Every Moment a Memory

This weekend has been so full of memories! It started on Shabbat (Saturday) with an amazing church service. Afterwards, we had a linger-longer with the local members of the branch. Most of them work at the American Consulate, and it was cool to hear some of their experiences over here. Plus they have some great tips for p0laces to go and see!

After the linger-longer I had the opportunity to go to the Garden of Gethsemane to read my scriptures, pray, and reflect. It was a really cool experience. The little garden was beautiful, and it was cool afterwords to sing hymns with the group I came with. As I was sitting there, it was really one of those experiences that reiterates I really am in Jerusalem, walking the roads the Savior walked!

Sunday was our first free day. We had an opportunity to go to the Shrine of the Book. It is a beautiful museum that houses the Isaiah scroll! The Isaiah scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and it's deteriorating rather quickly, so they are about to move it to a climate-controlled area. Even most of the translators will then only be able to work with digital copies of it and not the actual document. It was really cool to see, and a little weird to think I'll be on of the last people to see it on display! After we saw the scroll, we got to wonder around and see artifacts. It was amazing some of the stuff the collected. Most of the artifacts were from Qumram (civilization who created and maintained the dead sea scrolls) and they were over 2,000 years old! They had sandals, nails, pottery, beads, and so much more! I loved seeing the artifacts and learning about an ancient group of people! Further in the museum, they had more religious documents, like the Aleppo Codex (it is one of the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, and people will use it to judge the accuracy of other discovered copies). IT was cool to see it and read the story about it. You see, a lot of it was lost during the conflict over here in Israel, and most of the first five books of it (the Pentateuch) have gone missing. It was really interesting!

OK, so we went to the museum, learned a ton, and it was barely lunch time. So i got with a group and went to the Biblical zoo! It is mostly a regular zoo with an ark in the middle of it! I had a really funny group, and we have so funny pictures of us imitating the animals on exhibit. After we spent several hours there, we went to West Jerusalem. We went to the King David hotel (I think this is where President Bush usually stays when he visits the area), then walked around West Jerusalem, got a Falaffle (its a local dish) for dinner, and walked back to the center for laundry, studying, and a fun game of soccer!

I'm really trying to push my comfort zone while I'm hear, and I've learned a lot. I've never been much of a soccer player, and now I can occasionally actually kick the ball! I joined the student choir here (for any of you who have heard me sing, you know I really am pushing my comfort zone!). And I'm trying all sorts of new foods here. The big joke at all the meals is that all the food we eat tastes Delicious, we just have no idea what half of it is!

Well, I have Hebrew in a little bit, so I need to go review the letters we've learned and our expressions! I just have to say really quickly that the class is amazing! I can already recognize some things when I walk out in the city! Every time I hear someone use a word I know, I get really excited! Yesterday in the zoo, a group of us were riding a train that circles the zoo. We were just getting off, when over the intercom it said something in Hebrew. One of the words was todah (Hebrew for thank you). Every person in the group who is taking Hebrew all of a sudden looked ant each other and with shocked expressions started giggling! We had all understood something in Hebrew! It was really funny! I really hope I can learn more of the language! It's really pretty, and I don't feel as illiterate when I walk through the city now!

It's amazing that all of this has happened in two days! Every day here seems to include 2-3 days worth of funny experiences. Every moment really is a memory! I hope I can truly make the most my time here in the Holy Land! Well, till next time... Shalom!