where we were able to see all sorts of snakes (cobras and vipers) and different kinds of animals. I saw hyenas and bats in real life for the first time, it was really cool. We then went to the valley of Timnah where we saw the true to life model of the Tabernacle. It is incredible how much the symbolism in the Tabernacle points to Christ, I had never realized it before. After that we climbed all over various rock formations in the valley and then drove to Eilat. We had free time that night so Abby, Jamie, Emily, Michelle and I went to the boardwalk on the Red Sea and did some shopping. We also sat on the beach of the Red Sea and skipped rocks on the surface. On Saturday we were able to sleep in for a little bit and then went down to the Red Sea where we went snorkeling in a coral reef. It was so cool, I saw all different kinds of fish, the water was incredibly blue and very clear, we could see for a long way. We had lunch at Pizza Hut and then drove back to the Moshav, which took us about 4 hours. The bus ride was fun because we had an open mic session where we heard some stand up comedy, various family stories and dancing up and down the center aisle of the bus to Queen. All in all it was a great trip, the Lord taught me a lot about myself, Himself and about the land of Israel. Praise the Lord that He is faithful to teach me even through my hardness of heart. So, that is the sum of the trip, for now we have a few days of classes. On wednesday we are going to Yad Vashem which is the Holocaust memorial here in Israel, it should be very powerful. Thanks for sticking with my scattered thoughts and memories, I will post pictures of the trip soon.

Even more pictures

2006-10-10T05:01:00.000-07:00

Acting out the story of David and Goliath in the valley of Elah

Sunrise over the Dead sea

Crawling through caves in Moresheth Gath

More Pictures

2006-10-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Abby and I in Eleutheropolis

Yom Kippur- Jumping off the center divide of the main freeway

A group of us in a waterfall at En Gedi

Pictures

2006-10-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I at the ancient tell of Gezer

Jen and I with some Israeli soldiers

Crazy Fun Times

2006-10-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything so I thought it was high time that I did. However, since there has been sooo much that has been going on recently I will just recount the last three or four days which could take me a while to do anyway. So, on Thursday, October 6 we were able to take an optional field trip into Jerusalem to walk around and observe everyone getting ready for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles. It was amazing walking around a market and observing people yelling and trying to buy food for Sukkot. It is not every day that you get to hear people talking in Hebrew, Arabic, English and a variety of other languages. It was also interesting to see all the different sights, there were people selling fish, fruit, nuts and pita. The sights, sounds and smells were amazing and overwhelming. We also went to a Jewish market where everyone was buying their lulav and etrog to worship with during Sukkot. We then walked through Meash Jearim(sp?) which is possibly the most orthodox Jewish community in the world. It was an awesome night, just to see the anticipation and preparation for the holiday. On friday we had classes all day, but in the evening we were able to build an IBEX sukkah. A sukkah is a tent that is built during sukkot to remember the wilderness wanderings of the Jewish people. We had a great time building and decorating it. At one point I got to climb a date palm tree and cut off dates to put in our sukkah. I got stabbed by the tree a few times for my efforts, but it was all worth it in the end. We then had chapel that night out next to the sukkah. On saturday we went to Jerusalem assembly for shabbat services and afterward Abby, Hannah and I did some shopping in the old city of Jerusalem. It was a lot of fun and nice and relaxing, plus we got a lot of good deals : ) Sunday was an IBEX work day. All of the IBEXers were split into teams and each of us did different jobs around the moshav. The team that I was on got to go and harvest grapes in a vineyard near the moshav. It was hot, dusty and sweaty but a lot of fun. It was so neat to be able to see the illustration that Jesus gave to His disciples in John 15 right before my eyes. I am able to understand it soo much better now and when I get back if you ask me about it I will tell you all about it. It was also interesting experiencing a full day's work in a vineyard. It is definitely hard work! It wasn't all work though. Our team had to ride in the back of a truck to go to and from the vineyard and at one point, Uncle Randy's team ambushed us with water balloons and a hose as we were driving by. Needless to say, that meant war . . . At the prompting of our professor, Bill we filled up buckets and water balloons and snuck up on the other team and by a bold offensive manuver we were able to capture their hose and completely soak most of the members of the team (including uncle Randy tehe!) Once we were done with that we went back to the vineyard and completed the work day. When we were done picking grapes, we brought back what we had picked and put them in the replica of a Bible times wine press and then we all got to smash the grapes with our feet. It was soooo much fun, there was a lot of laughter and singing and dancing involved and a general good time resulted. We got quite a bit of grape juice from what we gathered, so it was rewarding as well as fun. Once everyone was cleaned up from that we all went to the park on the moshav and had a middle eastern meal where we cooked our own fresh pita bread over a fire. It was sooooo good. Once we were done eating we all loaded up in the bus and went to Jerusalem to spend the night on the roof of the Petra Youth Hostel in the old city. Todd decided that he was going to go for a "walk" and anyone that wanted to come with him could. However, Todd's "walks" include walking across Jerusalem, transversing the Kidron valley and then climbing up the Mount of Olives. In the Kidron valley there are many many tombs, and what do college students do when there are tombs, we climb all over them of course and go in the ones that we can (with our professor leading the way) At one point we climbed through a small gap between rock and the iron gate that was blocking us from seeing 1st century tombs like the one that Jesus would have been buried in. It was pretty funny watching people climb up the gate and then go headfirst through the small opening. In the end it was a long walk, but well worth it to see the view of Jerusalem at night from the top of the Mount of Olives. On our way back we stopped and got pizza in the Jewish quarter and then proceeded back to the hostel where we all collapsed into bed. In the morning we all got up at about 5:30ish to watch the sun rise over the Mount of Olives, which was absolutely beautiful. We then hit the streets of Jerusalem on a quest to find breakfast. We were not very successful, but we were able to find fresh hot pita bread (I have to admit, the pita here is amazing, I will never be able to go back to the cardboard that they call pita in the states) Once we were all filled up on pita we went to the wailing wall to observe the service that they were having for sukkot and also to see the priestly blessing that only occurs every six months. It was crazy how many people were there, when we left there were about 30,000 people there and there were more coming. Once we left there we walked all the way back to the hostel to grab our stuff and get back on the bus to come back for classes. We were all exhausted at this point and in need of a shower, but no such luck, we got back in time to go directly to class. However, it was rather humorous watching people struggle to stay awake in class, some not succeeding. At the end of our land and Bible classes we were able to taste the fruit of our grape stomping labor. Yes that is right, we got to pick and stomp grapes and then drink the grape juice that we had made (after it had been boiled of course). It was so cool! So that is what has been happening here in the past couple of days. On wednesday we leave to go to the Negev desert for 4 days which will be a lot of fun, but very tiring. Thanks for taking the time to read this, sorry it was so long and for any spelling or grammar mistakes that I have made, I don't really have time to do any proofreading right now : )

Boker Tov!

2006-09-28T01:22:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I on Ashkelon Beach

A beautiful sunset

Abby and I picking grapes
Good morning everyone! So it has again been a while since I have updated my blog. It has been a busy week and the time has been flying by. We have been in class mostly for the last week. However, over the weekend we were able to go to Ashkelon beach and swim in the Mediterranean sea. It was amazing!! The water was sooo warm, but it was also very salty. The waves were very strong and very frequent though so it made it very hard to swim, most of the time in the water was spent diving under the waves and trying to avoid being caught unaware by a wave, which if you were, you were quickly sucked under, knocked around and by the time the wave had passed, you were very disoriented (this is the voice of experience talking ;) ) Anyway, we also played soccer on the beach and then watched the sunset. The sunset was amazingly beautiful!! I have never seen the sun so red before. On Monday we were able to go and pick grapes in a vineyard which was very fun!! In a couple of weeks we are going to stomp on the grapes on the moshav in a replica of an ancient wine press. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday we went to see the land about Bethlehem, but more about that later . . .

Shalom!

2006-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, it has been a little while since I have posted anything on my blog so I thought that I would let you all know what has been going on. It has been amazing being here in Israel and learning all about the land and the Bible and how over and over the Bible is confirmed by archaeology and geography and other extrabiblical sources, it is really a boost to my faith to be assured again that the Bible is inerrant and I can trust everything that is in it. For the past week we have been mostly in classes or doing homework. However, we did just take a field trip to learn about the approaches and surrounding geography of Jerusalem. Next week we will be going on a field trip to study the land of Benjamin. We will get to go to Jericho and march around the walls, I am told that it only takes approximately 14 minutes to walk around the city of Jericho. So that should be pretty awesome. So far classes have been going really well here, I am learning a lot, but there is a lot of reading to do. I don't know if I have ever read so much in my entire college career as I am reading now. It is all very good though and most of it is enjoyable. My ancient Israel class is going to be very difficult, and stretching, which is a very good thing, I want to be challenged here in this land, that is one of the main reasons that I came here and so I praise God for the challenges that He is bringing into my life here. This land is definitely challenging to be in. There are many things that I miss about home, but I know that this is where the Lord has me now for a reason and I prau that I am able to take full advantage of my time here and not get distracted.

Pic explanation

2006-09-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

The first picture below is a group of us near the southern steps, the second picture is of our tiny little room, really a broom closet and the final picture was taken on the temple mount

Jerusalem

2006-09-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Since we have been here in the beautiful land of Israel, I have had the great priviledge of going into Jerusalem on two different occasions. The first time we went we emphasized the Old Testament and the second time we went we studied the New Testament. In the Old Testament walk we got to see Hezekiah's wall that he built before Sennacherib came to attack Jerusalem. This was the time that the Lord miraculously rescued Jerusalem by sending an angel that killed 185,000 of Sennacherib's army. We then went and saw the city of David and the ruins of what is believed to be David's palace. The final stop of the day was to go through Hezekiah's tunnel. It was amazing to see the amount of stone that had to be moved in order for this project to be completed and it was all done with picks! Crazy! In our New Testament walk we went up onto the temple mount and then went and saw a street from the first century which Jesus would have walked on. We then went to the southern steps that led up to the temple where the Israelites would sing the psalms of ascent as they went up to the temple. This is also probably where Peter preached his sermon on the day of Pentecost. While we were there we read one of the Psalms of ascent, it was a very moving experience. We also went and saw ruins of a 1st century herodian house. We then went to the church of the Holy Sepulchre which is the site of the crucifixtion, burial and resurrection. It was absolutely incredible and indescribable how it felt to be standing in the spot where my savior spilt His blood for my sins. We ended the day by going to the garden tomb which is an alternate site for the crucifixion and tomb, but is definitely not the right spot. However, the tomb does not have a church built around it and therefore it was easier to get a picture of what golgotha would have looked like in the 1st century A.D.

Eretz Yisrael!!!

2006-09-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hello from the land of Israel!! We arrived in Israel about 4 1/2 hours ago Crazy!! When we left the airport we drove through the Adonija (sp?) valley where Joshua chased the canaanites through. We also drove through the setting for acts 9:32, the story of Peter healing the lame man and the raising of the dead of the widow. Sorry for being so vague, but my brain is not working completely right now since I am a little sleep deprived. I was able to sleep on the plane ride over here but definitely not enough. Tomorrow we have orientation and then classes begin with full force. On monday we travel to Jerusalem for the first time!! So after that I will have lots of cool pictures to post. So for now, Shalom!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2006-09-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

Alright, it is official, we are flying out for Israel in 10 and 1/2 hours!! Crazy!! If any of you out there think of me, please pray that our group would be safe and that we would all just learn a lot from this whole experience. I will be posting pictures and updates on this site soon from the land of Israel!! I love you all and will miss everyone tremendously.

Israel Update

2006-07-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

So since there is soo much unrest and fighting in the middle east, I am not sure if I will be going to Israel in the fall. (it looks like the end times are happening right in front of us) The school makes an official decision on July 28th as to whether or not they will be sending us over there, even if they do let us go, I am not sure that my parents will let me go at this point.

My Very Own Blog

2006-07-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

Alright, well I finally caved and decided to create my own blog so that when I am in Israel, I can post pictures and cool stories so everyone can see the holy land while I am there. I can't guarantee how many posts that there will be but I will try to post fairly often while I am there. For now ( so my blog is not completely boring) I will post some pictures of what has been going on with me this summer and so people can see some of the cool new people that I have met. So far this summer I have been working like crazy and hanging out with friends every spare moment that I have, I think that I have hung out with friends every night for the past month, so thus far summer has been a blast as well as being productive in the money making department as well. Spiritually, the Lord has been teaching me a lot about Himself and has been transforming my heart, Praise the Lord. Anyway, enough rambling now for those picures . . .