The Via Dolorosa Walk

It is the first week of Lent so I walked the 14 points of the Via Dolorasa with a bunch of Franciscan priests. We walked from each point and they prayed and sung at each point. There was a huge recessionaly following them, it blocks the Old City streets. It was reallyc cool, the prayers were given in english, arabic and italian. It was really neat, I didnt realize how many Catholics there were in Jerusalem. But its starting to begin the tourist season, which really stinks.
This is kinda of a picture that I kind of took on accident. But this is on of my friends, in the backround is a bunch of ethnic groups. Way neat!

Waiting at the first position, there were a ton of nuns and monks.

These were the Monks praying at Position 2.

I like this picture because it shows the sacredness of the walk from the positions of the Via Del Rosa. The Via Del Rosa the street Christ walked when he walked with his cross.

I dont know how many of you have seen the article on CNN that talks about the 7-story Israeli building in the middle of a Palestinian neighborhood. The Israelis says that to make peace they are going to tear down this building because it was illegally built there. But something CNN didnt mention was the fact that the other part of that deal is that they are going to tear down 81 Palestinian homes as well. The US news is so bias about the Middle East, I have realized this since I have been here.

Here in Israel the Sabbath day is on Saturday because that is the day the Jewish people have their Sabbath. Anyway, after church one Saturday we walked down to the Garden Tomb. It was a gorgeous day. I just feel so blessed that I can go ponder at the place where Christ was risen. I was really good to go ponder and write in my journal for a couple of hours. Who gets to do that?!

This is Skull Hill, Golgatha was near here somewhere. It has a parking lot here now.

This is the YMCA building and the Bell Tower in West Jerusalem. I live in East Jerusalem it is mainly Palestinian. On the West Side of Jerusalem it is more secular and Jewish.

I got to bells that can be heard all over Jerusalem. It was really cool. I was able to play "Nearer my God to Thee". Its way cool that the city of Jerusalem could hear ME playing the bells.They even have the YMCA in Jerusalem. So cool, its actually been here for years and its really pretty. They hold people kind of like a hostice, they have exercising rooms and such.

Happy Valentines Day!!!! (Brett, Leslie, Kennedy, Stacie, Courtney, Corina- Jonathon the Photographer (he didnt match) :) )

Our Monday Field Trip to the City of David. Its right outside the gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. I guess you could call it a suburb of Jerusalem

This is in the National City of David Musuem. We are standing in front of Nephi's Friends House. Its a two story house and it has a lot of remains left that are very visable, including the toilet! :) Brook, Natalie, Taeler, Me and Katie.

We went into Hezekiahs Tunnel. It still has water in it. It was built in King Davids time, whats interesting about his tunnel is they started at both ends and met in the middle. It was fun to walk through the tunnel all the way under the City. This is actually how King David attacked the city and gained control.

This was inside Hezekiahs Tunnel. The tunnel was very narrow. Both Jonathans were behind me the entire time splashing it up!

This is on a ledge by the waters of Siloam. I dont really know why we are being so seductive? It kind of reminds me of a spiderman pose. :)

We are the girls in white so we can join this picture! We are so funny! :)

I was told to get out of my room. I was like why? My roommate was like just do it! So I went out to the porch and contined writing. Anyway when I came back this was on my bed. I had to wear this crown to dinner as a favor from my Valentine.

We had secret Valentines randomly drawn in the center. Before Valentines day I got this poster put up for me in the student lounge. I really appreciated it. It made me feel good. To this day my secret Valentine still hasnt revealed himself. But I have a pretty good guess... :)

Here in Jerusalem we see a lot of sites, but not very many people and thier homes. However I was one of the very special students of 18 that get to go to the elderly homes and sing hymns. The elderly guy in this photo is the director of the Christian Elderly Home. He toke us around to a few elderly homes and we sang. The people that we went to are home ridden. Since they have all types of diseases the Old City is not accomadating. There are stairs everywhere and wheel chairs are very ineffective. So getting visitors is very exciting to them. It was really cool to see them and their tiny homes. Basically they just have one room and no backyard!

Tel Aviv and the Mediterrean Sea

We got Pomogranate-Orange Juice, it was freshly squeezed right in front of us. It was straight anti-oxidents. It was soooo good!

Brett and I rocking this ancient car!

Our group was so fun! We are ready to hit the city though!

We played Ulitimate Frisbee on the beach it was an amazing game. I was always guarding Gage, we were rivals, but my team came out on top. Sorry Gage :) You played an awesome game though...

Graffiti was everywhere and this was the funniest one. Be happy now! :)

Jumping for joy on the Mediterrean Sea Beach. Happy day! Probably one of the best beaches I have been too!

Our group! Horray!

T-E-L A-V-I-V

(im the second "V" right side)

Astonishing Sunset at the Sheridon Beach in Tel Aviv. I could of stared at it all day!

There are no words to describe the beauty of the Mediterrean Sea.

Eating a non-Kosher burger at a resturant. It was so good, we dont get any ground beef at the Center so its also nice to get something American. :) I looke super washed out and tired because the day was exhausting!! But so good!

It was a little cold after dinner. But we still ate dessert.

Gorgeous Tel Aviv. The beach was so pretty and clean, there was no garbage and the was so fine.

I beat Goliath!!!

This is a tribute to Anne of Green Gables. If you didnt know that the valley was so green it was so pretty.

The pasture was so pretty. Kennedy Me and Leslie amoung the gorgeous flowers.

Beth Shemesh in the pasture.

The Valley was so pretty. The only problem with this picture is it so beautifully green but if you havent seen it then, this looks like a pretty pioneer picture.

I am imitating Diliah here and Daniel is Benson. This is Beth Shemesh where upon this story would have taken place. I was told to be seductive but this is the face I made...haha I am anything but seductive. :)

This is was in a pigeon hole. It was in Marisha in an underground hole. It was really interesting to see the city underground.

We tried to imitate the scene, but it kind of proved ineffective because I am about as tall as them when I'm standing. But it was really fun we laughes so hard.

The Valley of Elah, this is where David killed Goliath. We got to use slings and try it out. It was harder than it looks. David must have had impecable aim. But the valley was gorgeous.

This is outside the Micha Caves, they have no Biblical Significance but they were really fun to crawl through. The cave started out as a very small tunnel and morphed into a bunch of different caverns and more tunnels. It was really fun to go through and explore, with only a flashlight.

Greg, Brooke, Brittney, Jeff, Natalie and Me on top of the hill Avetah. It overlooks the Valley of Elah.

This was one of our field trips to the Sheplalah. It was a gorgeous day. But I just realized that I havent even blogged about Tel Aviv, which is the capital of Israel. We traveled there by bus and spent a day there and watched the sunset. Oh man it was gorgeous.

What an emotionally and physically draining week....

We had clean checks and so my bed was made and cleaned so I thought I would take picture of it because it doesnt last very long like this :) Actually it does I am usually a pretty clean roommate. This is my only space, as you can see its not very much. Its smaller than a dorm but soooooo totally worth it!

I got called as the Primary Pianist for the Jerusalem Branch, I never thought I would be in the Primary so soon but it is an awesome calling. There are about 15 children in the Primary and they all have beautiful voices and enjoy singing. I also was asked to accompany a duet that I have never heard of, but it has been fun to practice and sightread. I will be performing it for a Formal Talent Show in the center that locals are invited to.

Since we went to the Holocaust Muesuem we felt it appropiate to watch this movie. I had never seen it before but I was told to get ready to cry. Its rated "R" but we watched the Clean Flick version. Its so heart-wrenching and long!

This is King Davids Tomb. I am not sure if this is reverant to take a picture. Please dont be offended. Anyway this is only half of it because the grave is gender divided and Im of course on the womens side. Noone ever knows for sure if this is actually him but it is assumed. Jews come here and prayer as you can see the two ladies. This is King David that killed Goliath. I am actually going to see David and Goliaths battle zone on Monday and we actually get slings so that will be awesome!

This is Dormitory Abbey. It contains the crept of the body Mary. It is in memory of her. On the first floor is a chapel and in the basement in the rotunda is mosiacs of Old Testament women. It is so neat to look at and be able to identify. I feel so biblicly smart when I can do this :) It has been pouring rain the past couple weeks off and on. And actually today it snowed (okay maybe it was hail) but still! Thats an amazing feat for Israel and its so pretty and green.

This is a group of us that went to an Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra Concert. The concert was really good! The only problem was it was not in English and we had mid-terms the next day. But the last piece the played was a duet with the philharmonic orchestra and a violinist. She was amazing, she got encored 5 times. So it ended up lasting a long time!

Denise and I we are standing on Mt. Herzel by Benjamin Herzels grave. He was the founder of the Zionist Movement. The rocks on his grave are placed as a form of respect for the deceased, it is comparative to flowers in America.

This is in front of Yad Vesham, it is the Holocaust Memorial building in Israel. It really puts a big spin on the Holocaust when you are living amongest survivors and the posterity of the survivors. The tour guide of this muesum was amazing. She had a wonderful presentation and she made you think. I can not even describe to you the feeling in this building. Its a feeling of extremely somberness, a smile can not even come on to your face because of the terrible things that have occcured. One of the most thought provoking questions was, "If I were alive back then would I have done anything to stop the problem?" I sure hope I would have, but you can not know for sure. This is not my whole group, one of the girls in my group named Carrie broke her nose at the center by playing basketball. We all wore bandaids on our noses to support her.

I am so blessed for these many oppurtunities I am having!

I love you all and hope to hear how you are doing!