We're gonna party like we're ARABS!!

Well one of the funnest things I have done since I have been here is participate in an ARAB WEDDING!! They guy that we exchange all of our money with is named Aladdin, and his son was getting married and so he invited a few of us students. We couldn't pass up the opportunity because we hear the weddings going on the time, and THEY KNOW HOW TO PARTY!! So we got all dressed up and showed up at the really nice hotel for 3 hours of pure fun and dancing!!
If there is one thing that I can say about Arab weddings it is that - THEY NEVER STOP DANCING!! The whole night they had songs pumping and the entertainment going. They fed us some good Arabic food and normal wedding cake. We were definitely the only people there that were not Arabs, so it was kind of awkward at first but they were so nice to us. They were begging us to come dance with them in every song. So basically we sent the night on the dance floor with the bride and groom and their family.

I spent too much money at the Olive Wood shop!!!

One of my favorite parts about Jerusalem is the amazing olive wood shops that they have. Those who know me, know how much I love Nativities. In all my travels I try to buy a nativity from each country. I bought an amazing nativity and also spent some money on gifts for other people. I splurged and bought this bust of Christ, I just had to have something that I could leave out all year.

There were so many amazing nativities that I would buy in a second if I had the money.

This is a camel from the 3000 dollar nativity. So much detail in beautiful wood, this is my dream nativity!! One day. . .

This is Omar, who I bought most of my olive wood stuff from. He caters to the mormons because we buy so much from him. This is the bust that I bought, it was the best Christ face that I found.
Although I spent a lot of money, I know that I bought things that I will use my whole life and they will be a symbol of my love for Jerusalem and everything that I learned here.

. . And was baptized by Immersion, in the River Jordan's Flow

I'm sorry, I don't know why these pictures flipped.

The Jordan River is the border between Israel and Jordan. So while we were sitting on one side of the river in Jordan, we looked over the other side and saw people sitting in Israel. You can see the Israeli flag flying in the background.

One of my favorite parts of the whole Jordan trip was the Jordan River - where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. It just amazes me how perfectly law-abiding Jesus was. He was so perfect, but knew he had to be baptized to abide by the laws. He was perfectly obedient in every way. That is such a great lesson for us all. Even when we don't understand the importance of certain commandments, we must follow the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be perfectly obedient.
It was amazing to be in that very river where Christ was baptized. What an amazing event, to have Christ there being baptized by John the baptist who Jesus said was one of the best prophets ever. Baptism is such an important step, it took me back to my baptism. I am so grateful for the decision I made to enter into covenants with him and enjoy the blessings of the gospel.

PETRA!!

Petra, Jordan - One of the worlds wonders!! It lived up to every one of my expectations!! There is no wonder that it is a wonder of the world - no pun intended. I loved the beautiful colors of sandstone and all the amazing things they carved right outside of the side of the cliff. I also loved the people that live there that we met. They try so hard to sell their things that they make and they all want you to ride their mules, horses and camels.

These are two different kinds of soldiers. The one in the blue suit is the Tourist police and the one in the dress is the Bedouin police.

Just riding my camel Sally outside the Treasury, does it look familiar? The treasury is in the movie Indiana Jones.

Look at all these tombs carved into the mountain

This is the Monastery, you had to hike for a long time up hundreds of stairs to reach this place. It was so pretty though!!

Beautiful rock formations

A Bedouin girl that I made friends with, she was so cute.

There are so many beautiful colors in the rock.

This is what they do for a living there

I bought a little bottle of sand from this man, he doesn't use glue or anything, he is so talented with sand art, he even wrote my name in the sand, I don't know how

This rock looked like melting chocolate.

Hezekiah's Tunnel - Sloshin' through the Gihon Spring

Hezekiah's tunnel was built by Hezekiah in 701 BC to protect the water source of the city of David - the Gihon Spring. It was also built to take the water from inside the city walls to a water reservoir that would allow more people to get to it more easily. It is about 1500 feet long and it was carved out of pure limestone. Not an easy feat!! He had carvers start at both ends and they finally met in the middle. The tunnel is not very wide, there are many parts where my shoulders touched both sides and the water was usually up to my calves the whole time. We had such a fun time sloshing through the water in the dark. Although, my head suffered a few bumps. We tried to be more adventurous and turn off all of our lamps, until my head started pounding from all the bumps against the wall.

This is my teacher, brother Judd and some of his daughter, aren't they so cute and little!!

WE did it!! WE got through it!!

I look like I'm granola, hard core!!

I know I look hott with my head lamp on.

Garden Tomb & Golgotha

There are a lot of places in Jerusalem that have to do with the life of Christ. Sometimes it is hard because when you go to a place where Jesus had walked or performed a miracle you expect to feel the spirit really strong. But they have done so many things to these places, like built a mosque or synagogue over the top or adorned it with Gold and statues, that it kind of loses it's Spirit. You have to find the Spirit inside yourself and search to find meaning or ponder about what really happened there.

But, the Garden Tomb is not like all those other places. There is a really special spirit in this little place. First of all, it is owned by English Christians who really believe in Christ and it is kept up very well. The gardens around it are beautiful and there is a lot of room around to sit and ponder or sing hymns. The tour that we were given was by a man from England. At the end of the tour while we were sitting right outside what they predict is the tomb that Christ was in, he bore the strongest testimony of Christ and how life is better when we accept his assistance. He also bore witness that Christ was resurrected and that he lives today. I loved the spirit he brought to the tour.

This place is one of my favorite places in all of Jerusalem. I feel so comfortable and it is fun to do on a Sabbath afternoon. What a Sabbath outing, huh?

This is Golgotha. They think it is golgotha because it means skeleton. And there is a skeleton face in the rock cliff. Can you see it? Sadly, it has now been turned into a bus station. But Golgotha is right next to the Garden Tomb. Golgotha is also on a major highway that was present when Christ lived, so they figured also that that would make sense because they always crucified people on very busy streets so everyone would see the consequences of bad decisions. It is so sad to think about.

Rappin it up in the Talent Show

If you didn't think I could pull off being a gangster, this video will prove you wrong!!

For the informal talent show I found two friends that knew how to beat-box. We got together and put together a little something. We had so much fun and even included some costumes. We wrote the words to the rapping part of the song. We start off really serious and in the end we full out rapping with gangster clothes on. So homies, let me know what you think? Did we bring down the house or did we not?