Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Savior's Last Days

Yesterday and today we followed the path that the Savior walked the last days of His life, from Bethany to Jerusalem and in Jerusalem from the upper room where He had the last supper to the Garden Tomb where He rose from the dead. It has been a couple of impactful spiritual days. Yesterday we started at Bethany where the Savior stayed at the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. This is one of the places I have most looked forward to visiting. I'll post more later tonight.

-Jecia-

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Senses Overload!

So, for the viewing pleasure of all of you out there who look forward to hearing about our experiences, but wish we would post more often (mom), we have began an operation I like to call senses overload, since we obviously have nothing better to do with all our free days, and no longer having any classes. Enjoy!

-Jecia-

Palm Sunday


This was a few weeks ago, but here we are at the beginning of the procession. We followed the procession from the top of the Mt. of Olives to Dunn Gate. There were lots of people, lots of churches, lots of filming crews, and lots of palm fronds.
-Jecia-

YMCA bell tower



This is our experience ringing the bells at the YMCA for tens of thousands of passerbys. I love Sister Squire's expression as we ascend the elevator to the bell tower. We may have exceeded the passenger limit a bit.
-Jecia-

Talent Show

Eliza and her group did "I Won't Say I'm in Love" from Hercules. Aside from their fabulous costumes, their performance was phenomenal!

-Jecia-

The naval of the world


This is an old mural map based on old perceptions of the people of Isreal. Apparently they felt like Jerusalem was the center of the world, and everything was just an offshoot of it. You'll notice that America isn't even attached.
-Jecia-

The eye of a needle

This is "the eye of a needle" as spoken of in the bible. I have a feeling this is one of the smaller ones, but it gives more meaning to the scripture that says "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. " Matt 14:24 They had these next to the gates of the city. For some reason people and animals would occasionally have to pass through these entrances when the gate was closed.

-Jecia-

The Dead Sea!


Here we are floating in the Dead Sea. It's about 33% salt, whereas the ocean is about 8% salt. It felt pretty strange to float so easily. It was way cool!


After we floated, we covered ourselves in some exfoliating Dead Sea mud. Later I even covered my hair and spiked it. One of my favorited trips thus far.
-Jecia-

Friday, April 17, 2009

Random Chat

A couple of nights ago Eliza and I and the whole Jerusalem Center were working on a paper for our Near Eastern Studies class, so while Eliza and I sat at neighboring computers, this is the Google Chat conversation we had.

me: Hi, this is the first time I've chatted with you

eliza.hut: that makes two of us wait that didn't really make sense

me: That makes three of us, soon to be the two of us And you're one of those two

eliza.hut: It is really easy to keep a secret between two people when one of them is dead or Krunk

me: ayup

eliza.hut: so what ya working on

me: me paper
I'm writting the very first sentence as we speak.

eliza.hut: Congratulations
Hey are you the person that is feeding mom information from Henderson?

me: I don't know if anyone told you, but I'm not in henderson right now.

eliza.hut: What?!? and you didn't tell me?!?!?!

me: I was sure mom wrote it in the family memo.

eliza.hut: WHAT there's a family letter? where?

me: Oh, I thought you were at the family council meeting where we discussed instituting a family letter. From my minutes I also noted that Caleb petitioned for later cerfew and cellular phone privilleges and Ethan made a motion to be crowed commander-for-life

eliza.hut: I hope that both of the boys motions were either squashed quickly or tabled until forever

me: there was a gavel war that ended with a couple of smashed appendages and I think you were held for contempt of court

eliza.hut: wow that gavel must have hit me harder than the court thought. it was probably you that hit me... wasn't it. for old times sake?!? Hmmmm...

me: the council artist drew a sketch of the event, I think I might have it here

eliza.hut: do you now... I may have to see this said picture

me: onlookers were baffled by the gavel hit. A new rule was motioned and aproved that all who stand to speak must also wear the official helmet of justice

eliza.hut: I would support that motion... but I don't know if Ethan would aprove. It would require him to remove his crown. I don't see that going well.

me: Ethan did appeal the motion, and after a couple three reconvening a compromise was reached that he would have to remove his crown, but he could continue to hold his

eliza.hut: I think the sceptor would prove to be more dangerous thatn the gavel, especially in his hands My question is... who is the normal holder of the gavel?

me: Well you see we decided upon a rather liberal democratic council system where whomsoever is standing on the floor gets to hold the gavel. It's a new system and has some kinks to smooth out, but thus far there have only been a handfull of incidents and I hear dad's eye is healing nicely.

eliza.hut: So does that mean that every member of the council now has to wear a helmet of justice, just in case a stray gavel should fly in their direction. If that motion has not already been made i plan to bring it to the floor with utmost haste.

me: The incident concerned dad's eye was due to a gavel malfunction. And since our top engineer was incapacitated, our engineer reserve reasembled the said gavel with duct tape and staples.

Though most understood the unlikelyhood of the event reoccuring, there was another motion made for all council members to have to wear gogles of hope durring the durration of any meeting.
Hope for a better future and hope that it never happens again

eliza.hut: Who is in the er- engineer reserves

me: Ah, a most austere and ingenious council member. One well liked and respected among the community and all mankind in general. Most feel that the improved gavel should become imortalized in a monument so as all can bask in this symbol of courage and determination

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Galilee continues

Here's some more pictures from Galilee.

This was our New Testament classroom. Sitting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (which actually has no salt and is really a lake)




This is me studying my scriptures on the beach at Ein Gev where we stayed. PS this is the same beach as is in the above picture.
-Jecia-

Galillee ... Galilah

Here we are rafting down the Jordon River. Sadly, we lost Matt to a tree just after this photo was taken.

Our rafting crew. Matt, Eliza, me and Amy

This is my good friend Theopholis. I call him Theo for short.


Monday, April 6, 2009

Shout out!

Eliza and I have been wondering who actually reads our blog, so if your perusing or here by our parents recomendation, whether we know you or not, we'd love to get a comment from you, so drop a note!

-Jecia-

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Eliza's monthly update

Can I just begin by saying that I absolutely love living here. Last week I was in Galilee and then the day we got back I went to Eliot to go snorkeling and play on the beach. The days that have followed have been wonderful. On Saturday I went to the Garden tomb and the Garden of Gethsemane. Usually Gethsemane is over crowded and touristy, but I went right before they locked the place up and asked if I could stay in the garden after closing. It was just me and about 6 other people in the whole garden and I knew 4 of them. It was beautiful, the solitude was all I could have asked for.

This is me in front of the garden tomb, it is one of my favorite things to do in the holy land- to go to the gardens and study my scriptures and write in my journal.

Today I got to play the bells at the YMCA in West Jerusalem. Brother and Sister Squires go every Sunday to play the bells. Bro. Squires informs me that a mere 100,000 people were listening. eight years of piano really came in handy today as a played my while 4 notes over and over again.


Today was palm Sunday, so i went to the church of the holy sepulcher and waved my palm leaf with the best of them. I got to watch a procession among other things and got glared at by two different churches, three monks and a random group of elderly women... it was a blast.

This is the sunset over the sea of Galilee.
P.S. I am officially 21.

-Eliza

Friday, April 3, 2009

Gamla



So this may be the most picturesque place I have ever been to. Fortunate for us we got to be here when it was all in bloom and green, which only happens for a few months, then it's all brown again.

Home from Galilee

So it's been a while since we posted. Mostly because we've been in Galileefor the last 10 or so days, but now we're back, and I'm gonna put some updates from Galilee as well as pre-Galilee, so enjoy!

-Jecia-

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Nimrod's Castle

Now this day we went to Nimrod's castle, which, as far as I can remember has no biblical significance to it, but it was a way cool castle and the ruins were quite lovely to jaunt around. It is an Arabic fortress built in the middle ages and named after the mighty hunter Nimrod, King of Shinar and great-grandson of Noah. Here he was punished by Allah, who put a mosquito in his head which drove him mad. I love these sites that are so rich in history. I felt it appropriate to take all of my photos here in sepia.
A view of most of the fortress
Check out this sweet Gothic stairwell. A lovely nun showed us how to get the best photo here.


Those abyss's have a way of sneaking up on you.
-Jecia-

Monday, March 23, 2009

Migiddo

Now begins our trip in Galilee. One of our first stops was to the top of the famous Mount Megiddo, which is also known as Armageddon. I think it's had somewhere around 17 cities built and destroyed on top of it, now there's just ruins and a lovely gift shop. It's been conquered by pharohs, Thutmose III, Ramses II, Shishak, and Necho as well as Tiglath-Pileser III, Alexander the Great and Napoleon, to name a few. Acording to Revelations 16:14-21 a final confrontation will occur here. Sure it looks peaceful now...

Eliza, Amy, me



-Jecia-

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Bethlehem

So this fieldtrip occured on St. Patricks day, and I made sure to anounce that it was mom's birthday. There were much well wishes from the JC crew. We began by visiting Bethlehem University where Dr. Musalem, our Paelistinian studies teacher, is a dean. We got to meet many of the students there and ask them questions about what they do and such. The school is a Christian school, but they admit both Christians and Musslims. They told us how much they would like to talk to the Israelis about the conflict but since Bethlehem is in the West Bank, it's nearly imposible to get into Jerusalem. They have to apply months ahead and they would only be able to visit for one day if at all. It was really neat to hear the Paelstinian perspective from student our own age.



We also went to the Church of the Nativity. The Greek Orthodox are mostly in charge of this church, but it is shared by the Armenians and Cathlolic? The Greek Orthodox do not like it when you laugh. Believe me, I know.


Eliza and I outside ot the church of the Nativity



That evening we went out to a Shepherds field and read the story of Christ's birth in the book of Luke and sang hymns and bore testimony. It was a beautiful night, and this was one of my favorite things we've done here in isreal. I could invision the shepherds watching their flock on a night similar to this night then being visited by an angel who proclaimed "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." The shepherds are my favorite part of the story of Christ's birth. It was a lovely way to end our trip to Bethlehem.

-Jecia-

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Purim


Today we celebrated Purim, which is a feast dedicated to Esther and her saving the Israelites. Now it's become something of a Mardi Gras/Halloween. The kids dress up in costumes all week long and get candy, and on the evening of the feast, adults dress up and go out and party. Be went to west jerusalem to Joffa street and round abouts area. There were some street performers and dancers and lots of costumes.

Here's a pictures of a large amount of our group at one of our favorite bakeries off of Joffa street. I'm the one dressed as Harry Potter.

-Jecia-

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Thoughts from Jordan and Jeru

We went to Jeresh in Jordan. It is a way cool sight that has wonderfully preserved Roman ruins. When we were there we watched a gladiator match. I was totally yelling at the top of my lungs for him to beat the other guy. At the end of the show we went down to get pictures and he looked straight at me and scowled and I just scowled back and he said, "you... I heard you in the stands, you need a picture with me" It was way funny because every time he would get a good blow in he would turn to the audience and flex his pectorals muscles. You just had to love him.




This is me and Elizabeth in the garden tomb. Elizabeth is from Nigeria and she was there on a spiritual journey. There have been a lot of Nigerians at all the Christian sites as of late. Last Shabat (sabath) a group of 5 of us went singing and she joined in. It was really cool that we were from different continents, but we sang the same songs. That day we also talked to Peter (you can see him in the back) he is originally from Nigeria, but moved to Canada. We told him we were there studying the scriptures and he asked if we were all ministers children. I chuckled inside and told him we were Mormon. It was a really cool day.
-Eliza

Friday, March 6, 2009

Tel Aviv!

Just when we finish our trip to Jordon, we're back on the road again. Today we went to Tel Aviv, the capitol of Israel. Tel Aviv is fairly westernized, and it's by the coast, so it's much the same as many coastal towns in the US. Afterwards we went to the coast and got to go wading. Perhaps I'll come back on a free day to actually swim. It was a hot, lovely day.


Woot woot for the Mediterranean Sea!

We went to a museum. My favorite part was word light circle that rotated on the floor. I had a fun time finding different ways to accent the words.


-Jecia-

Ammon and the Jordon River

We went to a rather large mosque in Ammon (I believe) and they had all the women wear these black dresses with a black hood (or you could wear your own scarf) We looked a bit like Death Eaters from Harry Potter, so it was pretty fun. The mosque was also very nice.

We went right down to the river Jordan to a site that commemorates John baptizing the Savior. The water was fairly murky with the rich clay in the soil, though I always imagine the water being so clear. Who knows what it looked like in the Savior's day.
-Jecia-

Kidesh Highlights

The coolest thing about Kidesh, Jordan was the roman ruins. They are some of the best preserved outside of Italy, other than that, Kidesh wasn't too significant of a city in it's day, but this theatre was so cool. It was worth a visit.

Heidi, Mike, Jess, Miriam, me (Ha ha, I'm the only one not in white ;-)

-Jecia-

Petra highlights

So here are some highlights from Petra. More explanation to follow, I mostly wanted to get the pictures up. Actually there's not much to say about Petra historically because it has amazing architecture (as it is one of the new seven wonders of the world); however the people didn't keep much of any records, they were more interested in trade. There were plenty of Indiana Jones scene reenactments of course, and it was way awesome to see the treasury for myself. I really enjoyed Petra!

Eliza, Indiana Jones (Ken), Me, Krista


Eliza and I in front of the Monastery. This is not the famous treasury that is featured in Indiana Jones; however it is larger and pretty cool too.


You probably didn't know I could fly.

We planned this picture originally to capture the view of "the end of the world" which is a rather large and expansive valley and mountain range, but I like how this picture turned out anyhow.
-Jecia-

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sader, Synagogue, and Shabat

Some neat things have happened lately. Because of scheduling conflicts, we enjoyed our passover meal, or Sader, on Thursday. It was a formal event and we had a triclenium table and matza and a cooked bone to represent the sacrifices that they no longer do, and bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of slavery, and much, much more. The evening was separated into about 15 parts. The actual meal didn't come out until about the ninth stage. There was lots of singing about the Lord and about gratitude and freedom from bondage. Ophir, our modern Jewish studies teacher, led the Sader. I had the privilege of sitting with Br. and Sis. Skinner as well as my good friend Amy Gordon. It was a wonderful evening.

Then on Friday evening a group of us had the opportunity to go to Synagogue. We went to an Orthodox synagogue that was open to visitors. Ophir took us, and it's the Synagogue that his family is a member of. It was pretty stormy that day, so there wasn't a big turnout. The Friday evening services consist of mostly just singing. They have a song leader, and the rest of us follow along with him. We had a hymn book, but it was often still difficult to find the correct hymn. I really enjoyed listening to the somewhat mournful sound of the hymns. It was a great service that night. Afterwards I talked with a woman there named Mindi. She's from Brooklyn. There are a lot of Synagogues around, and she even pointed out one across the street. It's a ten minute walk for her to get there. It sounds like she walks, and I'm guessing it's because the law of Moses requires that you only walk so far on the Sabbath. She was very friendly.

On Shabat Elder Neuenschwander came to our district conference. I believe he was here for a humanitarian conference. We had members from the Tiberius branch as well as the Tel Aviv branch there as well. It was different to have the congregation finally outnumber the choir. We have a lot of choir members since almost every student sings in the choir. We sang "Master the Tempest is Raging". I think it was our best song yet. It was a windy day, and you could see it through the glass windows in the Auditorium while we sang. I am so grateful for this opportunity to see the city of Jerusalem right from the comfort of our chapel because when we go home, as Br. Skinner says, we'll just be staring at a brick wall.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Hair cut

So, news of the day, I cut my hair! I don't know why I ever had long hair. This is by far my favorite hair cut ever. PS this picture was taken in the Center by the Shekle Shaq.



-Jecia-

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Older posts!

Check out some of our older posts. I've uploaded some new pictures and even written some additional experiences. Enjoy!

Just a picture that I like. It was taken at either Beth Shemesh, Azekah, Elah, or Bet Guvrin (we went to a lot of places that day).

-Jecia-

Hezekiah's Tunnel

Today we hiked Hezekiah's tunnel. It was so fun! The tunnel was originally built to bring the exterior water sources of the City of David into the city so if they were ever laid under siege, they would have their water right there with them. The tunnels still have water in them, but it's not too high. Most of the time it was around my ankles or mid-calf. I didn't want to walk around wet today, so I wore my water shorts under my skirt, and ditched the skirt while I hiked the tunnel. This is one of the cooler things we've done so far. Afterwards we had free time so a small group of us went to the Bethesda pools where the people believed the waters posesed medicinal powers and where Christ healed the man sitting beside the pools. The pools are just inside of Lions gate, and you have to enter St. Annes church to get to them. Today there's no water, but a lot of neat ruins. It's a very rustic and peaceful place. It was a nice relaxing day.

Look how smart we are! Cate, Jessica and me
Inside of Hezekiah's tunnel


-Jecia-

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Today was a lovely day. I went out with a group to explore the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The last time I had been here was at the very beginning of our trip, which was somewhat of a blur. This time we did a more thorough visit. My favorite part was probably going onto the roof of the church. It was very calm and quaint. Afterwards we walked through the Old City to the Kidron Valley where there are some caves. We found a pretty cool cave for spelunking. All day I was thinking about the seminary lesson I was going to teach this evening. I was fortunate enough to be able to substitute. The lesson was on 1 Corinthians 1-7. I team taught with Stephen Blunck. I think the lesson went really well. It was a nice day.



Me and my friend Ryan on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre


-Jecia-

Thursday, February 19, 2009


Jecia makeing a new friend.
The annaconda on top of the temple mount. First time touching a snake... It was special.
Jecia coming out of the "birthing canal".


Micah's cave/ tunnels. Lindsey and I went on a wonderful exploration where we got covered from head to foot in dirt.

Yad Vashem

Yesterday we went as a class to Yad Vashem. Yad Veshem is the athority when it comes to the Holocaust. It gave a very interesting perspective on the Holocaust. It was similar to many other museums, but there was one part that I really liked. They have what is called "the righteous among the nations". These are those individuals who where heroic and helped the jews in their time of need. There was a quote by a pope who inspired a town of 500 to save over 300 Jews, he said, "I don't know what a jew is, all I know is what human beings are". Yad Vashem is not only a monument to the 6,000,000 jews who died in the holocaust, but it is also a witness to the good inthe world. That even in the midst of such a horrifying display of man kind there where those willing to step up and say this is not right. It makes you stop and wonder: Would I sit by and allow others to die or would I stand up for what I know was right, even if my life were on the line?

-Eliza-

Palestine

Two days ago Jecia and I had one of the coolest experiences. We went to the Dome on the Rock with a group of six people. Ever since 2000 no one but Muslims are allowed in the actual building, but we wanted to see if we could sweet talk our way in, we couldn't. We ended up talking to this group of Muslim girls that were 16 and 17 years old. They were on a school field trip. They were some of the cutest girls ever! They tried sweet talking us into the buildings. At one of them (there are multiple mosques on top of the temple mound) an underground mosque they couldn't get us in, but they were allowed to take my camera underneath and record what the entire thing looked like. Brother Skinner was shocked that I was able to get that footage and told me that it had some tie to Solomon's cave, I can't remember exactly. Well these girls ended up spending the next two hours with us. They talked some guy into letting us take a picture with his anaconda. They also took us to their favorite place to get desert- Jafar's sweets. One of the girls insisted on paying, "no let me, let me, I am very rich". It was really cool to get to talk with them and see how much we had in common. We were talking about dating and modesty. They told us that they dressed the way they did because they loved their bodies and it was a choice they made to dress like they did. It reminded me of how LDS girls talk about modesty and it being their choice. They also talked about how boys just made life complicated, I had to laugh. One of the girls was telling us how another girl had a crush on one of the guys who worked at the restaurant we were at, the girl with the crush started blushing- it made it feel like we were all just a big group of frinds sitting around sharing stories. They told us how they watched LOST, Prison break and friends and in their free time listened to music like Enrique Inglesius and Shakira the rest of the artists I didn't know. When it was time for us to go they insisted that they get our names so they would remember them and we got their names as well and they wrote notes like, "think of me every day" and "love you". They also taught us how to do the head wraps that they do and endured all of our childish questions like, if they had to wear the head dress all the time: Answer- they don't, when they are at home they take it off, but they always wear it in public. That was probably one of my favorite days in the old city.
-Eliza-

Monday, February 16, 2009

The Center

I have received requests to describe life at the Jerusalem Center so here we go.

Center Layout:
We have everything we need here in the Jerusalem Center. The living apartments are the bottom 5 floors. Right now the center is running at half capacity, so the 1st and 2nd floor are empty. I live on the third floor. On the 6th floor we have "The Oasis" which is the cafeteria and serves some excellent meals, though I am pretty meat-ed out, and have become a "vegetarian" this last week (except on Mexican night). On the same floor we have our classrooms and the forum, so when you're running late at breakfast, don't worry, class is 30 seconds away. Also on the 6th floor is the computer lab and study rooms and the social hang out/ lounge/ shekel shaq/ party room. This last room is where all the large social gatherings happen, are where people can get local candy and confections for a few shekles. And last on this floor, but not least, is the gym complete with basketball hoops, optional volleyball net and workout room. I like to go in there after lunch to shoot some hoops, and later in the evening they often have a volleyball game going. The 6th floor is where the majority of the comings and goings happen. The 7th floor is the administrative offices. The 8th floor, which is the top, is where I spend the majority of my study time because this is where the library is located. It's a great place to study, since there's rarely anyone there. I suppose that most prefer to study on a more conveniently located floor. There's a small library next to the main library which I like to call "the think tank" and is my favorite place to study when it is available. Also on this floor is the Auditorium which is also our chapel. The walls facing the west are all glass, so it has the most amazing view of the city. I love how accessible everything is, and yet how much room there is. It's close together but not crowded.

Classes:
Contrary to popular belief, we do have to study while we're here. We have five classes right now: Old Testament, Modern Near Eastern Studies from the Palestinian perspective, Modern Near Eastern Studies from the Jewish Perspective, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, and either Hebrew or Arabic language. I'm taking Hebrew, and Eliza's taking Arabic. Classes are normally in the morning and/or right before dinner, so our afternoons are often free time. I am amazed that there is never a shortage of placed to see around here, and I plan on using my free time to it's fullest extent.

Proximity:
We're on Mt. Scopus which is right next door to the Mt. of Olives. We live in East Jerusalem, which is mainly Palestinian. It's about a 20 minute walk into the old city from here. We can walk to most of the places we want to visit around here, but we will also often get a group together to take a taxi to the west side of town. Since it's about the middle of the semester, the merchants have gotten more used to seeing us and they aren't as pushy. I spent the day yesterday walking around the walls of the city, getting more accustomed to my surroundings. We went to every single gate, including Golden Gate which had been sealed off by the Romans to prevent the return of the Messiah (pretty cool story). We also explored the Christian, Armenian and Jewish quarters within the wall. The city is not nearly as big as I had imagined. If we walked at a good pace it would probably take us 1-2 hours to walk around the whole city, but there is so much still to see! It's amazing how they can put so much into such a small area.

What else do you want to know? Leave a comment and answer you!

-Jecia-

Saturday, February 14, 2009

The Garden Tomb.

Today was a lovely Valentines Shabat. Eliza was one of the speakers in Sacrament, and her topic was of course love. She did a fabulous job on her talk. After church we went with a group to the Garden Tomb. This is my third time going. It's one of the most peaceful places around Jerusalem. We got to meet some neat people there today, including a small group of German Mormons.

Last night I also got to do some missionary work! Now don't get too excited, I'm not talking about proselyting to people outside of the church, because we as Mormons have made an agreement to not proselyte here in the Holy Land. What I am speaking of is teaching the gospel to those who are already members of the church. Yesterday I had the opportunity to go with the Relief Society Presidency to visit a less active sister in the branch, Luz who is from the Philippines. It was Friday night, so the streets were mostly empty because the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown, which was so nice for us because traffic is normally chaotic, and it was neat to go in a regular car to a regular apartment. She lives off of Joffa street, and it was difficult to get there on the Jewish Sabbath because many of the side streets were blocked off with barriers. These streets lead to ultra orthodox Jewish homes in Meir Sharim. They are so strict about keeping the Sabbath that they won't even allow others to drive through their neighborhoods (rumor has it you could get stoned if you walk through). Anyway, we got to Luz's house all right and visiting her with the sisters felt just like my missionary days. She is such a sweet woman, and she really wants to be able to go to church, unfortunately her work won't allow her to, so we told her we'd pray for her. Something else that was just like my missionary days was the constant distractions from the television, my great arch Nemesis. I have occasionally wondered why I don't watch much TV since I've gotten back from my mission, but now I know. Other than the TV, it was a lovely visit, and I'm excited to go out and visit other sisters in the branch. Yea for missionary work!

Eliza and I with what is supposed to be Golgotha in the background. You can sort of see the image of a skull behind Eliza's head. (this picture was actually taken a few weeks ago, but it works for today's entry)

-Jecia-

Friday, February 13, 2009

Not too exciting

Contrary to popular belief we do actually have to work. These last few days have not been uber exciting because we had our ancient studies midterm and a research paper due for modern near east studies, Palestinian perspective, due on the same day.
In case you were wondering I think I did well on the test. I'm feeling a low A. And my research paper sounded like it was written by an 8th grader, but it is all good.
Tonight we had a dance because it was Friday the 13th and let me tell you my makeup looked amazing. Let me just say I look good in blue lip stick... I'm just sayin.
Well I have a talk to write and scriptures to study and a journal that needs writing.

-Eliza-
Sunset over the Nile.
Walking like an Egyptian. Don't judge, it was the tourist thing to do.
Jecia, me and JJ sitting on the pyramid. Yes it is legal to sit on the base of the pyramid.