Saturday, November 16, 2013

Shepherd's field outside of Bethlehem
This last week we had the opportunity to go to Bethlehem for our field trip. We first went to the Herodian, which is one of Herod's many palaces (I think this one was his winter palace). This is also where he was buried and in 2007, they found his tomb. The view was amazing. We then went over to Bethlehem where we were able to go to the Church of the Nativity. There were so many people there! We stood in a very big line for quite sometime to see where the spot where Christ could have been born. The church was unfortunately, mostly under construction, but the part you could see were beautiful. My favorite part of the day was when we spent the evening in the shepherd's field. In the picture, the building you see at the top of the hill are in Bethlehem and within the tall building is the Church of the Nativity. It was amazing to watch the sunset as we had a really nice and simple Christmas program. We read scriptures and sang songs. In case you were wondering, my trip is almost over. We will be spending this last month or so studying the Savior's life. Being able to go to Bethlehem and focus on the birth of Christ was really special. I like to think about how exciting his birth was because they knew what he was going to do. I am really excited to be able to study his life in depth and learn more about his teachings and good works. I absolutely love it here!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Jordan

We had the opportunity to spend four days in Jordan this week and it was amazing! We did a lot, so for my pictures, I chose my favorite places, and I know how fun pictures are so I am putting a lot up. They aren't really in order, but they have captions so it should all  make sense. Our first day we went to the top of Mount Nebo and to Mechaerus, which is where the ruins are of the palace where John the Baptist was beheaded. That night we arrived in and stayed over night in Petra. We spent the entire next day wondering Petra. It was one of the funnest things I have done. I didn't include a picture of the Treasury, but you can see it if you watch one of the Indiana Jones movies. I reminded me of when I climbed around Lake Powel. The sites were amazing but I really just liked going as high as I could. Behind the Royal Tombs, a group of us found a ton of stair cases that seemed to go forever. I loved it! and of course, I had to ride a camel. It was way for fun that I could have ever guessed. I think I would be totally fine using a camel for everyday transportation. The next day we were back in Amman where we did a ton of site seeing. My favorite from that day was the Temple of Hercules, just because I really like the cartoon movie. We also when to an automobile museum where all of the old cars and motorcycles of recent Kings were on display. It was pretty neat. We also went to Jerash which also reminded me of Hercules as you can see from the picture below. There was also a really cool theater here where we were able to listen to some people play some drums and a bagpipe. It was a little random, but really fun. Our last day,  we saw another theater in Amman and then went to the Jordan River. It was really interesting at first because the river at this point acts as the border between Israel and Jordan, so there were soldiers from both countries on opposite sides of the bank making sure that no one tried to swim across. It was pretty amazing to see all the people there, and a lot of them were getting baptized. I am learning to really enjoy watching others show their faith. It's very humbling and often inspiring. But with all the noise going on, I still had an amazing experience there. Overall, it was simply an amazing trip!
Jordan River

Riding camels in Petra

Monastery at Petra

Jerash

John the Baptist Church at the Jordan River Jesus Christ Baptism site

Temple of Hercules at the Citadel in Amman