Shabbat and Shopping on Sunday

One of my favorite experiences so far was Church! It was amazing! A common theme in all the testimonies was the atonement, and the spirit in the room was magnified by being able to see where it happened! Add in the sacrament, and wow! It was so powerful!

We have churhc here on Saturday because it is the Isaraeli Holy Day. We hold it than out of respect for their culture. It took some getting use to, especially when the nest day, Sunday, we went shopping like it was a regular day!

So, I've left the center 3 times in a group already! The first was mostly girls (about 6-8) with around 3 guys. Later we just walked out to the city to explore. We got to about where we wanted, realized the sun was setting really fast, and quickly turned around and rushed back to the center. In that group there were like 6 guys and 6 girls! (Pretty good considering there are 2 girls for every guy in the center!) I was really impressed with the group. They really were paying attention and when crunch time came to get us quickly back to the center, the guys made a decisive plan and got us back. It was really cool watching them. Today I went out in a group of 5 girls and 1 guy. We went looking through the stores in the old city. Most everyone in my group got something, me, I compared approximate prices, labeled which sites were tourists traps (and thus the overpriced stores) and found several gifts that I will get later for the family! I'm so excited!

It was really cool today because I got to start talking to people in the city. The first I talked to was a Christian store-owner (Seemed like a safe choice for the first time talking to a stranger about living in the Holy Land) I found out he was Greek-Orthodox and has a brother from South Carolina. He mentioned some cool sites to see. It was interesting, and in many ways more valuable than the tidbits i could have bought today. I can't wait to meet more people! We also went to a man named Shibbon (sp?)'s store. We've heard great things about him from others who have gone to the center, about how honest he is, and how he has the best deals. In fact, he so loved by the center, that the administration has told us if we are ever separated from the group, he's shop is a safe place to wait! Anyways, we were looking for his place, when we saw a man standing near a beautiful fountain. We asked for directions to Jaffa gate (because we knew Shibbon's store was nearby, and we didn't want to ask a rival store owner for directions to someone else shop). So we asked him where Jaffa gate was and he told us it was by his store. Turns out it was the very person we were looking for! He gave us an insider's tour of the area near his store, showed us cheap places for good quality stuff, and places that will rip you off. He taught us how to tell the quality of something (like what is olive wood and what is an imitation). His prices were also the best I've seen so far! I'm definitely planning on getting several souvenirs there.

A guy in my group was asking what traditional garb a man would wear in Jerusalem. Shibbon took stuff off his shelf and helped this guy get dressed to see what they wore. There was no pressure to buy like at other shops (so of course we all ultimately wanted to shop there!) But he really kept an eye out for quality for us. Like he wouldn't sell some traditional dresses to us, because they were tourist items, and not of the quality that a student of the center would want. He really stood out among other shop keepers.

Other cool experiences that happed while shopped, mainly we got asked if we were the ones who believed in Joseph Smith. Another offered to sell us some Liahonas! It was hilarious! Everyone asked are you Mormon? It was so cool! So, tonight was my productive night. I finished most all of my reading for the week, (it was a ton!!! really rigorous! I'm serious! don't laugh!) So I can enjoy most of the week, and play more! I had my Israeli, Palestinian, and Hebrew classes today! the teachers are amazing! I can't even describe how cool they were! I can even read my first word in Hebrew, and recognize the first two letters of the alphabet! I'm so excited about it! And it really is spoken here! It was cool leaving the center after hebrew, I began to recognize some of the symbols. I didn't feel completely illiterate anymore! So, what you should have gotten from this paragraph: Hebrew is not a dead language. and its amazing. period. (NOTE: I studied Latin in High School and now Hebrew. My parents tease me that I can only learn the dead languages and none that I can communicate with. However, my experiences in the city have shown that Hebrew is very much an alive language, and I look forward to being able to use it to communicate with the locals!)

Let's see... I can't think of anything else to say, but I love it here! I love ya'll a ton, and hope you had a great shabbat today!

Shabbot Shalom!

P.S. They have Hebrew scrabble here! Can you believe it? It was basically amazing!