Ein Gedi

Ein Gedi

Qumran - This is where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. There were eleven caves that they have found things hidden by the Essenes. You can see a couple here

Dead Sea

View of Dead Sea from Masada

Playing Bells at the Israel International YMCA Bell Tower

Bells

Ein Gedi

These last couple of days have been pretty fun! We are in the middle of finals and luckily the weather is terrible, so there is no temptation to go out into the city. It is really windy and rainy, and I have to go outside in order to get to my room so it's unavoidable. I almost stayed in my room all day today. But for the good stuff, let's start with Sunday. It was my first real free day now that I am done with the nursing clinicals. It was wonderful. A small group of us were able to go with the Claytons, one of the couples serving here, and play the bells at the YMCA. It was so much fun!! I am so grateful for my mother you had me learn to play the piano because it helped a lot!! I got to play Follow the Prophet and Come Thou Fount while Sister Clayton made up the base part (She is an amazing pianist and organist and does all of the organ recitals and things here at the center). I honestly would consider being a professional bell player, it was so much fun! On Monday we had a field trip down to the Dead Sea! Before we got to go swimming we stopped at Qumran, which is where the Essenes lived and where they produced and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls in a bunch of caves. Our professor here, Dr Seeley was one of the four asked to help with the scrolls from BYU so it was fun to go with him. We then headed over to Masada where we rode a lift up to the top and got to spend two hours exploring. There was a siege ramp built by the Romans who took it over after they conquered Jerusalem and the Herodian. It was actually kind of sad because before the Romans entered, the Sicarii  that lived there basically all killed themselves so that they wouldn't be taken into slavery. They found ten ostraca with names on them that they used as lots cast by the last of the Sacarii. Because it is against Jewish belief to commit suicide, they cast the lots to see who would be the last. But this place was pretty incredible. Sorry for the sad story, but moving on, we then went to Ein Gedi, which was this really pretty hike along a spring. There were a lot of little waterfalls and I just loved it. We waded in the pools and found lots of little hidden caves/passages to explore. Finally we head across the road to the Dead Sea. Boy was that incredible! They told us we were going to go float and that we were going to be amazed. They were exactly right! It was so much fun! You literally floated and, in fact, it was incredibly difficult to push you legs down vertically to tread water. I got a little drop in my eye and I thought it was going to fall out it was so salty and painful! I can see was they call it the Dead Sea. It's pretty dangerous. We then played in the black mud, which really did make my skin soft. I always thought that whole thing was weird, but I am a believer now. I don't have the pictures of me in the mud and water, but when I get them I will post them! I can't believe I am almost done here! I am sure this last week will be amazing! While I am sad to be leaving so soon, I am definitely ready to see my family!