Misc Event Catch-up
Me leaving my mark under the center! Went under May 26, 2010 Me playing the YMCA bells for all of Jerusalem to hear! Did this on May 30. Me next to the YMCA bells At the YMCA tower! Me making pita bread–Jewish style! My friend Lance holding up an actual Torah scroll! The Torah is […]
Stuff About the JC
A few people pointed out to me that I haven’t really focused on anything… other than the places I visit and what I learn there. And, they’re right. I haven’t. So I suppose it might be a good thing to just talk about day-to-day life type stuff. So here goes. The Jerusalem Center is, basically, […]
King David’s Tomb
We walked up to the gate and wondered if we were in the right place. There was a long line of Hasidic (ultra-orthodox) Jews with the iconic curls on the sides of their heads (called “peyot”) coming out of the building. But it was the right place: the tomb was in the basement and was […]
Valley of Elah and the Goliaths in our Lives
While not exactly Goliath, Ramzi was a close substitute. Today we visited Lachish (the site of a famous siege by the Assyrian king Sennacherib), Beth Shemesh (associated with Samson), Azekah, the Elah Valley, and the echoic Bell Caves (really cool caves that people would live in to escape from the heat as well […]
Egypt Finale: Mount Sinai
In my last post, I promised that I would try to say more about my experience on Mt. Sinai. Here is my delicate attempt to articulate what happened. In all honesty, I am a little hesitant to share what happened to me, as I’ve always thought revelation to be something intensely personal that […]
Egypt: Summary
Take one part major trip with no time and little internet, add delay for picture gathering off of 80 cameras, mix in 3 mid-terms = I will not be writing much about my Egypt trip! Alas! But let it be known that it was amazing, and the sights really were legendary. And I didn’t get […]
Egypt, The Prelude: A Broken Heart yet Content in Spirit
The time was 5:00am. I had just woken up for the trip I was most excited for of the entire BYU-Jerusalem program: our group was going to EGYPT!!! It would be a full week trip, and I was prepared: I planned for the heat of the desert, the cold of our 2am mountain […]
Oldest Place on Earth and the Christ’s Fasting in the Wilderness
Today I went to the oldest known man-made structure in the history of the world (the tower dates back to 8000 BC!). It is located in Jericho, an oasis in the middle of the desert. There’s a spring there that provides water, and it’s very green (in complete contrast to the surrounding area). A lot […]
Garden Tomb
The entire center took a field trip today to the Garden Tomb. A small group I was with read verses from the last chapters of John, we all took a tour of the Garden, went inside the tomb, and then sang hymns and reflected on the resurrection. I was blown away by the level of […]
Bringing in Shabbat at the Western Wall
Today I participated in my first Sabbath (referred to as “Shabbat”) ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Saturday is the Holy Day in Judaism, and it really is a day “set apart”. It begins at Friday at sundown, and the whole Jewish part of the city shuts down–they don’t drive cars, they don’t light […]